{"id":27103,"date":"2024-01-11T17:08:03","date_gmt":"2024-01-11T22:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=27103"},"modified":"2024-01-11T21:00:04","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T02:00:04","slug":"ah-really-aurelius","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/11\/ah-really-aurelius\/","title":{"rendered":"Ah Really, Aurelius?"},"content":{"rendered":"

So here I am in the ems.\u00a0 And next up (almost) is Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.\u00a0 Yes that Marcus Aurelius.\u00a0 \u00a0And really, I’m a big fan.\u00a0 Holding back the fall of the Roman Empire for almost twenty years is nothing to sneeze at.\u00a0 I guess he does have to take a hit for being Commodus’ father and all.\u00a0 I mean he really should have had him put down before he passed but it’s tough for a father to be objective about his kids.<\/p>\n

And I like a lot of his quotes.\u00a0 They are quite enlightened.\u00a0 But I think sometimes he goes too far.\u00a0 For instance:<\/p>\n

“Everything that happens is either endurable or not. If it’s endurable, then endure it. Stop complaining. If it’s unendurable . . . then stop complaining. Your destruction will mean its end as well.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Your destruction will mean its end as well<\/strong>“?\u00a0 What the hell!<\/p>\n

I mean he was a military man.\u00a0 How about fighting against both the endurable and the unendurable?\u00a0 Can’t we ever push things out of fate’s hands?<\/p>\n

Well, anyway, he’s going to donate several weeks of quotes to the site so I’m grateful.\u00a0 But I think there should be a limit to just how much silent resignation even a stoic has to exhibit.\u00a0 Now I know he was basically an Italian so I can’t claim an exemption based on my lineage.\u00a0 But I can tell you over the last eighteen centuries there has been a precipitous fall off in stoic tendencies among his descendants.\u00a0 Most Italians like nothing better than to complain loud and long about just about everything happening around us.\u00a0 You might say it’s our defining behavior.<\/p>\n

I’ll end by saying I’m glad I didn’t have him for a boss.\u00a0 He probably would have continuously lectured me in soothing terms to endure the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and eventually I would have gone mad and murdered him.<\/p>\n

Well anyway, his first quote will be January 14th (showing up the night of Saturday, January 13th).<\/p>\n

And he really should have made Russell Crowe emperor.\u00a0 It would have solved a bunch of problems.<\/p>\n