Tom Holland is intellectually honest
The historian Tom Holland is a deep thinker of high intellectual integrity.
In his exceptional translation of Suetonius's Lives of the Caesars, he points out that Suetonius's father fought in Otho's army so he may have been biased when telling the story that the emperor sacrificed himself for the good of the Roman Empire.
Otho was a playboy. A degenerate. Not the sort of character you'd expect to sacrifice himself for the good of others.
What Holland points out is that perhaps Suetonius - a man Holland deeply admires - may have, on occasion, fallen for the testimony given to him by his father who had come to adore him.
This level of deep thinking and intellectual honesty is missing from most of modern society. Many of us are far more likely to brush our heroes foibles under the carpet, forgiving them for heinous acts we'd never let the average person get away with.
Holland, and others like him, remind us we can do better.