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Welcome to the weekend edition of the Daily Stoic Podcast. On Sundays, we take a deeper dive into these ancient topics with excerpts from the Stoic texts,

audio books that we like here recommend here at Daily Stoic and other long form wisdom that you can chew on on this relaxing weekend.

We hope this helps shape your understanding of this philosophy and most importantly that you're able to apply it to your actual life.

Thank you for listening.

Hey, it's Ryan Holiday. Welcome to another episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast. I'm going to read you something from lives of the Stoics here real fast.

Because it ties in to what we are talking about today. So Cicero is one of the most interesting writers about the Stoics, as you know, not the greatest practice.

But if it were not for Cicero, we would not have so much of the Stoic writings. So this is what I write in lives of the Stoics.

In 46 BC, Cicero published the Stoic paradoxes dedicated to Marcus Brutus, who himself had Stoic leanings. And what was a more rhetorical exercise than a serious philosophical treatment.

He explored six of the primary Stoic paradoxes. Number one that virtue is the only good. Number two that that it is sufficient for happiness. Three that all vices and virtues are equal.

Four that all fools are mad. Five that only the sage is truly fear free. And six that the wise person alone is rich. And these are not paradoxes in the logical sense only that they flew in the face of common sense.

And it's the counterintuitiveness of each of these ideas that the Stoics leaned on to catch people's attention. How can virtue be the only good if we need health and money to live is a lie really as bad as killing someone plenty of philosophers were visibly poor. How were they rich?

Basically, there's endless possibilities of discussions for discussion here, counter examples for gotcha moments. And Cicero loved noodling with the prompts that had been laid down by Xeno, and clientes, and Aristos, and all the early Stoics. And that's what we're going to be talking about in today's episode.

We have Stoic paradoxes number two and three for you to noodle on and listen to. And I'm excited to bring you that. Enjoy.

Hello, it is Matt and Alice from British scandal here. And we want to let you know that this season we are very excited to be covering the Cambridge spies.

It's got everything you could possibly want from a series of British scandal treachery in the establishment overconfident public schoolboys and strange meetings on park benches.

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Paradox 2. A man who is virtuous is destitute of no requisite of a happy life.

Never for my part did I imagine Marcus regular to have been distressed or unhappy or wretched because his magnanimity was not tortured by the Carthaginians.

Nor was the weight of his authority nor his honor nor was his resolution nor was one of his virtues nor in short did his soul suffer their torments for a soul with the guard and rettenew of so many virtues never surely could be taken though his body was made captive.

We have seen Kaya's Marius. He in my opinion was in prosperity one of the happiest and in adversity one of the greatest of men than which man can have no happier lot.

Thou knowest not, foolish man thou knowest not, what power virtue possesses. Thou only usurpest the name of virtue, thou art a stranger to her influence.

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