Sublime

The book is an agonizingly honest personal testament written by a suffering man who was groping in the dark for

Anyone who has fully performed the obligation of perfect virtue has not lived too briefly.”

He once quoted the poet Horace from memory: “The man who is just and firm of purpose can be shaken from his stern resolve neither by the rage of the people who urge him to crime nor by the countenance of the threatening tyrant.”

No random actions, none not based on underlying principles.

but he who is incapable of organizing and explaining his thoughts in written form, and unable to engage the reader with a bit of allure, is someone who egregiously wastes both his spare time and his words.

Alfonso X of Spain, nicknamed El Sabio, “the wise,” had as a maxim: Burn old logs. Drink old wine. Read old books. Keep old friends. The insightful and luckily nonacademic historian Tom Holland once commented: “The thing I most admire about the Romans was the utter contempt they were capable of showing the cult of youth.” He also wrote: “The Romans