Shows / The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
A short morning story about the real people behind Stoicism, built around one passage from the ancient texts. Start each day with the lives of Zeno, Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius.
Episodes
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 29: A Cucumber Is Bitter
Julian Vale explores Marcus Aurelius's reminder on the Danube frontier to meet daily annoyances without adding useless complaints. Source: Meditations, tr…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 28: Live with the Gods (Season Finale)
Julian Vale concludes the season on the Danube frontier, where Marcus Aurelius writes to remind himself of the portion of divine reason within every person…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 27: Rising Unwillingly
Julian Vale explores Marcus Aurelius's private morning struggle to leave the warmth of bed and undertake the duties of a human being. Source: Meditations, tr…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 26: Dear City of Zeus
Marcus Aurelius expands his loyalty beyond Rome to the wider cosmos, finding harmony in the city of Zeus. Source: Meditations, tr. Long (Project Gutenberg…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 25: The Inner Retreat
Marcus Aurelius reflects on the longing to escape to country houses and sea-shores, discovering instead that true tranquillity is found by retiring into one's…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 24: This in Carnuntum
Julian Vale explores Marcus Aurelius writing from a cold Danube frontier fortress, stripping life to its essentials and finding guidance in philosophy alone…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 23: A Little Flesh and Breath
Marcus Aurelius strips away imperial titles and worldly distractions to take an honest, private inventory of what he truly is. Source: Marcus Aurelius…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 22: Begin the Morning
Marcus Aurelius prepares for the difficult people waiting outside his door by reminding himself of shared kinship and mutual cooperation. Source: Meditations…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 21: Domitian's Ban, Nicopolis
When the emperor Domitian expelled all philosophers from Rome, Epictetus journeyed to Nicopolis in Epirus and opened a new lecture room where he taught until…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 20: The Iron Lamp
When a thief steals an iron lamp from his house, Epictetus uses the petty crime to examine what a person truly possesses. Source: Discourses, tr. George Long…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 19: Agrippinus Goes to Exercise
A Stoic senator faces trial under Nero by keeping to his daily routine of exercise, a cold bath, and dinner. Source: Discourses of Epictetus, tr. George Long…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 18: You Are an Appearance
Julian Vale explores how Epictetus taught students to confront first impressions by challenging harsh appearances before reason is overwhelmed. Source…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 17: Of Things Some Are in Our Power
Julian Vale explores the opening lines of Epictetus's Manual on what is and is not in our power, examining how a life once lived in Roman slavery informs the…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 16: Fetter My Leg
Julian Vale explores how Epictetus, a former Roman slave, framed the dichotomy of control through an imaginary confrontation between tyrant and prisoner…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 15: Lame from an Early Age
Julian Vale explores the early life of Epictetus as an enslaved youth in Rome and weighs the famous tale of torture against the quieter, better-supported…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 14: Cato's Shadow (Via Seneca)
Julian examines why Roman Stoics kept returning to the example of Cato at Utica and explores what that idealization cost. Source: Moral Letters to Lucilius…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 13: Live as Long as You Ought, Not as Long as You Can
Visiting Pompeii, Seneca reflects on the voyage of life and argues that existence should be judged by how well it is lived rather than its length. Source…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 12: Practising How to Die
Julian Vale explores Seneca's account of a sudden, severe breathing attack in Letter 54 and how bodily suffering tests inner calm. Source: Moral Letters to…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 11: A Holy Spirit Indwells Within Us
Seneca’s Letter 41 asks where the divine can be found, and considers why reason and character matter more than wealth or status. The episode also faces the…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 10: They Are Slaves, Nay, Rather They Are Men
Seneca’s Letter 47 moves from a Roman dining room’s cruelty to his startling reminder that enslaved people are human beings and that fortune can overturn the…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 9: I Come Home More Cruel
Seneca recounts how a midday spectacle changed his own character, and asks what crowds can teach us about cruelty, influence, and the company we keep. Source…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 8: Nothing Is Ours Except Time
Seneca’s first letter to Lucilius treats time as a loan that cannot be repaid, written by a wealthy adviser trying to withdraw from Nero’s court. Julian Vale…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 7: Chrysippus Writes Seven Hundred Books
Runner, logician, and relentless writer, Chrysippus helped shape Stoicism while sparring with his teacher Cleanthes and defending him from others. The episode…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 6: The Ass Who Could Carry Zeno's Burdens
Cleanthes bears the mockery of his fellow pupils and turns the insult of “ass” into a name for the burdens he can carry. Through stories of his patience…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 5: Cleanthes Draws Water at Night
Cleanthes carried water and prepared meal to earn his place at Zeno’s school, making the labor itself part of his philosophical life. Source: Lives of Eminent…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 4: Why They Are Called Stoics
Zeno chooses an open Athenian porch for his school, giving the Stoics their name and, according to Diogenes Laërtius, bringing quiet philosophical discussion…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 3: Lentil Porridge in the Ceramicus
Crates breaks Zeno’s jar of lentil porridge in the crowded Ceramicus, turning a public embarrassment into a lesson about false shame and the fear of others’…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 2: Follow That Man
Zeno finds that the life he admired in Xenophon’s account of Socrates may still be visible in Athens, and follows Crates into a living example of philosophy…
- The Morning Stoic: The Untold Lives Behind Stoicism
Ep. 1: The Shipwreck That Founded a School
How a merchant's lost cargo of purple dye led Zeno of Citium to a bookseller's stall in Athens and the start of Stoicism. Source: Diogenes Laërtius, Life of…