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Welcome to the Daily Stoke. For each day, we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living good life.

Each one of these passages is based on the 2000 year old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women.

For more, you can visit us at dailystoke.com.

Who can you adopt?

One of the most remarkable traditions of ancient Rome and one for which we have no real modern analog was the tradition of wealthy, successful families adopting and raising young men, sometimes women,

to be their heir.

Cepio, one of the early patrons of stoicism, for instance, was adopted into the famous Cepio family, while his elder brother, Quintus, was adopted by the Fobby family, an equally grand legacy.

Ceneca was not adopted nor did he adopt anyone, but his brother, Novatus, was adopted by Lucius Junius Gio, an admired writer, and eventually changed his name accordingly.

You might be familiar with it, in fact, because Gio, Cerna Cus' brother, appears in the Bible, having fairly adjudicated a legal case against the Apostle Paul.

Marcus Aurelius himself underwent a similar process when Hadrian adopted by Trajan, adopted Antenitis, who in turn adopted Marcus Aurelius.

The point of today's email is not to tell you to rush out and sign up to be a foster parent, although it would be wonderful if more people did this, but to suggest a more modern analogy.

The process of choosing a successful young person, mentoring them, guiding their ascent into public life, looking out for them, helping pass along some of the advantages and wisdom you have accumulated, this is a timeless idea.

It makes rational sense why fathers and mothers do this for their own children and grandchildren, but it is truly beautiful when strangers do it for each other.

When we help others get ahead, not because they are our blood, but because we see something in them, or simply because we are in the privileged position of having such benefits to share.

Remember, the Stoics believed that we were all in this thing together, that we were all part of the same hive, that we were all serving the same great cause, be it the Empire, the Nation, the Human Race, and therefore we are obligated to help others, to lend a hand, to adopt.

To adopt, to advocate for, to cultivate.

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