A couple of interesting link-Classics-to-the-modern-world questions recently at VDH's website:

Does the purported relationship between Chalabi and the Iranians as he loses support in Washington remind you of the connections between Alcibiades and the Persians as he lost support in Athens?

Hanson: Sort of I suppose. He certainly seems a similar triangulator—with Iraq, Iran, Jordan, the US. But then both figures have been so demonized, that who knows what is the truth? We still don’t know to what degree Xenophon, Thucydides, Plato, Aristophanes, and Plutarch were all talking about the same Alcibiades.

What do you think the ancient Greeks would tell us is our most pressing concern today? What would they tell us to do to resolve it?

Hanson: The unchanging nature of man. They would say: “Don’t be deceived by new isms and ologies, nor get confused by technocrats. Nor listen to the latest therapeutic bromides or some self-acclaimed new strategic thinker.”

As long as we are born into this earth, there is a certain logic and way of humans, a sameness to their desires, appetites, and impulses. Any who think they have evolved beyond the “human thing” usually are sorely disappointed. So remember we are guided by honor, status, and a desire for recognition, plagued by envy and jealousy, and quite crass and uncouth without the thin veneer of civilization—and in great debt to the Greeks and subsequent Western culture that quite singularly has allowed the world a modicum of decency and humanity.

A review of assorted video games in the Post-Standard includes this interesting tidbit:

"Asterix and Obelix Kick Buttix," Atari for Sony PlayStation 2; $29.99; Rated E (all ages). Other favorite old-time cartoon characters are also coming to the PS2. I don't know if you've ever come across the adventures of Asterix the Gaul in your travels, but you should. Goscinny and Uderzo's tales of the Gaulish village that refuses to surrender to the Roman Empire (circa 50 B.C.) are laugh-out-loud funny. (Try to locate a copy of "Asterix and Cleopatra" for an example of a truly comic comic strip.)

And so is "Asterix and Obelix Kick Buttix," a budget-priced PS2 game published by Atari. You'll play as the diminutive warrior and his oversized compatriot (simultaneously), as they run riot throughout the Roman Empire, freeing their fellow villagers from the clutches of Caesar and his hordes.

As in the books, this means bashing the pemmican out of the hapless army. (Luckily, the Gauls have a strength-enhancing potion. Or rather, most of them do. Obelix never gets to partake, as he fell into a cauldron of the stuff as a youngster, so any more would be overkill.)

The game covers six countries over 40 levels of smashing and bashing. Some sequences can have you battling more than five dozen enemies at a time, so expect some slowdown. (Not to mention some sore fingers.) Graphics are beautiful, the one-liners are snappy, and the animations are amazing.

Plus, at about $30, it won't hurt your wallet that much.

In addition to YLE's Nuntii Latini (below), Radio Bremen has updated their monthly news in Latin. Here are the headlines:

Ludi Olympici Athenis habiti
Urbs Brema officio atque honore insignis
Marlon Brando mortuus
Tabula picta nobilissima rapta
Klinsmann exercitator novus
Victoria eximia
Vesuvius periculosior quam adhuc existimatum 
Latinitas viva
MEMORABILIA: Natalis C. Octavii
NOTABILIA

Listen and read at the Radio Bremen page ...

The latest Latin headlines from YLE's Nuntii Latini news service:

Bush officialiter candidatus (3.9.2004)

Alhanov praesidens Tzetzeniae (3.9.2004)

Olympia Atheniensia ad finem adducta (3.9.2004)

Milites invalidi recoluntur (3.9.2004)

Rerum status in Sudania (27.8.2004)

De coloniis Iudaeorum (27.8.2004)

Recitatio

From Military History Magazine comes:

Lee Levin, Rome vs. Carthage: The Day the Earth Trembled