Ferox Flavicomus

Tarzan is an American God.

Today we bench in honor of GLORIOUS ANIUS! King of Delos and priest of Apollo Happy SUN day! VICTORY TO THE GODS!

Stoicism is a great self-help tool for extremely neurotic people. It can help you get “back to baseline.” Marcus Aurelius was extremely neurotic. He never wanted to be emperor. He was put into the line of succession by Hadrian when he was a teen because he was seen as the safe choice with no ambition who would protect the small child of Hadrian’s dead friend who Hadrian really wanted to be his heir (Lucius Verus). And indeed, Marcus did just that, naming Lucius Verus his co-emperor. This was the first time in history there had ever been a co-emperor, and obviously that precedent caused a ton of problems. Marcus became addicted to opium (an ingredient of the medicine called theriac that Galen gave him) to cope with the anxiety of being emperor. He also kept a journal where he talks a lot about not wanting to get out of bed, not wanting to talk to people, etc. Try to imagine Julius Caesar writing Meditations. You can’t. Marcus was fortunate enough to have able generals conduct his wars, but he was not a brilliant battlefield commander. The most celebrated victory that he seems to have been personally involved in is one time he got his troops surrounded on a hill without any water and they were all about to die but then it rained. This is called “The Miracle of the Rain.” But a lot of you hate him for the wrong reason. Every emperor named their son their heir if they had a living son. The other “Five Great Emperors” did not have living sons when they died. Commodus was always going to be his heir. Anyway, stoicism can help you with anxiety. But it cannot provide meaning in your life. You don’t believe the woo-woo pseudo-religious philosophical “nature is logos” parts of it anyway. You just want the self-help bits. Which is fine. But once you’ve cured your anxiety, there’s still further to ascend.

The response to Charlie Kirk’s assassination by the American right has been one of the most depressing things I’ve ever seen.