How to Think Like a Roman Emperor
If you have anger issues, this one is a great tool (h/t mindyourbusiness)
This week’s book:
Discourses and Selected Writings
Disclaimer: I’m not your Supervisor. These are my opinions after reading through these books a few times.
Epictetus was born a slave around 50 ad. His owner was Epaphroditus, a rich freedman who was once a slave of Nero. Though he was a slave Epictetus was sent to study philosophy under Musonius Rufus.
Epictetus was lame and there are some stories it was caused by his master and others that it was caused by disease.
He was a freedman when all philosophers were banished from Rome in 89 by the Emperor Domitian. He then started his school in Greece, and had many students. He did not leave any writings from his lessons, but one of his students, Flavius Arrian, took notes and wrote the Discourses.
Epictetus did not marry, had no children, and lived to be around 80-85. In retirement, he adopted a child that would have been abandoned and raised him with a woman.
He died sometime around AD 135.
He is my favorite Stoic teacher. I love his bare bones and very straight forward approach.
Following is a paragraph-by-paragraph discussion of one of his lessons. Epictetus’s text appears in bold, my replies are in normal text.
Of Freedom Part III
That is why we shall call free only those animals which do not submit to captivity, but escape by dying as soon as they are captured. 30So also Diogenes says somewhere:[3] “The one sure way to secure freedom is to die cheerfully”; and to the Persian[4] king he writes: “You cannot enslave the Athenian State any more than you can enslave the fish.” “How so? Shall I not lay hold of them?” “If you do,” he replies, “they will forthwith leave you and escape, like the fish. And that is true, for if you lay hold of one of them, it dies; and if these Athenians die when you lay hold of them, what good will you get from your armament?”[† 1] That is the word of a free man who has seriously examined the matter, and, as you might expect, had discovered truth about it. But if you look for it where it does not exist, why be surprised if you never find it?
Growing up on a dairy farm, I used to be amazed at how dumb our Holsteins were. I have since realized that they were bred to be that way. I imagine that when they were first being domesticated, if one was stubborn and kept escaping or causing trouble, they either escaped and were not chased or they were turned into beef. The docile ones were kept for milk and that resulted in the stupid cows with almost no survival instinct we have today. The same thing can happen to people, when my mom was a manager at a fast food/beer restaurant, she had an employee I nicknamed “Lazy Larry”. Lazy Larry knew how many hours he could work before he made enough to cut into his benefits. His wife and all of his children were on Social Security disability. His 17 year old daughter was pregnant and they were all happy because now they could get WIC and the daughter’s disability payments would go up. I felt bad for the daughter and her baby, I am not sure how to break that circle of dependence.
It is the slave’s prayer that he be set free immediately. Why? Do you think it is because he is eager to pay his money to the men who collect the five per cent tax?[5] No, it is because he fancies that up till now he is hampered and uncomfortable, because he has not obtained his freedom from slavery. “If I am set free,” he says, “immediately it is all happiness, I shall pay no attention to anybody, I talk to everybody as an equal and as one in the same station in life, I go where I please, I come whence I please, and where I please.” 35Then he is emancipated, and forthwith, having no place to which to go and eat, he looks for someone to flatter, for someone at whose house to dine. Next he either earns a living by prostitution,[6] and so endures the most dreadful things, and if he gets a manger at which to eat he has fallen into a slavery much more severe than the first; or even if he grows rich, being a vulgarian he has fallen in love with a chit of a girl, and is miserable, and laments, and yearns for his slavery again. “Why, what was wrong with me? Someone else kept me in clothes, and shoes, and supplied me with food, and nursed me when I was sick; I served him in only a few matters. But now, miserable man that I am, what suffering is mine, who am a slave to several instead of one! However, if I get rings on my fingers,”[7] he says, “then indeed I shall live most prosperously and happily.” And so, first, in order to get them he submits to—what he deserves! Then when he has got them, you have the same thing over again. Next he says, “If I serve in a campaign, I am rid of all my troubles.” He serves in a campaign, he submits to all that a jail-bird suffers, but none the less he demands a second campaign and a third.[8] 40After that, when he adds the very colophon,[9] and becomes a senator, then he becomes a slave as he enters the senate, then he serves in the handsomest and sleekest slavery.
We are all slaves in the strictest sense of the word. My job infringes on my freedom. The government steals a good portion of the money I make. I was a voluntary slave to the Marine Corps for 20 years. The fact that I mostly enjoyed it and was paid for it does not alter the fact that I had no choice on where I went and for how long. I realize now that my wife and kids paid a bigger price than I did at the time, but I seemed to believe that the Marine Corps couldn’t get along without me. I have learned from that and now have a job which affords me much more time at home and when I do travel, I can usually bring my wife with me. For internal things that can control me, I try not to be a slave to my desires or moods, and am mostly successful at this.
I am fine, but I did have a medical scare of Wednesday night/ Thursday morning. I had bad diarrhea all night and in the morning when I could see, I realized it was mostly blood. I was not scared by this, but I was very concerned as to what could be the cause and how serious it could be. My wife took me to the ER and after a CT scan they determined it was diverticulitis. They gave me antibiotics and painkillers and sent me home. The Dr. also told me to eat a liquid diet until tomorrow. That is the most difficult part, because I eat a lot and don’t really like soup. For lunch I had Publix chicken soup and for dinner, my wife made clam chowder. Still have low energy, but I haven’t needed the painkillers(I hate those things) and hpefully I can work out tomorrow morning.
On the bright side, I am flying to Cleveland on Saturday to pick up my “new” 2004 Saab. Nephilium, if you are available around 2 or 3 for a late lunch, email me at ronhatsu at yahoo dot com.
That car is old enough to drink!
I know, but ain’t she purty?
That is fuckin awesome! Sporty station wagons are cool as the other side of the pillow.
🙂
Enjoy!
It also didn’t cost $125k new and doesn’t weigh 5,500 lbs!
https://www.caranddriver.com/bmw/m5-touring
On my walk earlier this week I was surprised to see an AMG station wagon driving down the road. Those things are all kinds of awesome and extremely rare.
R C Dean:
I’ve been following the https://bringatrailer.com/station-wagon/ for a while now and those come up pretty regularly.
Where does internal motivation to be better come from? If you figure it out, let me know.
In the meantime, the way to break the cycle of dependence is to stop rewarding repeat public-assistance-breeders, and turn a deaf ear to their cries as they starve in the streets. Or maybe require that to sign up for public assistance, you have to get a Nexplanon implant (or a vasectomy, depending on whether you’re a dick or a pussy).
Luckily, I was born with that.
One of my foundational memories was going to get government cheese and powdered milk with other things as a child with my mother.
We lived on a dairy farm, so there was always milk, and we had a giant chest freezer stuffed with beef and deer.
I was so mad that we were there for free food we didn’t need. If I remember correctly, I was such an asshole about it mom never took me again.
Looks like J.D. Vance was not wrong about the way he went about it.
Any idea why she did that? Did she see the Great Depression?
She believed if it was free, then there is no reason not to.
Some cheerful news for the day
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-allows-trump-revoke-legal-status-500000-immigrants-rcna207271
Supreme Court allows Trump to revoke temporary legal status of 500,000 immigrants from 4 countries
The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the Trump administration to revoke temporary legal status granted to more than 500,000 immigrants by the Biden administration.
The court granted an emergency application filed by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that ends the Biden program that gave 532,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela permission to temporarily live and work in the United States.
Eh, temporary means not permanent.
And temporary refugees are not immigrants.
Temporary can last a lifetime, if you let it.
temporary means not permanent
Unless it is a govt program!
Or a tax.
The Johnstown Flood Tax from 1936:
Diverticulitis sucks, and it’ll never go away (unless they resection your bowel).
I have it and get a flair up every couple of years. Need to figure out what triggers it for you. Too much dairy is mine.
A coworker had it bad enough that he had the resection done. His was corn and nuts, which he still has problems with.
No idea what triggered it.
I still feel a little off today but was actually hungry for lunch.
“The Dr. also told me to eat a liquid diet”
“Whatever you say, doc!” *cracks open another beer*
Tuesday – had a fortnightly touch base with one of the teams I support. Nothing but regular business.
Today – “Oh by the way, we’re moving one of our Mainframes to Utica Sunday.”
😒
Not a stoic response, but I think breaking every one of his fingers might teach him a valuable lesson.
…and suspend his cheater’s permit for 60 days…
Cumulative damages . . say 1k per car . . . 121k total damages. Felony level mischief.
“They have insurance.”
-Commies
The fact that breaking into and stealing 100+ cars is classified as “low level crime” is pretty indicative of the problem.
Stealing bubble gum from the five and dime is low level crime. Being a one man crime wave is not.
Used to be that would get you hanged. Well, crimes of an equivalent nature to the car theivery spree.
Stealing a man’s transportation or the means to earn a livelihood, before cradle to grave government nannyism, was a potential death sentence. Hanging wasn’t cruel or unusual punishment.
Glenn Greenwald – it is a little funny that the guy who broke the Snowden spy story would still record himself doing weird sex stuff.
“I’m so grotesque that no dirt you get on me can possibly be used for blackmail!”
No?
Just odd?
What are you talking about? Something recent?
https://x.com/ggreenwald/status/1928440222771015912
Thanks. I’ve already found the video in question.
Are you in your bunk?
I’m not into this kind of kink. At all.
Good for Glenn. I dont care to see the video.
This is what happens when a lowlife chooses to pick a fight with the wrong person. I sure hope someone gets caught and prosecuted.
I sure hope someone gets caught and prosecuted.
Highly doubt that agents of the Brazilian Intelligence services, nor their CIA/NSA handlers will face any consequences.
The fact that breaking into and stealing 100+ cars is classified as “low level crime” is pretty indicative of the problem.
But Trump is the one “redefining crime”.
*I saw that headline a while ago.
Things not conducive to stoicism
A lawsuit filed in a Washington state court claims oil companies are responsible for the death of a woman in Seattle during a record-breaking heat wave several years ago.
The case marks the first time oil companies have been sued over the death of a person in a “climate disaster,” according to the Center for Climate Integrity, an advocacy group.
Julie Leon, 65, was found unresponsive in her car on June 28, 2021 — the hottest day in Seattle’s history. The temperature in the city that day peaked at 108 degrees Fahrenheit. By the time Leon died of hyperthermia, her internal temperature had risen to 110 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in King County Superior Court.
The suit names six oil companies, including ExxonMobil, BP and Chevron, that have allegedly known for decades that burning fossil fuels alters the Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in more extreme weather and the “foreseeable loss of human life.” But rather than warn the public, the suit says the oil companies deceived consumers about the risks.
Sounds like a slam dunk.
Like most political court processes, the actual law and facts don’t matter.
All that matters is which tribe the judge belongs to.
this shit needs to end
“Case dismissed. Oil doesn’t come from dinosaurs and ferns.”
I’ve heard it tends to get hot inside cars. One would think she’d have been better off NOT in her car. Was she trapped inside? 🤔
Seattle. She likely OD’d then roasted a bit.
The lawyers who brought that need to be sanctioned. There’s a clear rule in place for sanctioning lawyers that file frivolous claims.
You’d actually have a better case against the car company, claiming negligence for not using the sensors that detect someone is in the car and the ones for cabin air temp to trigger the windows to roll down when someone is in the car and it gets too hot.
In a rapid attribution study released days after the event, a team of scientists said the 2021 heatwave in the Pacific Northwest would have been “virtually impossible without human-caused climate change.”
“It’s right there in the model, plain as the nose on your face.”
Is that some of that invaluable scientific research we have been funding that Donnie Two-scoops is killing?
Odds on them going back now and using that to sue Trump?
Helluva month….just finished my 10th 12 hour shift in the last 11 1/2 days (night shift last week, day shift this week)…more like 15 hour days with my commute time and walk (to and from car parking space). Hooray for complex joint exercises. This next month should be a lot nicer. All night shift, but also a week of leave and some better breaks between shifts.
Will hopefully get some pics during leave when I finally get out and about and visit a few more local sites.
Are you still happy you made the move to Italy?
Hope you get to enjoy it more next month.
It’s been pretty good on the whole – lots to still look forward to (when I have free time). Enjoying my hobby time a lot too. Tight on the manning for some billets even when the reservists show up. I may be able to work out a closer parking spot eventually, but I sure don’t mind losing the weight either….we’ll see how I feel when it keeps heating up. It’s already down to 20% humidity outside and 30% inside and I’m not even running my dehumidifier….
“complex joint exercises”
Took me a minute. At first I thought you were talking about your workouts.
Also, I was unable to repair the carburetor on my 1964 Cub tractor.
I had rebuilt it with a comprehensive kit, but fuel was running past the float.
I remeasured the float drop and oit was correct. I tried putting the original float back in and got the same result.
Only thing I can think is that there is a crack somewhere letting the fuel in.
So I gave up and bought a new carb, it will be here Monday, hope it works.
Ron (and everyone else) : If you shit blood you should be very concerned. You cant tell by looking how much you have bled. A lot of people die without knowing they are dying by bleeding out like that.
Shit blood? Go to hospital now. Dont talk. Dont ruminate. Go now.
I remeasured the float drop and oit was correct. I tried putting the original float back in and got the same result.
Are you sure the float actually floats? I have had that problem.
I put a new carb, fuel filter and lines on my weedeater, and now it works. Needs a little more fine tuning, but it passed the test yesterday. I need to go out and chop down some more of my out of control vegetation.
It moves freely when I have it apart.
I didn’t see anything in the bowl that would stop it from floating.
https://nypost.com/2025/05/30/us-news/car-flies-off-road-lands-on-veterans-hall-roof-for-second-time-in-3-months/
Whoopsie!