There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

When I wrote A Memorable Honor, I was amazed to discover the depth of Shakespeare’s understanding of the ancient world, both Rome and Greece.  The late Yale professor Paul Cantor thought that Shakespeare was a “profound thinker” on ancient Rome.  Shakespeare also had a deep understanding of ancient Greece, including its heroic poetry and its philosophers. 

Shakespeare was not alone.  From the Renaissance through the founding of our republic and well into the 19th Century, philosophers and political leaders in the United States and throughout the West found inspiration and understanding in classical thought.  Lincoln is well within this tradition; he seems to have based the structure of the Gettysburg Address on Pericles’ 430 BC funeral oration to the Athenians during the Peloponnesian War. 

This kind of political philosophy seems anachronistic in the age of barely literate social media influencers and sophomoric political attack ads (“I’m Odysseus of Ithaca, and I approve this message”).  In fact, we haven’t seen anyone mention ancient Greece in a major political speech since…

October 7, 2026.   Seriously. 

In a speech delivered with the Athens Acropolis as a backdrop, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke about the West and its ideals, grounding them in the history of ancient Greece.  It’s more than a little surprising that a major American political figure would deliver a message like this in the 21st Century.  I can tell you from personal experience that people today tend to roll their eyes (you know who you are) when someone tries to market the ideas of the past – ideas they learned unwillingly in high school and have since tried to forget – as relevant to the present. 

But, pretentiousness aside, those old ideas are indeed relevant, oftentimes central, to our modern discourse.  That’s why Secretary Rubio’s speech was so extraordinary.  He argues that the West has lost its way and no longer appreciates its past.  In his view, the West is now faced with a choice between a “future of atrophy and servitude and decline” or a vibrant future informed by the ancient wisdom of the Greek world.  The Secretary says that the West must rediscover the ancient Greek concept of “Thumos,” the ambitious spiritedness that drives people to accomplish great things.

Secretary Rubio is politician, not a philosopher.  His speech is a political message, one that defends the Trump Administration’s policies and tries to repair relations with European allies by calling them to join with the United States to meet the challenges of the moment.  Not incidentally, the speech also positions Marco Rubio as a potential President.  All this may offend you, especially if you despise the current President, but, despite the usual partisanship that marks our era, the speech is still an admirable effort to summon from the people of the West a renewed understanding of the importance of our shared history.

At least, that’s the way it seems to me.  Perhaps that’s because Secretary Rubio’s speech carries many of the same themes that are found in A Memorable Honor.  He recognizes the importance of cultural memory.  He talks about “striving, sacrificing, and achieving greatly for something larger than yourself,” which sounds a lot like the Shakespearean “higher honor” I describe in my book.  He summons his listeners to courage in the face of the challenges of the day. 

It’s remarkable that a modern political speech would mention figures like Plutarch, Achilles, and Socrates.  It’s astonishing that any modern politician would stand before the Parthenon to talk explicitly about the need for our society to embrace the concept of Thumos.  I admire the effort.

At the same time, the Secretary seem to have missed an important point.  He did not recognize, as did Plato and Shakespeare, that Thumos by itself is insufficient and potentially destructive.  Plato saw Thumos as one of two powerful winged horses pulling a chariot; the second “horse” is Eros, the often-selfish human instinct to pursue life, comfort and pleasure before anything else.  In Plato’s metaphor, these two powerful horses are under the control of the “charioteer” of reason, Logos.  In a well-balanced soul, Logos brings together the untamed forces of Thumos and Eros to achieve enlightenment. 

One of the central themes of A Memorable Honor – the need for leaders to inspire their people by connecting them to a higher honor – grows out of Shakespeare’s clear understanding of Plato.  He creates a dynamic in Henry IV Part 1 that encapsulates Plato’s model of the soul, with Prince Hal standing for Logos, or reason, Falstaff for Eros, and Hotspur as Thumos.

Shakespeare, like Plato, saw that Thumos by itself will ultimately fail.  That’s why Prince Hal was able to defeat Hotspur at the end of Henry IV Part 1:  he, not Hotspur or Falstaff, was able to assume the rational role of Logos that controls Thumos and Eros.  In other words, Hal had become a great leader by incorporating and controlling these two aspects of human nature.  In Prince Hal’s later incarnation as Henry V, he used the lessons of Hotspur and Falstaff to lead his people to victory against overwhelming odds at Agincourt.  He had become the charioteer, the Logos of Plato’s metaphor. 

Logos – the Word – is also the metaphor that the Gospel of John uses for Christ.  William Galston argues in The Wall Street Journal that Rubio’s speech gave short shrift to the Judeo-Christian roots of the West, choosing Athens over Jerusalem, as it were.  This criticism may not be entirely fair (after all, the Secretary talks about the Western Christian tradition in the speech) but it grows from the same Platonic soil:  the emphasis on Thumos misses the humble tradition of servant leadership and responsibility that is also at the heart of the West.  Even when thinking about the influence of the pagan ancients, neither Shakespeare nor Lincoln ever forgot the Christian roots that informed their philosophy.

In fairness, Secretary Rubio is a practical politician and was not teaching a philosophy class or writing a book about Shakespeare and leadership (I did that!).  His 20 minute speech is remarkable and thought-provoking even for people who would never contemplate voting for him. 

And yet he may have missed something important along the way.  Maybe he should buy a copy of my book…

And perhaps you should too.  You can order your copy today at Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. 

Until next time.

Frank

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