...And also, pizza. Kind of. This might be one of the coolest parts of Virgil ever, and even though I’ve been reading the Aeneid since high school, I feel like I only just figured it out. One of the most famous lines of the poem—forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit, “one day it will be pleasing to remember even these things—finds its answer in Book 7, when Aeneas arrives on shore and has to face the possibility of war with the, erm...indigenous Latinx peoples. So much to discuss, here, and a great mailbag question about how to deal with situations you can’t change. Check out our new Sponsor, Alithea Travel: https://www.alitheatravel.com/tours/strength-and-virtue Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com Read my essay on why we should read in thea ge of AI: https://www.thefp.com/p/what-happens-if-no-one-reads-culture-education
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1:03:41
Make Love, Not War
And now for something completely different. The Odyssey portion of our tour is over, and the Iliad portion will now begin. But wait! Wasn't the Iliad a poem about war? And isn't Aeneas supposed to do battle for Latium? So why is it all sunshine, butterflies, and love goddesses? Today we launch into Part II of the poem with a passage that has bamboozled scholars for centuries, and of course I will deliver the definitive interpretation so that everyone can stop arguing. Plus: a plot summary of what's to come, and advice on reading classic literature if you're having trouble understanding it. Check out our new Sponsor, Alithea Travel: https://www.alitheatravel.com/tours/strength-and-virtue Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com Listen to my sister's podcast, Storytime for Grownups: https://faithkmoore.com/storytime-for-grownups/ EPIC, the Musical: https://faithkmoore.com/storytime-for-grownups/ Stephen Fry, Odyssey: https://a.co/d/1rIbSBu Gareth Hinds, The Odyssey: A Graphic Novel: https://a.co/d/2kClqmN
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1:02:38
Augustus to Virgil: Are you Mad at Me? 🥺
It's time we finally talked about the elephant in the room: does Virgil actually like Augustus? Or is he just pretending? This doesn't seem to have been much of a question in the ancient world--the commentator Servius wrote quite bluntly that "Virgil's intention was to imitate Homer and praise Augustus." But in the wake of the two world wars, scholars in the Anglosphere started to wonder whether there might not be a hint of menace behind Virgil's apparently rosy picture of imperial Rome. This week on Young Heretics: the definitive take on all this, plus recommendations for the best translation of the Odyssey. Check out our new Sponsor, Alithea Travel: https://www.alitheatravel.com/tours/strength-and-virtue Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com Read my essay on translating Homer: https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/homer-without-heroes/
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1:08:42
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1:08:42
Is There Life Out There?
Everyone, everywhere, thinks about the afterlife. If you think you don't, you're wrong: you do. Because what you believe about life after death is an expression of how you think the universe is ordered, and whether you believe there's such a thing as ultimate justice. That in turn affects how you live--and almost no one has had a bigger impact on how we think about this in the West than Virgil. This week, we're going in--down through the Egyptian Book of the Dead, past the churning waters of the Babylonian afterlife, into the carefully mapped-out world of the Greco-Roman afterlife. Plus: one final, heartbreaking meeting with one of the poem's truly unforgettable characters. Check out our new Sponsor, Alithea Travel: https://www.alitheatravel.com/tours/strength-and-virtue Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com
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1:06:49
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1:06:49
Do You Even Prophesy, Bro?
One of the West's great recurring characters, the Sibyl of Cumae, takes center stage today. Deranged, holy, prophetic, and apparently totally jacked, she guided Rome throughout its history and now teaches Aeneas what he must do to become the man who can found Rome. She may have been one of the pagan visionaires who prophesied the coming of Christ. Plus she's part of a crazy history that goes back to the invention of the alphabet and all the way to the creation of Star Wars. Then: another figure of speech you'll see everywhere once you learn it. Check out our new Sponsor, Alithea Travel: https://www.alitheatravel.com/tours/strength-and-virtue Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to be in the mailbag: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com
The classical education you never knew you were missing. Join scholar and writer Spencer Klavan on a tour through the great works of the West. In a world gone mad, we're not alone: the great men and women who went before us have wisdom to guide us. With their help, we can recover truth, beauty, and the stuff that matters.
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