Laudator Temporis Acti

Corpus Parisinum 342 (tr.

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol.

Charles Issawi, quoted in Bernard Lewis, Notes on a Century: Reflections of a Middle East Historian (New York: Penguin Books, 2012), page number unknown (chapter 10): There are five ages of professors—tireless, tiring, tiresome, tired and retired...

Corpus Parisinum 246 (tr.

Robert Burton (1577-1640), Anatomy of Melancholy, Pt.

Peter Brown, "The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity," Journal of Roman Studies 61 (1971) 80-101 (at 88): When little girls played games in fourth-century Syria, they played at monks and demons: one, dressed in rags, would put her little…

Hugh Trevor-Roper (1914-2003), The Wartime Journals (London: I.B.

P.

Homer, Odyssey 14.55 (tr.

Poem by Hafiz (1325-1390), tr.

Democritus, fragment 296 (tr.

Corpus Parisinum 171 (tr.

For inexplicably read inextricably.

Philemon, fragment 92 Kock, vol.

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol.

Bernard Lewis (1916-2018), Notes on a Century: Reflections of a Middle East Historian (New York: Penguin Books, 2012), page number unknown (chapter 7): Heinrich von Sybel, the German historian, said a long time ago that students should arrive at the unive…

Philemon, fragment 37 Kassel and Austin (tr.

Corpus Parisinum 138 (tr.

Philemon, fragment 31 Kassel and Austin (tr.

Bernard Lewis (1916-2018), Notes on a Century: Reflections of a Middle East Historian (New York: Penguin Books, 2012), page number unknown (chapter 1): The first and most rudimentary test of the historian’s competence is that he should be able to read his…

Ecclesiasticus 39:26 (KJV): The principal things for the whole use of man's life are water, fire, iron, and salt, flour of wheat, honey, milk, and the blood of the grape, and oil, and clothing.

Bernard Lewis (1916-2018), Notes on a Century: Reflections of a Middle East Historian (New York: Penguin Books, 2012), page number unknown (chapter 1): There is one other thing that I recall about Yiddish.

Ulrich von Hutten (1488-1523), Letters of Obscure Men II, LXIII (tr.

Corpus Parisinum 25 = Basil, Homiliae in Hexaemeron 8.4 (tr.

Poem by Rudaki (c. 858-940/941), tr.

Philemon, fragment 18 Kassel and Austin (tr.

Corpus Parisinum 20 (tr.

Euripides, fragment 610 (tr.

Poem by Al-Mutanabbi (915–965), tr.

My friend and fellow pedant, Eric Thomson, detected a howler on the very first page of a book on pedantry — Arnoud S.

Poem by Abū al-ʻAtāhiyya (748–828), tr.

Marc Drogin, Medieval Calligraphy: Its History and Technique (1980; rpt.

Ulrich von Hutten (1488-1523), Letters of Obscure Men XV (tr.

Hugh Trevor-Roper (1914-2003), The Wartime Journals (London: I.B.

Clive James (1939-2019), "Thomas Mann," Cultural Amnesia (2007; rpt.

Hugh Trevor-Roper (1914-2003), The Wartime Journals (London: I.B.

Poem by Ubayd-i Zakani (14th century), tr.

Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), Almansor, lines 1291-1296 (tr.

Clive James (1939-2019), "Gianfranco Contini," Cultural Amnesia (2007; rpt.

Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), Almansor, lines 243-244 (tr.

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol.

G.K.

Plautus, Amphitruo 648-653 (Alcumena speaking; tr.

P.

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), "A Song to Mithras," Puck of Pook's Hill (New York: Chrles Scribner's Sons, 1916), pp. 193-194: Mithras, God of the Morning, our trumpets waken the Wall!

Joshua T.

A Doonesbury cartoon (December 19, 1981): A copy of this (with HERBERT changed to MIKE) used to hang in my corporate cubicle — in addition to degrees in Latin and Classics, I have a degree in Computer Science.

Cicero, On Friendship 7.23 (tr.

Xenophon, Anabasis, with an English Translation by Carleton L.

"Arthur Gibson, philosopher who rose from poverty to become the cleverest man in Britain," The Telegraph (18 Sept. 2026): Professor Arthur Gibson, who has died aged 83, was a polymath widely recognised as one of the last century’s greatest minds and, meas…