When you enter into military service, you learn through rote. In endless repetition, you learn how to walk and talk in order to contribute to the team with efficiency. Swear your allegiance to protect the values of the US Constitution. Be ready to give your life for your fellow comrade, as they would do the same for you. Wake up every morning motivated to be the best you can be. You know what you stand for, and you’re ready to endure anything for the esprit de corps.
And when you receive your discharge papers, it can feel like you’re estranged from your family. The nihilism of modernity can be demoralizing for the veteran. I can take fierce drill instructors, global deployments, and stale Meals Ready to Eat, but what’s really terrifying? Not having a clear purpose in life. There has to be more to life than TPS reports.
I served five years in the US Marine Corps, starting in 1998, during 9/11 in DC, and was activated for the 2003 Iraq War. After my service concluded, I was determined to find my next mission in life. As I was surveying courses at my university, it was not easy to find a topic that interested me. When I discovered Classics, I knew I had found terra firma.
Initially, like many veterans who discover an interest in Ancient Rome and Greece, I was attracted by the grand accounts of martial glory. Who is not astounded by the feats of the Athenians defending their home from vast invasions, the stern discipline of the Spartans, or the titans of grand strategy such as Themistocles, Alexander the Great, and Hannibal? Yet as I delved deeper into Greco-Roman civilization, I learned the Classics have more to teach us about peace than about war.
Cornerstone subjects of the Classics can provide the veteran with valuable tools to start the next chapter in life — no matter where you come from, or where you want to go, your life will be enriched by a taste of the Greeks and Romans. It worked for this veteran; I challenge you to try them out for yourself.
The History of Being Homesick
Some of the most significant epics of all of Greco-Roman literature center around the theme of reintegration. Legendary heroes go off to faraway lands, vanquish opponents, and survive tragic experiences. It’s almost as if the Iliad and Odyssey were written for military veterans, to stir camaraderie in the ancient version of VFW Halls, to honor the fallen.
The veteran returning home has been a staple of world literature since antiquity. In fact, the very concept of going home is expressed in Greek by the term nostos, and feeling pain at the thought of going home, feeling, literally, homesick is called nostalgia. Being homesick has a long history. To go home has special poignancy for the veteran of foreign conflicts, returning after years away from their place of birth. Read Homer, read Virgil, or other writers recounting journeys to faraway lands.
It’s All Greek to Me
Over the centuries, the writings of ancient scholars have been translated, retranslated, and edited ad infinitum. Yet you can bring yourself closer to the original thoughts of the ancients by learning how to read some Greek and Latin, even if you’re not going to major in the field. You can access thousands of phrases of Greek and Latin on Wikipedia. Learning these languages, even in small doses, can expand your awareness in ways you may not have expected. If you need to hear the sounds of the language to help your reading comprehension, there are excellent resources to assist you, such as Professor Mastronarde’s website.
Some make the argument that learning classical languages provides immediate practical benefits, such as helping you score higher on the LSAT. Yet I take the view that the return on your educational investment may be more unexpected. For instance, learning Greek introduced me to a concept with great personal significance: thumos. This term does not transfer easily into English, but it encompasses the concepts of: “the spirit in us all,” “risking everything for fame and success,” and “the urge to be respected, recognized, and not to be forgotten.” A wide range of people, especially professionals making life or death decisions in their daily life, must grapple with thumos.
Making Ideas Actionable
Many veterans found startups; over 2 million businesses in the United States are owned by veterans. There are countless lessons for innovation from the innovators of antiquity, such as Euclid, Archimedes, and the Hippocratic writers. When you study the history of science and technology you learn that, while great ideas have often been theorized, application sometimes does not occur for eons.
Take, for example, the life of Hero of Alexandria, born two thousand years ago. He was one of the finest empiricists in antiquity, and invented many devices utilizing pneumatics (steam power). This technology would be forgotten for centuries, and when it was rediscovered, it was a key force for the Industrial Revolution. Commercially viable steam engines from the 18th century on helped built the modern world. There are countless other examples of inventions from the past that were rediscovered. Let it be a great lesson that having a good idea is just the beginning. To put your ideas into action takes chutzpah.
Politics in Perspective
When you’re in the military, you rarely have time to read political news or debate issues. Practically speaking, you also know that it’s not appropriate to opine when in uniform. Now that you’re out, where do you start? I say, start at the beginning, as many of the fundamental topics of the public sphere were articulated by the ancients. Study the history of the city-state, of oligarchy, plutocracy, democracy, and everything else in between. Aristotle’s Politics is a bedrock of political science instruction. It may be dry reading, as it was likely Aristotle’s lecture notes, but it will serve you well for any future exploration of political thought. If you really want a challenge, delve into Plato’s Republic.
Fundamentally, what you learn from the Classics is that when it comes to politics, you have to take the long view. The questions about the tensions between equality (isonomia) and liberty (eleutheria) have been long debated by political philosophers. There are no easy answers to these questions, but we can all be better politicos when we understand the historical context of many of the modern debates around public expenditure, corruption, taxes, immigration, welfare, citizenship, property rights, debt, or military service.
Patriotism versus Nationalism
When does civic pride go too far, and turn into xenophobia? Where do you draw the line between patriotic love of country, and over-aggressive nationalism? I don’t profess to have answers to these questions, but antiquity is full of examples of what happens when a country over-extends itself, and risks hubris.
When the Athenians entered their Golden Age, and built an empire, they were remarkably proud of their cultural and economic achievements. Yet they reached too far with their expansionist foreign policy, and started an unnecessary war with their regional rival, Sparta, leading to the downfall of their prosperity when defeated. This 27 year war was over 2400 years ago, yet we have a meticulous account of it in Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War.
The lessons from this tragic case in political overreach are often forgotten by our political leaders. Yet sometimes, the study of the Classics itself is turned into a nationalistic enterprise. Some believe that their version of Classics represents all there is about Western Civilization, and any who would oppose this view are in league with the Goths who would burn down Rome.
Loving your country and your heritage is marvelous. However, you can bask in the nostalgia of antiquity without alienating the majority of humanity. A great joy of the Classics is to find new ways to build bridges between human beings, not build new walls of separation. We should encourage historically marginalized people to feel comfortable with studying Classics. And not just because it might help them score higher on the LSAT.
Predatory Universities
Many veterans, unaccustomed to the world of academia, are preyed upon by universities eager to cash in on their GI Bill funds. To put it mildly, the cultural spheres of the military base and the university campus are worlds apart. Predatory universities make this part of their business model; if your institution is spending 20% of their budget on marketing, beware. You may not be getting value for your hard-earned government benefits.
Unfortunately, some “schools” with low standards often take advantage of veterans when they leave the service. We have to address this issue head on, as uncomfortable as it is to hear. As General Mattis has said, “you cannot allow any of your people to avoid the brutal facts. If they start living in a dream world, it’s going to be bad.” Veterans deserve the best education our country has to offer.
We have a special name in the Classical tradition for educators who like gold more than pedagogy: sophists. Since the days of Socrates, we know a great deal about these swindlers, who acted not in the long-term interests of a student’s intellectual development, but in the short-term interests of their company’s profit margins.
Veterans, you need to protect yourself from sophistry and learn from Socrates, who had stark criticism for academic mercenaries. Numerous federal investigations are ongoing; I also recommend this excellent documentary by PBS.
The Overly-Practical
After you have gone back to university, and are preparing for your next career, you can easily take too many “practical” courses. There is no “silver bullet” for academic learning that leads to career success, as alluring as that sounds. The liberal arts are designed to free your mind. The historical perspective from Greek and Latin helps one with new methods of how to think, not what to think.
Speaking of history, Greek historians such as Herodotus and Thucydides invented the “case study,” now a core activity at business schools. The case study is a rational, evidence-based account of events that includes analysis of the motives, tactics, and outcomes of decisions-making. The case studies from antiquity are to be found in works such as On Duties by Cicero, or in lessons learned from martyrs such as Hypatia.
This is just a taste of how Classics can provide great value for veterans during their transition to study and work. If only some might find my advice of value, then my mission is accomplished. After studying the Classics at university, I decided to focus my career on investing in healthcare innovation. When you choose your own path, I recommend you take with you the lantern of timeless wisdom as a guide.
John Dvor is a venture capitalist and lifelong Classicist. He is on the Academic Advisory Board for the Warrior Scholar Project.
