This is the first page, containing the Index to all Quotations of the Month from 2004 (the first year quotations were posted) to the present year. To read quotations for any year, click on the links below.

For people always applaud the most for the song that is newest to circulate among the listeners. Homer, Odyssey I.351-352. The latest news is always a standard subject of the oral poet, whether the bard of antiquity or the improvisational artist of today. In the Odyssey, Phemius (described in the quotation above) sings a song about the Trojan War to the assembled Suitors, because that was the news of the day. Illustration: Apollo, patron god of music, plays the lyre, the instrument with which the bard accompanied himself.

Archived quotations of the month —— index to all years

Beginning with September, 2004, my home page will feature a different quotation from Classical or other literature each month, appropriate to the season or to current events. The pages you are now looking at contain "Quotations of the Month" from previous months. Translations are my own, except where otherwise noted. Each year now has its own separate page. The list below contains an index to all years from the first year (2004) to the present year. Do you have a suggestion for a future Quotation of the Month? If so, send me your ideas.

Index to quotations

All archived quotations, from the earliest in 2004 to the present, are listed here with links for easy access to the selections.

Quotations of the Month, Year by Year Click on a link to read each quotation 2011 December 2011: For the party and gift-giving season, Telemachus learns to make a graceful exit — while declining a gift he can't use (Odyssey Book 4). November 2011: For the Republican Presidential debates, some advice for the candidates from Cicero's De Oratore. October 2011: For Oktoberfest, some ancient uses of beer, among the Sumerians, Egyptians, and in Pliny's Natural History. September 2011: For the beginning of the school year, Athena disguised as Mentor (the eponymous "mentor") teaches Telemachus how to be a man (Odyssey, Bk. 2 vv. 267-300). August 2011: The evil of poetic recitations in August (Juvenal Satire III). July 2011: Thinking of summer vacation — Catullus' greetings to his beloved villa at Sirmio. June 2011: For Father's Day, Aeneas rescues his father Anchises from the burning ruins of Troy in Vergil's Aeneid. May 2011: The killing of Osama bin Laden and tornados in the U.S. both suggest the killing by Zeus of the monster Typhoeus in Hesiod's Theogony 820-880. April 2011: For Easter, Passover, and Earth Day: Persephone is reunited with her mother in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. March 2011: Spring flowers: Persephone is lured by a magical narcissus in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. February 2011: For Valentine's Day: a little winged Cupid described by Asclepiades of Samos. January 2011: Global warming and weather chaos: Phaethon's wild ride (Ovid, Metamorphoses II.161-256). 2010 December 2010: The bears, celestial and sylvan, hibernate: Callisto's story (Ovid, Metamorphoses II 466-507). November 2010: At Thanksgiving, we have Prometheus to thank for the succulent meals we enjoy on feast days (Hesiod Theogony 535-560). October 2010: for Halloween, a journey to the Underworld by a very small insect (Vergil's Culex). September 2010: The evils of religious fanaticism (from Lucretius' De Rerum Natura). August 2010: On a summer day, the bees collect honey and stock their hives (Vergil's Fourth Georgic). July 2010: We have the IPad and Kindle, but what "tablets" did Homer's heroes use? (Bellerophon's cryptic message in the Iliad). June 2010: on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico: If you go too deep or too high, the gods will get even ( Otus and Ephialtes storm Olympus, as told in Odyssey Book 11). May 2010: Gerrymandering for a good cause: The reforms of Cleisthenes vs. entrenched special interests (Aristotle's Constitution of Athens). April 2010: For Arbor Day and Earth Day, Aphrodite entrusts the baby Aeneas to the tree nymphs (Homeric Hymn V to Aphrodite). March 2010: Happy Exelauno Day! (March Fo(u)rth). The March of the Ten Thousand Greeks (Xenophon's Anabasis). February 2010: For Valentine's Day, Greek goddesses as ancient "cougars," ageless beauties who seduce attractive young men. Circe and Calypso and Odysseus, Eos and Tithonus (and others!), Aphrodite and Anchises. January 2010: For Martin Luther King, a prophetic dream in Vergil's Aeneid. 2009 December 2009: In the winter season of the Northern Hemisphere, a shout-out to the Antipodes, where it's summer. The Antipodes as a real place in Plato, as a state of mind in Seneca's satire of modern overindulgence. November 2009: Inspired by the debate over health care, "A cock for Asclepius" (from Plato's Phaedo). October 2009: For Halloween, Odysseus summons the ghosts of the dead (Odyssey Book 11). September 2009: For the beginning of the school year, quotations from Plato and Cicero on the need for a broad education. August 2009: Inspired by the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival, quotations from Plato on the elevating or corrupting influence of music in education. July 2009: In honor of the astronauts' moon landing, we have quotations from the Homeric Hymns and Apollonius Rhodius' Argonautica, on the moon as goddess and as object of witchcraft. June 2009: Inspired by the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, we cite Athena's judgment in favor of Orestes in Aeschylus' Eumenides May 2009: Inspired by the current hysteria about "swine flu," we quote Pindar's impassioned defense against the slur "Boeotian pig." April 2009: Ovid, in the Fasti, wonders about the name of the month of April; why is it not named for Venus? (Perhaps it is named for Aphrodite, the Greek counterpart of Venus?) March 2009: As we are reminded by the task of cleaning up the world's crises, Heracles had to clean up the Augeian stables, whose vastness is described by Theocritus. February 2009: For the financial meltdown and other follies, wisdom from a Cretan knife ("Don't take a trip with your mind unless you see a road..."). January 2009: For the inauguration of President Barack Obama, Vergil's prediction of a new Golden Age in his Fourth Eclogue. 2008 December 2008: The poet Horace tells us that when it is snowing outside we should stay in and party. November 2008: For Thanksgiving: The poet Catullus dedicates a dependable old boat that is to be retired, in thanks for a safe voyage. October 2008: For non-participants in the fall sports events, The philosopher Seneca salutes the unathletic nerd. August-September 2008: A review of the movie WALL-E, a robot love story, and a quotation from Homer's Iliad. July '08 To honor the birth of a daughter to a man in Oregon, we celebrate the seer Teiresias, who turned into a woman, then back into a man, as told in Ovid's Metamorphoses June '08 for the summer solstice, a tipsy celebrant looks at the heavens in Ovid's Fasti. May '08: Inflation, Roman style: Janus complains of the devaluation of the old currency in Ovid's Fasti. April '08: Suggested by the accursed Red Sox T-shirt buried under Yankee Stadium, a poem by Horace calling down shipwreck on a rival. March '08 For the"March Madness" basketball championships, Nausicaa and her maidens play ball in the Odyssey February '08 For Valentines' Day, a love poem by Sappho: the poetess "falls to pieces" (à la Patsy Cline) when she sees the object of her desire. January '08 Women warriors in Herodotus, suggested by the candidates in the U.S. presidential election, featuring Artemisia's valor at Salamis. 2007 December '07 Catullus presents his friend Cornelius (Nepos) with a gift of his poems, for the end-of-year gift-giving season. November '07 Hesiod tells the farmer how to get ready for winter, with emphasis on equipment-making and "personnel decisions" (employ only older women, men, and oxen; they aren't easily distracted). October '07 Theophrastus on "The Superstitious Man," for Halloween and El Dia de los Muertos. September '07 Tacitus on good generals vs. bad emperors, suggested by the war in Iraq. August '07 Horace's Journey to Brundisium on the Appian Way, the "ancient Roman Interstate Highway System," suggested by America's collapsing infrastructure. July '07 a sorceress performs magic in a poem by Theocritus, in honor of the Harry Potter film and book. June '07 Pindar's Sixth Olympian, in honor of the filly Rags to Riches' winning the Belmont Stakes. May '07 Hermes, son of Maia, steals Apollo's cattle and plays other tricks (from the Homeric Hymn to Hermes) April '07 Daphne turns into a laurel tree in Ovid's Metamorphoses, for Arbor Day. March '07 some friendly snakes from Ovid's Metamorphoses, for St. Patrick's Day and the beginning of Spring. February '07 Song of the Bacchantes from Euripides' Bacchae, for Mardi Gras. January '07 Janus opens the year in a quotation from Ovid's Fasti. 2006 December '06 for the Saturnalia, quotations from Catullus and Vergil's Aeneid (on the Golden Age of Saturn). November '06 For Veterans' Day, a quotation from Horace's Odes on courage and patriotism. October '06 the rainy stars of the Hyades in autumn, from Hesiod's Works and Days. September '06 The god Pluto, his planet, and his dog. Quotations from Aeschylus (Pluto's gold-flowing river); Plato (the name "Pluto" ("the Wealthy One") as a euphemism for the God of the Underworld); Euripides (Cerberus, Pluto's three-headed guard dog). August '06 the god Pan and the Persians at Marathon, from Herodotos' Histories: (Pheidippides, who ran to Sparta for aid to Athens, and the runner who carried the news of the victory at Marathon were two different messengers, but are often confused -- and neither of them fell down dead; these guys were professionals, after all!) July '06 a warning about the dangers of disturbing Pan at mid-day, from Theocritus' Idyll I. June '06 Ovid's story (from the Fasti, or "Roman Calendar") about how June was named for the goddess Juno -- if it wasn't named for one or another rival goddess! May '06 Quotation for Memorial Day: Excerpts from Pericles' Funeral Oration (for the Athenian war dead), in Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War. April '06 Quotations for Earth Day: Gaia in Hesiod's Theogony and Homeric Hymn III to Earth, Mother of All. March '06 The story of Romulus and Remus, twin sons of Mars, for whom the month of March is named, from Ovid's Fasti. January-February '06 Quotations about Blacks in antiquity for Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Black History Month (from Homer, Vergil, Terence). 2005 December '05 A quotation on sacred trees for the Winter Solstice, Christmas, and other winter holidays from Horace (on the dedication of a pine tree to Diana). November '05 A quotation (and pictures) for Halloween, El Dia de los Muertos, and Thanksgiving; Ovid on the Lemuria -- a kind of Roman Halloween -- and some artesian wells in South Dakota. October '05 A quotation for Columbus Day from Horace on the perils of a sea voyage. September '05 A quotation from the Roman satirist Juvenal suggested by Hurricane Katrina. (After a disaster, the rich get richer and the poor are left homeless.) August '05 A quotation for the dog days of summer (from Hesiod's Works and Days, on sex-crazed women and weak men), July '05: a patriotic quotation for the Fourth of July (Livy on Cincinnatus, role model for the Founding Fathers of the U.S.), June '05: summer vacation (Horace on enjoying life and being silly), May '05: the Kentucky Derby (Pindar's victory ode for King Hieron's horse Pherenikos), April '05: Income Tax deadline (April 15) (Hesiod on honest work vs. corruption), March '05: the first day of spring (Vergil and Tibullus), February '05: Valentine's Day (Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite), December '04, January '05: Saturnalia and the start of winter (a festive quotation from Catullus and a chilly one from Hesiod). 2004 November '04: Election Day (Aristophanes on the Bloviating Politico), October '04: "Doublespeak" and government propaganda (Thucydides), September '04: a lament for the war dead from Aeschylus ("Ares the moneychanger" exchanges live warriors for urns of dust).

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