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Marcus Aurelius and the Architecture of Mercy
We often remember Marcus Aurelius as the philosopher-king who wrote his Meditations by candlelight while barbarians battered the Danube frontier. But there is another side to his reign that rarely gets mentioned: his radical approach to justice, mercy, and the legal rights of slaves. In this episode, we explore how Marcus’s personal stoicism collided with the brutal realities of Roman law, particularly regarding the treatment of domestic servants. We’ll look at the case of a slave accused of poisoning his master, the legal precedents set by Salvius Julianus, and the rare moments where…
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