Hadrian had everything. He could do anything. He commanded an enormous army. He had access to the smartest advisors and the most illustrious men in the world. He could send for anyone, summon anyone.
And yet here he was, traveling more than 500 miles from Rome to the distant northwestern Greek city and Roman colony of Nicopolis to attend the lectures of a former slave? It's pretty incredible. And beautiful too, no? There is something poetic about Hadrian, then the emperor, sitting like an eager student at the foot of a man whose name literally just meant "acquired one." Yet in this instance, was the slave not then the master? Was that not the powerless conquering the powerful?
Marcus Aurelius, a lifelong student of Epictetus and the adopted grandson of Hadrian, contrasted the great conquerors of the world against the great wise men of history, and believed that the thinkers came out the better. Because, he explained, "the philosophers knew the what, the why, and the how. Their minds were their own."
Isn't that what we're after? Why is that self-command and self-knowledge so elusive? How can we find it? Well, Epictetus can show us the way, as he did for Marcus and Hadrian and countless others over the centuries.
Where should you start? Why don't you start with thousands of other Stoics who are doing a deep dive into Epictetus for the month of July here at Daily Stoic? Join us in exploring Epictetus' timeless wisdom and how we can apply it to improve our lives with our BRAND-NEW course:
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