How Epictetus Captured The Mind Of Marcus Aurelius

Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, designed to help bring those four key Stoic virtues, courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom into the real world. The right book at the right time. It can uh can change everything, right? How did I come to read Marcus Aurelius? was at a conference as a college journalist sponsored by Trojan condoms of all things and I asked for a book recommendation and one thing led to another and now I have a podcast about Stoicism.

You know, probably exactly like your story. All of our origin stories to this philosophy and in fact to to many of the books that have changed our lives are random. There's an element of serendipity to them. But usually it comes with some kind of recommendation. And for Marcus Aurelius, right, this is how he comes to Epictetus.

The discourses of Epictetus are handed to him by Junius Arusticus, his philosophy teacher. It's one of the great book recommendations in history. A teacher gives it to a young man who is being pulled towards power and fame and responsibility and empire. And so these words from a former slave teach a man with incredible influence and power about the importance of self-mastery.

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