gandalf: Great flick! I see you siding with the nihilists, though…
For my sophmore Latin class, I had to translate “The Iliad” from Latin to English. And you couldn’t just go out and buy an English copy and transcribe it, because it translated differently. That little episode forever cured me of reading ANYTHING in the original Latin. Screw that. I’ll buy the Cliff Notes.
It is an excellent book. It was first recommended me to by a Jesuit priest when I was in 6th grade. He opined that all of history was contained in that one book. He wasn’t far off.
One other interesting observation, or, more accurately, analogy: You look at Athens in the book, rich and powerful, and wonder why, at the height of their power and prestige, they would engage in an utterly futile and sanguinary war that lasted 30+ years and ruined them completely.
It’s scary how often history truly does repeat itself. The players (Athens, Rome, Great Britain) change, but the storyline remains the same.
