If history is deprived of the Truth, we are left with nothing but an idle, unprofitable tale
Today, there is perhaps no defining feature of the West more than the ideal of ‘liberty’, immortalised in word - ‘Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite’ - and manifested in material - the Statue of Liberty and money. We see this term as an inalienable human right, a juxtaposition of tyranny, and a sensationalist ‘mission civilisatrice’ to liberate …
Continue reading Liberty and 自由 (Liberty) . The dichotomy of one word between two cultures.
Procopius records ‘he [Gelimer] neither wept nor cried but ceased not saying over the words of the Hebrew Scripture: “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity”’. Procopius commentates nothing; alas, there is no more to be said. Though in his lifetime the Mediterranean was once again a Romanum Lacum, Justinian’s empire was economically prostrate, beset on …
Continue reading Why do ancient historians use speeches in their works?
Recently, I watched the ‘Last Emperor’, famously directed by Bernardo Bertolucci in 1987, winning nine Academy Awards for its screenplay and performance. It was a fuzzy feeling seeing the imposing Forbidden City during the last years of the Qing Dynasty – guarded by rows of armoured imperial guards – in contrast with the desolate and …
Veni Vidi Veritatem 