This is the famous speech, which we’re told inspired Zeno, the founder of Stoicism, to embark on a life of philosophy. He came across it in Book Two of Xenophon’s Memorabilia Socratis, where Socrates is portrayed reciting a version of it, which he learned from the celebrated Sophist and orator, Prodicus. It’s an exhortation to philosophy, which uses the legend of Hercules as an allegory to illustrate the choice between a life of virtue and one of vice. This story was illustrated in our graphic novel, Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius.Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Highlights* Introducing the speech* Hercules confronted by the choice between two paths in life* The temptations of Kakia or Vice, to a life of pleasure and idleness* The exhortation of Arete or Virtue, to temperance and endurance* The legacy of the speech and influence on Stoicism Get full access to Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life at donaldrobertson.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, I answer questions about Stoicism, cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), and emotional-resilience from Valentin Lehodey, a digital journalism student at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland. Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Highlights* What is Stoicism?* How Stoicism influenced cognitive therapy* Stoicism as a preventative resilience-building approach* How Stoicism goes beyond modern psychotherapyThank you for reading Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life. This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life at donaldrobertson.substack.com/subscribe

This is the audio of an interview I gave recently for Book Club with Kaiden Kelly, talking about How to Think Like a Roman Emperor, Verissimus, and Stoicism, self-help and modern psychology.Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Thank you for reading Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life. This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life at donaldrobertson.substack.com/subscribe

Donald discusses what Stoicism teaches us about anger and how it can actually help us in practice today.Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Highlights* Why anger is a problem* What the Stoics say about anger* Ways in which Stoicism can help us manage anger* The benefits of learning to cope with angerThank you for reading Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life. This post is public so feel free to share it.You can read the text of How Stoicism Cures anger on my Substack newsletter. Get full access to Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life at donaldrobertson.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, I discuss and recite one of the most important philosophical speeches in history — the Great Discourse or Great Speech of the Sophist Protagoras, from Plato’s dialogue Protagoras. This speech contains some remarkable imagery and ideas, which clearly foreshadow many later ideas about social virtue and politics in Greek and Roman philosophy, from Socrates to the Stoics, and beyond.Thank you for reading Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life. This post is public so feel free to share it.Highlights* Introducing the Great Speech, and why it is so important* Reading an excerpt from Plato’s Protagoras, containing the speech* Summary of the key points, in plain English* The speech can be seen as containing a kind of proto-evolutionary theory of social virtue* Can the capacity for virtue be seen as universal?* Can virtue can be taught?Thank you for reading Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life. This post is public so feel free to share it.My Synopsis of The Great DiscourseAt first there were gods but no mortal creatures.  When the time came, the gods fashioned countless animals by mixing together the elements of fire and earth.  Zeus then commanded Prometheus, the Titan, to assign different abilities to each living thing.  Some creatures were naturally slow and so he gave them great strength.  Others were weak and so to these Prometheus granted speed.  Some he armed while others were given various forms of protection.  Small creatures were granted the capability for winged flight or for concealing their dwellings underground.  Large beasts had their size for protection.  And he took care to grant all creatures some means for their own preservation so that no species should be in danger of elimination by others.  Having equipped them to survive among each other in this way he proceeded to grant them protection against their environment and the harshness of the seasons.  He clothed some creatures with dense hair or thick skin, sufficient to endure the heat of summer and ward off the cold through winter months.  To some he gave strong hooves, to others claws and hides that did not shed much blood.  And every creature was assigned its own source of food. Some pastured on the earth, others ate fruits hanging from trees or roots from beneath the ground.  Yet others were predators who fed upon other animals for their meat.  To these he assigned limited offspring whereas their prey were more abundant so that there would always be enough to serve as food.  However, having assigned to each species its own special capabilities, Prometheus realized that he had nothing left to give the race of man.  Humans are born naked, unshod, unarmed, and with no bed in which to lay their head and rest safely.  Not knowing what else to do, Prometheus stole the technical wisdom of the gods Hephaestus and Athena and gave it to mankind, along with the gift of fire.Once men were granted these divine gifts, they sensed their kinship to the gods and began to pray and build altars to them.  They invented clothing, bedding, dwellings, agriculture, and even the use of language to express their thoughts and acquire learning.  Men lived apart at first but finding themselves beset continually and harassed by wild beasts they sought to build cities for their own mutual protection.However, the wisdom that concerns our relations with others belonged to Zeus alone, king of the gods and patron of friendship and families.  No sooner than men gathered together trying to save themselves, being lawless, they began instead to wrong one another and fight among themselves.  And so scattering once again from their failed cities, they continued to perish in the wild.Looking down upon this chaotic scene with dismay, Zeus feared for the destruction of the entire human race.  He therefore sent Hermes, the messenger of the gods, to teach mortals about justice and to imbue them with a sense of shame concerning wrongdoing. By this means Zeus now granted mankind the capacity to unite themselves in cities, maintaining order through the bonds of friendship and a sense of community.  Hermes asked Zeus whether he should distribute justice, and other social and political arts, among men in the same way as technical knowledge concerning other crafts.  One man who possesses the knowledge of medicine, he said, was enough to benefit many men, and so on.  However, Zeus decreed that every human being must be granted some knowledge of justice and the arts needed to unite society.  He even laid down the law that anyone who was found unable to respect justice and the rule of law should be put to death, being a plague on the city.  For this reason, said Protagoras, we seek the advice only of those few who are experts with regard to crafts such as medicine or carpentry but concerning justice we allow every citizen to have his say.  Further, if someone boasts of being an expert in playing the flute or some such art but is nothing of the sort then he is ridiculed for his folly.  However, anyone who claims not to participate in justice risks being expelled from society because each and every citizen is expected to share at least somewhat in this capacity, which allows him to live harmoniously in the company of others. Get full access to Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life at donaldrobertson.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, I chat with Anya Leonard. Anya is the founder and director of Classical Wisdom, a website and online community dedicated to bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds. She also recently published a children’s book about the ancient Greek poetess, called Sappho: The Lost Poetess.Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Highlights* How Anya got into the classics * Why she chose to write a children’s book about Sappho * Why are classics are important today * Should only boffins talk and write about classics* What obstacles do we face teaching people about classics? * What is Classical Wisdom Kids? Links* Check out Anya’s Substack newsletterClassical Wisdom* And her newClassical Wisdom Kidsnewsletter * Get her book Sappho: The Lost PoetessThank you for reading Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life. This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life at donaldrobertson.substack.com/subscribe

This is my attempt to provide a short and simple introduction to Stoic practices, which anyone can begin using right away. It includes:* Brief introduction to Stoicism and dispelling the most common misconceptions* Two basic concepts:* The dichotomy of control* That it’s not things that upset us but rather our judgments about them* Three basic practices:* Objective description* Contemplating virtue and the double-standards strategy* The view from aboveStoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.The original article on which this audio recording is based can be found on Substack, Stoicism as a Philosophy of Life. Check out my books Stoicism and the Art of Happiness and How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, for more advice on applying Stoicism in daily life.Thank you for reading Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life. This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life at donaldrobertson.substack.com/subscribe

This podcast episode contains the audio recording from a conversation about Marcus Aurelius, and the history of Roman Carnuntum. I spoke with Eduard Pollhammer, the scientific director of the Carnuntum Archeological Park, at the Museum Carnuntinum in Austria. Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Thanks to Landessammlungen Niederösterreich, Archäologischer Park Carnuntum for permission to film. Thank you for reading Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life. This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life at donaldrobertson.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, I chat with Alexandra Hudson, writer, popular speaker, founder of Civic Renaissance, a publication and intellectual community dedicated to beauty, goodness and truth, and author of The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves, a forthcoming book from St. Martin’s Press.Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Highlights* What Lexi’s newsletter, Civic Renaissance, is about* The central message of her new book, The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves* What is the difference between civility and politeness? * Why classics are still important today* Whether you need a philosophy or classics degree to benefit from classical wisdom* What's happened to civility today?  How can we restore civil discourse?* About Lexi’s Storytelling and the Human Condition elearning course* What can great stories across different cultures tell us about our lives?Links* Civic Renaissance with Alexandra Hudson * Alexandra Hudson * The Soul of Civility on Macmillan’s websiteThank you for reading Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life. This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life at donaldrobertson.substack.com/subscribe

NB: This episode contains a recording of a guided relaxation technique, which you should not listen to while driving. I created this recording for my psychotherapy clients, many years ago, but wanted to make it more widely available. It’s a short and simple exercise, about thirteen minutes in duration. This is the approach that I found to work best for the majority of people. Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Instructions* Lie down or sit in a comfortable chair, where you are free from distractions* Close your eyes, while you listen to the recording* If you want to fall asleep, it’s okay to listen in bed at night* Try to use this recording at least once per day for at least two weeks* Relax your body and your mind togetherThrough regular use, you’ll develop an association between the recording and the feelings of relaxation, which will make it much easier to relax more quickly, and more deeply. Thank you for reading Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life. This post is public so if you found it helpful, please feel free to share it. Get full access to Stoicism: Philosophy as a Way of Life at donaldrobertson.substack.com/subscribe