Emperor and Slave: The Philosophy of Roman Stoicism

Summary

Highlights

• Marcus Aurelius rose daily reflecting on his duty as a human being, embodying Stoic tenets. ☀️
• Epictetus, once a slave, demonstrated Stoic composure and wisdom, even under duress. ✨
• The philosophy advocates acceptance of one's fate and values inner peace over external circumstances. 🧘
• Stoicism was crucial in shaping Roman legal systems and ideas of governance. ⚖️
• Marcus Aurelius viewed the world as his larger community, promoting unity and brotherhood. 🤲

Key Takeaways

• Roman Stoicism teaches resilience and personal responsibility, valuing virtue over material wealth. 💪
• Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus, though from vastly different backgrounds, both championed Stoic ideals. 🤝
• Stoicism emphasizes control over one's own will and opinions as a path to freedom. 🚀
• The philosophy influenced Roman law and governance, impacting Western civilization profoundly. ⚖️
• Stoicism's teachings on global citizenship remain relevant, as seen in modern human rights. 🌍

Overview

Chapters

• 00:00 - 10:00: Introduction and Early Thoughts The chapter opens with an introduction set against a musical backdrop. Initial thoughts are expressed, possibly setting the tone for the themes to be explored in the subsequent narrative.
• 10:00 - 20:00: Roman Contributions and Stoicism's Influence The chapter explores the Roman contributions to philosophy and the influence of Stoicism. It highlights the Stoic principles that encourage individuals to embrace their responsibilities and rise to the tasks of being human, even when met with reluctance in their daily lives.
• 20:00 - 30:00: Stoic Philosophy: Key Teachings and Principles This chapter introduces the responses of an emperor and a slave within the context of Stoic philosophy. It emphasizes the Stoic principle of using one's faculties to endure and handle life's challenges. The narrative suggests the importance of utilizing one's resources, like using hands to wipe a running nose, as an example of addressing and overcoming trivial difficulties. This demonstrates a key Stoic teaching: embracing the tools and faculties at one's disposal to maintain control and composure, regardless of one's societal position, whether emperor or slave.
• 30:00 - 40:30: Stoicism's Relevance and Conclusion The chapter discusses the relevance of Stoicism in modern times and concludes with a metaphorical reflection on tackling life's minor inconveniences. It suggests that it is more beneficial to address and manage unavoidable nuisances, like a runny nose, rather than complain about their existence. This serves as an analogy for facing the challenges of life with a Stoic mindset. The chapter emphasizes a practical approach to Stoicism, advocating for acceptance and proactive solutions.

Emperor and Slave: The Philosophy of Roman Stoicism Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] [Music] oh
• 00:30 - 01:00 [Music] [Applause] [Music] in the morning when you rise unwillingly let this thought be present I am rising to the work of a human being
• 01:00 - 01:30 those were the words of the emperor now the slave speaks have you not then as a human being received faculties to enable you to Bear all that happens but you say my nose runs for what purpose then slave have you hands is it not that you may wipe your nose but is it you ask consistent with
• 01:30 - 02:00 reason that there should be running of noses in the world nay I reply how much better it is to wipe your nose and to find fault you have just been listening to voices from the past past the
• 02:00 - 02:30 meditations of an emperor and the discourses of a slave the emperor was Marcus Aurelius who ruled the Roman world for 19 years during the 2 Century after Christ the slave was epicus born in the 1 Century BC and brought to Rome as a slave during the violent reign of the emperor Nero later freed epicus became one of Rome's greatest philosophers all around us is the Country Villa not far from Rome of
• 02:30 - 03:00 another Roman ruler the emperor hadrien a great Builder and a liberal patron of artists and writers hadrien was one of the good Emperors he gave the Empire its longest period of good government more than 80 years from 98 to 180 ad epicus in Hadrian's time of famous teacher and philosopher enjoyed his favor and patronage as for Marcus aurelus
• 03:00 - 03:30 hadrien recognized his genius even as a child and later s to it that Marcus would one day be ruler of the Roman world so by no great stretch of the imagination we can I think after nearly 2,000 years still hear the voices of Marcus aelius and epicus echoing among these ruins what is this you tell me the robber and the adulterer ought to be destroyed by no means say so
• 03:30 - 04:00 do not admire your clothes my friend and you will not be angry with the thief who steals them do not admire the beauty of your wife and you will not be angry with the adulterer soon will the earth cover us all then the Earth too will change and the things also which result from change will continue to change
• 04:00 - 04:30 Forever both Marcus arus the emperor and epicus the former slave were stoic philosophers stoicism a philosophy of the conduct of Life did not originate here in Rome its Origins were in Greece about the 4th Century before Christ but once transplanted to Roman soil it took firm root and reached full flower here
• 04:30 - 05:00 thus the influence of stoicism on all later philosophical thought derives its power from the Roman stoics stoicism in fact is one of Rome's great contributions to our civilization to our Western way of life however when we think of the legacy of Rome we tend first to think of Roads the mighty Roman roads that connected all parts of the vast Empire of public buildings but even
• 05:00 - 05:30 today impress us with a tremendous scale of gigantic aqueducts carrying water mile after mile above their soaring arches in Rome someone has said the true artist was the engineer and Roman engineering is impressive even today still important as it was engineering was by no means Rome's
• 05:30 - 06:00 greatest contribution to our Western Civilization Rome's enduring Legacy was in the sphere of Law and government the idea of a republic of constitutional government and citizenship is magnificently set forth in the writings of the Greek philosophers particularly Plato and Aristotle but it was to the institutions of the Roman Republic that later generations including the founders of our own Republic turned when they looked
• 06:00 - 06:30 for a working model in Plato and Aristotle there are profound discussions of Law and justice but it is to the actual system of Roman jurist Prudence The codification of its laws the work of its lawyers and judges that we turn when we want concrete examples of Men at Work in the administration of justice but what does this have to do with the stoic philosophy just this
• 06:30 - 07:00 while we cannot properly call stoicism the official philosophy of Rome certainly it was the philosophy that influenced its ruling class its Senators its lawyers even its emper Marcus aurelus emperor of Rome from 161 ad until his death 19 years later was a philosopher king
• 07:00 - 07:30 perhaps the only example in Western history of Plato's ideal ruler frail sensitive peaceloving his Reign was far from peaceful in the East the parthians invaded Syria in the north a Restless movement of Barbarian tribes threatened the danub thus during the last 10 years of his life Marcus aurelus was seldom in
• 07:30 - 08:00 Rome but it was during this time in his tent by the remote danu perhaps after the day's March or the day's fighting that he wrote his meditations thoughts addressed to himself the thoughts of a noble suffering troubled human [Music] being
• 08:00 - 08:30 [Music] of the philosopher epicus we know little but one anecdote illuminates his character he knew as a slave the horrors of Nero's court and was permanently lame by his master the courtier of Nero but while his leg was being Twisted by his master the anecdote relates
• 08:30 - 09:00 epicus only smiled and noted calmly you will break it and when it was broken he said only I Told You So epicus wrote no books of his own his discourses were compiled by a student who took careful notes of his lectures in the very language epicus used the student writes preserving the directness of his
• 09:00 - 09:30 speech the meditations of marcelus opens with an account of the things for which he is grateful his education and the influence of various people on his character from my grandfather Theus I learned good morals and the government of my temper from the reputation and remembrance of my
• 09:30 - 10:00 father modesty among the good teachers to whom Marcus tells us he was indebted were several stoic philosophers one of these was the Roman stoic Claudius Maximus from Claudius Maximus I learned self-government and not to be led aside by anything and cheerfulness in all circumstances as well as an illness and to do what what was set
• 10:00 - 10:30 before me without complaining another good teacher to whom Marcus was indebted was the stoic rusticus I received the impression that my character required Improvement and discipline it was such influences in training that produced the stoic Emperor Marcus Aurelius but how did this man combine being a philosopher a lover of thought
• 10:30 - 11:00 rather than of worldly things with also being the active ruler of a vast Empire listen now to the admonitions he addresses himself and keep in mind that These Warnings were addressed to himself alone not to anyone else in the morning when you rise unwillingly let this thought be present I am rising to the work of a human being
• 11:00 - 11:30 why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I have been brought into the world or have I been made for this to lie in the bed clothes and keep myself warm since Marcus relus was an emperor we might think that it was easy for him to live the good life to which he'
• 11:30 - 12:00 aspired since his childhood on the contrary it was more difficult take care he warns himself take care that you are not made into a Caesar for such things happen strive to continue to be such as philosophy wish to make you but as your thoughts are so also
• 12:00 - 12:30 will be the character of your mind let your thoughts then be such as these for instance that wherever a man can live there he can live well but you must live in a palace well then you can also live well in a palace
• 12:30 - 13:00 If any man is unhappy remember that his unhappiness is his own fault epicus of course did not live in a palace surrounded by the Temptations of luxury and power but the stoic attitude toward life made him face life's problems in the same way you have listened to the emperor telling himself how to combine living well with being an emperor now let the slave tell you how
• 13:00 - 13:30 any man slave or Emperor can enjoy freedom and Tranquility he is free who lives as he wishes to live whose desires attain their purpose and who does not fall into that which he would avoid but who can live as he wishes only
• 13:30 - 14:00 the man of virtue and wisdom epicus tells us only the man who controls his desires he alone is free who desires nothing that belongs to others all things which are not in his power either to have or not to have the only road that leads to Freedom the only release from slavery is this to be able to say with your whole
• 14:00 - 14:30 soul Lead Me Destiny the way I am bid by you to go if you think over what you have heard you will begin to detect the outlines of the central themes in stoic thought we should be concerned only with that which is within our power strictly speaking our own will is
• 14:30 - 15:00 the only thing wholly within our power everything external to our will all surrounding circumstances or anything that happens to us is neither good nor evil it is within the power of our will to form either a favorable or an unfavorable opinion of anything external to us or to suspend judgment about it
• 15:00 - 15:30 entirely with these Central themes of stoicism in mind we can understand epicus when he tells us men are Disturbed not by the things which happen but by their opinions about the things for example death is nothing terrible
• 15:30 - 16:00 but the opinion about death that it is terrible is a terrible thing consider that everything is opinion and opinion is in your power take away the opinion and then there is also taken away the complaint I have been harmed take away the complaint I have been harmed and then the harm is taken
• 16:00 - 16:30 away it is in our power to have no opinion about a thing and not to be disturbed in our soul for things themselves have no natural power to form our judgments thus no matter what happens externally to a man no matter what befalls his body or his external possessions he can remain unhe
• 16:30 - 17:00 hurt unless I think what has happened is an evil I am not injured and it is in my power not to think so if you are pained by some external thing it is not this thing which Disturbed you but your own judgment about it and it is in your power to wipe without this
• 17:00 - 17:30 judgment pain for instance is an evil either to the body or to the soul but it is in the power of the soul to maintain its own Serenity and tranquility and not to think that pain is an evil where is the evil
• 17:30 - 18:00 in the will where is the good in the will where is that which is neither good nor evil in those things which are independent of the will there is nothing in the world that is good or evil except the will from these basic stoic principles flow a number of corollaries one is the in Junction to resign ourselves to
• 18:00 - 18:30 whatever Nature has in store for us whether the universe is a concourse of atoms or nature system let this first be established that I am a part of the whole which is governed by Nature
• 18:30 - 19:00 seek not then that the things which happen should happen as you wish but wish the things that happen to be as they are and you will have a tranquil flow of Life another corollary of the basic principles of stoicism is the off repeated Council of self-reliance epicus
• 19:00 - 19:30 speaks the condition and characteristic of an uninstructed person is this he never expects profit or harm from himself but only from externals and the condition and characteristic of a philosopher is this he expects all advantages and all harm from himself he who does wrong wrongs
• 19:30 - 20:00 himself he who acts unjustly acts unjustly to himself only two points need to be added here to complete this brief summary of the main tenets of stoic moral teaching the first is that reason or intelligence is man's special gift which distinguishes him from all other living creatures what is a
• 20:00 - 20:30 man the answer is a rational being then by the rational faculty from whom are we separated from wild beasts and from what others from sheep and like animals take care then to do nothing like a wild beast
• 20:30 - 21:00 for if you do you have lost the character of a man and you have not fulfilled your promise see that you do nothing as a sheep but if you do in this case the man is lost what then do we do as
• 21:00 - 21:30 sheep when we act gluttonously when we act lewdly when we act rashly filthily inconsiderately to what have we declined to what have we lost the rational faculty when we Act contentiously and harmfully and
• 21:30 - 22:00 passionately and violently to what have we declined to wild beasts consequently some of us are great wild beasts and others little beasts of a bad disposition and small but in all these ways
• 22:00 - 22:30 the promise of a man acting as a man is destroyed the second Point necessary to complete this brief summary of the main tenants of stoicism is the stoic emphasis on doing one's duty remember that you have been formed by nature to Bear everything by thinking that it is either your interest or your duty to do
• 22:30 - 23:00 this it didn't make no difference to you therefore whether you are cold or warm if you are doing your duty do what is necessary
• 23:00 - 23:30 for this brings not only the Tranquility which comes from doing your duty but also the Tranquility which comes from doing little for the greatest part of what we say and do is unnecessary
• 23:30 - 24:00 I said at the beginning of this film that certain conceptions in the stoic philosophy had an intimate connection with Rome's achievements in law and government the most important for our consideration here is the stoy conception of man as a social animal having duties to his fellow men and deriving his Humanity from being a part of the social whole the prime principle of man's Constitution is the the
• 24:00 - 24:30 social we are made for society and our good lies in society as you yourself are a component part of the social system so let Every Act of yours be a component part of social life do nothing
• 24:30 - 25:00 inconsiderately or without purpose and make your acts refer to nothing but a social end this conception of the unity of mankind led the stoics to a vision of world Unity they looked upon the rational principle in nature as Divine it not only harmonized man with nature but United man with man all men are brothers in nature and as
• 25:00 - 25:30 offsprings of nature they are all children of God Marcus aurelus tells us that every rational animal is our Kinsman and that to care for all men is according to our nature listen to him reason with himself about these matters if our intellectual part is common the reason in respect of which we are rational being beings is also
• 25:30 - 26:00 common if this is so common also is the reason which commands us what to do and what not to do if this is so there is also a law common to all men if this is so we are members of some political community and if this this is so then the world is in a
• 26:00 - 26:30 manner a state and having reasoned thus this ruler of Imperial Rome concluded my city and my country so far as I am Marcus Aurelius is Rome but so far as I am a man it is is the
• 26:30 - 27:00 world so far as I am a man my country is the world this stoic vision of the unity of mankind in a worldwide Community under law still beckons us on after nearly 2,000 years if you doubt this listen once again all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights they are endowed with reason and conscience ience and should act towards
• 27:00 - 27:30 one another in a spirit of Brotherhood Marcus aelius yes his ideas to the letter but the words happen to be article one of the universal Declaration of the Rights of Man adopted in 1948 by the United Nations without a dissenting vote thus we can see that Rome's greatest contribution to mankind is still very much alive the effort to unite all men as citizens of the
• 27:30 - 28:00 world in what other ways is the philosophy of stoicism relevant for our time is it a philosophy we can live by in the 20th century can you for example agree with Marcus Aurelius when he says let it make no difference to you whether you are cold or warm if you are doing your duty
• 28:00 - 28:30 do you agree with epicus on this point if any man is unhappy remember that his unhappiness is his own fault