Category Archives: Rome

Rubio/L’Arringatore 

Posted on March 16, 2016 by

Marco Rubio bid the Republican race for president farewell last night, leaving the field open to either a dangerous demagogue or an inflexible ideologue to be the party’s candidate. I’ve been reading Sallust’s history of the Catilianarian conspiracy, and I … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics, Education, Florence, Italy, Pompeii and Naples, Rome, Statues & Monuments | Leave a comment

Trump’s Small Hands: innuendo, insinuatio, what?

Posted on March 11, 2016 by

Late last month, Sen. Marco Rubio decided to get down into the gutter with demagogue Donald Trump. As the Washington Post reported it: He turned insults lobbed by Trump against the billionaire. He said the only reason Trump isn’t as sweaty … Continue reading →

Posted in England, Language & Etymology, Rome, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

A Flavian Lady in Chattanooga

Posted on February 1, 2016 by

When I was in Chattanooga’s Erlanger Hospital recently to visit a friend, I passed by this bust on my way to the elevator. The baroness Marguerite Erlanger, wife of the French baron who endowed the hospital, was born Marguerite Mathilde Slidell (1842–1927), … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics, Italy, Rome, Statues & Monuments, Tennessee, The South | Leave a comment

Protestants and Pyramid

Posted on August 17, 2015 by

The pyramid of Cestius, built in the first century, is the first thing you see when you get off the bus at Porta San Paolo in Testaccio. Crossing the cobblestone street, you go down the road to the right to … Continue reading →

Posted in Cemeteries & Funerals, Poetry, Rome, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Facing Demons in Etruria

Posted on August 9, 2015 by

Out to Fiumcino airport I went, thinking it would be easier to deal with a car rental there and get on to the E80 to Cerveteri and Tarquinia to look at the Etruscan tombs. Alas, Avis at FCO was an … Continue reading →

Posted in Birds, Boston, Cemeteries & Funerals, Classics, England, Italy, Language & Etymology, Music, Mythology, Oxford, Poetry, Rome, Sports & Games, Time | 1 Comment

Interview with Chrigel Glanzmann of Eluveitie

Posted on July 7, 2015 by

Below is an exchange I had recently with Chrigel Glanzmann, the lead singer of Eluveitie, the Swiss folk metal band on whose work I’m writing I’ve written an essay (comparing it to Charles Gleyre’s “The Romans Going Under the Yoke”).  … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics, Education, Ireland, Italy, Language & Etymology, Military, Music, Rome, Trees & Flowers | Leave a comment

A Scandal in Bohemia

Posted on July 3, 2015 by

Postscript, July 11.  So we went to the opening of Rent in Tullahoma last night. It was a big and exuberant show, with some very strong performances, especially the female leads. Afterwards, there were tears and hugs afterward, all very … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Drama, Education, Family, Italy, Music, Rome, Sewanee, Tennessee, The South | 1 Comment