#57 Lucretius “On The Nature Of Things”

#57 Lucretius “On The Nature Of Things”

by | Jun 28, 2019 | Podcast

Let’s get deep into some Lucretius, the Roman Epicurean philosopher poet. Today I want to read from “On the Nature of Things”. * As our Alexander listeners will know, Epicurus was an ancient Greek philosopher * 341–270 BCE * established his own school,...
#56 Poggio Bracciolini Part 4

#56 Poggio Bracciolini Part 4

by | Jun 24, 2019 | Podcast

In 1417, Poggio made the greatest discovery of his career – Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura, aka “On The Nature Of Things”, the last surviving copy of his five-book epic attempt to explain Epicurean philosophy to a Roman audience in poem. Little did...
#55 Poggio Bracciolini Part 3

#55 Poggio Bracciolini Part 3

by | Jun 7, 2019 | Podcast

So back to January 1417. Poggio made a number of book hunting trips that winter. So he must have had a lot of funding from back home. Here’s a short clip from today’s episode:   Bruni wrote to him, saying “keep going, don’t worry about the cost, I’ll...
#54 Poggio Bracciolini Part 2

#54 Poggio Bracciolini Part 2

by | May 31, 2019 | Podcast

Poggio had to use all of his talents to talk his way into monastery libraries. In some he had to be super serious. In others, he would tell wild stories about stupid peasants, or sexy housewives and rapey priests. Whatever it takes to get his hands on their...
#53 Poggio Bracciolini

#53 Poggio Bracciolini

by | May 25, 2019 | Podcast

In the year 1417, 17 years before Cosimo De Medici took control of Florence, a man called Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini went hunting in the middle of Germany. Hunting for manuscripts. Thanks to Poggio, we have today several masterpieces of Roman literature,...