Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
Photo by Wolfgang Rieger. From Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
A man begs the mighty Heracles to save him the effort of despatching a flea.
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© Alexey Komarov, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.
A scrawny wolf listens enviously as a well-fed dog describes the comforts of home, but a flat patch of fur on the dog’s neck worries him.
By John Constable (1776–1837), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
Heracles refuses to come to the aid of man who is perfectly able to help himself.
By John Trumbull (1756–1843), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
John Adams, the second President of the USA, told army officers in Massachusetts that the Constitution he had helped to draw up could not guarantee them liberty.
By Franz Wenzel Schwarz (1842–1919), from the Civic Museum of Castel Nuovo, Naples, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
Events in Italy and Austria seemed to be bringing the day ever closer when a European democracy would vote herself into oblivion.
By Robert Nanteuil (1623–1678), from the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Gallica Digital Library and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
As William Lecky watched the rapid spread of socialism across the European Continent, he was struck by a powerful sense of déjà vu.