9 Stoic Lessons From Roman Politics

You think what's [music] happening in our government right now is bad. You have no idea. The lying, the the corruption, the ego, the incompetence, the [music] evil, all of that existed in the ancient world. All of that went on right here in the Roman [music] forum, too. And the Stoics were in the thick of it. Senica, Marcus Aurelius, Ko, they were all politicians. They all held public [music] office. Senica said, "That's the difference between the Epicurans and the Stoics. The Epicurans only got involved in public life and politics if they had to. He said the Stoics get [music] involved unless something prevents us. The Stoics were not theorists. They were not [music] outsiders. They were not academics. They were involved. They were in the fray. They were in the arena literally and figuratively as we have to be. Because if wise people, if good people, if people who try to live and act with virtue, if they don't seek public office, if they don't participate in public life, if they don't vote, if they don't speak out, [music] you know what is happening? They're seeding that floor to the people who are not. Okay. So, you might think that stoic philosophers are impossibly idealistic or impossibly theoretical or impractical and that that they might have made for bad politicians. They might have been frustrating to deal with. And and to a certain extent, this is right. Ko is one of the towering stoves. He's incredibly idealistic and committed and and and principled. And and this causes one of the major political problems for him. I'm I'm here in the Roman forum and it it it was probably here that Ko is approached by Pompy as Rome's political system is breaking down and and Pompy proposes that they become political allies and that their their families intermar and Ko's insensed. He says, "I will not be bought by way of women's apartments." Even though actually it turns out his daughter was actually interested in the marriage match. He he thinks that this isn't how politics should be done. Well, what Plutarch tells us is that that this actually spells the end of the Roman Republic because what Pompy does instead is he becomes allies with Caesar who then does overthrow the Roman Republic. Pompy later breaks with Caesar but but the point is there was this chance for Ko's principles and Pompy's political power to come together to preserve the Roman Republic. They could have collaborated. They could have done some compromise. And by the way, that's what politics is. It's about compromise and collaboration. Cicero criticizing Ko would say that problem with Ko is that Ko thought he lived in Plato's republic. In fact, he lived in the dregs of Romulus. He lived here in the real world. And so this is somewhere where Marcus Aurelius adds to the political philosophy. Right? Marcus Aurelius actually writes explicitly in meditations. Remember you do not live in Plato's Republic. He tried to be pragmatic. He tried to compromise. He tried to work with people who were not always amazing. Right? He tried to get good out of bad people which is something for instance that Lincoln was famously good at. Politics is an art and we have to understand that this philosophy although it is in many ways impossibly idealistic courage, discipline, justice, wisdom those things also require moderation and collaboration and connection and ultimately they are only good in so far as you can bring them into the real world. Markxist talks about he says look if there's brambles in the path go around. He says, "If a cucumber is bitter, throw it out." He tried to be pragmatic and realistic, he tried to get real things done in the real world. If your political philosophy, if your personal philosophy doesn't allow you to do that, what good is it? Now, there's no question that that that Kato was an incredibly impressive and brave and principled figure. The problem is that at times this made him not a very good politician, and it made him incredibly difficult to work with. Rome's political system was janky and and creaky and falling apart. It it was in desperate [music] need of updating and moderation. So Ko's sort of lowercase C conservatism made him so resistant to change he missed many opportunities to save the thing he was so committed to. The great Stoics managed to merge these two [music] things together as we have to be able to merge them together in our own lives. Right down behind me are [music] the ruins of Mammortine prison, which isn't a super well-known historical site, but it but it should be a much better known one. In 65 BC, when when Caesar wins the election of consil, there's a loser in that election. There's this sort of faux populist named Catalene. He's from an old money family, saying he can't wrap his [music] head around losing to someone like Cicero. And so, he attempts a coup. He alleges electoral fraud and all this stuff. Maybe this is sounding a little bit familiar to you, but basically he tries to overthrow [music] an election and this coup attempt almost succeeds, but he's stopped the last second by Cicero and ultimately he's thrown in this prison and Cicero and Kato, two Stoics, put him on trial and eventually he's executed. It it is a narrow run thing. The Roman [music] Republic is almost overthrown here and it is saved by these two Stoics. I I tell this story because it is an important lesson. The Stoics were not just in the mix. They were willing to sacrifice and [music] save and fight for their country. They they did not want to be complicit. I think we can contrast this with a couple generations later, Senica gets this job tutoring uh the future emperor, a boy named Nero. And at first, Nero seems like he's going to be a good leader. The first five years of Nero, known as the Quinnquinium Nuronis, the the five good years of Nero, but the five good years don't last. They give way to bad years. Nero starts [music] to lose his mind. He becomes corrupt. He becomes deranged. He becomes cruel. He becomes an egoomaniac. And Senica turns on [music] him eventually, inevitably, but for far too long he is complicit. He tells himself he's the adult in the room. He tells himself that that he's getting good things out of a bad person. He tells [music] himself that if he quits, he'll be replaced by someone worse. All of which continues to enable [music] Nero to be a bad ruler, to do bad things to people. And there are other stoics who choose a [music] different path. The Stoic opposition, who we've talked about before, they fight back against it. Thrasia gives his life. Eventually, Nero does come for Senica. That's the irony. That's why you shouldn't be complicit. That's why you have to stand up. That's why you have to speak up. It's going to come for you eventually, [music] inevitably anyway. So, you might as well do the right thing while you can. You might as well try to stop it while it still might make a difference. [music] I'm standing here where where Marcus Aurelius lived, the emperor of Rome, in an enormous imperial palace. Hundreds of rooms, slaves and soldiers, every imaginable luxury. But he said something really interesting about it. He said, "It's possible to live well even in a palace." And you might go, "Of course it's easy to live well in a palace. You have every amenity you could possibly imagine." That was sort of his point. He thought that these things were corruptive. Thought that these things would change you. And so that's what he was trying to do in meditations. He was trying to [music] fight to be the person that philosophy tried to make him. Not the soft person that the palace wanted to make him, that his predecessors had been, [music] but someone that that was still within all this luxury, within all this power, within all this responsibility, still good, still decent, [music] still humble, still hardworking, still doing his job. So that's the idea that it's possible to live well even in a palace. We have a really long commute to [music] my kids school every day. So, we listen to audiobooks in the car so their brains aren't rotting. And we do it with 11 reader. 11 Reader lets you upload any text, any writing, [music] and turn it into high quality audio. Audio you can listen to at any speed you want. It doesn't sound like a robot. In fact, it sounds absolutely incredible like it's being read to you by a professional [music] audiobook reader. We listen to Wikipedia articles. We listen to news articles. who listen to speeches and talks and all sorts of [music] stuff. 11 Reader has more than 200,000 professionalgrade audio books. And as I said, you can also [music] turn anything you want into highquality audio. Just click the link below. You can [music] use the code book lover to get your first month for $1 or you can get $10 off your annual subscription of 11 reader. [music] So, right behind me here was Augustus' house. the the first emperor. But Augustus has two stoic teachers, Athena Doris and Aras Ditimus. Okay. So what did these stoic teachers teach first emperor of Rome? Well, they taught him when his name was Octavian. The first one was this idea that before you get angry, you should count all 24 letters of the alphabet. The Latin alphabet having only 24 [music] letters. Then Athena Doris tells Octavian that before he gets upset, he should count all of these letters. The idea in stoicism is the pause and the reflection before you take the action. putting the impression, putting the [music] feeling, putting the emotion to the test. It's not that we don't have the emotions that we try not to act on the emotions in the heat of it, right? Because this is so often when we do the thing that we regret or we make the mistakes that cause problems for people. And then the second, this is Octavian's favorite saying, Fina Lente, make haste slowly. [snorts] Stoicism is deliberation. It's a discipline. It's not too fast, not too slow. The virtues being a midpoint between two vices. [music] It was remarkable in the ancient world and it's remarkable now when Antonyinus Pas becomes emperor. This is the temple dedicated to him and his wife. His wife was ecstatic. She thought, you know, we we finally made it, right? And he says, not only have we not made it, we have lost even what we've had before. His point was that this job was going to be not just very difficult, it was going to be expensive and it was going to require them to live and operate by even stricter standards before. He was disciplined before, he was honest before, but now that he was the emperor, he would have to be even more scrupulous, even more strict, even more above reproach. I I think this is the example that Marcus Aurelius was thinking of when in the depths of the Antonine plague, he sells off the palace furnishings to pay down Rome's debts. He refuses gifts and money because it would compromise him in our time of political corruption. Now, this all seems very quaint, but but it is an example we should remember and try to hold our politicians to. It would be wonderful if everyone we encountered in life was honest, if they were on the level, if they were generous, if they were respectful, if they were decent. But they're not, right? Life is full of cheaters and liars, poor losers and bad winners. And and we see this in sports, right? [music] That's why sports is such a great training now for life. Mark in meditations talks about, you know, when you're boxing in the ring and someone is biting or gouging or cheating, you have to decide, are you going to throw in the towel and quit and leave? Or said, are you going to keep your distance a little bit? You're going to learn from it. And then most importantly, he says the best revenge is to not be like that. To be an honest competitor, to be a good competitor, to be a good winner and a good loser. And uh this is the famous boxer statue 2500 years ago. Some unknown Greek artist just perfectly captured a guy who's been knocked around and kicked. He's clearly been gouged. He's bleeding. It's cauliflower ear struggling. One of his feet is raised. You can just see the detail of it. And that's why Marcus Ruiz's metaphor is so is so vivid and timeless just like the statue is. You're going to encounter people like that. Senica talks about being unpleasantly surprised by that makes [music] those blows land heaviest, makes the betrayal feel all the worse. You got to go in with your eyes open. You got to be aware. Got to accept and and embrace the reality of what life is like. And then don't let it affect how you are as a competitor. Except to make you better to not do those things that other people do. We know that absolute power corrupts. Absolutely. Almost all the Roman emperors were bad, if not evil. We know that they sag under the responsibility, the temptations of their position. So, how is this guy, how is he the one exception to that rule? Well, this book right here is the secret. Here's a guy who is the most powerful person in the world for 20 years. He [music] has to fight wars that he didn't start. He buries half of his children. He has to lead through a plague [music] and natural disasters and coup attempts and personal health issues. Everything you could possibly imagine. He doesn't have the good fortune that [music] he deserves. One ancient historian laments. His whole reign is involved in a series of [music] troubles. So, how does Marcus Aurelus get through it? How does he escape being Caesarified, stained purple? How does he not break under all the strain and [music] stress he is subjected to? This book is the answer. This book was the reason. It's because here in meditations, Marcus [music] Aurelius is writing notes to himself. He's practicing philosophy. He's reminding himself who he's [music] supposed to be, what he's supposed to do, what actually matters. Philosophy then is a practice. The fact that it survives [music] to us as a book is a quirk, is an accident. But the real benefit, the the real genius of this book is what it was for [music] the guy writing it. Mark Seris's meditations is a book for the writer and then for the reader. The writer benefits from having written [music] it and from its specificity from the fact that it was intended for an audience of one. It's somehow over the centuries had an audience of millions. And if you haven't read it, you are missing out. as they led a Roman emperor or general through a triumphal arch. The greatest accomplishment and honor that you could receive in the ancient world to march in triumph. Supposedly on on the chariot of the the great general or the emperor was a person whose job was to whisper in their ear, momento my momento my remember you are mortal. It wasn't a threat so much as a reminder that ego is the enemy. That that you are not a god. That you are not invincible. That you may have achieved this great incredible thing. You are [music] not that special and the rules still apply. And it's a great little whisper, a great little reminder that we can practice in our own [music] lives in our great moments of accomplishment to remember not just that we are mortal and that life is short, but that the rules still apply, that ego is the enemy, that gravity is still there, that we are not exempt. It's easy to despair. It's easy to get discouraged. It It's easy to wonder why we're doing all this. Why Why are we staying good in a world that's so bad? Well, there's a passage in Marcus Spelius's meditations from almost 2,000 years ago that that I think is worth remembering. And it's worth remembering that this was said by the most powerful man in the world. He says, "Have I done something for the common good? Then I share in the benefits." He said, "Try to stay centered on that and not to give up." You do something good. It's good. It's good for you. It's good for the world. Whether you're thanked for it, whether you're appreciated for it, whether it's reciprocated, that's not in your control. Keep doing good. Do good cuz it's good. Try to stay centered on that and try not to give up. It doesn't matter what other people are getting away with. It doesn't matter what's being recognized or celebrated. What matters is that we accept what's outside of our control. We treat people as they should be treated and we approach our thoughts with care and try to remain rational in a time of irrationality. [music]