Caesarian Leadership #2

"Go to the people. Learn from them. Live with them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. The best of leaders when the job is done, when the task is accomplished, the people will say we have done it ourselves." - Lao Tzu

This quote applies to Caesar's life because of the fact that despite all of the victories and all of the great qualities that he displayed, the people did not want him to prosper any longer: "the cause of Caesar's assassination was the preservation of the Roman Republic from Caesar's ambition to be king." Even though the leader was able to guide the people to success, they did not care and turned their back on him, which is exactly what the quote is saying.

Caesarian Leadership #1

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

In the article, "Rome's most righteous warlord", Caesar's battle tactics are described. Obviously, the quote above says that the real leaders are those who prosper during difficult times. Caesar did exactly this. He had a highly "interventionist" style of leadership. He was able to solve problems on the battlefield even when it seemed like his army wouldn't prosper. He was a great "improviser" rather than a great planner. During times of challenge and controversy, instead of backing down, he led his army to victory. The quote "Even though he suffered reverses, they were never permanent; he always recovered and went on to win," shows this.

The Root of Health

"Walking is man's best medicine" - Hippocrates

After we talked about Roman medicine in class I found it interesting that they were so advanced. It's astonishing to think about how they performed all of these surgeries and made all of these tools that we still use.

This quote shows that health (other than unpreventable diseases and aging illnesses), is pretty simple. Exercise will always keep you healthy. Even the best and brightest, like the man who inspired the Hippocratic Oath, know the basic key to living a good life.

Alexander the Not So Great?

I find it interesting that the view of Alexander in the movie compared to the view of Alexander in the article is so different. It makes me wonder who Alexander really was as a person. Was he this great hero, or was he one who strives off of others' downfall? (in some cases in the article it says he killed his own friends to be successful). I think perception is very important when it comes to Alexander. The movie portrays him as one of the greatest heroes of the old world whereas the article tries to give the worst possible details about his life and personality. Personally, I think that both of these accounts make sense. Obviously, the article and movie are both focused on getting their points across and the points are totally opposite. Although facts show that he was both a hero and a villain, aren't we all? Nevertheless, I think that one would have had to live back then to really know who Alexander was as a person. Every human doesn't see everything the same way.

We Lose Either Way

"Stronger than lover's love is lover's hate. Incurable, in each, the wounds they make." - Euripides

Plato's View of our Society

Plato's myth of the cave explains exactly what our society does in the world today. We all struggle to see reality because we are trapped. What we know and see isn't always reality. Everyone's view of something real can be different depending on what they've seen or done their entire life. Our souls are prisoners inside our bodies...

Plato's View of Love

"lovers are brave soldiers, as they seek to prove themselves before each other or to rescue each other from danger." - Plato, The Ancient Mediterranean World, Page 92

People are meant to be with each other because of the fact that they truly care for one another. Plato says he condemned love based mainly on sexual desire but praised its moral, intellectual, and spiritual aspects. Although he thought this way, sex is a component of love that isn't a bad thing. Love itself though shouldn't be solely based on sex.

The Wisest Don't Have to Know the Most

"Wisdom begins in wonder" - Socrates

This quote is 100% true. Yes, we can all know hard facts and can reproduce them, but the people who marvel and interpret life itself are the wisest.

Importance of Humans

"Man is the measure of all things." - Protagoras, The Ancient Mediterranean World

Humans are like all other species on the earth except for the fact that we can express our feelings in multiple ways through the use of our highly specialized brains. Yes, we can compare ourselves to animals, but the difference is huge. Similarly to what Mr.Johnston said, nothing on the earth is like a human being. We are too different and we have the capacity to not only excel, but to destroy ourselves as well. We are life forms that can do almost impossible things because we are so specialized.

The Life of a Human

"--the strife of wits, the fight for precedence, all labouring night and day with surpassing toil to mount upon the pinnacle of riches and to lay hold on power." - On the Nature of Things, Lucretius

This describes the life of most human beings. Everyone nowadays always strives to become rich and live the "good life", but we don't know exactly what this good life really is. We don't find peace of mind because we are too busy "labouring night and day" whether it be at our job or at school. All our lives we want to make money and be powerful because people tell us that's what we should want. The idea of being rich and powerful is fixated in the minds of humans. The working for us never ends...

The Life of A Hero

"Of all that breathes and crawls across the earth, our mother earth breeds nothing feebler than a man. So long as the gods grant him power, spring in his knees, he thinks he will never suffer affliction down the years. But then, when the happy gods bring on the long hard times, bear them he must, against his will, and steel his heart.
Our lives, our mood and mind as we pass across the earth, turn as the days turn . . ." - Odyssey, Book 18, Lines 150-158

Cruel World

"...You'd grudge your servant a pinch of salt from your own larder, you who lounge at the next man's board but lack the heart to tear a crust of bread and hand it on to me, though there's god plenty here." - Odysseus, Book 17, Lines 503-506

This quote reminds me a lot of beggars today and how today's society treats/interprets them. Although we don't know what beggars have gone through in their past, many of us hesitate to give them money or food. Whenever a beggar asks me for money, I always give them some. I think of how I would feel in their situation. Maybe they wasted their life and dropped out of school, but what if you did the same? As far as I'm concerned, you'd still be a human who still needs food, water, shelter, etc. I see many people who certainly have change or have food that they don't want but still do not give it to these people. Back then, with exception to Antinous, people did not hesitate to give others food or shelter even if they did not know them or their past. When people saw others in a bad situation, they helped them. The world was a much more trusting and hospitable place back then, but has changed greatly overtime. The world today seems to be a paranoid and unkind place in which everyone only cares about their own well being.

The Way Every Society Should Be

"To the Greeks, the idea of the city did not mainly suggest a geographic location, or monumental architecture, but a community--a group of citizens...These citizens were the city." - Greek Civilization: Hellas and Hellenism, War and the City: The Rise of the Polis

This is one of the main reasons why the Greeks were able to prosper. They formed a group, and every person in that group was part of the whole. In some places today, many people in certain societies are discriminated against whether it be due to sex, religion, etc. The Greeks did not discriminate based on unchangeable qualities and were able to receive input from everyone. When everyone works together, great things can be accomplished. This was also shown by the Greeks when they fought in the Persian wars.

Alcohol

"...it's the wine that leads me on, the wild wine that sets the wisest man to sing at the top of his lungs, laugh like a fool--it drives the man to dancing...it even tempts him to blurt out stories better never told." - Odyssey, Book 14, Lines 527-530

I found this quote extremely interesting because it speaks to everyone. When we are drunk, it can bring about feelings / thoughts that are deep inside our mind. For example, we may not want to do something, but we do it when we are drunk because we're in a state of mind when our thoughts and feelings are vulnerable. Alcohol prompts Odysseus to tell the whole story with every detail to his old swineherd (he is able to conceal the fact that he is Odysseus though), and it also appears in a few other instances throughout the poem. For example, it makes the Cyclops act like a fool and causes his demise. This quote relates to the fact that alcohol (although we all drink it) is a horrible influence on us, but it can also show people a different side of us in some cases as well.

Justified Quote?

"All men need the gods..." - Odyssey, Book 3 Line 55

The Greatest Joy in Life

“No finer, greater gift in the world than that… when a man and woman possess their home, two minds, two hearts that work as one” – Homer, The Odyssey

Two Sides of the Same Coin

“He who is to be a good ruler must have first been ruled.” - Socrates

I like this quote because it applies not only to the ruler concept, but many other things as well. Two big and well-known examples of this are one must experience sadness in order to find true happiness, and one must fail in order to succeed.

The Thirst for Knowledge

“…understanding gives great pleasure not just to philosophers but similarly to everyone else though their capacity may be limited for it”– Aristotle, Poetics

Short-Term Happiness

“Assuredly, when we have found such wealth in heaven, we may well grieve to have sought after poor passing pleasures here on earth.” – Jerome, Letters

We will never know if this quote is true or not due to the fact that no one can ever speak to us from heaven, if there even is one. Yes, the latter part of the quote is true, because in life all of us contemplate poor decisions and/or wasted valuable time. We may not realize that these things were “poor passing pleasures” until we are of old age. This usually happens because we become more experienced and wiser as we grow older. We do grieve over wasting valuable time in life. For example, when people are very old, they often say “I wish I hadn’t done this/ I wish I could have done this,” meaning that they wasted valuable time on something that wasn’t of value, or they did not give time to what was of value in retrospect. The second thing this quote is saying is that the things we have on earth are only of temporary value. Even if they are pleasurable for a certain amount of time, we will never find true and permanent happiness until we reach heaven or a higher degree of life, if there really is one.

To Sum it Up

“…life is one long struggle in the dark.” – Lucretius, "On the nature of things"