July

23rd
RECEIVE HONORS AND SLIGHTS
EXACTLY THE SAME WAY

“Receive without pride, let go without attachment.”

—MARCUS AURELIUS, M EDITATIONS, 8.33

I n the midst of the breakdown of the Roman Republic, during the civil war between Pompey and
Caesar, Pompey made the decision to give control of the military fleet to Cato. It was a massive honor
and hugely powerful position. But then a few days later, responding to the protests of his jealous inner
circle, Pompey reversed his decision and took the command away.
It could have been seen as an enormous public humiliation—to be given a promotion and then have it
taken away. The record shows that Cato’s reaction was basically nothing. He responded to the honor and
the dishonor the same way: with indifference and acceptance. He certainly didn’t let it affect his support
for the cause. In fact, after the snub, he worked to rally the soldiers before battle with inspirational
speeches—the very men who should have been under his command.
That’s what Marcus is saying. Do not take the slights of the day personally—or the exciting rewards
and recognitions either, especially when duty has assigned you an important cause. Trivial details like the
rise and fall of your position say nothing about you as a person. Only your behavior—as Cato’s did—
will.
 July 24th
SOMEWHERE SOMEONE’S DYING

“Whenever disturbing news is delivered to you, bear in mind that no news can ever be relevant to
your reasoned choice. Can anyone break news to you that your assumptions or desires are
wrong? No way! But they can tell you someone died—even so, what is that to you?”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.18.1–2

A well-meaning friend might ask you today: “What do you think about [insert tragedy from the other side
of the world]?” You, in your equally well-meaning concern, might say, “I just feel awful about it.”
In this scenario, both of you have put aside your reasoned choice without doing a single thing for the
victims suffering from the actual tragedy. It can be so easy to get distracted by, even consumed by,
horrible news from all over the world. The proper response of the Stoic to these events is not to not care,
but mindless, meaningless sympathy does very little either (and comes at the cost of one’s own serenity, in
most cases). If there is something you can actually do to help these suffering people, then, yes, the
disturbing news (and your reaction to it) has relevance to your reasoned choice. If emoting is the end of
your participation, then you ought to get back to your own individual duty—to yourself, to your family, to
your country.
 July 25th
WHAT’S ON YOUR TOMBSTONE?

“When you see someone often flashing their rank or position, or someone whose name is often
bandied about in public, don’t be envious; such things are bought at the expense of life. . . .
Some die on the first rungs of the ladder of success, others before they can reach the top, and the
few that make it to the top of their ambition through a thousand indignities realize at the end it’s
only for an inscription on their gravestone.”
—SENECA, ON THE BREVITY OF LIFE, 20

S ometimes our professional commitments can become an end unto themselves. A politician might
justify the neglect of his family for his office, or a writer might believe her “genius” excuses
antisocial or selfish behavior. Anyone with some perspective can see that, in fact, the politician is really
just in love with fame, and the writer enjoys being condescending and feeling superior. Workaholics
always make excuses for their selfishness.
While these attitudes can lead to impressive accomplishments, their cost is rarely justified. The ability
to work hard and long is admirable. But you are a human being, not a human doing. Seneca points out that
we’re not animals. “Is it really so pleasant to die in harness?” he asked. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn put it
better: “Work is what horses die of. Everybody should know that.”
 July 26th
WHEN GOOD MEN DO NOTHING

“Often injustice lies in what you aren’t doing, not only in what you are doing.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, M EDITATIONS, 9.5

H istory abounds with evidence that humanity is capable of doing evil, not only actively but passively.
In some of our most shameful moments—from slavery to the Holocaust to segregation to the murder
of Kitty Genovese—guilt wasn’t limited to perpetrators but to ordinary citizens who, for a multitude of
reasons, declined to get involved. It’s that old line: all evil needs to prevail is for good men to do nothing.
It’s not enough to just not do evil. You must also be a force for good in the world, as best you can.
 July 27th
WHERE IS ANYTHING BETTER?

“Indeed, if you find anything in human life better than justice, truth, self-control, courage—in
short, anything better than the sufficiency of your own mind, which keeps you acting according to
the demands of true reason and accepting what fate gives you outside of your own power of
choice—I tell you, if you can see anything better than this, turn to it heart and soul and take full
advantage of this greater good you’ve found.”
—MARCUS AURELIUS, M EDITATIONS, 3.6.1

W e’ve all chased things we thought would matter. At some point, we all thought that money would be
the answer, that success was the highest prize, that the undying love of a beautiful person would
finally make us feel warm inside. What do we find when we actually attain these sacred objects? Not that
they are empty or meaningless—only those who have never had them think that—but what we find is that
they are not enough.
Money creates problems. Climbing one mountain exposes another, higher peak. There is never enough
love.
There is something better out there: real virtue. It is its own reward. Virtue is the one good that reveals
itself to be more than we expect and something that one cannot have in degrees. We simply have it or we
don’t. And that is why virtue—made up as it is of justice, honesty, discipline, and courage—is the only
thing worth striving for.