In a 1943 article in the Journal of Roman Studies , MP Charlesworth notes that for the Romans pius , felix , and invictus were intimately, even causally, connected: “because the Emperor is pius the gods will render him felix (for felicitas is their gift to their favourites) and his felicitas . . . . Continue Reading »
Hans A. Pohlsander’s The Emperor Constantine is a miracle of concision. In under 100 pages he summarizes the life of his subject, assesses his reign, and provides some pithy summaries of his legacy, real and in legends. He also withholds the title “the Great.” Pohlsander . . . . Continue Reading »
Giovanni Della Casa’s Galateo: Or, The Rules of Polite Behavior was one of the most important Renaissance treatises on civility, written in an age obsessed with civility. As M.F. Rusnak points out in his excellent introduction to his charming new translation, civility and politeness was not a . . . . Continue Reading »
Four women appear in Matthew’s genealogy, all of them connected with some scandal - Tamar, who fathered twins by her father-in-law, Judah; Rahab, retired prostitute; Ruth, a forward Moabitess; and Bath-sheba, whom David seized from Uriah. Though unnamed, three of the same women are implied in . . . . Continue Reading »
Naomi aims to provide “rest” for her daughter-in-law Ruth (Ruth 3:1), and the Hebrew word is manoach , built from the root nuach , which is the name of Noah, the one who gives rest to the earth. On a small scale, Boaz proves to be Noah redux, guiding Ruth and Naomi through the flood of . . . . Continue Reading »
When he is first introduced in the narrative of Ruth, Boaz is called a ‘ish g ibbor chayil , a “mighty man of strength.” “Mighty men” are usually violent warriors - the Nephilim who dominated the earth before the flood (Genesis 6:4), Nimrod (Genesis 10:9), . . . . Continue Reading »
In a discussion of the legends of Constantine ( Constantine the Great and Christianity ), Christopher Bush-Coleman notes how efforts to demythologize the man end up creating new myths: “Many of those writers who discard in largest measure material from earlier writers as legendary have . . . . Continue Reading »
So writes Laura Helmuth at Slate . And she accepts the consequence: Young people are less so. “Things go horribly wrong in societies composed largely of young people. The Lord of the Flies is fiction, but the Lord’s Resistance Army is all too horrifyingly real. One of the worst . . . . Continue Reading »
Isaiah 57:17 is structured chiastically: A. Because of his unjust gain B. I was angry C. I struck him C’. Having hid B’. I was angry A’. And he went turning in the way of his heart. The “he” could be Israel, or Israel’s king, or even, given the allusions to . . . . Continue Reading »
Harold Segel’s The Walls Behind the Curtain: East European Prison Literature, 1945-1990 shows the ingenuity of poets and writers in responding to circumstance and lack. For some poets, prison forced them back to the origins of poetry, back to oral composition: “When writing tools are . . . . Continue Reading »
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