The Daily Stoic - You Must Live Below Your Means

Episode Date: October 29, 2019

The Roman elite were constantly living beyond their means. Leaders like Cicero lived lavishly—he owned something like nine different villas at the same time. Other Romans believed the path to political power lay in essentially bribing the public with extravagant games and public spectacles. Julius Caesar was constantly spending money he didn’t have to impress people he didn’t respect. Even the Roman empire itself was constantly overspending, leaving it to more austere emperors like Marcus Aurelius to pay down the country’s debts by selling off palace furnishings. Seneca, for his part, wrote eloquently about the meaningless of wealth and the importance of the simple life. And yet, money is partly what attracted him to Nero’s service. In 13 years working for a man who was clearly deranged and evil, Seneca became one of Rome’s richest men. This afforded him an incredible lifestyle. He threw enormous parties. He accumulated huge land holdings and impressive estates. But his taste for the finer things meant swallowing a bitter moral pill...and eventually, this association cost him his reputation and his life. If only Seneca and these other spendthrift Romans could have listened to the simple advice in Cato the Elder’s On Agriculture, one of the oldest works in the entire Latin language. There, Cato—the great grandfather of the Stoic Cato the Younger—talks about the importance of managing your money and your tastes. “A farm is like a man,” he wrote, “however great the income, if there is extravagance but little is left.” His advice to the aspiring farmer is to build a house within their means—to put your money into your farm, into something that generates returns, not something that impresses your neighbors or assuages your ego. It was better, he said, to cultivate the selling habit, not the buying habit. Selling meant you were making, buying meant you were consuming. How does a business succeed? By things going out the door, not in the door. It’s easy to acquire. It’s hard to say no. It’s tough to develop limits and to figure out what enough is. But like Cato said and Seneca’s fate painfully illustrates, if you can’t do that, eventually there will be nothing left and nowhere to go.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoke podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. 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. 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 dailystoic.com. You must live below your means. The Roman elite were constantly living beyond their means. Leaders like Cicero lived lavishly. He owned something like nine different villas at the same time. Other Romans believed the path to political power lay

in essentially bribing the public with extravagant games and public spectacles. Julius Caesar was constantly spending money he didn't have to impress people he didn't respect. Even the Roman Empire itself was constantly overspending, leaving it to more austere emperors like Marcus Aurelius to pay down the country's debts by selling off palace furnishings. Seneca for his part wrote eloquently about the meanlessness of wealth and the importance of the simple life, and yet money is partly what attracted him to Nero's service.

In 13 years working for a man who was clearly deranged and evil, Seneca became one of Rome's richest men. This afforded him an incredible lifestyle. He threw enormous parties. He accumulated huge land holdings and impressive estates. But his taste for the finer things meant swallowing a bitter moral pill, and eventually this association cost him his reputation and his life. If only Seneca and these other spend thrift Romans could have listened to the simple language

in Cato the Elders on agriculture, one of the oldest works in the entire Latin language. There, Cato, the great grandfather of the Stoic, Cato the Younger speaks of the importance of managing your money and your tastes. A farm is like a man, he wrote, however great the income if there is extravagance, but little is left. His advice to the aspiring farmer is to build a house within their means to put your money into your farm into something that generates returns, not something that impresses your neighbors or assages, your ego. It was better, he said, to cultivate the selling habit, not the buying habit. Selling meant you were making, buying meant you were consuming.

How does a business concede? By things going out the door, not in the door. It's easy to acquire. It's hard to say no. It's tough to develop limits and to figure out what enough is. But like Kato said, and Sena Kusfeit painfully illustrates, if you can't do that, eventually there will be nothing left and nowhere to go. If you like the podcast that we do here and you want to get it via email every morning, you can sign up at dailystoic.com slash email. Hey, prime members, you can listen to the daily stoic early and add free on Amazon music. Download the Amazon music app today, or you can listen to the Daily Stoic early and add free on Amazon music, download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and add free with Wondery

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