Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Light

"In April 46 BCE, 1,974 years ago, Cato the Younger died. In one sense, you might say he died willingly, as he chose death by his own hand rather than life under the tyranny of Julius Caesar. But no one who ever met Cato, nor anyone who reads of his death, should see anything resigned in the man."Listen to learn more about Cato the Younger's inspiring death, and about how we can follow his example in how he led his life."Do not go gentle into that good night," by Dylan ThomasThe sponsor of today's episode is Magic Spoon (https://geni.us/dslmagicspoon). It's delicious cereal that tastes just like breakfast when you were a kid. Each bowl has 11g of protein and only 3g net of carbs. If you use the code DAILYSTOIC at magicspoon.com, you can get free shipping on your first order. Check it out today!***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better. Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: DailyStoic.com/signupFollow @DailyStoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/ryanholidayInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanholiday/Facebook: http://facebook.com/ryanholidayYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee 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.

• 0:06Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to The Daily Stoic, where each day we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the good 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 at DailyStoic.com. Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Light. On this day in history, more than 20 centuries ago, Cato the Younger died. In one sense, you might say that he died willingly, as he chose to die by his own hand, rather than live under Julius Caesar's tyranny. But certainly

• 0:49Ryan Holiday?

  no one who ever met Cato, nor anyone who reads of his death, could see anything resigned about the man. When Cato grabbed his sword and said, "Now I am my own master," and then plunged it into his chest, that should have been the end of it. Reeling from the blow, Cato fell from the bench he had been leaning on and then passed out. The wound should have been mortal, but even Roman steel could not kill Rome's iron man. Cato passed out and was discovered by his sons, who rushed in a doctor to save him. As they finished stitching him up, Cato awoke and began to tear the wound apart. That was how he died,

• 1:30Ryan Holiday?

  literally disemboweling himself with his own hands. The point of this story is not to glorify suicide, not at all. In fact, Cato's story shows a man who clung to life with almost superhuman tenacity. Cato had always, but especially in his death, embodied that beautiful line in the Dylan Thomas poem, "He raged, raged against the dying of the light, even in old age. He did not go quietly into that good night, not when Caesar had wanted him to roll over, and now not when death was here." No, Cato was such a fighter, had such life force. That even suicide had trouble taking him.

• 2:13Ryan Holiday?

  For Cato, it was a choice between becoming Caesar's slave and a propaganda tool and death. He refused to betray the public for which he had lived, even if it meant the loss of his life. But it should be noted that he fought like hell for years before it came to that, and even dying did not come easily. Death wins over all of us. That is inevitable. Dylan Thomas knew that. He just thought we should fight hard while we still could, as Cato did, proving, as Plutarch said of him, that even if we can't beat fate, we can nevertheless give fortune a hard contest.