Thursday, May 25, 2023

 

The Intellectual

Ronald Syme, "Hadrian the Intellectual," in his Roman Papers, VI (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991), pp. 103-114 (at 103):
Hadrian might be defined as an 'intellectual', with all that the term connotes of good or bad, serious or frivolous. The intellectual falls into a recognizable category, all too familiar in the cultivated societies of the modern world. He is curious and conceited, instable and petulant; against birth and class, authority and tradition. He dabbles in the arts, he admires the beauties of nature. A cosmopolitan by his tastes, he is devoted to foreign travel; he detests nationalism, militarism, and the cult of power; and he will defend 'les droits de l'homme' or the cause of universal peace.
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