Rev. James Schall Probably the most famous letter writer of the ancient world was Cicero. In 59 B.C., Cicero wrote to Gaius Scribonius: “There are many sorts of letters. But there is one unmistakable sort, which actually caused letter-writing to be invented in the first place, namely the sort intended to give people [...]
Last week, two of my Twitter friends (and friends of The Imaginative Conservative: @hencole and @Sir_Geechie) were happily discussing the 1965 Russell Kirk piece on Malcolm X; the one Winston graciously posted. After @henrole called it a birthday gift of sorts, @Sir_Geechie replied, “You know folks want narrative not knowledge.” I have found each of [...]
Among the many readings that Fr. James V. Schall recommends, he places special emphasis on the value of reading Cicero’s “On Old Age.” Schall suggests that this should be read “preferably before old age.” Starting this year, I am having my Great Books Honors students read this work and discuss it. We have already had [...]
A response to “A Conservatism of Hope? Still?” “The greatest is love,” we are told. “The most difficult is hope,” we could also say. The view from the public policy world is increasingly grim, I confess. Mark Steyn, commenting on the sad ensemble constituting the GOP presidential field, captured the problem recently: “It’s very depressing [...]
As Cicero watched his own republic descend into chaos and madness, he recorded as quickly as he could the most important aspects of the Roman Republic, preserved if not in temporal reality, than in poetry, history, and memory. Famously, he wrote (quoted by our patron Winston Elliott often): Ancestral morality provided outstanding men, and great [...]