The Stoic Opposition: The Senators Who Defied the Emperors (Episode 238)

A common picture of Stoicism is that it makes you passive. Accept what happens. Go along with the flow.

The Stoic opposition is a problem for that picture. Under Nero, Vespasian, and Domitian, a line of Roman senators trained in Stoic philosophy refused to go along with emperors they saw as tyrants. Many were exiled or executed for it.

Michael walks Caleb through the lineage: Cato as the precursor, Thrasea Paetus, Helvidius Priscus, Agrippinus, and the Stoic who sold out his friends. Epictetus told their stories to his students, and many of them were close to his own teacher, Musonius Rufus. One thread runs two generations forward, to the man who gave Marcus Aurelius his copy of Epictetus.

What they share is role ethics: taking the duties of your position seriously, even when it costs everything.

(02:40) Cato the Younger and Seneca’s Ruler

(06:45) Nero and the Death of Seneca

(10:00) Plautus, Soranus, and the Stoic Who Sold Out

(12:25) Musonius Rufus Goes to Court

(15:40) Thrasea Paetus Refuses to Take Part

(17:05) Helvidius Priscus Faces Vespasian

(20:50) Agrippinus: Exercise First, Then Exile

(23:50) Agrippinus and Florus

(26:35) Domitian and the Exile of Epictetus

(30:30) Role Ethics: What the Stoic Opposition Teaches

(36:20) Why Rome Banished the Philosophers

(37:35) From the Stoic Opposition to Marcus Aurelius

(41:35) Stoic Political Philosophy

(43:05) Stoicism Is Not an Excuse for Passivity

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Thanks to Michael Levy for graciously letting us use his music in the conversations:

https://ancientlyre.com/