Tea at Trianon: The Seven Sages of Ancient Greece: Wisdom & Impact

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, January 4, 2023

The Seven Sages of Ancient Greece: Wisdom & Impact

From The Collector:

Throughout ancient history, the Seven were noted by the likes of Herodotus, Plato, and numerous other writers such as Diogenes Laertius. However, there is some dispute over who should be a sage. There is a canonical set of seven sages, but more than 23 individuals at one time or another were included in different versions of the list of seven.

Despite such fluctuations, four of the seven persist in almost every version: Thales of Miletus, Solon of Athens, Pittacus of Mytilene, and Bias of Priene. The remaining three are usually Chilon of Sparta, Cleobulus of Lindos, and Periander of Corinth. These three figures are often taken out and replaced because all three were considered tyrants and oppressive political rulers. Their infamous reputations are why they were often switched out from more pleasant figures such as Anacharsis, Myson of Chenae, or Pythagoras.

As is often the case with the ancient past, myth and reality began to blur together and stories of the Seven Sages should be taken with a healthy grain of salt. The introduction of the Seven Sages marked a turning point in ancient Greece’s culture and identity. It illustrates a point where stories about ancient heroes such as Odysseus and Achilles no longer seemed convincing or meaningful to members of the political assembly. Therefore, academics like Plato and Herodotus turned to new heroes plucked from their recent past. (Read more.)