How to Think Like a Roman Emperor
If you have anger issues, this one is a great tool (h/t mindyourbusiness.
Today’s lesson comes from: Musonious Rufus’s Lectures
We don”t know much about Rufus’s life, he was born between 20-30 AD. By the rein of Nero he was a leading Stoic teacher. He was banished twice under different Emperors. His most famous student was Epictetus and like him, Rufus did not write any of his own lessons. The lessons and fragments that remain were written by his students. We do not now when he died, but in 101 AD Pliny mentions him as deceased.
Disclaimer: I’m not your Supervisor. These are my opinions after reading through these books a few times.
Should daughters receive the same training as sons? Part I
1 Once when the question arose as to whether or not sons and daughters ought to be given the same education, he remarked that trainers of horses and dogs make no distinction in the training of the male and the female; for female dogs are taught to hunt just as the males are, and one can see no difference in the training of mares, if they are expected to do a horse’s work, and the training of stallions. In the case of man, however, it would seem to be felt necessary to employ some special and exceptional training and education for males over females, as if it were not essential that the same virtues should be present in both alike, in man and woman, or as if it were possible to arrive at the same virtues, not through the same, but through different instruction.
This continues the theme from last week asking if women should receive Stoic training. Although, to be pedantic, male horses were preferred as war horses due to their larger size and more aggressive temperament. I also think boys and girls should not be taught the same way, boys have more energy to burn off, at least my sons did compared to my daughter.
2 And yet that there is not one set of virtues for a man and another for a woman is easy to perceive. In the first place, a man must have understanding and so must a woman, or what pray would be the use of a foolish man or woman? Then it is essential for one no less than the other to live justly, since the man who is not just would not be a good citizen, and the woman would not manage her household well if she did not do it justly; but if she is unjust she will wrong her husband like Eriphyle in the story.[1] Again, it is recognized as right for a woman in wedlock to be chaste, and so is it likewise for a man; the law, at all events, decrees the same punishment for committing adultery as for being taken in adultery. Gluttony, drunkenness, and other related vices, which are vices of excess and bring disgrace upon those guilty of them, show that self-control is most necessary for every human being, male and female alike; for the only way of escape from wantonness is through self-control; there is no other.
The end goals of the teaching may be the same, but maybe different methods should be used to help the students learn easily. Both women and men should be honorable and be able to control base urges. This is not possible with some people and others will make the conscious decision to do the wrong thing once they figure out how to justify it to themselves.
3 Perhaps someone may say that courage is a virtue appropriate to men only. That is not so.[2] For a woman too of the right sort must have courage and be wholly free of cowardice, so that she will neither be swayed by hardships nor by fear; otherwise, how will she be said to have self-control, if by threat or force she can be constrained to yield to shame? Nay more, it is necessary for women to be able to repel attack, unless indeed they are willing to appear more cowardly than hens and other female birds which fight with creatures much larger than themselves to defend their young. How then should women not need courage? That women have some prowess in arms the race women of the Amazons demonstrated when they defeated many tribes in war.[3] If, therefore, something of this courage is lacking in other women, it is due to lack of use and practice rather than because they were not endowed with it.
Women can be brave and there are situations where such bravery is necessary. A cowardly women would not be someone fit to start a life together with. I don’t expect my wife to be a warrior, but I know she would have done all she could to protect our kids if that situation had arisen.
4 If then men and women are born with the same virtues, the same type of training and education must, of necessity, befit both men and women. For with every animal and plant whatsoever, proper care must be bestowed upon it to produce the excellence appropriate to it. Is it not true that, if it were necessary under like circumstances for a man and a woman to be able to play the flute, and if, furthermore, both had to do so in order to earn a living, we should give them both exactly the same thorough training in flute playing; and similarly if it were necessary for either to play the harp? Well then, if it is necessary for both to be proficient in the virtue which is appropriate to a human being, that is for both to be able to have understanding, and self-control, and courage, and justice, the one no less than the other, shall we not teach them both alike the art by which a human being becomes good? Yes, certainly we must do that and nothing else.
A culture with men and women that have no understanding of virtue, self control, and justice is not one that I would like to live in. It seems as though these values are not as prominent as they once were, but the majority have a basic understanding of them. If we had a culture where we taught the men these things and not the women, eventually the ignorance of the women would drag the men down. If the opposite was true, the women would elevate the men by being choosy about who they selected.
This is not limited to your kids. One of the reasons for recent drop off in male academic attainment in primary school is a result of instructional doctrine with applies the female methodology to all students. The boys, who then have trouble sitting still through the entire schoolday are branded as troublemakers and punished.
What we need is less a one size fits all than a granularly filtered approach. Separate by sex, ability, aptitude, interest, into a multitude of tracks. Let the smart, academically driven kids push on to subjects faster than their age-peers. Give the lowest denominator kids the slow class where the added time is devoted to each subject. Corral the violent kids in a detenion center with armed guards. You’ll see a marked improvement across the board.
But this require firing the techer’s unions and likely removing the system from government hands entirely.
I would like to note that I came up with this plan back in high school while watching so much classroom time being wasted on the disruptive and those who were … a bit slow. It seemed obvious that it really should be broken up into different classes moving at the pace the students were capable of. Instead of leaving so many to be bored as the teacher tried to illuminate the dimmest bulbs. I’ve since learned that it is a strategy that has been used successfully in the past but was abandoned because it “discriminated”. Hell, yes, we want to discriminate. The lumping of all students together as if they are interchangable discriminates negatively against the capable and the average.
I would like to note that I came up with this plan back in high school while watching so much classroom time being wasted on the disruptive and those who were … a bit slow.
Catholic school solved this a long time ago with tracking for the slow and kicking out the disruptive if the disruptive wouldn’t change.
They wanted to put my son on ADHD drugs when he started kindergarten because he was hyper.
I objected strenuously and told the of course he’s hyper, he’s a boy.
It can’t be good to start a 5 year old on daily pills because he has “too much energy.”
I don’t think I’ve mentioned it lately, but I hate teachers.
I have met all of one person who I truely believe had that condition.
I have known a number who were medicated for it.
and mostly they get angry if anyone questions the prevalence numbers. Almost like an addict hearing something that could threaten their supply…
I wonder if they even ask first anymore.
We were guardians of a teenaged girl who truly had ADHD. Ritalin was a minor miracle.
But, the overmedication of kids had already started by then. And the backlash had already started as well. I got tired of having to justify to acquaintances why she was being medicated.
If the opposite was true, the women would elevate the men by being choosy about who they selected.
I’m cynical. I don’t see that happening. Bad boys.
You forgot the sugar daddies.
As for the one-sided moral instruction…
We’ve seen the circumstance where women get it in their head that they need to ‘elevate’ the moral standards of men. From Carrie Nation to the Feminist scolds of today, it does not improve things one jot when that mindset takes hold. Because just tormenting their official partner isn’t enough.
I think overall if the women are pickier, men will improve.
You need to be more specific.
It’s hard to get pickier than the current standards being used – none of which are moral, most of which are unattainable.
Sad, but true.
That said of the Six Foot, Six Figure, Six Pack standard – I meet two out of three. Sadly I can’t hide being fat or that I have a face like a potato.
This is the internet’s fault. It would take an essay to explain it less articulately than others
🤔
Wait, I can blame the internet for me being fat? Even though it dates back to before I was online?
It’s hard to get pickier than the current standards being used – none of which are moral, most of which are unattainable.
Standards
If men were pickier, would women improve?
I don’t see most men changing their tastes wrt beautiful women, so probably not.
I don’t think women would give up social media and all its associated downsides, so probably not.
I love that calculator and I am stealing it.
According to the Standards scale, I am quite the catch:
I need to remind my wife how lucky she is, she tends to forget.
I got sub 1% in the 40-50 age range.
I’m apparently a catch left uncaught.
Line forms to the left, ladies…
If the ladies aren’t picky about fat guys, the percentage goes up to 2.4%.
If I wasn’t married:
not married, white, ‘at least’ 5′ 7″ tall, not obese, and earning at least $30,000 per year (made up that part)?
9.3%
that is 17.2% of all white men in that age range
*Pops cork, unzips fly* Ladies! Free samples of Me!
Read the “advice columns” for laughs. Prevalent are complaints about what an abusive shit the spouse is “but I love him dearly.”
Wouldn’t it be skunky after 162 years?
https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026/08/05/murky-brew-guinness-found-on-162-year-old-shipwreck-inspires-divers-with-project-jurassic-beer/
No. The article says the bottles were in darkness. Beer skunks when exposed to UV light.
So true. This is why I refuse to buy beer in clear or green bottles.
Retard fight
Axelrod, who served as the chief strategist for former President Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns, called the democratic socialist a “zany liberal” in a Thursday social media post.
He suggested Hong’s loss in Wisconsin’s Democratic primary next week would benefit Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee in Michigan’s Senate race.
“He is a serious person. She is a font of zany liberal, faculty lounge exotica,” Axelrod said of the two Democratic candidates.
Hong fired back in a social media post of her own.
“This tweet is a perfect example of why the consultant class keeps losing elections,” she wrote. “They’re totally clueless, and they’re hellbent on keeping working-class people out of politics.”
I wouldn’t let either one of them mow my lawn.
Such a serious person:
Finally a Democrat not afraid of Trump or Elon.
Looking at his campaign website, I’m reminded of a line from the Expanse books.
When someone said the U.N. Secretary General thought Avasarala was joking when she called him a bobble head, she said, “That’s because he’s a fucking bobble head!”
Will he STAND UP TO TRUMP?
Another child of privilege and with ties to terrorist organizations. Swoon!
‘Working class’ is doing a lot of work there for you, Fran. A failed executive chef and restaurateur doesn’t exactly have a lot of cultural commonality with some dude punching tin as a commercial HVAC installer.
Kanter Freedom for the WNBA
Beautiful.
When revenge masquerades as accountability
The defining feature of American life in 2026 is elites getting away with everything. President Trump rakes in billions in broad daylight because he believes he’s above the law. Elon Musk rigs markets because he has already bought the politicians who would stop him. Masked ICE agents are still killing people on camera without repercussion. The Epstein Class gets protected, not prosecuted, by the would-be attorney general himself, Todd Blanche.
Meanwhile, victims of corporate greed get sent to arbitration purgatory. And victims of civil rights violations go somewhere even more hopeless: the Supreme Court, which just spent another term ruling for corporations, rigging elections, allowing more money to flow into politics, and handing even more power to Trump.
——-
In the end, the menu of options is lengthy, but the vibe shift is even more important. It’s also do or die. The 2024 election proved that policy wins alone did not snuff out fascism. Instead, shortchanging accountability has led directly to our current waking nightmare. So, although many well-meaning folks would like to simply move past all this unpleasantness, it is destined to return yet again — maybe for good — unless we make accountability mean something again.
I’m glad I don’t live where that guy lives. It sounds like a shithole.
Bizarro world?
The Hill editorial section seems to be competing with the Guardian in the incoherence Olympics…
Whole lot of nothing in this story. To me the funny thing is the cop holding the pump gun. Maybe a Rem 870?
The NYP pulled it from the police Instagram. It’s a finished wood stock and crazy long barrel – something I would have used when I was duck hunting.
I’d love to know the backstory.
https://nypost.com/2026/08/07/us-news/california-cops-torch-comedian-john-oliver-after-hbo-surveillance-broadside-did-not-accurately-reflect-reality/#
That’s either a cop inspecting a gun found as part of a traffic stop, or it’s AI slop.
The AI slop is as possibility.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DTwCMB8EoGN/?img_index=1
Possibly legit stop.