Editions

How To Be a Stoic

  • Imprint: Penguin Classics

  • ISBN: 9780241475263

  • Length: 128  Pages

  • Dimensions: 181mm x 7mm x 111mm

  • Weight: 80g

  • RRP: £5.99

How To Be a Stoic

'Don't hope that events will turn out the way you want, welcome events in whichever way they happen'

How can we cope when life's events seem beyond our control? These words of consolation and inspiration from the three great Stoic philosophers - Epictetus, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius - offer ancient wisdom on how to face life's adversities and live well in the world.

One of twenty new books in the bestselling Penguin Great Ideas series. This new selection showcases a diverse list of thinkers who have helped shape our world today, from anarchists to stoics, feminists to prophets, satirists to Zen Buddhists.

  • Imprint: Penguin Classics

  • ISBN: 9780241475263

  • Length: 128  Pages

  • Dimensions: 181mm x 7mm x 111mm

  • Weight: 80g

  • RRP: £5.99

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About the Author

Epictetus

Epictetus (c. 55-135 AD) was a teacher and Greco-Roman philosopher. Originally a slave from Hierapolis in Anatolia (modern Turkey), he was owned for a time by a prominent freedman at the court of the emperor Nero. After gaining his freedom he moved to Nicopolis on the Adriatic coast of Greece and opened a school of philosophy there. His informal lectures (the Discourses) were transcribed and published by his student Arrian, who also composed a digest of Epictetus' teaching known as the Manual (or Enchiridion).

Epictetus

Seneca

C. D. N. COSTA is Professor of Classics and Chairman of the School of Antiquity at Birmingham University. His main research has been writing commentaries on the world of Seneca, Letters, Dialogues and the tragedy Medea, and he has also edited Lucretius V and a book of essays on Horace. Some of his translations of Seneca's Letters have been given broadcast readings by Paul Scofield on BBC Radio 3.

Seneca

Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aelius Aurelius Antoninus, 121-180. was adopted by the emperor Antoninus Pius and succeeded him in 161, (as joint emperor with adoptive brother Lucius Verus). He ruled alone from 169. He spent much of his reign in putting down variou rebellions, and was a persecutor of Christians. His fame rest, above all, on his Meditations, a series of reflections, strongly influenced by Epictetus, which represent a Stoic outlook on life. He died in 180 and was succeed by his natural son, thus ending the period of the adoptive emperors. Diskin Clay is Professor of Classical Studies at Duke University and has published widely in the area of Ancient Greek Philosophy. Martin Hammond is Head Master of Tonbridge School and has translated Homer's Iliad for Penguin Classics.

Marcus Aurelius

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