Classical Considerations: Useful Wisdom from Greece And Rome

136 Pages·2006·3.42 MB·English

by  Marie Carducci Bolchazy (editor)

CLASSICAL
CONSIDERATIONS
U W G R
SEFUL ISDOM FROM REECE AND OME
E
DITED BY
M C B
ARIE ARDUCCI OLCHAZY
Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Inc.
Wauconda, Illinois USA
Editor
Marie Carducci Bolchazy
Contributing Editors
Andrew J. Adams
L. Dale Griffi th
Susan Ford Wiltshire
Cover Design
Adam Phillip Velez
Cover & Text Illustrations
Thom Kapheim
Classical Considerations
Useful Wisdom from Greece and Rome
Edited by Marie Carducci Bolchazy
© 2006 Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Inc.
1000 Brown Street
Wauconda, IL 60084 USA
www.bolchazy.com
Printed in Canada
2006
by Friesens
ISBN-13: 978-0-86516-618-9
ISBN-10: 0-86516-618-8
——————————————————————————
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Classical considerations : useful wisdom from Greece and Rome / edited by
Marie Carducci Bolchazy.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-86516-618-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-86516-618-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Quotations, Greek. 2. Quotations, Greek--Translations into English.
3. Quotations, Latin. 4. Quotations, Latin--Translations into English. I.
Bolchazy, Marie Carducci. II. Title.
PN6080.C48 2006
089’.81--dc22
2005029449
C
ONTENTS
Introduction
Classical Considerations:
Useful Wisdom from Greece and Rome vii
Fate
Illustration: Fate 2–3
1 “but then the goddess Athena,” Homer 1
2 Truth, Michael W. Twomey 4
3 Freedom of Fate, Kurt Muller 6
4 I Could Cross the Street, Judy Neri 8
5 Vergil, Joe Paterno 10
6 “not ignorant of grief,” Vergil 14
7 “because today the fates are stern,” Horace 15
8 In the Spell of Integrity, Anne H. Groton 16
9 “anyone who prefers wealth,” Euripides 18
10 “O Turnus, what no god would ever dare,” Vergil 19
11 “happy is he who was able to learn,” Vergil 20
12 “the fates come in mixed order,” Seneca 21
Character
Illustration: Character 22–23
13 “each person gives himself his character,” Macrobius 24
14 “he preferred being a good man,” Sallust 25
15 Achieving Aristotle: Seem What You Would Be,
Benita Kane Jaro 26
16 “generosity once enlivened,” Pliny the Younger 29
(cid:2) iii (cid:2)
CLASSICAL CONSIDERATIONS
17 Honor and Legacy, Robert Emmet Meagher 30
18 “our character will console us for our poverty,” Cicero 33
19 We Are What We Repeatedly Do, Stephen R. Covey 34
20 Living Life to the Fullest, Steve Reece 36
21 On Aristocracy, Roger Rosenblatt 38
Art
Illustration: Art 40–41
22 Starry Night, Alexandra Stevenson 42
23 The Art of Living, JoAnn Polito 44
24 Safety in Numbers, Margaret A. Brucia 46
25 The Other Side, Robert Sonkowsky 48
26 “music’s a great and never-failing treasure,” Theophilus 51
War and Violence
Illustration: War and Violence 52–53
27 How Sweet War Is, William H. Race 54
28 Achilles in Vietnam, Jonathan Shay 56
29 “for Ares trades the bodies for gold,” Aeschylus 59
30 To Mike Who Knows Who He Is, Margaret Richek
Goldberg 60
31 Duty, Ellen Hobbs Lyle 62
32 The Power of Words, Stephanie Quinn 64
33 What Does Homer Have to Do with Soft ball?,
Timothy F. Winters 66
34 “war springs from insignifi cant causes,” Thucydides 69
35 On Heroic Frogs, Neil Steinberg 70
Redemption After Suffering
Illustration: Redemption After Suffering 72–73
36 Pressing On, John Breuker 74
37 Grace, Susan Ford Wiltshire 76
(cid:2) iv (cid:2)
CONTENTS
38 Lamentation, L. Dale Griffith 78
39 “those who are suff ering even the gods will spare,” Ovid 81
40 Blessings, Keith Fahey 82
41 “from suff ering learn to sympathize,” Philemon 85
42 How I Came into the World, Michael Coffey 86
43 “the thorn which produces pain,” Anonymous 90
44 “perhaps one day it will be pleasant to recall even this
hardship,” Vergil 91
Time
Illustration: Time 92–93
45 A Thirteen-Year-Old Considers Time, Noah Peller 94
46 Cypresses and Certainty, A. W. Godfrey 96
47 “I haven’t time to live today,” Martial 99
48 Feeding the Pigeons, Marie Carducci Bolchazy 100
49 Speed Kills—Augustus on Stress, Kenneth F.
Kitchell, Jr. 102
50 “time is the touchstone of men’s character,” Menander 105
51 Yes, You Can Judge a Book by Its Cover,
William Murchison 106
52 “time eff aces the utt erance of opinion,” Cicero 108
53 “you don’t know what changes time will bring,”
Menander 109
54 Life Lessons, Michelle Wu 110
About the Contributors 113
About the Editors 123
About the Artist 124
Acknowledgements 125
Bibliography 127
(cid:2) v (cid:2)

I
NTRODUCTION
C C :
LASSICAL ONSIDERATIONS
U W G R
SEFUL ISDOM FROM REECE AND OME
Πόλις ἄνδρα διδάσκει.
The city is the teacher of its people.
– Simonides of Ceos
In the early period of classical Athens, the poet Simonides of
Ceos knew that wisdom comes from sharing ideas with each
other and from those who have gone before. The city is the
teacher of its people because it is the primary place where ideas
are shared and transmitt ed.
This book is such a sharing. Contributors to Classical Con-
siderations show how the words of the ancients have connected
with their contemporary understandings of the world. The full
impact of the legacy from ancient Greece and Rome is felt at a
personal level only when we apply the old words to the mean-
ings of our lives. These quotations may thus be seen as compa-
rable with the biblical parables that call us to make them our
own. They invite response.
The essayists here are a richly diverse group. They include
not only professors and teachers, but also a psychiatrist, report-
ers, students, a judge, Vietnam veterans, a publisher, a minister,
a football coach, and writers on an array of topics.
The ancients are both like us and not like us. Their wisdom
is available to us but we are also enlightened by contemporary
refl ections. The insight we gain from reading Homer can be en-
hanced by reading the morning newspaper and vice versa. Each
informs and gives perspective to the other. Consider an anal-
ogy: we can see perfectly well with one eye, but with two eyes,
we gain additional peripheral vision and depth perception.
(cid:2) vii (cid:2)
CLASSICAL CONSIDERATIONS
This collection of classical quotations with contemporary re-
fl ections upon them off ers the depth perception and wider un-
derstandings that result from merging two lines of vision, the
old with the new. Classical Considerations gives us two eyes—our
own and those of the ancients—through which to view our heri-
tage from Greece and Rome.
Even experienced Latinists sometimes misidentify the root of
“consider,” assuming it comes from sedeo, sedere, “to sit.” Rather, it
means “with the stars”—cum + sidera. When we contemplate groups
of stars together, we begin to see constellations in our imagina-
tions, patt erns to contemplate with att ention, insight, and awe.
Susan Ford Wiltshire
(cid:2) viii (cid:2)
1
τὸν δ᾿ αὖτε προσέειπε θεά, γλαυκῶπις
Ἀθήνη˙
“Τηλέμαχ᾽‚ ἄλλα μὲν αὐτὸς ἐνὶ φρεσὶ σῇσι
νοήσεις‚
ἄλλα δὲ καὶ δαίμων ὑποθήσεται· οὐ γὰρ
ὀΐω οὔ σε θεῶν ἀέκητι γενέσθαι τε
τραφέμεν τε.”
But then the goddess Athena, with gleaming eyes,
spoke to him: “Telemachus, you will come up with
something to say from your heart, and a supernatural
force will suggest the rest, as I believe you were born
and brought up as the gods desired.”
In the twentieth year of his father Odysseus’ absence, young
Telemachus travels in search of news about his father. Telemachus
is immature for his age, and is occasionally whiny. Here he has ar-
rived at the palace of Nestor, elderly veteran of the Trojan War. He
is unsure how to approach the sage, but the goddess Athena gives
him confi dence, saying that he has the good will of the gods.
Homer, Odyssey, Book 3, lines 25–27
(translation and commentary by Andrew J. Adams)
(cid:2) 1 (cid:2)