Alex > Recent Status Updates

"He seemed both relaxed and yet tensed, like an animal perpetually hunkered back ready to pounce, yet perfectly capable of remaining in that coiled position for as long as it might take for its prey to come into range and let drop its guard."

I bet the doctor is from the Culture.

Very convincing argumentation that there was only one Ammonius and one Origin, not two of each.

The author argues convincingly that both Neoplatonists and Christians belonged in the Ammonian tradition, and that Porphyrys argument that the eucharist was polluting and that polluted people could disrupt civic rituals and divinations played a part in the Great Persecution.

Trajan, unlike Domitian, was athletic and enjoyed hunting and rowing. So did Domitian, but only tamed animals and when his boat was tugged, respectively.

Trajan was fond of gladiator games, although the author manages to put this practice into its historical context. He also made a spectacle of drowning corrupt politicians and lawyers under Domitian in the Tiber, which the population of Rome and his autobiographer Pliny appreciated.

Trajan lived a frugal lifestyle, except regarding his consumption of alcohol and his homosexual affairs.

Trajan may have held a high post under Domitian, but Pliny downplayed that. That and many more interesting bits were in the last pages.

Pretentious, soulless, unreadable.

Not very good so far.

"“You heard him say it? ‘Pain’s the only evil I know about.’ You heard that?”

The monk nodded solemnly.

“And that society is the only thing which determines whether an act is wrong or not? That too?”

“Yes.”

“Dearest God, how did those two heresies get back into the world after all this time? Hell has limited imaginations down there.[...]"