Book 5, Letter 12 (Albert Camus)

 

Dear Cicero,

The world gets weirder every day, and my study continues to give me frames of reference. As protests fill the news headlines, as political corruption ... ah, i don't need to tell you any of this, Cicero, you know what it's like.

History gives me a frame of reference through which to view the present. It does not answer my questions, nor solve the problems of the present, but it sheds light on the quality of events that I am living through.

Tonight, I read to you from Albert Camus, from one of his "Letters to a German Friend". Written during WWII, the friend is imaginary, but the truth of his feelings are real.

With Gratitude and Respect.

Morgan

 

 

Book 5 Letter 11 - The 3rd Philippic

 

Dear Cicero,

I was reading your first Philippic (brilliant, by the way...), and I found you make reference to a Roman playwright, Accius, and his play Atreus. The quote runs thus:

Let them hate, so that they fear

or, to put it another way

Let them hate me, so long as they fear me.

So, I began searching. I found that Suetonius makes reference to this play, claiming that Emperor Caligula loved the play, and that he often quoted this line self referentially. Digging deeper, I discovered that only fragments of the play survive, fragments which thankfully are published by LOEB Classics.

So, looking to purchase the book, (https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674993471) my eye was drawn to a side-bar on the website, of recent blog articles published by LOEB scholars, relating to Pride Month. Following a link, I read about the Stonewall riot in New York in 1969, and the subsequent decades long dialogue about gay identity.

So, thank you Cicero, as always. In following you, I walk a path to further study, and sometimes unexpected delights find me on the way.

Tonight, I will read to you from your third Philippic against Marc Antony.

With gratitude and respect

Morgan.