I think you get out of a book only as much as you bring to it. I first read Marcus Aurelius when I was 15, so I must have brought my boring, melancholy self to it, for I found it immensely sad. Not terribly profound, just a guy with a tough job trying to do the best he could and realizing that he routinely fell short. And that is pretty much the lesson I drew from it: Do the best you can, but don't fool yourself into thinking you're a great success.
Her point is that in not passively learning from the Romans, but rather engaging with them, we put ourselves in an active position, bringing our attitudes to the table as well as those of the ancients.But ought we not to engage them on their terms, not ours? I rather suspect Livia Drusilla would chuckle scornfully over Professor Beard's feminist platitudes.
I am also inclined to skepticism when it is suggested that the way people have thought about these things for centuries is all wrong.
No comments:
Post a Comment