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Gregory Hays

@aristofontes.bsky.social

3.4K followers 1.3K following 12K posts

Teacher, Latinist. Neither the son of true believers nor of good reputation. Once translated Marcus Aurelius, but I don't speak for him. (Neither of us speaks for UVA.) Minor outlying island. Can serve briefly as a boat. He/him.

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Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 17d

For those interested, my review of three (fairly) recent books on Roman emperors is out in @nybooks.com.

Profiles in Power | Gregory Hays

As Mary Beard’s Twelve Caesars and Peter Stothard’s Palantine show, the real currency in ancient Rome was flattery.

www.nybooks.com

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Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 1h

How To Do Things With Words is very easy to read and a lot of fun.

Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 9h

Not teaching on Tuesday. (Reading day)

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Reposted by Gregory Hays

Laprofmme @laprofmme.bsky.social · 11h

Courtesy of colleagues at Penn

A variation on Benjamin Franklin’s 1754 engraving in the Pennsylvania Gazette, published in Philadelphia, in an effort to foster cooperation among the various colonies against the tyrant king of Britain, with the American colonies replaced by the nine universities selected for special collaboration opportunities

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Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 12h

Yeah, personally I wonder if we've been too quick to dismiss strange women lying in ponds distributing swords as a basis for a system of government

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Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 18h

On Fox, of course.

Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 18h

After Shirley Jackson published 'The Lottery' she got letters from readers who wanted to know how they could go see this interesting ritual. I think about this quite a bit.

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Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 19h

Yes, the fact that you can't really see what's going on makes it much, much worse.

Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 19h

"cf. Auson. Ecl. 6.7"

Marjorie James Keenan @unenthusiast.com · 1d

In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.

rm -rf ~/

hammancheez @hammancheez.bsky.social · 1d

"The chancellor approved it"

Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 20h

🎬 Recent viewing. This is considerably better than one would expect a Sherlock Holmes movie from the director of 'Porky's' to be. Very atmospheric, though script not quite up to the level of the star-studded cast. James Mason (Watson) and Donald Sutherland (it's a long story) probably the standouts.

Poster for 'Murder by Decree,' a film by Bob Clark starring inter alios Christopher Plummer, James Mason, David Hemmings, Anthony Quayle, John Gielgud, Donald Sutherland, and Genevieve Bujold.

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Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 21h

I followed that person for a while, but stopped because they kept going ballistic at people in their mentions over what often seemed like pretty venial stuff.

Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 22h

Trump knows the power of vague lies ("1500%"), but also of precise lying, something he may have learned from Roy Cohn.

"While I cannot take the time to name all the men in the State Department who have been named as members of the Communist Party ... I have here in my hand a list of 205 ..."

David Corn @davidcorn.bsky.social · 23h

Dumbest gaslighting ever. Who was president on January 6?

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Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 22h

I remember many years ago someone suggesting that we need a word for the person who comes around with the enormous grinder. They proposed "the Peppier" (pronounced à la Française), like the Sommelier.

Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 23h

"What is the downside for humoring him for this little bit of time?"

Reposted by Gregory Hays

Halloweean Miles Schlong @tedcruznipples.com · 1d

Do you remember when you spent the closing hours of the democratic majority introducing bipartisan legislation recognizing the Bald Eagle as our national bird

Amy Klobuchar @amyklobuchar.com · 1d

The scoop: Trump refuses to do anything to reduce health insurance premiums; House Republicans refuse to come back to Washington due to Epstein files; and now they send layoff notices to CDC researchers dealing with burgeoning measles cases?

MAHA=Measles Are Here Again

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Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 1d

I trust the people responsible for firing the people who have just been fired will be fired

Apoorva Mandavilli @apoorvanyt.bsky.social · 1d

The Trump administration on Saturday scrambled to rescind layoffs of hundreds of CDC scientists who were mistakenly fired on Friday night in what appeared to be a substantial procedural lapse.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/h...

Trump Administration Is Bringing Back Scores of C.D.C. Experts Fired in Error

www.nytimes.com

Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 1d

It would be interesting (for some values of interesting) to hear Vought et al. explain why the Framers created Congress at all. Like, what purpose does it even serve?

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d

in vought's view, the president is a living embodiment of the "will of the people" and congress has no legitimate power to limit him

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Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 1d

WRONG 79-YEAR-OLD

Rolling Stone @rollingstone.com · 1d

Diane Keaton, the Oscar-winning actress known for a prolific career in uplifting comedies, has died at the age of 79. More:
www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv...

Diane Keaton, 'Annie Hall' and 'The Godfather' Actress, Dead at 79

Diane Keaton, the Oscar-winning actress known for a prolific career in uplifting comedies, has died at the age of 79.

www.rollingstone.com

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Reposted by Gregory Hays

Brittany ♨️ @sameoldstory.co · 1d

[most viscerally personally unpleasant person you've ever met] I am going to revolutionize America’s civic culture

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Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 1d

Wolfe's 'A Man in Full' (1998) doesn't quite make the cutoff, but Iain Pears's 'Stone's Fall.'

Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 1d

I associate it particularly with Blue MAGA accounts and I think they copy it from one another, but the origin is mysterious.

Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 1d

It's just astonishing how accurate a tell it is.

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Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 1d

evergreen skeet

👻madeline boOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · 1d

i am not asking for advice, i am whinging

Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 1d

Or the Brezhnev years, when you knew there'd been a big Aeroflot crash because Pravda and Izvestia were suddenly running lots of articles about how unsafe capitalist airlines were.

Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 1d

Mean to talk this way about my research program

Levi Stahl @levistahl.bsky.social · 1d

Distracted from distraction by distraction.

—T. S. Eliot, Burnt Norton

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Gregory Hays @aristofontes.bsky.social · 1d

And which will probably play ads at you while it does them, unless you subscribe at a higher level and will then subsequently introduce ads at that level as well.