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 IV
Come, let him not be a fool, let him learn, as Socrates used to say, “What each several thing means,”[10] and not apply his preconceptions at random to the particular cases. For this is the cause to men of all their evils, namely, their inability to apply their general preconceptions to the particular instances. But some of us think one thing and some another. One man fancies he is ill. Not at all; the fact is that he is not applying his preconceptions. Another fancies he is a beggar; another that he has a hard-hearted father or mother; still another that Caesar is not gracious to him.
While all of these situations can be difficult to deal with, trying to change the things others control will make them more so. If external things are all I desire, I am putting my mental state within the control of someone or fate. The only true happiness is when I control what I desire and the methods I use to achieve those.
But this means one thing and one thing only—ignorance of how to apply their preconceptions. Why, who does not have a preconception of evil, that it is harmful, that it is to be avoided, that it is something to get rid of in every way? One preconception does not conflict with another, 45but conflict arises when one proceeds to apply them. What, then, is this evil that is harmful and is to be avoided? One person says it is not to be Caesar’s friend;[11] he is off the course, he has missed the proper application, he is in a bad way, he is looking for what is not pertinent to the case in hand; because, when he has succeeded in being Caesar’s friend, he has none the less failed to get what he was seeking.
Trying for approval from others is a sure way to be disappointed. The only person you are guaranteed to get approval from is yourself. When I was younger I wanted to hang out with the cool kids. Luckily in my teenage years I was smart enough to notice how fake a lot of friendships were and found a group of good friends to hang out with. This served me well later in life when I joined the Marines and had a strong enough personality to avoid bad friends and untrustworthy people.
For what is it that every man is seeking? To live securely, to be happy, to do everything as he wishes to do, not to be hindered, not to be subject to compulsion. When, therefore, he becomes a friend of Caesar, has he been relieved of hindrance, relieved of compulsion, does he live securely, does he live serenely? From whom shall we inquire? What better witness have we than this very man who has become Caesar’s friend? Come into the midst and tell us. When did you sleep more peacefully, now or before you became Caesar’s friend? Immediately the answer comes: “Stop, I implore you by the gods, and do not jest at my lot; you don’t know what I suffer, miserable man that I am; no sleep visits me, but first one person comes in and then another and reports that Caesar is already awake, and is already coming out; then troubles, then worries!” Come, when did you dine more pleasantly, now or formerly? Listen to him and to what he has to say on this topic. If he is not invited, he is hurt, and if he is invited, he dines like a slave at a master’s table, all the time careful not to say or do something foolish. And what do you suppose he is afraid of? That he be scourged like a slave? How can he expect to get off as well as that? But as befits so great a man, a friend of Caesar, he is afraid he will lose his head. When did you take your bath in greater peace? And when did you take your exercise at greater leisure? In a word, which life would you rather live, your present life or the old one? 50I can take oath that no one is so insensate or so incurable as not to lament his misfortunes the more he is a friend of Caesar.[12]
Sometimes actually getting what you were wishing for is a curse in itself. When I was younger, my only real dream was to be a famous heavy metal singer. At the time, I believed I had the talent as did most people that heard me sing. When our guitar player decided cocaine was more fun than being in a band, we ended up splitting up. A few weeks later, my girlfriend broke up with me, so instead of moving to LA, I joined the Marines. At the time I was heartbroken and disappointed, but a few years later I met my wife and my life has been great ever since. If I had gone to LA with my girlfriend, I probably would have partied too much and would not have made it no matter how good of a singer I was. Looking back, that was one of the best things to ever happen to me.
I am still dealing with the aftermath of last week’s health scare. I currently get winded walking from my car to the office and am very limited in what I can do physically. A new shed got delivered on Saturday and just standing and talking to them had me to the point I had to sit down as they were finishing. Then trying to move some of my equipment from the garage was extremely hard. I would move one piece very slowly to the shed and then have to sit down for at least 20 minutes to recover. As I have always been able to do whatever physical job needed done, this would bother me a lot if I let it. Instead I have been able to deal with it rationally and not get upset or push too hard and hurt myself.
Good to hear of your recovery, Ron.
As the calendar is unrelenting, things begin to get to be more difficult, take longer and are not as important as they once were. I’m surprised how nice longer grass looks.
thanks, looking forward to meeting you in september.
I am slowly getting better.
Yesterday was the first day I noticed any improvement, walking upstairs did not completely wipe me out and I was able to play with my husky for a little bit.
I’m surprised how nice longer grass looks.
Wife and I had a vent session together last night because of all the “nice to have” things that have been pushed onto the back burner because of the chaos of the last 12 months.
At the end of the day, a few tall weeds and some unmowed grass is of little consequence.
My armchair diagnosis is Anemia, which will pass as your body makes new red blood cells. Should not last longer than three months (Usual replacement cycle for red blood cells) probably will clear sooner.
That’s exactly what it is.
I lost so much blood, I think if it was a cut instead of internal, it would have been horrifying.
That was horrifying enough, thank you very much.
I hadn’t read the write-up about your health scare. Holy frijoles. I’m glad you are still with us.
I had a little rush of happiness when I saw this post at 11am on the dot. While it’s still Friday the 13th, the chaos of this week seems to have settled down a bit. I was right, it won’t last forever.
“Sometimes actually getting what you were wishing for is a curse in itself.”
I sometimes have this thought: We all have this glamorous image of how our life would be perfect if we just made a different choice. If I didn’t have kids, or didn’t get married, or went into a different line of work, I’d be a millionaire sipping drinks on the beach. But there is no guarantee any of that would happen, and it all comes down to the folly of thinking “If I could see the future I would have made perfect choices.”
Sipping drinks on the beach gets old faster than you think.
Yesterday morning I made an omelet (egg, sour cream, heavy cream, jalapeño,bell pepper, sweet onion), sliced fresh kiwi and strawberry, lots ‘o bacon and a cream cheese English muffin for the wife. She was watching TV and could hear me in the kitchen but didnt know what I was up to. You should have seen her face when I put that under her nose while she sat on the couch.
I wouldn’t trade that one moment for ten years sipping swill on a beach.
Simple things.
Oh, TOK, did you get my email?
I did, thank you. Writing to your son is on my list for today.
Not very stoic of you. 🙂
As it stands, everything else for today is scheduled, so rest easy… for today at least.
I can’t. I only have seventeen weeks to get my next installment in. And that would only buy me one week 😱
16 weeks ahead of schedule on a purely voluntary obligation no one would say a word if you failed to meet, and stressing about it. That’s peak UCS. Meanwhile I decided I wanted to contribute more, dug up two old things I had written, submitted them, and am now 3 days into trying to think about something I want to write and no closer to a decision. I’m glad the site is not dependent on me… I suck.
My original plan had been to complete the series before submitting it. That’s why I had so many done when the “We’re out of content” alarm got pulled.
It’s a series reviewing media I owned but had for whatever reason never watched. Some of these have been on my shelf for a decade or more.
#metoo
Not a good time last week, but there is steady improvement now.
Hope you are doing well Ron. Sans bleeding it will take about 3 mos to replenish your blood to normal. I went through very nearly the same experience about two years ago. For anyone else reading this, I do not recommend trying it.
Eat well, get exercise and sleep. You will start noticing an acceleration in your recovery soon. You are almost ten years younger than I am. I am confident you will recover with your newfound love of life.
Just cuz I will say – having a renewed appreciation for life and the wonderful home we have I threw myself into home improvement, landscaping and doing the little things for the love of my life who really stuck by me when it counted. This I will recommend.
So you found a new lust for life?
I noticed I sleep more now.
I get tired earlier than I used to and still wake up at the same time.
So far there has been no bleeding and I am grateful for that.
Yeah, how did I miss that entry last week?
Tarry stool is the thing you should fear more than red blood.
I threw myself into home improvement, landscaping and doing the little things for the love of my life who really stuck by me when it counted. This I will recommend.
+1 Tim Allen grunt
But really, there’s something glorious about putting in a day of hard work and coming in (dirty and perhaps a little bloody if you’re a clutz like me) and knowing that the home is now a better place to live because of your efforts.
There are probably 10 variations of the “perfect Saturday” for me. Hitting the gym in the morning, doing outside work all day, taking a shower at 4pm, and kicking back with a movie or a Glibs Zoom is one of them.
I usually keep busy on the weekends, either doing yardwork or playing mechanic.
It is difficult for me to admit I have to take things slow.
I worked my ass off for 2 days moving things to the shed and accomplished what healthy me would have done in half a day.
Not to worry, Ron. I think PONick, Kinnath, MikeS and the Pope are making a list of things for you to do on HH, so you won’t feel left out.
I tried to read that Slate link from the AM lynx. Good god. It’s the rhetorical equivalent of watching some fat guy flouncing around a stage doing a lousy Carmen Miranda impersonation. Where do people learn to write like that? Is that straight out of the Columbia School of Journalism style book?
Yeah, that is something isn’t it. Good analogy.
At least you’re on the mend ron. It will take a couple more months before you feel right.
Getting there
There was a time when “It’ll take a couple months to recover” would have had me thinking “OMG! So long?”
Now its more “Eh, not so bad.”
Have any old demo tapes we can hear?
No and it makes me sad, because in my old age I have lost the ability to sing any slightly high note.
I used to make people gawk in surprise when I sang, now it just embarrasses me.
Aim for the low notes?
If you can’t hit the high notes, maybe a repertoire in a different register will work with the voice you have today.
I can sing decent country, but I used to do a passable Geoff Tate.
Reading your story made me a bit queasy.
‘push too hard and hurt myself.’
Please don’t.
Glad to hear you are on the path to recovery.
https://www.thedrive.com/car-reviews/2025-lexus-lx-700h-overtrail-review-they-paywalled-the-real-land-cruiser
It’s just a tad heavier than Stacey Abrams, but just as ugly.
Who is that vehicle for? JFC.
$118,510
People are crazy, also I’d never buy a car that costs half my yearly income.
That’s just dumb.
Sounds to me like you’re just bragging about how much you make.
Nah, just riffing off the article:
‘But Dave Ramsey says I can’t buy one until I make $250,000 a year’
Silly Lack, just get an 8 year car loan!
It looks like every other oversized SUV.
When, therefore, he becomes a friend of Caesar, has he been relieved of hindrance, relieved of compulsion, does he live securely, does he live serenely? From whom shall we inquire? What better witness have we than this very man who has become Caesar’s friend? Come into the midst and tell us. When did you sleep more peacefully, now or before you became Caesar’s friend? Immediately the answer comes: “Stop, I implore you by the gods, and do not jest at my lot; you don’t know what I suffer, miserable man that I am; no sleep visits me, but first one person comes in and then another and reports that Caesar is already awake, and is already coming out; then troubles, then worries!”
I recently finished a history of France that described pretty much the same thing in Louis XVI’s royal court… On the surface, everyone is stuffing themselves with rich food and going to operas, but really, your entire life is a stressful nightmare. You’re a slave to manners and social customs, and any faux pas could get you out of the king’s favor.
But you see, the Land Cruiser in America isn’t what it used to be. It’s really the global market Land Cruiser Prado, which is smaller than the true 300 Series Land Cruiser most of the world gets.
Oh, horror.
I had no idea how many various chassis and names changed across the globe. Jason did a really nice documentary.
How Toyota Got the 2024 Land Cruiser So Wrong — Full Review & History — Jason Cammisa on the ICONS
Some reviewer should park a ’70s Land Cruiser next to that monstrosity and take a photo of it.
I might have to watch that Land Cruiser video, but I don’t have time right now.
I’m not a big Toyota Land Cruiser guy, but it’s iconic and Jason did it justice. As well as just perfectly crapping on the new one while realizing that it isn’t a POS it’s just what new vehicles are and appreciating it.
Short answer is don’t buy the 2024 Toyota hybrid, just suck it up and spend for the Lexus with the bigger motor and no hybrid system. Bonus – more interior space with no battery.
What are the most successful automobiles in history…the iconic ones that sold like hotcakes?
Maybe, just maybe someone selling cars would take a hint and replicate what works.
“Can’t, it doesn’t meet emissions standards, or crash safety rules, or fuel efficiency regulations, or…”
RC was talking about economic growth and the factors that affect its rate yesterday. I would say that we dont hear much about it but given the enormous wealth we enjoy today and our ability to produce it the principle of diminishing returns is at play more than we think.
I think we are about to make another giant leap but it wont all be smooth sailing.
All those cars were designed by white men, which is hugely problematic. You can basically disregard everything that happened before 2020.
“Dozens” of missiles in flight to Israel.
Interesting. You’d think they would want more time to plan, but this is likely face saving.
If I was Iran, I’d have had such plans prepared. This attack didn’t just materialize out of thin air.
Normally you want more than “dozens” so as to overwhelm the missile defense.
Keep in mind Israel did its best to disrupt command and control.
It’ll be funny if the attack fails completely. Hilariously so. Iran will come out looking like weak little bitches obviously.
So let’s hope that happens and they’re forced to sit in their little corner and stew on all of this some more. Nothing but impotent rage and back to proxy wars.
You are distracting from what is important. We need to know how the democrats paid thugs are doing with their mostly peaceful protesting.
Earlier I had seen some videos of some of them admitting they were paid between 100 and 200 bucks per day just to stir shit and create havoc.
In my search I happened to notice that the ‘fact checking’ sites are claiming that is a lie. The peaceful protests are all grass root spontaneous reactions to literally hitler. I also have it on good authority that there has been no violence.
This makes more sense.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/13/middleeast/iran-attacks-israel-intl-latam
The Israeli TV channel N12 reports 150-200 rockets launched by Iran. At least 9 of them hit targets.
I think Israel would take that as a victory. And it wouldn’t surprise me if this is the most devastation Iran can cause given their resources.
Launch them or get them blowed up. Might as well.
Back in reality – I think what we are seeing is the end of Carter’s Islamic regime in Iran. The Israelis apparently have been very successful at taking out the top leadership, missile launchers and the nuclear sites. A very large percentage of the Iranian people have wanted to get rid of the mullahs for a long time. This is their chance. Things are going to change. Bigly.
What are Russia and China going to do?
Jimmy is the gift that keeps on giving.
He is responsible for much of what we are dealing with today. I am not sure what a Jimmyless world would look like today but it would not be worse than this one. Even Obama could not top him.
It remains to be seen what lasting damage Biden has done. He’s the dog shit you can’t scrape off your shoe.
True story: Putin condemned the attack and has offered to broker a peace deal. You can’t make this stuff up.
Putin generally values stability. So that’s not a surprise to me. He doesn’t want the Middle East blowing up. I’m not sure about our own leadership.
Our history of screwing up Iran predates Carter.
Iran as neutral in WWII but the Soviets and Brits invaded anyway because fuck you or something.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Soviet_invasion_of_Iran
In ’53 the CIA and MI6 staged a coup that made the Shah a dictator. Things got nasty afterwards and set the stage for a revolution.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat
After years in exile and flirting with western diplomats, Air France was nice enough to charter a flight for Khomeini back to Iran. A move I always thought similar to Germany putting Lenin on a train to Russia.
Anyway – they know why they hate us.
Watching the U.S. Open – the course is destroying the best golfers in the world. Some of them could use a dose of stoicism.
That is what the US Open is set up to do.
Missing the fairway is supposed to be a penalty. Missing the green is supposed to be a penalty.
The leaders are still at -4. If the winner gets dragged down to +1 or so, all is right with the world.
Yes – tired of seeing tournaments on courses with huge fairways, short roughs, and no tress. Guys can just blast it 350 yards and not worry about accuracy until their approach.
The best part of the US Open…anyone can enter qualifying. Well, not really anyone, you have to have a +0.4 of less handicap. You have to round to a scratch golfer. But assuming that, you can enter qualifying and try to play in it. Just make sure you don’t enter the qualifier near the PGA tour. You will run into a bunch of pros trying to get in.
Fun qualifiers this year, a 17 year old HS junior and a dentist who used to caddy at Oakmont.
The dentist is currently sitting at +17 so won’t be making the cut. The 17 year old is -1 today, +6 for the tourney, but is just 3 holes into his round today. If he could par out, he should make the cut.
Was this discussed?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/textbased/health/text-14809655/test-early-onset-colon-cancer-symptoms-experts-epidemic.html (at-home test)
Isn’t that ColoGuard? I failed that. But so did my dad, and his colonoscopy was clear. The doctor who did mine said a positive ColoGuard is 80% benign polyps or a false positive.
the adapter plate doesn’t fit.
Even though I got the one explicitly listed for my pistol and optic, the rear struds get in the way.
The fucking adapter doesn’t fit.
I’m debating just milling off the rear studs since the front studs and the screws will still be there.
I did it. I fired up the Taig and deleted the rear studs, now the Optic is on the Shadow 2.
Watch, it’ll pop off while shooting.