| Oh, Cato might be a folk hero now, but at the time? At the time, they hated him. The expression "We can't all be Catos" was not meant kindly. It was dripping with disdain. The fact that there were no statues of him in Rome was not an oversight. This was a man who was forcibly driven from the Forum on multiple occasions, a man they sent into exile, a man not unfamiliar with jeering mobs or death threats. To paraphrase the song, you could build castles out of the bricks they threw at Cato. And they threw it at him for what? For doing his job. For not being corrupt. For sticking to his principles. For protecting Rome's mos maiorum. But the funny thing is, Cato didn't need to build castles with those bricks because he had something better. Stoicism gave Cato an inner citadel, a sense of purpose and confidence and strength for which no amount of external criticism, pressure or violence could touch. As Marcus Aurelius—no stranger to criticism himself—would write in Meditations, "They kill you, cut you with knives, shower you with curses. And that somehow cuts your mind off from clearness, and sanity, and self-control, and justice?" The answer for Cato was no, it doesn't. Marcus Aurelius did his best to supply the same answer (that's what he was trying to remind himself of in the pages of Meditations). And so we must strive to do the same, no matter how many bricks or curses or tempting offers they throw at us. Nothing should touch our inner citadel. Nothing should cut us off from the four virtues. P.S. We might not all endure attacks similar to Cato or Marcus Aurelius, but we all have faced external criticism and unwarranted attacks for standing up for what's right in life. If you want a powerful reminder of your sense of purpose and confidence in those moments, of your inner citadel within, check out the Four Virtues Pendant. The front of the Four Virtues Pendant features a custom-designed seal with four elements representing the Four Virtues: a lion (Courage), a man sprinkling water into a jug of wine (Temperance), a set of scales (Justice), and an owl (Wisdom). On the back, it says, "Acta Non Verba," which is Latin for, "Actions, not words." Each pendant comes with a 24" sterling silver chain. Head here to get yours to wear so you can feel its weight and stick to your principles in every situation, no matter the proverbial bricks thrown your way. | 
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