Rome as a Guide to the Good Life: A Philosophical Grand Tour

Description

A unique, portable guidebook that sketches Rome’s great philosophical tradition while also providing an engaging travel companion to the city. This is a guidebook to Rome for those interested in both la dolce vita and what the ancient Romans called the vita beata—the good life. Philosopher Scott Samuelson offers a thinker’s tour of the Eternal City, rooting ideas from this philosophical tradition within the geography of the city itself. As he introduces the city’s great works of art and its most famous sites—the Colosseum, the Forum, the Campo de’ Fiori—Samuelson also gets to the heart of the knotty ethical and emotional questions they pose. Practicing philosophy in place, Rome as a Guide to the Good Life tackles the profound questions that most tours of Rome only bracket. What does all this history tell us about who we are? In addition to being a thoughtful philosophical companion, Samuelson is also a memorable tour guide, taking us on plenty of detours and pausing to linger over an afternoon Negroni, sample four classic Roman pastas, or explore the city’s best hidden gems. With Samuelson’s help, we understand why Rome has inspired philosophers such as Lucretius and Seneca, poets and artists such as Horace and Caravaggio, filmmakers like Fellini, and adventurers like Rosa Bathurst. This eclectic guidebook to Roman philosophy is for intrepid wanderers and armchair travelers alike—anyone who wants not just a change of scenery, but a change of soul. Contents Introduction. Philosophy as a Guide to la Dolce Vita I. Build Not Thereon 1. Die on Your Journey: The Question of Rosa Bathurst’s Tombstone 2. Build on Tragedy: The Humility of Caravaggio’s David with the Head of Goliath 3. Put Down Roots in the Uprooted: The Piety of Bernini’s Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius II. Remember Death 4. Be Not for Yourself Alone: Cicero in the Ruins of the Forum 5. Take the View from Above: Marcus Aurelius in the Saddle III. Reap the Day 6. Conquer Your Fear: Lucretius versus the Roman Triumph 7. Dare to Be Wise: Horace’s View of the City IV. Love and Do What You Will 8. Hold Humanity Sacred: Seneca or Augustine versus the Colosseum 9. Crash through the Floor: The Mysteries of the Basilica of San Clemente 10. Make a Golden Ass of Yourself:The Metamorphoses in Agostino Chiti’s Villa V. Make a Palace of Your Memory 11. Be the Conversation: The Philosophy of Raphael’s School of Athens 12. Unlock the Soul in Your Soul: Giordano Bruno in the Campo de’ Fiori Conclusion. What Resists Time Is What’s Ever Flowing Acknowledgments Appendix: Rome by Way of the Winged Eye Notes Index