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Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast where each weekday we bring you a

meditation inspired by the ancient Stoics, a short passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you find strength and insight here in everyday life.

And on Wednesdays, we talk to some of our fellow students of ancient philosophy, well-known and obscure, fascinating and powerful.

With them, we discuss the strategies and habits that have helped them become who they are and also to find peace and wisdom in their actual lives.

But first, we've got a quick message from one of our sponsors.

You are what you give your energy toward. There is an infinite amount of things you could do today. There is an infinite amount of information you could consume. There is an infinite amount of thoughts you could think.

So as you weigh those limitless options this morning, it's worth considering this declaration from Marcus Aurelius.

Our worth is measured by what we devote our energy to.

Will you pursue selflessness or will you work for the common good, will you turn to smart books or sensational news? Will you be jealous or happy for other people? Will you be kind? Will you worry about petty things?

We are what we think about. We are what we put our energy towards. If we direct ourselves well today and every day we will be well, if we don't, we won't. It's that simple.

Hey, it's Ryan. Welcome to another episode of The Daily Stove podcast. As you know, my life changed in 2006, I believe, when I read Marcus Aurelius' meditations. I don't know how I ended up with the translation I ended up with. I bought a random one on Amazon.

And here we are all these years later, having had my life changed by this wonderful, wonderful experience. I've read meditations on hundreds of occasions. Literally, I have a copy of it by my nightstand.

I can recite large passages of it from memory. It's formed so much of what we do here at Daily Stove. And I had a wonderful experience over the last week or so.

Reading Marcus Aurelius again, but from a new perspective, a new translation. I'm talking about Robin Waterfield's new translation for basic books. In fact, an annotated edition from Marcus Aurelius with a wonderful intro. And then every passage or almost every passage, Robin takes the time to sort of explain what they mean, what Marcus was referencing, the necessary context.

It's a wonderful translation. Usually, I introduce people to Marcus through the Modern Library translation by Gregory Hayes, which I think is sort of lyrical and beautiful. But this translation is right up there.

It's for a first time or with Marcus, this may be the right translation for you. And you'll hear in my two-hour interview with Robin just how profound a thinker and philosopher Marcus really was.

I was familiar with Robin's work because I've read his translation of Xenophon. I've read and referenced one of his translations of Plutarch. As far as classical scholars go, Robin is one of the best. And so I reached out to him having read this new translation to see if he might want to come on the podcast.

So we talked not for one hour, but for two. So you're going to be listening first to our one hour conversation. And then on Saturday, I'm going to come out with their second hour. For the first hour, we talk about who Marcus was, who was the man who sat down and wrote these notes to himself.

What was he thinking about? What was informing him? What made him tick? You can tell that Robin is someone who spent a lot of time thinking about this. And I think we really get into a fascinating discussion that you will like.

So look, here's my interview with Robin. I cannot recommend this translation of Marcus Arelius enough. If you've already read Marcus, then I definitely suggest you read this.

You know, Marcus talks about how we never step in the same river twice, which he gets from Heraclitus, but the idea that that work changes as we change.

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