Thus British military historian Charles Oman in the incipit of Seven Roman Statesmen of the Later Republic (1902): There was a time, not so very long ago, when the taunt was true that history was written as if it were a mere string of anecdotal biographies of great...
E.J. Hutchinson
London Calling
One of my sons is reading Jack London's "To Build a Fire" for school this week. Not having ever read it myself, I decided to do so, despite my deep antipathy to the "To [Infinitive]" form of scriptorial denomination. Hoo boy, I'm glad I did. What a terrifying tour de...
“Then in Distress We Upraise” (2)
Time for "Melanchthon Monday"! Last week I introduced a poem by Melanchthon's friend, Joachim Camerarius. Here is the poem again, first in Latin: In tenebris nostrae, et densa caligine mentis,Cum nihil est toto pectore consilii,Turbati erigimus Deus ad te lumina...
“Then in Distress We Upraise” (1)
Time for another “Melanchthon Monday”! Now, you may be surprised, given that today’s poem is not (um) by Melanchthon. But wait! It still works! However, you won’t see just how well it works until a future installment. Our poem for this week, while it is...
Smashing the World’s Strength in Weakness: St. Lawrence’s Day
August 10 marks the commemoration of the martyrdom of St. Lawrence, burned alive on the gridiron in the third century. He is the subject of a fascinating and frequently macabre and defiant poem of Prudentius in the Peristephanon. (A professor of mine in graduate...
“O, May the Church Ever Stand”: Melanchthon Prays in Poetry
For today’s installment of “Melanchthon Mondays” has us moving from secular back to sacred matters. The following poem is one of several prayers in verse found among Melanchthon’s poetry. The poem consists of only four lines of elegiac couplets, in which Christ is...
Edmund Burke, Magisterial Whig Protestant
I know, I know--I still owe one more post on Burke eviscerating fantasist utopian "justice" lunatics. I'm saving up my energy for that one. In the meantime, I've also been reading William Hazlitt's wonderful sketch of Burke in Political Essays, with Sketches of Public...
Divine Heroism, Divine Song
This one’s for the John Wayne fans. Our poem for today’s edition of “Melanchthon Mondays” is on a similar theme to last week’s, but this time no particular poet is named. Once again, the poem is in elegiac couplets, and once again I’ve tried to imitate them in...
Names Writ in Water
The grave of John Keats in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome famously reads, "Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water." While doing some prep for a class this fall, I chanced to read Catullus 70 and was reminded of Keats's grave: Nulli se dicit mulier mea nubere...
Elevator Music from Hell
Last time, we saw Edmund Burke's claim that it was unjust to punish a man for a name to which he happens to be attached, or, rather, which happens to be attached to him. "It is not very just," he says, to exact vengeance on a person because of his natural ancestors;...