The Wisdom of Ancient Poets

What Sophocles, Aeschylus, and their like can teach us

The remnants of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. In fact, there were over a hundred maxims inscribed there. The three most commonly mentioned were inscribed at the entrance. Photo by on

From the moment the mighty star that rules the day rises in the east and sets in the west, if we pause serenely for a heartbeat under its light to consider what its glory is, we may come to the admirable conclusion: where else can one see such sublime beauty, such unfailing power!

We may also let our thought entertain the Sun’s supreme freedom and power, on which we are dependent, since it is so high in the sky and so happy in its brightness, it proudly rises above all the Earth, shining on any human being alike. But is not its true glory also in those precise bounds by which it is possessed? Verily, even the Sun has due bounds, which bring about the Sun’s due greatness.

Self-education, which I have made my lifetime endeavor, is among the essential values of practical philosophy that resonated and made me naturally gravitate toward reading the works of the great thinkers — even those whose application is not so obvious.

The educational part of the year 2025, I decided to chiefly spend on reading ancient texts, such as those of the Greeks and Romans, due to their intellectually refreshing effect and ageless, undying lessons.

I encourage every reader to extend his or her literary odyssey to the corpora of…