Category: Fleming

A FB friend posted a good quotation from Jefferson about the importance of the family. Since this aroused some mild skepticism, I posted this answer,  one that has been strongly influenced by my reading of Jefferson’s own words, the biography by Dumas Malone, and, above all, by the admonitions of my friend Prof. Clyde Wilson.  It is a trivial observation and overstated, but perhaps it will help parents of children who are being taught the old Classical Liberal bilge. One way of looking at our third President is to see him as a split personality. There is the typical Enlightened...

Eteocles’ response to the Scout is extremely puzzling.  He calls for divine aid, first from the gods who guard Thebes, and second from the Curse (ara) and the mighty Revenge Fiend (Erinys) of his father Oedipus.

Let us turn to the story of the play, which draws upon the same mythological background as Sophocles Theban plays, written a generation later. The Seven is the third play of trilogy, a set of three plays, in this case, as in the Oresteia, forming a coherent and interrelated whole.

Aeschylus was known for the magnificence of his style and the power of his productions.  His language is always challenging in Greek and difficult to render into English.  Because of his power and occasional obscurity, he might be compared with Shakespeare, and in magnificence, I sometimes think of Richard Wagner as one of his better imitators, albeit a much shallower writer.