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Gordian Knots and Artful DOGERS, by Robert Royal – Brown Pelican Society of Lousiana

Gordian Knots and Artful DOGERS, by Robert Royal

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* The Allegory of Good Government by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, 1138-39 [Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, Italy]

By Robert Royal, The Catholic Thing, February 10, 2025

Robert Royal is editor-in-chief of The Catholic Thing and president of the Faith & Reason Institute in Washington, D.C. His most recent books are Columbus and the Crisis of the West and A Deeper Vision: The Catholic Intellectual Tradition in the Twentieth Century.

An ancient Greek legend tells of Alexander the Great confronting the Gordian Knot, which no one could untie. An oracle prophesied that whoever untied it would rule the East. Alexander drew his sword and cut it in half. In another version, the knot was tied around a chariot pole; Alexander slipped the pole out, and that did the trick. Either way, the lesson is: some things don’t yield to the usual approaches. They require a leap to unprecedented measures.

In Shakespeare’s “Henry V,” the archbishop of Canterbury, marveling at Prince Hal’s metamorphosis from youthful carouser to sage ruler says: “Turn him to any cause of policy, / The Gordian knot of it he will unloose.” Words that come spontaneously to mind, though further moves remain to be seen, about the second Trump administration. …

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