What Our Fathers Teach Us, For Better Or Worse | Tom Junod

Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, designed to help bring those four key Stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world. How does a boy of aristocratic but sidedly non-royal bloodlines become not just the most powerful man in the world, not just the emperor of Rome, but become such a great man of history? How Does this absolute power given to him at a relatively young age not make him awful? How does he manage not just to be corrupted by his privilege and his fame and his influence, but manage to prove himself worthy of the responsibility?

It was his adopted father that made Marcus Aurelius the person that he became. And we know this because at the time At the end of his life, Marcuserus sits down and writes what he learned from Antoninus. And it's an impressive, beautiful, inspiring list. And that's what's going to be the through line of today's video.

As I said, Marcus Aurelius is not born to be the emperor. But he catches the notice of Hadrian, then the emperor of Rome. But Hadrian, knowing that he doesn't have much time left and thinking that Marcus Aurelius is too young, understands that he has to come up with a guardian to help and teach Marcus Aurelius what he needs to learn. So Hadrian adopts an older Roman senator named Antoninus Pius on the condition that he in turn adopt Marcus Aurelius. And it is this influence that is the foremost guide to Marcus Aurelius's great life.

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