Xenophon’s Cyropaedia, Moral Sayings of Cyrus the Great, King of Persia
Greek Philosophy

Xenophon’s Cyropaedia, Moral Sayings of Cyrus the Great, King of Persia

Was Xenophon’s Cyrus the source of Benjamin Franklin’s response to the question of what sort of government the delegates of the Constitutional Convention had created: “A republic, if you can keep it.” Xenophon’s Cyrus the Great observes, “It is a great work to found an empire, but a far greater work to keep it. To seize it may the fruit of daring and daring only, but to hold it is impossible without self-restraint and self-command and endless care.” […]

CS Lewis

CS Lewis’ Great Divorce, An Allegory of Hell and Plato’s Cave

Another allegory similar to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, the central story in the Republic and Platonic philosophy, is CS Lewis’ great book, the Great Divorce, about how Hell itself is a another type of dark cave of deceptions, where the brave few can still choose to board the bus to climb into the bright sun and visit a brighter place, the fields surrounding the mountain the faithful climb in their eternal quest for perfection and union with Christ. […]