Four Stoics, in their own words
An emperor, a statesman, a former slave and the teacher who taught him. Almost everything the earlier Stoics wrote is lost; these four are the ones we can still read.
- Roman emperor · 121–180 CE
Marcus Aurelius
“Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busybody, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial.”
1 work · 45,588 wordsAbout Marcus - Statesman, writer, adviser to Nero · c. 4 BCE–65 CE
Seneca
“Thus it is: we do not receive a short life, but we make it a short one, and we are not poor in days, but wasteful of them.”
12 works · 354,401 wordsAbout Seneca - Teacher, once a slave · c. 50–135 CE
Epictetus
“Some things are under our control, while others are not under our control.”
2 works · 130,826 wordsAbout Epictetus - Teacher in Rome · 1st century CE
Musonius Rufus
“It is not possible to live well today unless one thinks of it as his last.”
1 work · 23,692 wordsAbout Musonius
Two centuries
Their lives overlap
When Seneca died in 65, Epictetus was a boy. When Marcus was born in 121, Epictetus was still teaching at Nicopolis.
Seneca c. 4 BCE–65 CEc. 4 BCE–65 CEMusonius Rufus 1st century CE1st century CEEpictetus c. 50–135 CEc. 50–135 CEMarcus Aurelius 121–180 CE121–180 CE
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