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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 you 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 weekend episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast. When I was writing my book, Conspiracy, I was fascinated by the contrast of Peter Teal and Nick Denton to polar opposites who also had so much in common who ended up clashing, destroying each other and so much in the process.

Going to depths I don't think they ever would have imagined. And this is also the story of today's podcast, but back in the ancient world. This is about the rivalry of Julius Caesar and the Stoic Cato, which precipitates the end of the Roman Republic.

It's a fascinating book by Professor Josiah Osgood who's been on the podcast before. He wrote this book, Uncom and Wrath, published by Basic Books, which I think you're really going to like. I enjoyed reading it. I know a ton about Cato and Caesar and I got a lot out of it.

And this biography about these two men who hatred for each other destroys the world they love. It's a clash of virtue and vice in both men. And I think you're really going to like this excerpt today.

So here is a deep dive into Caesar and Cato Uncom and Wrath by Josiah Osgood. Thank you to Basic Books for letting us publish this audiobook.

Hello, it is Matt and Alice from British Scandal here. And we wanted 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.

Check, check, and double check. You can search and follow British Scandal wherever you listen to podcasts or listen early and ad free via the OneDriPlus subscription in Apple Podcasts or the OneDri app.

Chapter 2. Making Names For Themselves

In many times and places, those aspiring to a political career have found it useful to serve in the armed forces. In Rome, it was mandatory.

And so after his brush with Sulla, Caesar left for military service on the staff of Marcus minutia's thermos, then serving as governor of Asia.

Thermos was a partisan of Sulla and a tour with him, especially if it was successful, offered Caesar the further opportunity of improving his relations with the men in charge of the Republic.

In Asia, thermos had been entrusted with the task of subduing Mittellini, an ancient Greek city-state on the island of Lesbos that had joined the rebellion of King Mithradates of Pontus against Rome about a decade earlier.

Mittellini's impressive walls and extensive fleet, along perhaps with some strategic alliances with local pirates, had allowed the city to hold out against the Romans in a lengthy siege.

Thermos was determined to end it. As part of his preparations, he sent Caesar to collect ships from King Nicomedes of Bethinia, a large and wealthy state on the coast of Asia Minor, kicking off a scandal that would dog Caesar for the rest of his life.

In the east, the Romans commonly kept men like Nicomedes in power in exchange for which the kings maintained order and offered support in wars. Apparently, Caesar spent longer than was expected at the king's court, and he returned for a second visit later on.

While Caesar might have had good reasons for dalleying, it was typical for Roman nobles even at a young age to cultivate friends and allies across the empire, enemies of Caesar spread a more salacious story.

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