Classics Scholar Bernard Knox's Obituary

Today's New York Times includes an obituary of Bernard Knox. He was a Cambridge-trained classics scholar. That sounds pretty dull until one reads about his life. He fought on the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War. He enlisted in the United States armed forces after the country's entry into World War II, eventually landing in the OSS. His missions included parachuting into France to aid the Resistance, and undertaking a dangerous mission into northern Italy.

Ironically, his passion for the classics was reignited during his Italian foray. According to the obituary, he found a bound copy of Virgil, whose bust, located at the poet's tomb near Naples, is shown above. Knox opened the book to "a section of the first Georgic that begins, 'Here right and wrong are reversed; so many wars in the world, so many faces of evil.'"

That lyric strikes a chord today, while reminding us that history continues to inform us, if we would only listen to it.