Temporary Failure of Nerve

I'm having a failure of nerve. It's probably temporary. But after the drubbing I took two columns ago for saying something I thought was relatively obvious, I'm not sure I want to take this discussion any further. That was only a contradiction of conventional wisdom. The next column, if I don't chicken out completely, involves plunging directly into Forbidden History territory. It involves discussing things that every classics scholar and every serious historian knows ... and knows better than to discuss in front of laymen, let alone in writing. And now that, for various reasons, I'm actually feeling a little bit saner, I'm wondering if I actually dare to have this argument in a public forum in writing.

I probably do dare. I'm an asshole that way; I'd rather be right, no matter the consequences. But for one day, spare me my moment of queasiness. Is this what sanity looks like? Caring as much or more about possible consequences as about truth or accuracy or honesty or any other principle? Hmmp. I don't know if I like it.