None of These Things Change | 10 Habits That Made Marcus Aurelius Great

Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, designed to help bring those four key Stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world. None of these things change. You walk the streets of Pompeii and you see the little stands that sold hot and cold food for busy people to scarf down lunch. You walk up to the top of the hill and you find the nicer houses. You find that the owners of the nicer houses, tired of the street noise, banned vehicle traffic.

You find people had creatively decorated to adjust for a small space. You find that the stores jockeyed to be close to the busiest intersections. You find artists and vandals had put up graffiti in public spaces. In short, you see nearly all of the trends and inclinations of any modern city, because for all of the centuries people don't really change, in fact, nothing really changes. It's extra interesting then that Marcus Aurelius would make an observation about the time of Vespasian, since it ended only months before Pompeii ended.

The Age of Vespasian, he writes, people doing the exact same things marrying, raising children, getting sick, dying, waging war, throwing parties, doing business, farming, flattering, boasting, distrusting, plotting, hoping others will die, complaining about their own lives, falling in love, putting away money, seeking high office and power, There are many more things we could add to this list and we have over the years. For centuries people have decided to take the scenic route. They've talked baby talk to their dog, they've arrived late, anxiously, they've stayed up late, reading or talking. They were short with their children, they gossiped about a mutual friend, they fretted about their parents, they got caught up in a project and forgot to eat lunch.

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