Johann König, Painting and Sculpture among the Seven Liberal Arts (c. 1620)  ..read more

Avoid the sweet which is likely to become bitter.  IMAGE: Adriaen Brouwer, The Bitter Draught (c. 1635)  ..read more

Now, though Claranus and I have spent very few days together, we have nevertheless had many conversations, which I will at once pour forth and pass on to you. The first day we investigated this problem: how can goods be equal if they are of three kinds?  For certain of them, according to our philosophical tenets, are primary, such as joy, peace, and the welfare of one's country.  Others are of the second order, molded in an unhappy material, such as the endurance of suffering, and self-control during severe illness. We shall pray outright for the goods of the first cl ..read more

Error is quite right as long as we are young, but we must not carry it on with us into our old age.  Whims and eccentricities that grow stale are all useless, rank nonsense.   ..read more

XLIX.  Avoid, if possible, th' impertinence Of those who prostitute their eloquence: Who with a long harangue from desk or stage Both the rich mobile, and poor engage: For what advantage are you like to gain, By hearing some one a whole hour declaim, While Alexander's justice he commends, For murd'ring all his best and trustiest friends? How are you better'd by a tun'd discourse Of Phalaris's bull, or Sinon's horse? Or a description that's design'd to shew The various colours of the heavenly bow, In a discourse almost as long as it, Which the vile trifling scribbler takes for wit? What ..read more

Εὔχου δυνατά  Pray for things possible  ..read more

Book 2   Letter 66: On various aspects of virtue  I have just seen my former schoolmate Claranus for the first time in many years. You need not wait for me to add that he is an old man; but I assure you that I found him hale in spirit and sturdy, although he is wrestling with a frail and feeble body.  For Nature acted unfairly when she gave him a poor domicile for so rare a soul; or perhaps it was because she wished to prove to us that an absolutely strong and happy mind can lie hidden under any exterior. Be that as it may, Claranus overcomes all these hindrance ..read more

Francesco Solimena, Allegory of Justice Triumphing over War and Wealth (c. 1685)  ..read more

As in a pane of glass on which quicksilver has been laid, one can see his face reflected, so in the chaste heart of a totally abstinent man is reflected the image of the Almighty.  IMAGE: Mary Cassatt, Woman with a Sunflower (1905)  ..read more

On a surface level, we can now say that Tom has reaped what he sowed, and his vices have finally brought him to Bethlem, London's infamous "hospital" for the insane. In Twelve Step programs, the old-timers will often warn about the three places that await us if we don't address our compulsions: prisons, asylums, and morgues. There is a bitter wisdom to this prediction, and while the method may seem crude, there is nothing quite like being scared straight.  And though I could say that Tom gets what he deserved, on a deeper level the scene fills me with sorrow, and inspires me to compassi ..read more