The Virtue Of A Full Amphora

The humanist Bartolomeo Scala wrote a consolatory essay to Cosimo de Medici upon the death of Cosimo’s son Giovanni in 1463. The essay (Dialogus de consolatione) is presented in the form of a dialogue between Cosimo and the author. As the conversation progresses, Scala separates the “goods” (i.e., the good things which make life happy) of this world into three classes: goods of the body, goods of the soul, and a third category of what he calls “external goods.” External goods are such tangibles as wealth, riches, or glory. We can list our “goods” as follows:
1. Goods of the Read More

Source: Return of Kings