Rome as a Guide to the Good Life
Read this excerpt courtesy of University of Chicago Press, written by Scott Samuelson
Below you can read an exclusive excerpt courtesy of University of Chicago Press from Scott Samuelson’s new book, Rome as a Guide to the Good Life.
I have been a Roman for over half a century, but I’ll be sure to use Samuelson’s Guide the next time I visit my native city. I will look at it quite differently!
― Massimo Pigliucci, author of 'How to Be a Stoic'
Rome as a Guide to the Good Life
Joy is a kind of natural calm— the way a tree is calm, even in a storm. Stress is the result of not doing what we’re meant to be doing. It’s a funny thing: do the essential stuff, and time sprawls out before you; do the insignificant stuff, and you never have enough time even to do the insignificant stuff, let alone all you dream of. Festina lente, as the old Latin adage has it— hurry leisurely.
If you separate from yourself— that is, from your mind— all that other people do or say, all that you yourself have done or said, all that disturbs your peace of mind as looming in the future, all the properties of the body that encases you . . . all that is to come and all that has gone . . . and train yourself to live the only life you have, that is in the present moment, you’ll be able to pass what remains of your life, up until your death, with a mind that is tranquil in itself, kind to others, and at peace with your guardian spirit.
What’s translated here as “guardian spirit” is daimon, which refers to something like your true self. It’s both your unique consciousness, with all its quirks and talents, and your particular point of connection to the whole universe, which is experienced as conscience or intuition, and which the ancients considered divine. As Marcus points out, the Greek word for leading a good life, eudaimonia, means literally having a good daimon. The point of philosophy is nothing more or less than the care of your guardian spirit.
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