Neoteric poetry is on the menus this week, as the guys take a close look at what Dave considers the most beautiful and moving poem from antiquity: Catullus 101. This is the famous threnody that Gaius Valerius Catullus (87-55 B.C.) addressed to his brother's ashes in Bithynia around 57 BC. The haunting lines of elegiac couplet compress a world of sorrow and sadness into 10 short verses. Along the way, Jeff explains how Catullus might have been a beat poet, and there's much discussion of what was driving the art and culture of the time. The one gentleman of Verona, the place that was a kind of Roman Hocking Hills, made his way to the capital city at the age of 22 and quickly put his name in lights with his brilliant and racy poetry addressed to cow-eyed Lesbia. Listeners will want to tune in for the new music, a brand-new sponsor (dellachelpka.art), and the usual, though moderated - given the weighty subject matter - hijinks. Check out A.S. Kline's translation of the poem here: https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Catullus.php#anchor_Toc531846828

It's time to blind you with some science! Jeff and Dave follow Marrou's masterful tome (Part II, Chapter VIII) back through the centuries to see what place the other, non-literary side of the education coin held in antiquity. In contrast to present-day obsessions with STEM, we learn that while branches of mathematics were held up as an ideal, they never really took pride of place in the general education of Greeks and Romans. Instead, despite Plato's and Isocrates' best efforts, much like today math was left to the experts. In fact, when the ancients did get their math, geometry, music, and astronomy on, they preferred them with a heaping dose of myth, magic, and mysticism (we're looking at you, Pythagoras). Come along for maybe the worst ever opening gag, some Mike Rowe inspired musings, a quick look at the Greek terror of infinity, and much more. Plus: the long-awaited drawing for the Ratio 4. Who will win?

The guys are excited this week to welcome into the studio (via Zoom) their colleague from Hope College Dr. Bram ten Berge. After coming close to a career in professional tennis (more on that in the show), Bram finished his B.A. in Classics at U. Miss and matriculated through U. Mich, graduating with the PhD in 2016. In this episode, we get to ask Bram, a topshelf scholar of Roman history and a specialist in Tacitus (c. 55-120 A.D.), all manner of recondite questions. Bram helps us sort through Tacitus' political consistency, his historiographical program, relevance to contemporary politics, and questions of Latin style. Based on his outstanding 2023 book Writing Imperial History: Tacitus from Agricola to Annales, Bram's acute expertise and conversational style are sure to appeal to aficionados of Roman history. If you like Tacitus and the writing of res gestae, this episode is game : set : match!