The Cato Chronicles: Essays on a Stoic Role Model
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English | 2017 | ISBN: N/A | ASIN: N/A | EPUB | 1.1 MB
The Stoics thought that one important way to improve ourselves ethically is by choosing a role model after whom to pattern our behavior. As Seneca puts it to his friend Lucilius: “Choose therefore a Cato; or, if Cato seems too severe a model, choose some Laelius, a gentler spirit. Choose a master whose life, conversation, and soul-expressing face have satisfied you; picture him always to yourself as your protector or your pattern. For we must indeed have someone according to whom we may regulate our characters; you can never straighten that which is crooked unless you use a ruler.” (Letter XI.10) In the metaphor, we are all somewhat “crooked,” and we need a ruler to tell us just how much, as well as to guide us toward being more straight. The Cato mentioned by Seneca in this passage is Cato the Younger, known also as Uticensis, an archenemy of Julius Caesar who fought to preserve the Roman Republic from what (with good reasons) he thought was going to be a tyrannical rule by Caesar. Of course, Cato was a human being, and therefore hardly perfect himself. But he had such a reputation for integrity in Rome that when people wished to excuse their own ethical limitations they would say “well, after all, not everyone can be a Cato!” These essays are devoted to a study of the life and philosophy of Cato the Younger, largely inspired by my reading of the excellent biography by Rob Goodman and Jimmy Soni, entitled Rome’s Last Citizen: The Life and Legacy of Cato, Mortal Enemy of Caesar. I have added a number of notes and references of my own, as well as a collection of quotes by Seneca about Cato, showing just how much the former admired the latter. Enjoy, and use this booklet as a good reason to think about who your own role models might be and why.
