Petrarch the Moralist, with Jim Easton and Dr. Thomas Fleming
In this podcast we introduce Petrarch, speak briefly about his life and work, and proceed to discuss his recommendations on how to lead a private life.
Category: Access
Pisa: Decline and Fall
Seeing an opportunity in the Pisan disaster, Florence and its Guelf allies struck, but after the fall of Ugolino, Pisan patriotism revived, and–short of men–in 1292 they secured a famous condottiere, Guido da Montefeltro, who trained the Pisan militia to use crossbows and recovered the city’s lost fortresses from both Lucca and Florence.
Wednesday’s Child: East of Easter
Strictly speaking, I should’ve stayed home last Saturday, passing time in meditation and prayer, but then how would we have celebrated on Sunday?
72 Minutes to Nuclear Armageddon
I was hoping last year’s movie “Oppenheimer” would make people more aware of the perils of Armageddon. It didn’t. We’re still closer to nuclear war than ever since the first A-bomb was exploded 79 years ago at Alamogordo.
The Government We Deserve, Conclusion (at last!)
Suppose, per impossibile, we were to carry out an even more thoroughgoing plan of reform. You can fill in any impossible details and requirements that suits your fancy. Even if we were to gain the whole world, we would still be left with a population of some 300 million clueless lost souls, without any skill or knowledge that is not technical, with churches that are the enemy of Christ, with a commercial culture that is more morally degrading than heroin and methamphetamines.
The Prince: Persia, France, and the USSA
Machiavelli’s fourth chapter is devoted, at least ostensibly, to answering the question: Why did the Persians not rebel, after the death of Alexander the Great? The republican Machiavelli has a reasonable answer, but one that should be chilling to any American who can think dispassionately about his own country.
Wednesday’s Child: Pavlik of Campofelice
I cannot think of any English diminutives for Paul, but one of the Russian ones is Pavlik, functionally equivalent to Paolino in Italy. Saying “Paolino” to an Italian, however, will draw a blank, and it is vain to expect a response along the lines of “Ah, yes, of course, Fra Paolino da Pistoia, Dominican friar and Renaissance painter!” or something yet more recherché. But to any Russian alive today, “Pavlik” can only ever refer to one historical personage.
The Political Lynching of Josh Doggrell by Anne Wilson Smith
Most of our readers are familiar with Josh Doggrell, who has written several pieces for this website. He is among the last of a dying breed, the two-fisted Southern Christian who concedes nothing to the trends that are destroying the nation. Josh has written a book, which has been published by Shotwell Press.
A Plea to My Readers
Attentive reading has become a lost art like the production of stained class and the painting of frescoes. Part of careful reading is being careful not to draw conclusions before examining the evidence.
Pisa: Rise and Decline
What the Good Men of Pisa and their Archbishop had in mind was a duomo beyond the dreams of Theoderic or Charlemagne
