Interiors and Furniture in Ancient Rome

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Aristotle on happiness and relaxation

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In book X of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle tackles the concept of happiness.  Happiness, he says, is not a state because if it were then everyone would possess it, even someone who is asleep throughout his life (we might say someone who is in a coma).  Happiness ought therefore to be referred to an activity, one which is chosen for itself and not for the sake of anything else as it does not require anything else, it is self-sufficient.   According to Aristotle we choose almost everything in our lives for the sake of having something else.  This is not the same though with happiness because happiness is the goal.  He quotes Anacharsis , a Scythian philosopher who visited Greece in the early 6 th c. B.C. "Play to work harder" to emphasize his view that amusement is not happiness but a mere form of relaxation as we nobody can work non-stop and needs to relax.  Because relaxation is taken for the sake of continuing with another activity (i.e. work) it is not an end in itsel...
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Suetonius on Caligula's Sex Life

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Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (b. A.D. 12, d. A.D. 41) became emperor in A.D 37. His was one of the most notorius and yet poorly documented reigns. As a boy he was nicknamed Caligula, which means 'Little Boots', by the men in the army, as he went about dressed in a soldier's uniform with matching miniature boots. He was said to be extremely cruel and his characyer appears to be that of a true psychopath. He had people executed for practicaly next to nothing, confiscated people's wealth for himself, imposed outrageously silly laws, had incestuous relations with his sisters, etc. Whatever nasty thing you can imagine, Caligula probably did it. Suetonius provides us with plenty of gossip about Caligula, and a very intriguing paragraph on his sex life: "He had not the slightest regard for chastity, either his own or others', and was accused of homosexual relations, both active and passive, with Marcus Lepidus, also Mnester the comedian, and various foreign hosta...
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The Duchess of Argyll and the Headless Men

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1963 was a year of scandal for British politics. The Profumo case nearly brought the government down and as if that wasn't enough, Duncan Sandys, the son-in-law of Winston Churchill announced that he was going to resign because of some nasty rumours that had been spread about him. What where these rumours about? Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, was the daughter of a Scottish millionaire. She was brought up in lavish surroundings and had all that she asked for. In the inter-war years she married a wealthy American stockbroker and several years later, during the war, she stepped into an empty lift shaft and suffered horrible injuries. Amazingly she recovered and was able to walk again. However, it was said that her personality had acquired a new trait; she had become utterly promiscuous. Her appetite was said to be insatiable. In 1947 she got a divorce. Shortly afterwars, she met Ian Campbell, the future Duke of Argyll. Margaret wanted a title and Ian needed her cash. The result was thei...
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