You are hosting a dinner party and can invite 6 people from history, with the stipulation being, that the people must have come from the time period of 1580-1715. Also, explain why, and where you would place each person around the table...
You can invite Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth I and Louis XIV for a start and ask them to compare the power of art versus the art of power. Shakespeare and Elizabeth had a complex relationship...it would be interesting to see how they would interract with all things being equal between them. You can't go wrong with Leonardo Da Vinci and Martin Luther, either. I would seat these fellas together and start a spirit vs. flesh conversation and hopefully watch some sparks fly. Finally, to add an element of danger to the evening meal, I would invite Lucrezia Borgia. She was the daughter of perhaps the most corrupt pope ever, Alexander VI and is rumored to have engaged in poisoning her political adverseries and incest with her father and brothers. A little spice never hurts a meal! -Elvis!
I would invite only guests who spoke a different language than every other guest. This way, no one would understand each other. Secondly, I would train monkeys to wear tuxedos and run around the table throwing food at my guests. But hey, I am easily entertained...
Here is the dumbest thing I could think of! Newton - Would tell everyone the story about how his wife told him to eat lunch, each and every day, underneath the apple tree so that he would stay cool beneath it's shade. After listening to her advice, he sat beneath the tree, and an apple hit him upside the head. Oh what a bruise he had! But what to do, she had asked him to sit underneath the tree every day?? Kant - Would reason to Newton that he used poor human judjement when choosing to sit under the tree, He should have used the empircal evidence that all women are crazy. Washington - Would explain to Newton that he should just cut down the apple tree and then lie to his wife about it. Montesquie - Would reason to Newton that maybe he ought to have a Cherry Tree, an Apple Tree, and a Coconut Tree so that all three could help to provide some shade. Voltaire - Would reason that in the best of possible worlds Newton wouldn't listen to his wife anymore, and should just get a divorce. Rousseau - Would reason that Newton had been corrupted by the Insitution of Marriage, but that his marriage could be saved, if and only if, he engaged in a social contract with his wife stipulating that if she asked him do something that stupid again he would be granted rights to the orchard upon separation.
