A few days ago, I finished reading a book I had started back on December 8, 2021.
All in all, it took me 1,185 days to finish this book.
In part, that’s because I was reading other stuff during that time as well.
In part, it’s also because this book comes in four volumes, each of which is about 500 pages long. Put together, the four volumes could kill you if they fell out of a third-story window and landed on your head as you strolled on the sidewalk below.
The book in question is Plutarch’s Parallel Lives. It’s a bunch of biographies of famous Greeks and Romans, told, as per the title, in parallel, comparing and contrasting the lives of two similar men from two different times and places.
I read Parallel Lives because I like to get a shift in perspective. And one of the best ways to get a shift in perspective is to get away from current Amazon bestsellers, and go read something written 2,000 years ago.
I took hundreds of notes of interesting bits and pieces while reading Plutarch.
I went through them all after I finished, and I pulled out just 7 which I want to share with you today, because they relate to influence or simply because they are inspiring or funny. Here goes:
#1. No beginnings should be considered too small to be capable of quickly becoming great by uninterrupted endurance and having no obstacle to their growth by reason of being despised. [speaking about the rise of Julius Caesar in Caesar’s youth]
#2. “Indulgence is for slaves, but labor for princes.” [supposedly spoken by Alexander the Great]
#3. The most fundamental law is that which makes men in need of help follow him who can save them.
#4. He seemed to think victory over the enemy was merely a subordinate incident in the great work of disciplining his fellow-citizens. [about Aemilius Paulus, a Roman general who kept driving the Romans into various major wars]
#5. “The husband of an heiress should approach her at least thrice in each month. For even if no children are born, still this is a mark of respect to a good wife, and puts an end to many misunderstandings, preventing their leading to an actual quarrel.” [said by Solon, the Athenian lawgiver and philosopher, famous for his wisdom]
#6. It is a strange and unworthy feeling that prompts a man not to claim that to which he has a right, for fear that he may one day lose it; for by the same reasoning he might refuse wealth, reputation, or wisdom, for fear of losing them hereafter.
#7. With all the necessary acts of life, Lykurgus mingled some ceremony, which might enkindle virtue or discourage vice. [about Lycurgus, the legendary lawgiver who instituted Spartan society as we know it]
I think this last bit is particularly interesting. In fact, it’s why I’m writing today’s email.
I find reading to be one of the necessary acts of life, at least if you want to write for influence.
Since it is necessary, I might as well mingle some ceremony with it, such as marking momentous occasions like finishing a 3-year book-reading project.
Of course, it’s not only endings that can be celebrated with ceremony, but beginnings too.
Which is one reason why I’m making such a ceremony of announcing my upcoming book, full title:
10 Commandments of Con Men, Pick Up Artists, Magicians, Door-to-Door Salesmen, Hypnotists, Copywriters, Professional Negotiators, Political Propagandists, Stand Up Comedians, and Oscar-Winning Screenwriters
My goal is to finish and publish this book by March 24… or some time after that?
In any case, I will be writing about this book and how it’s progressing, plus what I’m thinking about doing to make it a success when it comes out.
If you are interested in the topic of this book, and you’re thinking you might wanna get a copy when it comes out, click below. I’m planning some launch bonuses and I will be dripping them out early to people on this pre-launch list:
Click here to get on the bonus-dripping pre-launch list for my new 10 Commandments book