Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast.

Each day we bring you a meditation inspired by the ancient Stoics, illustrated with stories

from history, current events, and literature to help you be better at what you do.

And at the beginning of the week, we try to do a deeper dive, setting a kind of Stoic

intention for the week, something to meditate on, something to think on, something to leave

you with, to journal about whatever it is you happen to be doing.

So let's get into it.

Don't abuse this power.

In one of the weirdest passages of meditation, Marcus really notes with pride that he never

laid a hand on any of his female slaves.

Since he makes no other remarks about slavery, most historians assume he is making a statement

about self-discipline.

And considered through the lens of meditations as a set of private reflections never meant

for publication, one could easily view this entry as a kind of self-reassurance of his

goodness.

That as the head of a wealthy household and the leader of one of history's largest empires,

Marcus could have had sex with his female slaves, but by choice did not.

Not cheating on your spouse, not sexually assaulting a captive person, these are hardly

achievements worth celebrating.

They are the bare minimum you could argue, to be considered a good and moral and virtuous

person.

And yet they are not nothing, especially back then, which means they are worthy of at least

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