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 might be 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.
To a certain rhetorician who was going to Rome for a lawsuit Part I
There came in to visit Epictetus one day a man who was on his way to Rome, where he was engaged in a lawsuit involving an honor to be bestowed on him.[1] Epictetus asked what the reason was for the trip to the Capital, and the man proceeded to ask what opinion he had about the matter. If you ask me what you are going to do in Rome, says Epictetus, whether you will succeed or fail, I have no precept to offer. If, however, you ask how you are going to fare, I have this to say: If you have sound judgements, you will fare well; if unsound judgements, ill; since in every case the way a man fares is determined by his judgement.[2][† 1]
While there is no way to see the future and know what will result from whatever actions I take, if I have the correct judgement about it, then the outside results will not affect my state of mind.
For what is it that made you eager to be elected patron of the people of Cnossos?[3] Your judgement. What is it that impels you now to go up to Rome? Your judgement. And that in stormy weather, in danger, and at expense?—Yes, but I have to.—Who tells you that? Your judgement. Very well, then, if a man’s judgements determine everything, and if a man has unsound judgements, whatever be the cause such also will be the consequence.
If in my judgement a particular action is worthwhile, I need to understand the ultimate resolution is out of my control. If I am doing something for the wrong reasons, such as to impress others, then I have started with bad judgement. Since I have no control over other people’s opinions, then I have no chance at maintaining a steady mind.
5Do we all, then, have sound judgements, both you and your opponent? If so, then how do you come to disagree? But do you have sound judgements rather than he? Why? You think so. So does he, and so do madmen. This is a poor criterion.
Being certain in my own opinion is no virtue. While I am certain I have a correct opinion, so does everyone else.
But show me that you have made any study of your own judgements and have paid attention to them. And as now you are sailing to Rome so as to become patron of the men of Cnossos, and you are not satisfied to stay at home and keep the honors which you had, but you have set your heart upon something greater and more conspicuous, so did you ever make a voyage for the purpose of studying your own judgements, and of rejecting one, if it is unsound?
I try to study so that I do have a better idea of the world around me and this informs my opinions. I have changed my mind on many things after reading and thinking more on what I really believed and why.
Whom have you ever visited for this purpose? What time have you set yourself, what period of your life? Review the periods of your life, all to yourself, if you are ashamed to do so before me.
I try to spend a little time before I sleep going through my actions and decisions for that day. I have found this to be an excellent motivator for getting up early and running or going to the gym. I know in the evening, I will look back at my performance from the morning and be embarrassed in myself if I decided to be lazy. Unfortunately, my ankle is still slightly swollen and I can’t run, but I have been taking my husky for walks at 0530. I will return to the gym next week, it’s either that or I need to buy bigger pants.
When you were a boy were you in the habit of examining your judgements? Did you not habitually do what you then did just as you do everything now? And when you grew to be a youth and were attending the lectures of the rhetoricians, and were yourself practicing, what did you fancy that you yet lacked? And when you were a young man and began to take part in politics, and to plead cases yourself, and to have a good reputation, who any longer seemed in your eyes to be your equal? Would you under any circumstances have submitted to be put through an examination on the charge that you had wretched judgements?
When I was younger, I was much more certain about things. I was not into any type of self reflection, and never considered where my opinions came from or why I believed them.
10Very well then, what do you wish me to say to you?—Help me in this affair.—I have no precepts to offer for this; and you too, if you came to me for this purpose, have not come to me as to a philosopher, but as to a vegetable-dealer, as to a cobbler.—To what end, then, do philosophers have precepts to offer?—To this end, that whatever happen, our governing principle shall be, and abide to the end, in accord with nature. Do you regard that as a trifle?—No; it is of the utmost moment.—What then? Does this require only a little time, and is it possible to acquire it on a passing visit? Acquire it, then, if you can!
Being unable to help in the man’s desire to be appointed does not mean he was unable to help him deal with whatever the result ended up being. Following Stoicism will not improve my life materially, but it helps me deal with life as it comes whether it is what I prefer or not.
Following Stoicism will not improve my life materially, but it helps me deal with life as it comes whether it is what I prefer or not.
Yes, very true.
Does anybody really know what time it is?
Does anybody really care?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoJpyYu_NMk
I was about to ask if there was a site problem. That was a long period of inactivity for midday.
That was my way of checking.
The correct companion question to “what do I want?’ is “who am I?”
…unless you’re a Shadow.
*whispers “I’m Batman”
The Shadow knows, you needn’t remind him.
Nice
https://www.express.co.uk/celebrity-news/1939711/jeremy-clarkson-fumes-keir-starmer-banned-from-pub
Symbolic.
Starmer is too pretentious to ever visit a pub.
Years ago another another pub owner threw Starmer out while being manhandled by Starmer’s security.
Erroneous.
That was a campaign stop. A performative lie.
I should have been more precise. He is not one to opt to go to a pub in the manner of Englishmen.
To this end, that whatever happen, our governing principle shall be, and abide to the end, in accord with nature.
Huge and virtually impossible.
You know who else abides?
The Dude.
Don’t be silly. Clearly that is the wrong answer.
UCS:
El Dudarino (if you’re not into brevity).
The Dude
https://www.thesouthafrican.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Untitled-design-2021-08-04T161204.631.jpg
Being certain in my own opinion is no virtue.
That’s one end of the scale.
Imposter syndrome where you have no confidence in any of your opinions is on the other end of the scale.
You know RFK is still a Democrat at heart because he’s late to his own press conference.
Negotiating with the brain worm?
The brain worm would make a great SF character. He could have some great scenes with Cracky. Or Lump. I miss Lump.
Comment *Video feed if he ever shows
Twitter version (there are a few):
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1mrGmMDVAjvGy
He’s on…will be interesting to see what he says. My guess, switching party given his opening statements.
Opening is 100% perfect so far.
Dude is on fire.
Absolutely laying down what the party of Kamala Harris is about. Will others listen? Who knows.
Laying it down and doing a masterful job of it. Everybody needs to see this.
Get that man a glass of water.
I just cannot listen to him for more than about 30 seconds.
Yeah, it’s really good.
Brings this to mind
I fully expect months of hit pieces on it doesn’t matter because he was ousted by his own family and not a true Kennedy, just a Trump mouthpiece.
This is one of the best political speeches I’ve ever seen. And now I have a work meeting 🙁
Not ending it..just airing the grievances
His dressing down of the media was great
Suspending might as well be ending. I think he’s trying to keep on those other ballots to try to hit the magic 5 percent
RFKJr for head of FDA?
Suspending a campaign means you get to keep the campaign contributions and continue to collect contributions to pay campaign debts.
RFKJr for head of FDA?
Yes.
My money is on that he misspoke on a health stat or two and that will be the the focus of the very few articles that are published.
Well, the MSM outlets are starting to cut him off, so the normies won’t even know about it.
I have a wife dealing with autoimmune issues and a son had ADHD when he was younger. I absolutely agree with what he’s saying. Would have done things differently – particularly childhood vaccinations – if we had known them what we know now.
I have a couple of teen nephews who are both at least 75 lbs overweight.
Please set RFK loose on the food and medicine industries like a pissed pitbull.
@Drake the more I learn about the fucking childhood vaccines the guiltier I feel. I never asked a fucking question.
Yep. He has learned to deal with and mostly grown out of it at 23.
But looking back we also feel guilty, stupid, and angry at the system.
Tundra and Drake:
What vaccines are you talking about? I’ve remained fairly agnostic on the issue but always appreciate a different view.
The majority of them. The sheer number going into toddlers is absurd.
@KS
Honestly, most of them. The testing was atrocities, the adjuncts are toxic for many kids and the liability protections insane. I will try to dig out some more for you, but you can look at the archives at https://thehighwire.com/. I know they are called conspiracy blah blah blah.
Thanks for another great stoic post Ron.
Am I the only one who reads Epictetus as Epic titties? I mean besides Q.
Comment *related
Funny – since I got my work doled out to people to cover while I’m gone, the workday was fairly uneventful, calming even, since I couldn’t act on any of the have to dos before my trip.
Now I’m looking at this last half hour and not liking that I have to go back to solving the remaining issues.
The deep state always gets their men? Or just unlucky?
https://www.steynonline.com/14570/asleep-in-the-deep-state
That’s downright creepy. 😳
Interesting excerpt from the memoir of Trump’s first security advisor, H.R. McMaster
I Cannot Understand Putin’s Hold on Trump
That is also the closest we’re going to get to WP admitting that Russiagate was a hoax. It wasn’t one of their own writers, but they are publishing things like the accusations Mueller investigate being false and the Steele Dossier was discredited. I think that’s as close as we’re Mea Culpa on that.
Of course he repeats a bunch of horse shit about Trump being the thing that shook American’s confidence in our institutions and not all the, you know….lying, cheating, grifting, gaslighting, crony-gifting, general incompetency, lack of transparency and naked contempt of the peasant classes by our overlords. What a predictable asshole.
That’s the WSJ
So it is….I rescind anything that may have been construed as positive towards WP.
LOL
Very interesting. Thanks for the link.
What a bunch of evil scumbags.
RFK speaking now.
https://www.youtube.com/live/rr_drV3G8aE
Brace yourself
Though there have been many stylish standouts from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this week — from former first lady Michelle Obama’s deconstructed suit by Monse, to Vice President Kamala Harris’s custom Chloé and first lady Jill Biden’s shimmering blue Ralph Lauren dress — it was the vice president’s stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff, who seemed to have the most fun with her fashion choices.
That should come as no surprise to anyone who’s followed Emhoff since Harris took office. Emhoff, who is signed to IMG models and is an artist and fashion designer, has been a boon for high fashion and is poised to only become more influential if she becomes part of the official first family.
Though there have been many stylish standouts from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this week — from former first lady Michelle Obama’s deconstructed suit by Monse, to Vice President Kamala Harris’s custom Chloé and first lady Jill Biden’s shimmering blue Ralph Lauren dress — it was the vice president’s stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff, who seemed to have the most fun with her fashion choices.
That should come as no surprise to anyone who’s followed Emhoff since Harris took office. Emhoff, who is signed to IMG models and is an artist and fashion designer, has been a boon for high fashion and is poised to only become more influential if she becomes part of the official first family.
Much vivacious. So style.
Don’t see RFK’s quitting as helping Trump. If it does, then why were Dems in NY and PA taking action to keep RFK off the ballot?
That was back when Biden was in. The thinking is that most of the lefties for RFK switched to Momala.
No, PA Dems were still pursuing court action against RFK earlier this week, long after Kommiela was crowned.
Well good for them and their never give up attitude.
They can’t hardly say, “Oh, never mind. I guess if he wants on the ballot, that’s cool. We were just kidding!”
It might have some effect, but I think the more important thing is that Trump now as a sort of coalition of ex-Dems. It’s not just Trump vs. the Dems, it’s everyone vs. the Dems.
This emphasis on health is really smart. Particularly taking care of the little kids.
Excellent speech.
It’s Trump vs Fraud.
And nothing else matters . . . .
I always liked the guy, and now I have even more respect for him. Great speech, classy and his case was laid out perfectly. 10/10
https://apnews.com/article/rfk-jr-trump-speech-arizona-a2638f89ddcb5de03edbe4574ca17d45
Kennedy said his internal polls had showed that his presence in the race would hurt Trump and help Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. He cited free speech, the war in Ukraine and “a war on our children” as among the reasons to try to remove his name from the ballot in battleground states.
“These are the principal causes that persuaded me to leave the Democratic Party and run as an independent and now to throw my support to President Trump,” Kennedy said.
Summarize the speech to remove all the main talking points, then never speak of it again.
@kinnath, correct. That whole speech was him bringing the receipts on the “muh democracy” party destroying democracy. And they mentioned none of that in the article.
Today’s Adventures in Parallel Parking went pretty well. I need to work on not telling him when to turn the wheel and which way so he can do it on his own. But I tell you, I’m a shit teacher, so he’s doing well for what little I’m able to provide.
Adventures in Cloverleaves went okay, I guess. I had him do a whole 4 leaves and he was mixed up halfway through leaf #2.
There are lots of good videos on tricks for PP. I’d have him watch a couple.
Well good on RFK, I disagree with him in plenty of areas but he’s an honest broker and a rational actor and he has principles. I don’t see a big swing out of this but I suspect it’ll net Trump a percentage point or two.
Now to get him in as the CIA director.
honest broker and a rational actor and he has principles
he’s a self-aggrandizing liar of the transparent sort
He changes his excuses about trivial things, so you know that the first thing out of his mouth will often be a made-up go-away throw-away…which also tells you that he doesn’t respect anyone’s intelligence and that he can’t be bothered to do the least bit of linear thinking to avoid being caught in his lies….by children or flakes.
He wastes everyone’s time over his father’s assassination. Maybe there was a second gunman, but his RFK2’s ejaculations have served only to suggest innocence for Sirhan….which he does not remotely deserve. This is typical to Kennedy’s stir-the-pot self-importance of that sort that feeds needless speculation about things that institutions have tried to get right: he argues for the purpose of arguing, not for improving anything.
For example, he contradicts himself within seconds (no wonder he loves Trump): “COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese,” he alleged while adding, “We don’t know whether it was deliberately targeted or not, but there are papers out there that show the racial or ethnic differential and impact.”
He trades in nonsense about Ukraine that only Putin would agree with.
He’s pro-vax, then anti-vax. His campaign was happily aligned with organizations that misrepresented vaccine data. He denies knowing organizations he is on video addressing….very Trump: he’s a fine guy / never heard of him flip flop depending on the weather.
He exaggerates the significance of his involvement in anything that bears fruit.
He’s Al Gore without the class.
I implore you to evaluate the massive record of criticisms and try to convince yourself that he is not repeatedly at fault in the ways I’ve listed.
HuffPost stepping on a rake
Independents see it…most Republicans see it…even democrats see it.
CNN out right mused outlook they should not pursue any interviews of Kamala because they know it will be bad.
It’s the start of the weekend so Oktoberfests are starting up, some kayaking is in store.
I would love to hear her elaborate on her stance of ‘just taking’ any new drugs coming down the line or exactly how she intends to punish retailers for ‘price gouging’. My guess? Half way through the first sentence of Kackles’ answer they will have sudden, unexpected ‘technical difficulties’ and cut her off with some elevator music. Weird.
Joy.
Then, veering into conspiracy, Kennedy embarked on a long attack accusing the Democratic Party of colluding with the media to undertake a ”systemic attack on democracy.”
Preposterous hogwash!
Right up there with Flat Earth Theory.