How to Think Like a Roman Emperor
If you have anger issues, this one is a great tool (h/t mindyourbusiness)
This week’s book:
Discourses and Selected Writings
Disclaimer: I’m not your Supervisor. These are my opinions after reading through these books a few times.
Epictetus was born a slave around 50 ad. His owner was Epaphroditus, a rich freedman who was once a slave of Nero. Though he was a slave Epictetus was sent to study philosophy under Musonius Rufus.
Epictetus was lame and there are some stories it was caused by his master and others that it was caused by disease.
He was a freedman when all philosophers were banished from Rome in 89 by the Emperor Domitian. He then started his school in Greece, and had many students. He did not leave any writings from his lessons, but one of his students, Flavius Arrian, took notes and wrote the Discourses.
Epictetus did not marry, had no children, and lived to be around 80-85. In retirement, he adopted a child that would have been abandoned and raised him with a woman.
He died sometime around AD 135.
He is my favorite Stoic teacher. I love his bare bones and very straight forward approach.
Following is a paragraph-by-paragraph discussion of one of his lessons. Epictetus’s text appears in bold, my replies are in normal text.
That we ought not to yearn for the things which are not under our control Part VII
That is why he used to say, “From the time that Antisthenes[11] set me free, I have ceased to be a slave.” How did Antisthenes set him free? Listen to what Diogenes says. “He taught me what was mine, and what was not mine. Property is not mine; kinsmen, members of my household, friends, reputation, familiar places, converse with men—all these are not my own. ‘What, then, is yours? Power to deal with external impressions.’ He showed me that I possess this beyond all hindrance and constraint; no one can hamper me; no one can force me to deal with them otherwise than as I will.
As long as what I desire is outside of my control then I do not have internal freedom. This reminds me of Harry Browne’s How I found Freedom in an Unfree world. When I chase material success at the expense of my well being, I am not improving my life in a real way, only in a superficial one.
70Who, then, has authority over me? Philip, or Alexander, or Perdiccas, or the Great King?[12] Where can they get it? For the man who is destined to be overpowered by a man must long before that have been overpowered by things.” Therefore, the man over whom pleasure has no power, nor evil, nor fame, nor wealth, and who, whenever it seems good to him, can spit his whole paltry body into some oppressor’s face[13] and depart from this life—whose slave can he any longer be, whose subject?
I do not respect our elected “leaders”. They have significant control over my life, but I do not give them control of my mind. I do not rely on any of them for a sense of self worth or to help me in situations. I choose to pay my taxes because it is not worth it to me to go to jail for that particular infringement. If I had to start over again because of the way the economy has been mismanaged for so long that the government cuts affect my position as a contractor, I would be more happy at the fact there were actually real cuts happening than upset at the prospect of making a living as a semi professional mechanic.
But if he had gone on living pleasantly in Athens, and had been enamoured of his life there, his fortune would have been in every man’s control, and the man who was stronger than he would have had power to cause him grief. How do you imagine he would have wheedled the pirates to sell him to some Athenian, so that he might some time see the beautiful Piraeus, and the Long Walls and the Acropolis! Who are you that you should see them, slave? A thrall and a person of abject spirit; 75and what good are they to you?—No, not a slave, but a free man.—Show me how you are free. See, some person or other has laid hands on you—the man who takes you away from your accustomed way of life, and says, “You are my slave; for it is in my power to prevent you from living as you will, it is in my power to lighten your servitude, or to humble you; whenever I wish, you can be happy again, and go off to Athens in high spirits.” What do you say to this man who makes you his slave? Whom have you to offer him as your emancipator? Or do you not even look him in the face at all, but cutting all argument short do you implore him to set you free? Man, you ought to go gladly to prison, in haste, outstripping those who lead you away. And then, I do beseech you, are you loath to live in Rome, and do you yearn for Greece? And when you have to die, then also, I suppose, will you weep all over us, because you are never going to see Athens again or stroll in the Lyceum?
I admit that I sell my soul a little in my present occupation. Being a confirmed government hater that gets his income from the government is a little hypocritical. When I first joined at the age of 18 I was not so anti-governemt, but after 20 years in the Marine Corps I grew to despise the government and all its functions. My main consolation is from the fact that my job is to ensure people getting government salaries are actually doing the work they are paid to do and the fact that I am good at my job.
After being in Jacksonville FL for the week, I get to fly home tomorrow. During my time in the Marines my wife and I were used to being separated, but that is not the case anymore. I remember when I was stationed in Kansas City and had to leave for 6 weeks to attend Staff NCO school and the rifle range, all of our civilian friends were discussing how long that was. To us, coming off of 12 years in artillery where deployments and field ops were constant events, 6 weeks seemed short. A week feels long now.
Next week we go on vacation back home in PA. Also my wife and I will be seeing Dream Theater in Wheeling WV on the 18th. I have 3rd row seats so it should be a good time.
It’ll be back to normal life on the 24th, until then I probably won’t be commenting much, not that I am a very prolific one anyway.
If you’re in the vicinity of York county, that’s my stomping grounds.
Yesterday 4 of us high school classmates, “Class of ’55”, got together for coffee. We met at the one guy’s apartment in an assisted living residence, ’cause he can’t go out right now for physical limitations. Anyway, the other 3 have lost their wives within the past year, I was able to go to the funerals.
They all have seemed to have gotten adjusted to being alone, they all had been married 60-65 years. The conversation revolved around other classmates now gone and occasionally one of the three would bring up an event about his respective wife. All had watched their wives decline over the years and recognized the suffering that accompanied that. One had no kids, one had 4 kids that live sort of nearby, one plus me had kids that live some distance away. Bob keeps in communication by phone. I use the internet.
Strangely none of the others were computer literate. All are mentally on top of their game but all of us complained about the physical limitations. Lack of strength, night driving, etc. The other 3 had hearing aids, I didn’t ’cause mine don’t seem to help. We had a good time though, sharing some of the same problems.
We have one other male classmate nearby, we’ll try to get him out with us but he’s having mobility difficulties. Maybe his wife can drive him over.
Thanks for this insight. Much appreciated.
I’m two months from being two years away from being TWO score.
Keeps things in perspective.
I’ve been interested in Pyrrhonian thought for a while now and it is interesting how a lot of the descriptions that have come down have to do with the critiques of the competing schools of philosophy back in the day.
Taking a criticism or derogatory statement as a self-identifier is extremely common. That’s where “Schrodinger’s Cat” and “Big Bang Theory” came from.
See also Puritans
There’s another recent example. Starts with an “n”. It’ll come to me.
And Methodists, and “ghost in the machine.”
Now I’m wondering which groups/ideas weren’t named by their detractors.
Off Topic – If you stretch* a second canvas over a previous painting will the back of the new canvas damage the first painting? If so, what kind of time frame?
*the formal technical term for attaching a canvas to the wooden supports because there is some stretching to remove slack from the fabric
If you are covering up the first painting, would you care if it was damaged or not?
Because you’re hiding it, potentially for nefarious purposes.
Example – art theft, smuggling, etc.
When?
If modern times you can always posit some sort of plastic barrier. You can get pretty much any kind of surface chemistry you need.
less modern times. Or a less sophisticated culpret.
In the movies you see paintings disguised by painting over the original. If that actually works in real life, presumably you would want to use a different sort of paint for the coverup, so it could be removed with a solvent or cleanser that would not damage the original.
Oh, no, I want both paintings to survive.
And that’s not just movie magic. It’s a common conservation technique to apply a separation layer before touchups. (Link is to a video where the conservator undoes his previous touchup to repair cat damage to a painting he’d previously worked on)
In Pshop, it’s called a mask.
I borrowed the terminology used by Baumgartner, I have not done extra research on the topic.
I’ve been thinking some more and my reasoning is thus:
The two main risks are abrasion and chemical interaction.
Chemically, if the new canvas is a artist canvas for painting, it probably won’t react to the paint or varnish on the hidden painting. With the canvas tacked to the same frame, the only abrasion risk would be if they expanded and contracted at different rates due to different uptake of humidity.
Alternatively to avoid abrasion, just remove from the frame, reverse the original canvas in the frame, cover the back of original with a new painted canvas. Then cover the original, now on the back side of the frame with some kind of paper or fabric to hide it.
Thanks again, ron. I look forward to this every Friday.
I second this!
+1
The next one should be explosive!
Back to my ACT versus REact musings from last week. @RCDean already settled my mind with regard to Cunty Aunts. I already ACTed. Now it’s time to sit back and wait. That they aren’t complying with my timeline may be irritating, but not something I should gnash my teeth over.
I’ve said this before. My mom asked me, when I was trying to get published and becoming increasingly depressed over rejections, “Why do you base your goals on decisions someone else has to make?” This was life-changing. Then my husband, when I said “You can’t do that” with regard to self-publishing fiction, said, “But…why?” His genuine confusion spoke to me.
Now, I CAN control the publishing aspect, but I CAN’T control other people’s reading, their tastes, competing interests (e.g., games, manga, TV, sports), and whether I can be heard in a sea of noise. I CAN control whether I blog or not, whether I attempt some marketing, whether I do email or not (Tom Woods just had me work on an “email mastery” project, which I’m not sure applies to fiction). If I DON’T do what I can, I have to come to terms with the fact that my work just will get lost and somehow be at peace with having created something at all. Most people don’t do that.
They don’t have a strategy. So as I said previously, just be patient. I understand it sucks and you want results now, but they’re going to lose.
Yes, I’ve settled back to let things play out (although I’m bitter about the betrayal). I have a bunch of things to deal with because other people are dealing with their own shit.
* Bro1 is dealing with stage IV cancer.
* Bro2 is all bark, no bite, but he (nor Bro1) has never been expected to be the pitbull of the family.
* Mom’s job is to get stronger, and she’s grieving the loss of relationships with sisters she thought loved her and the loss of relationships with people she’s known and loved for 25+ years.
* Husband’s job is to back me up when my cup runneth over in addition to his usual household tasks.
So, it’s basically just me now, but I’m a daughter. That’s my job. I’m very grateful I really like my mom.
Setting the record straight
The group doesn’t claim any political affiliation.
“We are not a political party. We are not a protest,” the People’s Union USA wrote on its website. “We are a movement of people, organizing to take back control of our economy, government and future of our country.”
Okay, then.
Pssst… Nobody cares.
Darn. if I knew I would have put off a big purchase until this morning.
I am, however, buying all the various furniture pieces this coming week for Stately R.J. Manor. So there is that. All that Rococo furniture will make up for a few angry dweebs easily.
They do want to end the individual income tax, but that may be the only sensible demand of theirs.
Good for them. How is boycotting Amazon going to do that? Not that I am going to go ask them. God only know what the answer would be.
Hmmm… I was just considering buying some MP3s via Amazon. Maybe I’ll buy more than I originally had in mind. 🤔
The Tea Party wasn’t a political party either, but there was no doubt which party they were aligned with
The Tea Party wasn’t a political party either, but there was no doubt which party they were aligned with.
“I do not respect our elected “leaders”. They have significant control over my life, but I do not give them control of my mind. I do not rely on any of them for a sense of self worth or to help me in situations.”
Amen. And look, at least half of us have a job that touches government in some way. I would rejoice and take a job sweeping a shop floor rather than work adjacent to the government, if it means government shrinks significantly. I don’t want it in my life all the time, or my daughter’s life. I want her to be free to discuss things other than the stupid shit government does every damn day. I remember. It was not like this in the 70s.
Speaking of the 1970s, streaking is back in:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14468633/Southwest-flight-woman-naked-returns-gate-Houston-Phoenix.html
‘New’ streaking won’t last long, now that everyone has a movie camera at their fingertips. Some people just weren’t meant to streak, and no one wants to prove that in front of a viral audience.
David Niven’s Oscars quip about the streaker: for the rest of his life that man will be known for his shortcomings.
Heads up for those with WB DVDs from 2006 to 2008. Especially if the titles may not be in print anymore.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/they-curdle-like-milk-wb-dvds-from-2006-2008-are-rotting-away-in-their-cases/
First Joe Biden and now this. Looks like the plant that made those DVDs was the former Specialty Records then WEA plant.
You made me Google. Lackawanna, PA
Harry Chapin – Thirty Thousand Pounds of Bananas
Well that sucks.
No media is forever though. Not CDs, DVDs, streaming or home storage. That was when I was buying a lot of DVDs I later sold off. Good thing I did.
It would be your incentive to RIP the ones that are no longer in print for sure!
I always thought vinyl was final? I’m sure my magnetic media is or will be toast at some point.
Who thought in the 1980’s that CDs or tapes would last that long? They got scratched and worn out with use just like records.
Cause I like to actually be a punkrocker, I did exactly 5 things this week at work.
Take that Man!
So you are winning the psychic war!
The story on the nudie girl – It’s all blurred out. How am I supposed to rate that?
Count yourself fortunate.