Aristippus was a philosopher who could make any outfit look cool.  His secret was that he simultaneously enjoyed the simple pleasure of looking stylish, but felt no attachment to his appearance.  (So he claimed) He was a well known and sought after teacher in ancient Athens, and fetched a high price. One day a father…

Aristippus, a man who had studied with Socrates, was known for being able to wear any outfit with dignity. Whether it was a threadbare cloak, or a fine robe from Miletus (a noted fashion center), he leaned into it, and somehow managed to make it look cool. Part of his secret was his nonchalance. But…

The Athenian general Nikias famously said “It is not walls that make a city but men.”  Similarly, Spartans took the greatest pride not in the buildings or temples of their city (there wasn’t much to look at), nor even in their laws and festivals, but in the character of their citizens.  But even so, some…

Artaxerxes, the king of Persia, was in town.  Omisus, a local landowner, saw a chance to make an impression.  He presented the king with an enormous pomegranate.  “If this fruit pleases the king, his servant will present him with an entire field’s worth of such pomegranates.” The king marveled.  “By Mithras! This man would speedily…

“Just as we see on the stage, a tragic actor who has trained his voice well can play the roles of Creon [a king] or Telephus [a hero in beggar’s rags] equally well…   he will portray both the handmaid and the lady with the same artistry, and the director of the drama will demand that…

Socrates understood that each individual’s innate characteristics affect their destiny in life. How many times had he heard the refrain (in various forms), “Fate is inescapable”?  It’s all over the stories in Greek Tragedies that were played in the theater at Athens. Oedipus hears a prophesy that he will kill his father.  So he runs…

Sometimes we take things to extremes in our zeal to live according to Nature. Scipio Aemilianus, the grandest Roman of his day, died at the height of his career. One of his nephews was throwing him an ambitious funeral banquet, and planned to give a magnificent eulogy.  He was going to proclaim to a large…

The most famous widow in Rome, in Marius’ younger years, was Cornelia.  She was the mother of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, the famous Roman populist reformers. At one point she seemed like one of the most fortunate mothers in Rome.  Her sons had brilliant futures ahead of them. Then their father died. Tiberius was 10,…

Plato had friends in the literary community.  One time he was attending a festival on the island of Samos.  He was supporting a poet friend of his named Antimachus, from the nearby city of Colophon. The festival was in honor of a Spartan general who had defeated the Athenians in a great war, Lysander. Antimachus…

How can we turn bad luck in our lives into a good thing?  Plutarch offers a strategy. In classical Athens, the first well known democracy in the West, most offices were decided by lot.  If you wanted to “run,” you threw your name into the equivalent of a hat, and crossed your fingers. When someone’s…