349
Simonides always believed that a man with a trade was wealthier than a man with a full purse.
The following Fable, from the collection of first-century Roman poet Phaedrus, concerns Simonides (?556-468 BC), a Greek lyric poet remembered among the ancients for his miraculous escapes, his long career composing songs flattering the rich and celebrated, and his eager love of money.
Picture: By Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted November 21 2021
350
John Wesley wondered how those involved in the slave trade would feel if the tables were ever turned on them.
In 1774, Church of England clergyman John Wesley published Thoughts on Slavery, in which he joined the chorus (or choir, since it was overwhelmingly a Christian fellowship) of those demanding an end to the trade in slaves between Africa and Great Britain’s American colonies. His song was a simple one: Do as you would be done by; and he recalled an occasion when it had touched one heart in Liverpool.
Picture: John Raphael Smith (1752–1812) after George Morland (1763–1804), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted November 18 2021
351
Sydney Smith warned ordinary Americans that encouraging the hawks in Washington would cost them more than blood.
In 1820, Sydney Smith interrupted his review of a recent book on the US economy to reflect on the price of military adventure. America had clashed with Britain in the War of 1812, and some in Washington were eager to renew hostilities against their old colonial master. Smith urged ‘brother Jonathan’ (the ordinary American, counterpart to John Bull) to think hard about what it would mean.
Picture: By Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827), via the British Museum and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.. Source.
Posted November 17 2021
352
The Bishop of Myra’s ceaseless toil to put an end to the worship of Artemis made him some dangerous enemies.
By the 320s, Christians in the Roman Empire were no longer discriminated against, but that did not mean life was easy. As this story shows, the warm-hearted yet combative Bishop of Myra (now Demre in Turkey) made himself some dangerous enemies by continuing to insist that there was one God and one Truth, and that the popular and profitable religions of Rome were the delusions of a dark power.
Picture: By Jebulon, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted November 15 2021
353
On the annual Remembrance Day of ancient Athens, Pericles rose to remind the people of the City that grief alone was not the best way to honour the fallen.
In the winter of 431 BC, their annual Remembrance Day had a special resonance for Athenians: war had broken out with Sparta, a city felt to stand for crushing State control, even as Corinth stood for licentious ruin. Rising to deliver the keynote address, Pericles asked Athenians not just to grieve for the dead, but to cherish a City founded on liberty and self-control as a living monument to heroes.
Picture: © Aleksandr Zykov, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted November 13 2021
354
For centuries our coal industry was plagued by regulations and taxes, but a tax imposed in 1667 seemed to have nothing to do with coal at all.
Coal-burning was heavily regulated as early as 1306 by Edward I — ostensibly on environmental grounds, though the powerful charcoal lobby was not at all displeased to see this new competitor hobbled by Parliament. Yet supplies of wood for charcoal dwindled, and coal could no longer be ignored; so from Elizabeth I onwards, the coal industry was less regulated, but more taxed.
Picture: By W. Fordyce, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted November 9 2021