Victor Davis Hanson is a syndicated columnist whose rather conservative opinions appear with frequency in various newspapers. One of his recent columns appeared in The Mercury News, which I read each morning. In The Mercury, Hanson's column was titled, "A civilization so wealthy and leisured yet bored, unhappy." The same column also appeared in National Review, under a shorter headline: "Our Modern Satyricon."
Based on the Hanson column, I decided that I should add The Satyricon to my reading list. I have never read The Satyricon, and while it is a bit late for me to begin striving for some classical education, it sounds like the effort would be worthwhile. Here is a quick paragraph from Hanson, outlining what he got from reading The Satyricon:
Globalization had enriched and united non-Romans into a world culture. That was an admirable feat. But such homogenization also attenuated the very customs, traditions and values that had led to such astounding Roman success in the first place.
Rome, in other words, seems to have been a lot like America today. It is possible to read The Satyricon online. Just click that link. If you do decide to dip into the text, you will find illustrations included, like the one at the top of this blog posting. With Hanson, you will not get any illustrations, but you'll get the gist of what The Satyricon is all about. And if you pick the National Review version of Hanson's column, you do get a nice picture of the Colosseum in Rome, beseiged by modern traffic:
Image Credit:
(1) - http://www.gutenberg.org/files/5225/5225-h/5225-h.htm#linkTHE_SATYRICON
(2) - https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/05/globalization-modern-world-rome-satyricon/
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