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.
On Training
1 He was always earnestly urging those who were associated with him to make practical application of his teachings, using some such arguments as the following. Virtue, he said, is not simply theoretical knowledge, but it is practical application as well, just like the arts of medicine and music.[1] Therefore, as the physician and the musician not only must master the theoretical side of their respective arts but must also train themselves to act according to their principles, so a man who wishes to become good not only must be thoroughly familiar with the precepts which are conducive to virtue but must also be earnest and zealous in applying these principles.
Learning Stoic philosophy without using it in your daily life seems to be a waste of time and effort. Using it also gives a deeper understanding of how it is helpful. Anyone who espouses a way to live that they do not follow will have a harder time convincing others than one who lives what they claim to be good.
2 How, indeed, could a person immediately become temperate if he only knew that one must not be overcome by pleasures, but was quite unpracticed in withstanding pleasures? How could one become just when he had learned that one must love fairness but had never exercised himself in avoidance of selfishness and greed? How could we acquire courage if we had merely learned that the things which seem dreadful to the average person are not to be feared, but had no experience in showing courage in the face of such things? How could we become prudent if we had come to recognize what things are truly good and what evil, but had never had practice in despising things which only seem good?
Learning how to deal with adversity can be a struggle, but gets easier with consistent practice. Going into the lion’s den on the first try because I have read, but don’t understand through practice, how to deal with it would be extremely foolish. It is easy to delude yourself into thinking because you read it, it is easy to do. When I first started using Stoicism to control my anger, it was still difficult for me when I was hungry. That took a lot more focus than trying it when I didn’t have as many things going against me.
3 Therefore upon the learning of the lessons appropriate to each and every excellence, practical training must follow invariably, if indeed from the lessons we have learned we hope to derive any benefit. And moreover such practical exercise is the more important for the student of philosophy than for the student of medicine or any similar art, the more philosophy claims to be a greater and more difficult discipline than any other study. The reason for this is that men who enter the other professions have not had their souls corrupted beforehand and have not learned the opposite of what they are going to be taught, but the ones who start out to study philosophy have been born and reared in an environment filled with corruption and evil, and therefore turn to virtue in such a state that they need a longer and more thorough training.
It is easier to learn things if you are a beginner than if you are knowledgeable in the wrong ways. In the Marines it took a little bit for me to learn how to shoot on the rifle range because I was used to shooting deer from a raised platform with a scope, so I thought it would be easy. After a couple days, I realized my way was not working, so I consciously decided to just do what the shooting instructor said and forget my way. My scores improved pretty quickly.
4 How, then, and in what manner should they receive such training? Since it so happens that the human being is not soul alone, nor body alone, but a kind of synthesis of the two, the person in training must take care of both, the better part, the soul, more zealously; as is fitting, but also of the other, if he shall not be found lacking in any part that constitutes man.[2] For obviously the philosopher’s body should be well prepared for physical activity, because often the virtues make use of this as a necessary instrument for the affairs of life. Now there are two kinds of training, one which is appropriate for the soul alone, and the other which is common to both soul and body. We use the training common to both when we discipline ourselves to cold, heat, thirst, hunger, meager rations, hard beds, avoidance of pleasures, and patience under suffering.
In the Marines I became used to physical and mental hardships. This has helped me deal with difficulty, but it has also made me less sensitive when other people are having to deal with things that seem easy to me. Since I retired from the Marines, I kept up my physical training fairly well. Last year through the first half of this year I did not due to medical issues. I have been back at it for 5 weeks now and so far so good. I find that I enjoy things more when I am working out, instead of just being a couch potato. I am still woefully out of shape, but am slowly improving. I can do 2 whole pullups now. As long as I keep working, results will come, even if they do not improve as fast as they used to, given my combination of being 55 and in the worst shape of my life.
But we know he worked hard.
But was he actually Red?
By the rein of Nero he was a leading Stoic teacher.
Kinky.
Damn. That *is* hot.
🔥🔥🎻🔥🔥
I can do 2 whole pullups now.
If you ever want a demonstration of the squared-cubed rule of mass, this is it. In high school I was doing physical training to get an ROTC scholarship. They wanted (I think) 12 pull-ups done to qualify for that particular part of the test, and they were specific that your thumbs could not be over the bad. I started and did three or four before realizing my grip was wrong, then changed grips and still did 14-15 more before tiring out. I weighed 118lbs at the time. Now I weigh about 145lbs with only 13% bodyfat, and there’s no chance in hell I could do even ten pull-ups.
Thumbs could not be over the bar, that is.
In the Marines I could do 20.
My last year in, at the age of 45, I did 18.
2 makes me sad, but it is improvement.
Nice.
I think o could do five or six at my lightest.
Being tall and with proportionately long arms made pull-ups and pushups hard. Especially times like they did in the army. All the short guys could knock them out like nothing.
Timed.
Thank you! Now I’m going to blame my 35″ sleeve length/32″ inseam for my awfulness at pull-ups (as opposed to my laziness and poor work ethic.)
The 5’4” guys would knock out 60+ pushups and sit-ups in two minutes but couldn’t run or ruck march.
The fatass who struggled with the APFT but could hang in the field with a mule load while the PT studs were smoked.
Chain smokers that finish their ciggie, run the two miles in good time, and then light up another after.
It’s that jungian thing. The duality of fitness.
I had a little guy that would smoke a cigarette during a run if I would let him.
He could run forever and was a tough little bastard, he could even keep up with the 100 pound 10 mile hikes we infrequently did.
He could hardly carry a 155mm round though.
I started weight training about 2 years ago. In the mirror, I look better than I did 10 years ago. I can do a decent amount of pushups and I can plank for awhile and all that jazz.
But a pullup? Yikes. I think maybe 2.
It’s like anything else, you get good at what you train. If you don’t train for pull-ups you won’t be able to do many.
I can do ~10 and suffer from long arms and being tall, so the relative amount of work is pretty high. Any exercise that requires my full ROM in the slowest at. Everything is so far.
True. I should do more shoulder work but my ROM is terrible, especially in the left one. Had some trouble today on the chest press due to a gimpy elbow. I had a detached retina many years ago so doing any real free lifting is verboten. Cannot dead lift anything over 60 lbs. is the rule. I am mostly on machines.
Changing the subject:
https://www.fandompulse.com/p/the-white-house-just-launched-its
On the one hand, the unhinged screeching is pleasant to my ears. On the other hand, the ‘own the libs’ cat vs. laser pointer shtick does get tiresome after a while, and I don’t think the unhinged screeching is going to lead to anything like self-reflection.
We do live in Idiocracy, but it’s not all downside.
Not much different from “The Life of Julia”.
More honest.
ICE, gotta catch em all
You know what’s funny to me is I may actually be able to relate to Lindsey whatever her name is. I’ve spoken briefly on a period where I was diagnosed as schizophrenic with some shit that happened that haunts me to this day. Luckily I just punched a cop for no real reason (probably the most reasonable a cop could have been in the circumstances with me). Amazingly no one really cared that much about some guy who went off the reservation for a few months. No rush of public support or anything. It was months of build-up. Only thing I can say is when you are truly losing your god damn mind, it’s not really what people seem to think it is. I always considered myself pretty damn rational and unemotional. It was obvious to everyone around me that something was going on with me, but I resisted treatment and not much could be done.
Voices didn’t tell me to punch the cop, but I legitimately wasn’t thinking rationally. I couldn’t say if I had a concept of right or wrong as I didn’t even think what I was seeing was real and apparently I hallucinated things that never happened or people didn’t say. There were voices, but they didn’t give me direct commands to like murder anyone. I didn’t even hear them when I punched the guy, but I was in like this weird like manic/euphoric state when shit went bad. I thought it was all fake, a conspiracy. Right and wrong let alone what was rational didn’t even enter the conversation for me.
No one can really answer questions about what was going on inside someone’s head in a case like this. Is she even telling the truth about what she experienced?
I’ve never had symptoms before that (maybe some paranoia in the past when under a lot of stress, but minor crap that I just look at in hindsight) and there’s been nothing really since. I don’t even take the meds anymore (told the VA doctor I wanted to stop, and she agreed I could – just restart and reach out of if anything starts happening again).
I actually can relate to someone genuinely going through psychosis like that. A lot of people can’t and probably think – like I did at one point – that it can’t happen to them. Only thing I can really say is that it can all feel very, very real to you. For me it was like a 24/7 assault on my senses and brain for months that culminated in a really stupid event.
But yea I haven’t followed the trial closely enough and i sure as shit can’t say whether she’s being honest about what happened. What happened is also so obviously terrible and disturbing that I don’t think many people really want to consider that she had a break from reality whether she did or not. I can’t even say I know enough about post-partem or any psychosis that results from it to say it’s exactly like schizophrenia, but neither can most other people.
It’s really really fucking stupid that this has become part of the gender war crap. It’s rather odd to say that the relations between the genders are probably at their lowest point in human history.
So not really a defense of her. I have to live with what I did on the daily in a lot of ways and I didn’t murder anyone. Not about sympathy, but just I do genuinely despise everything about the discussion of this case.
That seems to apply to a lot of things anymore.
I hope your firsting is successful.
“Learning how to deal with adversity can be a struggle, but gets easier with consistent practice.”
I touched on this in Crest Quest, but having my hip replacements years before helped me ‘be ready’ for later hospital stays. My first broken finger did the same in Littles League.
To be fair, last night was a good example, I’m not used to being *me* in public, not thinking everyone is examining my every action. (They are, yeah?)
Doesn’t matter how much experience, can’t fix personal nature.
No, but you can work to control it.
There is a big difference between what people claim is uncontrollable and what is actually uncontrollable.
Yes. Example: Fuck “cravings.” Other than DT level, that shit’s just an ‘accepted’ excuse. Even when I was DT boozin’, I never “craved” shit. Nor a smoke.
Working to control, or harness, such is learnable. I don’t think naturally ‘anxious’ ppl can be ‘cured’ of such. Our ‘risk detection radar’s flares way too frequently, but it’s good to have a couple of those folk around.
Ha! I remember the first week at the range – all the country boys getting screamed at for using Kentucky windage. I honestly didn’t even know what that meant. Just kept trying to do it exactly as they told me.
Army range training.
Makes me shudder.
All owned to do was sight the rifle in at 100 yards and be left alone. Can’t do that here boy!
To be fair, your targets in war aren’t always exactly 100 yards away. :-p
That’s what the Kentucky Windage is for.
No, they’re exactly 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 and 300M. And green colored. And don’t go down when hit.
I hated the 150m ones. I think I missed all of them on the M4 range and never missed a 300m.
I slayed on the 240 range but never got assigned it. My unit was special, why assign the 240 to the only guy in the company to qualify expert on it?
Give someone else time to become proficient. And rethink their life choices.
(I spent most of my time in the weapons squad as a gunner or AG. I liked it)
Proficiency?
What’s that?
We were lucky if we made it to the range twice a year.
Better than once a year in the reserves. Good luck getting the entire battalion through in one day.
(Spoiler: it won’t. Sub caliber quals on paper targets by end of FY. Try again next time.)
I would ordinarily require more stoicism to handle the rain we are getting, but after all the dust, it is a blessing.
Our rain knocked the smoke out of the sky which is awesome.
No rain last night here. But I am breathing better. I took the day off, finished my chores and am now outside.
Who honestly HASN’T wanted to strangle a two year old at some point?
Do-nothing malingerer
The shocking reality of Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman’s life has been exposed in a bombshell report detailing his lack of interest in his job beyond cozying up to MAGA stars and championing Israel.
A damning profile in The Wall Street Journal also revealed an incident in which Fetterman canceled on three paralyzed military veterans in wheelchairs who had traveled to D.C. to meet with him because he wanted to be interviewed on Fox News instead.
Fetterman’s staff had to inform the veterans, after they arrived in D.C. from rural Pennsylvania in June, that the Democrat could not make their long-awaited meeting to discuss legislation to improve their care because he was not feeling well.
Fetterman told his staff he may have eaten something bad, and his team held the meeting instead. However, less than an hour later, Fetterman walked into his D.C. office looking perfectly healthy for what he considered a more vital appointment: appearing on Donald Trump’s favorite network to discuss the war on Iran and fawn over Israel.
The shocking incident was one of several examples cited by the Journal of Fetterman showing complete “disdain” for the basic aspects of his job as a senator or the people he is supposed to represent.
Wee need 99 more just like him.
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/john-fetterman-little-interest-senator-be74e7a3?st=2di95N&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Full original article.
Yes weeeeeeeee doooooooooooooooo
Vets “we want moar monies!!”
Never wander from the rez if you’re a Dem.
An unpardonable sin.
It marks a contrast to his 2022 campaign, when Fetterman spent long hours traveling to small rural communities, embracing people who felt left behind. “He won because he worked his heart out,” said Judy Hines, chair of the Democratic Party in Mercer County, in rural northwest Pennsylvania. Hines said she was worried about what she sees as a transformation in Fetterman in the years since the campaign.
Familiarity breeds contempt.
Have you met the common people?
https://youtu.be/zI3UfxyIdgs
Mercer County (where I was borned) is partially rural. It also houses a string of rust belt towns and I think there is a Target, Kohls, Chipotle and 2 Starbucks. Also birthplace of Trent Reznor.
Larry Vickers, convicted felon apparently
https://x.com/mrgunsngear/status/2095938140230029344
Doing right ain’t got no end
In 2022, Black was sued over allegations that he raped a woman in Epstein’s New York City mansion in 2002. That case was later dropped with prejudice after both parties reached an agreement to do so and Black denied the allegations against him. A separate but ongoing lawsuit, filed in 2023, accused Black of raping a 16-year-old girl at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse in 2002. A lawyer for Black denied the allegations, calling them “frivolous and sanctionable.” In April, a judge overseeing the case wrote that the plaintiff and her attorney “engaged in serious, sanctionable misconduct in this case,” but allowed the case to proceed.
Presumption of guilt is inescapable where Epstein is involved. Innuendo is unassailable.
In a statement reacting to news of the lawsuit Thursday, Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said, “By refusing to testify today, Leon Black is now defying two Congressional subpoenas. Black gave Jeffrey Epstein over $180 million over six years. He funded Epstein’s abuse and trafficking of women. Multiple women have also accused Black of sexual assault. His connections to Epstein and his unwillingness to cooperate are unacceptable.”
This conclusively proves his guilt. String him up, boys.
I hate the “In Common Use” legal standard. It basically says “it’s okay to ban all new weapons technology as long as you catch it soon enough”. Same with this “dangerous and unusual” standard. All arms are dangerous. If they weren’t, they woulnd’t be arms. That just says “if it’s rare and interesting, we can ban it before it gets popular.” Again, both hard fails with regards to rights.
OT. You were putting an optic on your pistol, I believe.
What brand did you settle on? I keep coming back to Holosun as best meeting my feature list, but am not pleased with the Chinese contract manufacture for a U.S. company.