How Epictetus Captured The Mind Of Marcus Aurelius
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, designed to help bring those four key Stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world. The right book at the right time. It can change everything, right? How did I... come to read Marcus Aurelius. I was at a conference as a college journalist sponsored by Trojan condoms of all things. And I asked for a book recommendation and One thing led to another, and now I have a podcast about stoicism. You know, probably exactly like your story. All of our origin stories to this philosophy, in fact, to many of the books that have changed our lives, are random. There's an element of serendipity to them. But usually it comes with some kind of recommendation.
And for Marcus Aurelius, right, this is how he comes to Epictetus. The discourses of Epictetus are handed to him by Junius Rusticus, his philosophy teacher. It's one of the great book recommendations in history. A teacher gives it to a young man who is being pulled towards power and fame and responsibility and empire. And so these words from a former slave... teach a man with incredible influence and power about the importance of self-mastery. And that's what I wanted to talk to today's guest about, Professor William O. Stevens, who is a professor emeritus at Creighton University. He's a longtime scholar of both Marcus Rios and Epictetus, who wrote this great book on Stoic ethics. And then he's more recently written a biography of Marcus Aurelius called Marcus Aurelius, Philosopher King.
How did Marcus Aurelius first discover Epictetus and why was it so formative?
And in this little chunk of today's episode, I wanted to ask him about how Marcus came to encounter Epictetus, what struck him about it, and, you know, who fired Epictetus'. imagination as well, and how the teachings of a slave had such a powerful impact on someone destined to rule so many. Mark's really being groomed for power. Epictetus talking about freedom, literal and figuratively. Mark is surrounded by palaces and status and expectation. Epictetus saying none of this matters. It doesn't matter how many people you are in charge of if you are not first in charge of yourself. And perhaps that's why Marcus kept coming back to him, why I keep coming back to both of them. And, you know, probably why you're listening to this podcast as well.
Do check out Marcus Aurelius Philosopher King by Professor Stevens. And I hope you enjoy this episode. Most leaders have a clear picture of how work is supposed to get done, but they have almost no visibility into how it's actually happening day to day. And without that visibility, you're just making decisions like what to automate or where AI is going to be helpful based on not much more than your gut or how you've always done things. And traditional approaches, you know, you can hire a consultant, you can map out processes. Now, this could take months. By the time you get the data, it's outdated before you can even use it. And that's exactly the problem that today's sponsor, Scribe, was built to fix.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:44
2
How did Marcus Aurelius first discover Epictetus and why was it so formative?
1:44–5:19
3
Who was Junius Rusticus and how did his recommendation shape Marcus’s philosophy?
5:19–11:02
4
How did Epictetus’s message of inner freedom resonate with a man surrounded by power and status?
11:02–15:35
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The Daily Stoic
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