Essays and Dialogues


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(5 stars; 2 reviews)

"We would no more choose to feed the minds of our countrymen and women with the despairing utterances of the pessimist poet, than we would their bodies with hasheesh. Such melancholy as his clothed in such eloquent words may be the luxury of the idle; it is poison to those who have work to do in the world. It shuts out hope, the very spring of energy; it makes the cheerful steady pursuit of duty a thing utterly beyond human powers. For we can none of us stand alone. Either in human or divine love we must find the mainspring of all life worth living. There must be something outside of ourselves which we regard not with despair, but with hope." -- Handwritten dedication in the book, dated Feb. 19th, 1883 (7 hr 54 min)

Chapters

Biographical Sketch, part 1 26:37 Read by Mary J
Biographical Sketch, part 2 23:24 Read by Mary J
History of the Human Race 27:39 Read by Jia Jia Yong
Dialogue between Hercules and Atlas 6:55 Read by chocmuse
Dialogue between Fashion and Death 6:29 Read by Beth Thomas (1974-2020)
Price Competition Announced by the Academy of Sillographs 10:47 Read by Crln Yldz Ksr
Dialogue between a Goblin and a Gnome 7:46 Read by Peter Tucker
Dialogue between Malambruno and Farfarello 6:55 Read by Zeeshan Reshamwala
Dialogue between Nature and a Soul 6:50 Read by Beth Thomas (1974-2020)
Dialogue between the Earth and the Moon 14:17 Read by Availle
The Wager of Prometheus 23:24 Read by Linda Dodge
Dialogue between a Natural Philosopher and a Metaphysician 10:50 Read by Beth Thomas (1974-2020)
Dialogue between Tasso and his Familiar Spirit 12:59 Read by Rapunzelina
Dialogue between Nature and an Icelander 14:34 Read by Rapunzelina
Parini on Glory, Chapters I-III 14:19 Read by Mary J
Parini on Glory, Chapters IV-VI 12:32 Read by Mary J
Parini on Glory, Chapters VII-IX 14:20 Read by Mary J
Parini on Glory, Chapters X-XII 8:37 Read by Mary J
Dialogue between Frederic Ruysch and his Mummies 14:00 Read by ToddHW
Remarkable Sayings of Philip Ottonieri, Chapters I-III 23:13 Read by Peter Tucker
Remarkable Sayings of Philip Ottonieri, Chapters IV-VII 23:59 Read by Peter Tucker
Dialogue between Christopher Columbus and Pietro Gutierrez 11:19 Read by Zeeshan Reshamwala
Panegyric of Birds 15:03 Read by Eric Metzler
The Song of the Wild Cock 10:31 Read by Eric Metzler
Dialogue between Timandro and Eleandro 17:39 Read by Rapunzelina
Copernicus, Scene I 8:58 Read by Julia Niedermaier
Copernicus, Scene II 1:39 Read by Mary J
Copernicus, Scene III 2:22 Read by Rapunzelina
Copernicus, Scene IV 9:38 Read by Mary J
Dialogue between an Almanac Seller and a Passer-by 4:40 Read by Zeeshan Reshamwala
Dialogue between Plotinus and Porphyrius 36:56 Read by Linda Dodge
Comparison of the Last Words of Marcus Brutus and Theophrastus 19:37 Read by Eric Metzler
Dialogue between Tristano and a Friend 25:54 Read by Linda Dodge