1: In the English language, the word “stoic” means the unemotional endurance of pain.
But the definition above fails to capture the true essence of the stoic philosophy, which dates back to Greece in the third century BC.
“The Stoics have a bad reputation among the uninformed for being too callous and therefore unlikely to give good advice to kings and princes,” the great stoic writer Seneca wrote in 55 AD in a book on mercy written for the young emperor Nero.
“They’re blamed for asserting that the wise man does not feel pity and does not forgive,” Seneca wrote. “In fact, no philosophical school is kinder and gentler, nor more loving of humankind and more attentive to the common good, to the degree that its very purpose is to be useful . . .”
Being useful. Taking action. Becoming a better human being. These ideas are at the heart of stoic philosophy.
“The only reason to study philosophy is to become a better person,” Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman write in their book Lives of the Stoics. “Anything else, as Nietzsche said, is merely a ‘critique of words by means of other words.'”Â
The Stoics were most concerned with how to live life. The four stoic virtues are simple and to the point: Courage. Temperance. Justice. Wisdom.
“Their philosophy, the one that we need today more than ever, was a philosophy not of ephemeral ideas but of action,” Ryan and Steven write.
“What the Stoics were after, what we remain interested in to this day, were lights to illuminate the path in life,” the authors note. “They wanted to know, as we want to know, how to find tranquility, purpose, self-control, and happiness.”
2: This week, we will look at the life of one of the great stoics, Marcus Aurelius.
From the time Plato in 400 BCE, “it had been the dream of wise men that one day there might be such a thing as a philosopher king,” Ryan and Stephen write. “Although the Stoics had been close to power for centuries, none of them had come close to wielding supreme command themselves.”
For centuries, there was hope that someone would emerge and redeem the empire from decay and corruption.
“Time and time again they had hoped the new emperor would be better, that this one would listen, that this one would put the people before his own needs,” the authors observe. “Each one would prove, sadly, that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Caesar. Octavian. Tiberius. Claudius. Nero. Trajan. Vespasian. Domitian.”
On April 26, 121, Marcus Catilius Severus Annius Verus was born.
“The early days of the boy who would become Marcus Aurelius were defined by both loss and promise,” Ryan and Steven note. “His father, Verus, died when he was three.”
Marcus was raised by his two grandfathers, “who doted on him, and who clearly showed him off at court,” they write. “Even at an early age, he developed a reputation for honesty.”
From the time he was a boy, Marcus showed interest in philosophy. By the time he was ten or eleven, he had begun “dressing the part in humble, rough clothing and living with sober and restrained habits,” Ryan and Steven note, “even sleeping on the ground to toughen himself up,”
“Marcus would write later about the character traits he tried to define himself by, which he called ‘epithets for yourself.’ They were ‘Upright. Modest. Straightforward. Sane. Cooperative. Disinterested.’ “
The emperor Hadrian had been selected for the role by his predecessor, the heirless emperor Trajan. Hadrian, too, did not have a son.Â
While time has erased his reasoning, the emperor saw something in the young Marcus. “His nickname for Marcus, whom he liked to go hunting with, was ‘Verissimus’—a play on his name Verus—the truest one,” the authors write.
By Marcus’s seventeenth birthday, Hadrian had decided to make Marcus Aurelius the emperor of Rome.
A plan was put forth. On February 25, 138, “Hadrian adopted an able and trustworthy fifty-year-old administrator named Antoninus Pius on the condition that he in turn adopt Marcus Aurelius,” Ryan and Stephen write. “Tutors were selected. A course of successive offices laid out. . .
“By the time Hadrian died a few months later, destiny was set. Marcus Aurelius was to be groomed for a position that only fifteeen people had ever held in Rome—he was to wear the purple, he was to be made Caesar.”
3: What was Marcus’s reaction to this turn of events?
“Unlike most princes, Marcus did not yearn for power,” the authors note. “We’re told that when he learned he had officially been adopted by Hadrian, he was greatly saddened rather than overjoyed. . .
“When asked by someone why he was downcast about such an incredible bounty of fortune, he listed all the evil things that kings had done.”
Yet, while Marcus had reservations, he was no coward.
“The most confident leaders—the best ones—often are worried that they won’t do a good enough job,” the authors note. “They go into the job knowing it will not be an easy one. But they do proceed. And Marcus, around this time, would dream a dream that he had shoulders made of ivory. To him it was a sign: He could do this.”
Only nineteen years old, Marcus was named consul, the highest office in Rome. Five years later, he held it again.
In 161, at age forty, he was made emperor.
“And for all impossible expectations and responsibilities,” Ryan and Stephen write, “he would manage, to paraphrase his great admirer Matthew Arnold, to prove himself worthy of all of it.”
More tomorrow!
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Reflection: How do the four stoic virtues of courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom match up with my personal values?
Action: Take some time this week to review or write out my personal values.
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