Phew! I’m back! After a somewhat extended absence, I have returned, yet there is not much to report. There are many questions, but not many answers. All I can say is that during this interlude, I have taken the time to do some of the things that I love. I finished my History of the Persian Empire, which I can describe in one word: awesome. I have a warm ‘affection’ for those authors that take those things I hold dear and utterly destroy them. Why? Because I am not a fanatic, I am a moderate. The author of this work allowed me to appreciate the Babylonians and Egyptians and all those people that fall under the category of Orientals, i.e., the people of the Near East of ancient times.
When I was a child, I had a profound sense of admiration for the Egyptians, that fantastic race whose civilization flourished along the Nile; a magical people that had constructed pyramids and sphinxes. And when I discovered the Greeks, I forgot them but I always retained my fondness for these mathematical geniuses that worshipped the sacred Apis and were under the impression that the universe was on the underbelly of a cow!
I don’t know when I’ll write again. I am alive though, very much so, not that that has ever been in doubt. There is something to be said for reading books on end and not having to discuss them with anyone. There is a sense of anxiety, as if something will change in my life, and my response is to read more voraciously, incessantly. Until we meet again; I would say, “Let’s do lunch,” but I feel like being flippant … I feel like being myself.