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 italicized in bold, my replies are in normal text.
Of Freedom Part XI
This is what you ought to practice from morning till evening. Begin with the most trifling things, the ones most exposed to injury, like a pot, or a cup, and then advance to a tunic, a paltry dog, a mere horse, a bit of land; thence to yourself, your body, and its members, your children, wife, brothers. Look about on every side and cast these things away from you. Purify your judgements, for fear lest something of what is not your own may be fastened to them, or grown together with them, and may give you pain when it is torn loose.
Some things are easy to lose and others will be more difficult to deal with. The difference is in my reaction to the loss and not the loss itself.
After thinking there was a chance I was dying in early June, I have learned that my life is not as precious to me as it would be to most people. That being said, the thought of losing my wife fills me with dread. I will probably never get to be a perfect Stoic where that would be a minor inconvenience and I am OK with that.
When my Mom died, I was sad, but had many years of her fighting cancer to prepare myself for that outcome. I try to prepare myself in the same way for losing things and people that are important to me, but until it actually happens, I don’t know how successful I am.
And every day while you are training yourself, as you do in the gymnasium, do not say that you are “pursuing philosophy” (indeed an arrogant phrase!), but that you are a slave presenting your emancipator in court;[26] for this is the true freedom. This is the way in which Diogenes was set free by Antisthenes,[27] and afterwards said that he could never be enslaved again by any man.
I can be physically restrained and enslaved, but only mentally if I allow it. My own peace of mind is up to me to maintain. Practicing with mental exercises helps in this pursuit, if I do find myself on the wrong side of fickle fortune. If I do not mentally prepare for undesirable things to happen to me, when they do happen it would be easy to get overwhelmed.
115How, in consequence, did he behave when he was captured![28] How he treated the pirates! He called none of them master, did he? And I am not referring to the name! it is not the word that I fear, but the emotion, which produces the word. How he censures them because they gave bad food to their captives! How he behaved when he was sold! Did he look for a master? No, but for a slave. And how he behaved toward his master after he had been sold! He began immediately to argue with him, telling him that he ought not to dress that way, or have his hair cut that way, and about his sons, how they ought to live. And what is there strange about that? Why, if he had bought a gymnastic trainer, would he have employed him as a servant, or as a master, in the exercises of the palaestra? And if he had bought a physician, or a master-builder, the same would have been true.
Keeping the same mentality regardless of my external circumstances is not easy. Apparently I needed a reminder of this. After 2 good weeks of “running” and working out, Sunday night and Monday night I could not sleep for more than an hour straight, so I did not make it to the gym or go running. Then Wednesday night, I had a brutal sinus headache that kept me awake from 1:30 until 5:00 in the morning. I was not at my best Thursday at work and was still in pain from the right side of my face until about 5 this afternoon. So that is a setback on my timeline to get in shape, but I will go back to it on Monday.
And thus in every subject-matter, it is quite unavoidable that the man of skill should be superior to the man without skill. In general, therefore, whoever possesses the science of how to live, how can he help but be the master? For who is master in a ship?—The helmsman.—Why? Because the man who disobeys him is punished.—But my master is able to give me a sound flogging.—He cannot do so with impunity, can he?—So I thought.—But because he cannot do so with impunity, therefore he has no authority to do it; no man can do wrong with impunity.—120And what is the punishment that befalls the man who has put his own slave in chains, when he felt like it?—The putting of him in chains; this is something which you will admit yourself, if you wish to maintain the proposition that man is not a wild beast but a tame animal.[29] For when is a vine faring badly? When it is acting contrary to its own nature. When is a cock faring badly? Under the same conditions. So also man. What, then, is his nature? To bite, and kick, and throw into prison, and behead? No, but to do good, to work together, and to pray for the success of others. Therefore, he is faring badly, whether you will or no, when he acts unfeelingly.
Acting contrary to my own nature is asking to be stressed out and unhappy. When I control my anger and reactions to setback and losses, then I am in harmony with nature and nothing can affect my inner stronghold.
Same here. My own death does not trouble me in the least. The people I care about? That troubles me a great deal.
I feel bad for the people who have to clear my browser history when I’m gone.
My buddy mentioned something about that when referencing his recently deceased older brother.
We all knew he had a large henti collection.
The way he talked about it made me wonder if there was anything worse in There.
Why open and look at all?
Check the computer for pertinent financial information. Turn the thing off. If you need to go back to it in the following year do so. Otherwise format the thing.
Because that’s also where he’s hiding his cash.
Wait, are we still talking about yesterday’s lunchtime post?
Guy may hav had some loose change in the center console of his Subaru.
Spent every dime he ever had and mortgaged his future. Had nothing but a couple computers, a car, some shelving, DVDs, and train stuff. A pretty sad life burning the candle at both ends.
Why do people keep that kind of stuff on their computer?
Mine are all in a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard’.
That’s the display department.
I don’t get it either. Just go to private mode, or better yet, use that browser that does the cool flame animation when you close it. Or so I’ve heard.
https://x.com/TheRicanMemes/status/1956191505934069769
lulz
I posted a few days ago saying I was tired. Sorry to not follow up and thanks to the people who encouraged me to keep posting.
I AM STILL TIRED.
I need a cigar (which includes the time to smoke a cigar, which isn’t easy).
Just smoke the cigar while sleeping, two problems solved!
I’ve almost burnt my bed with me in it several times doing that.
Being tired sucks.
Today is the first day all week I have felt normal.
For some values of normal….
OK, normal for me anyway.
ruodberht pictured:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBfCznKReiY
I am tired too. I am in solidarity.
Also keep commenting.
And show up Thursday to have a cigar.
https://x.com/seanmdav/status/1955975762101575898
But the food!
Send me to hell or New York City, it would be about the same to me.
I am going to Jersey and Long Island next week for work, but I avoid NYC as much as possible.
Referred to by people in Manhattan as the “bridge and tunnel crowd”.
I’ve told my wife I’m never “voluntarily” setting foot in NYC again. I go for work and work only.
Mmmmmmm coal-fired pizza in the theater district
/wouldn’t want to live there
It’s comical that New Yorkers believe that there are not good restaurants in other places.
Drake:
/looks at number of Beard Award nominees and winners in Cleveland
They’re right. We don’t need anyone from NYC coming here to learn.
Sweet tripping hazard.
If I tried going up that in a wheelchair, it will be a tipping hazard.
ADA lawyer paradise.
Anyone going to Baltimore to see Dream Theater on Sep 6th?
“affirm the civic compact”
What the everloving fuck is that even supposed to mean?
Something about Hondas, I assume.
@Not Adahn: What you just done did right there was funny.
Well-played.
“social contract”, you know that thing your signed right after birth before your mother could hold you.
Was that before or after I was assigned a gender?
A three-judge federal appeals court panel has ruled that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s attempt to lay off the vast majority of its employees can proceed.
Liz Warren says, “Don’t be an in… I mean, no takebacks!”
Looks like Trump found that little button that lets the ratchet go the other way.
That’s the second ruling recently that struck down district court injunctions letting Trump’s cuts more forward.
I’m never “voluntarily” setting foot in NYC again.
But what about the Kuuul-chuh?
I’m perfectly happy with my subcultures.
Obligatory.
My sub-culture is boring, midwestern, white male senior citizen.
I think that’s why he’s not voluntarily, etc.
If you pick up culture in NYC, I’d recommend a visit to a clinic ASAP.
It is a prison after all.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=10OoccK7dIw
Sweet tripping hazard.
Zombie-stopper.
Whelp other than a Tribe game tonight I don’t know what’s going on in Cleveland.
But there’s hardly any hotel space. Unless I want a $600/night room at the airport hotels.
I’ll be getting back to the Palatial 2X-wide at 10 tonight.
The Feast started yesterday in Little Italy, that’s the only thing I can think of. We don’t even have Browns players here for training camp, they’re out in Philly.
Some further searching has shown that there’s also a pro female tennis tournament going on over at Nautica.
One of my guys mentioned a big concert. Not sure who Morgan Wallen is.
And Neil Young.
Tres Cool:
There’s concerts most weekends, I’m heading down to one tonight (Screeching Weasel).
He’s a current Nashville “country” favorite. Meh at best, IMNSHO.
My wife and I have taken our kids there for the past two years. It’s super crowded but my wife likes to go to it because her grandfather grew up in Little Italy and she took confirmation or communion lessons (I’m not catholic) at the Holy Rosary Church.
Ed:
The girlfriend had several Italian step-fathers and grew up in Mayfield. She still argues that Paninis shouldn’t have fries and slaw on them. 🙂
Depending on the weather, we may head up on Sunday.
No subsidies
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has officially stopped issuing compliance letters to automakers for violating fuel economy standards. This eliminates the market for credits under the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard.
Automakers that didn’t comply with CAFE rules had to pay fines or purchase credits from other automakers that had a surplus, primarily those that only sell electric vehicles, such as Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid.
Those automakers would sell the credits for less than the fines, but now that the Trump administration has officially eliminated the penalties, it has officially killed the market for credits.
Many automakers had deals to purchase the credits, and following the passing of the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’, it wasn’t clear if those deals would continue or if
The Zero Emission Transportation Association (ZETA), an EV trade group, filed a petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals to force NHTSA to resume issuing the letters.
In comments attached to the petition, Christopher Nevers, Rivian’s director of public policy, stated that the company is unable to finalize its credit deals due to the NHTSA’s decision to end the issuance of compliance letters, resulting in a loss of $100 million in revenue.
Electric vehicles sell on their own merits, because they’re just that good.
Good.
Now get rid of CAFE
They’ve kill CO2 as a pollutant thus undermining the EPA. They’re chipping away at CAFE too.
DEF DPF as well.
It’s an engine killer and ends up burning MORE fuel.
Electrek’s Take
It’s a sad day. This was a direct transfer of money from companies that contribute to deadly pollution to companies that try to reduce that pollution.
It was undeniably a good thing, and we are now already seeing automakers slow down their electric vehicle plans in the US.
Steal from evil Peter and give to virtuous Paul.
We should shut those internal combustion car makers down and throw their executives in prison.
https://www.fox8live.com/2025/08/15/new-orleans-mayor-latoya-cantrell-indicted/
Another corrupt politician.
Where did I put my shocked face?
Another girl boss paying her lover from the public dole.
You’ve come a long way baby!
It’s so dumb but so on point for cities like New Orleans.
I’m only shocked because I would have guessed it had happened before.
SITTING Mayor. Definitely plenty others got caught outside of the mayoral term.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Nagin