The Classical Mind Newsletter for March 15, 2024

Beware the Ides of March!

Housekeeping

• Since it is the Ides of March, consider re-listening to our episode on Julius Caesar with

  Heidi White
  !
  

• Junius was recently on the TrueNorth Podcast Network to discuss God and Time with

  Jesse Hake
  (who has a wonderful Substack called
  Copious Flowers
  ).

• A couple of classes that you might be interested in:

  • Junius is teaching a class called “Father of Lights: A Theology of Beauty”:

  • Friend of the show Kristen Rudd is teaching her course on monsters in literature this summer for adults. If you’re a paid subscriber, you can access a discount code for that course. You can find out more details at her website.

• We will be recording our Emma episode this coming up week.

• The following episode will be The Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott. After that, we will be doing a Listener’s Choice episode so be brainstorming some nominations you can put forward when we solicit ideas.

John Behr on Being Human

John Behr is an Eastern Orthodox theologian and maybe one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever met. I took a class with him on Origen a few years ago. In this episode of the Living Church podcast, he lays out a beautiful vision of what being human means. It is, of course, thoroughly theological but here at the Classical Mind, we’re firmly convicted

“The Death of Julius Caesar” by Vincenzo Camuccini

Fun fact: this was Camuccini’s second attempt at this painting. It was commissioned by Frederick Hervey, the Earl of Bristol, in 1793. He finished the first version in 1796, but received negative feedback so he destroyed it and went back to work. He finished the above version in 1806, three years after the Earl had passed away. Unfortunately for Camuccini, the Earl’s family refused to pay for the work, so it was eventually sold to Joachim Murat, one of the high-ranking commanders who served under Napoleon until he was taken prisoner by King Ferdinand IV of Naples. It is currently displayed in the National Museum of Capodimonte in Naples.

Check out this post over at

Classical Wisdom

in which they ask whether we should glorify Caesar. It’s more of an open-question but the comments offer some solid insights.

Should We Glorify Caesar?

Behind the paywall: “The Ides of March”; The Grand Inquisitor; Remembering; The Singular Use of They; Endnotes