You Gotta Be Able To Do This

Marcus Aurelius was, of course, an incredible man. He endured more than most people. He had more power than most people—and wore it more lightly. He did more work on himself than most people, understood people, and himself, better than most people. Was he perfect though? Of course not. No one is. In Lonesome Dove, the Texas Ranger Captain Woodrow Call seems almost superhuman, especially to the young cowboy Newt. Newt worships the ground the man walks on, believing he isn’t like the rest of them. And in a sense, he isn’t. The Captain can ride further and faster, is more principled, less afraid, tougher than everyone on the Plains. We know Marcus Aurelius made mistakes. We know he paid lip service to admitting error in Meditations, to not continuing in error just because you began in one. But how good was he in practice? It’s less clear. He was wrong about his son Commodus for example. Was he too proud to admit this? Here, or elsewhere, did he have trouble owning that he was just like everyone else? That he could screw up? That he had human urges and human flaws? We hope so but we don’t know.✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. 📢 Share | ⚙️ Manage Subscription

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:03Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we bring you a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you find strength, insight, and wisdom in everyday life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us, dailystoic.com.

• 0:24Ryan Holiday?

  You've gotta be able to do this. Marcus Aurelius was, of course, an incredible man. He endured more than most people. He had more power than most people, and he wore it more lightly. He did more work on himself than most people, understood people and himself better than most people. Was he perfect, though? Of course not. No one is. In "Lonesome Dove," the Texas Ranger Captain Woodrow Call seems almost superhuman, especially to the young cowboy Newt. "Newt worships the ground the man walks on, believing that he isn't like the rest of them." And in a sense, he isn't. "The captain can ride further and faster, is more principled, less afraid, tougher than everyone on the plains." But as his friend and fellow Ranger August McCray knows, Call is not perfect. He's hiding a secret.

• 1:08Ryan Holiday?

  He is Newt's father, but he won't admit it. And worse, he won't admit that he should have admitted it earlier. "He had a chance to be once," McCray says of Call. "He turned his back on it, and now he can't admit that he made the wrong choice. He'd as soon kill himself. He's got to keep trying to be the way he thinks he is, and he's got to make out that he always was that way. And it's why he ain't owned up to being your paw." We know that Marcus Aurelius made mistakes. We know that he paid lip service to admitting error in meditations, to not continuing an error just because you began in one. But how good was he at this in practice? It's less clear. He was wrong about his son Commodus, for example. Was he too proud to admit this? Here or elsewhere, did he have trouble owning

• 1:53Ryan Holiday?

  that he was just like everyone else? That he could screw up? That he had human urges and human flaws? We hope so, but we don't know. And in the end, it doesn't matter much. It only matters whether you can.

• 2:12Ryan Holiday?

  Thanks so much for listening. If you could rate this podcast and leave a review on iTunes, that would mean so much to us, and it would really help the show. We appreciate it, and I'll see you next episode.