The best books about Stoicism and ancient Rome

Gibbon’s masterpiece first gave me the idea for The Last Stoic. In 2003, as American tanks rolled into Baghdad, I’d finally worked up the nerve to read the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. It lives up to its reputation: it is a rich and rewarding read. Gibbon is rightly lauded for the grace of his prose, which is full of wit and insight. But what struck me most, in passages describing how the ancient “golden age” had passed from prosperity and relative peace to decay and continual war, is how closely the trajectory of the contemporary American empire mirrors that of the Roman empire. Admittedly, reading this series is an undertaking. But it is a worthwhile investment you will not regret.  

For anyone interested in the broad sweep of world history, Durant’s Story of Civilization is a must-read. The scope of the work is simply breathtaking, extending from the dawn of human civilization to the end of the Napoleonic era. And Durant somehow manages to bring all the countless threads together and into context in an accessible manner. From Gibbon I turned to Durant for a more general view. In the volume Caesar to Christ, the similarities between the American and ancient Roman empires are made even starker. For instance, he writes, “the Roman patriciate and upper-middle class passed with impressive speed from stoic simplicity to reckless luxury.” Gibbon echoes the same sentiments in the first volume of the Decline and Fall. 

Marcus Aurelius, the last of Gibbon’s “five good emperors,” wrote his Meditations near the end of his life while encamped by the Danube, defending against invaders from the north. It is believed that his journal, entitled “To Myself,” was never meant for publication. It wasn’t discovered by scholars until the fourth century. But, as distant heirs, we are fortunate that the parchment managed to survive the empire’s disintegration and the heedlessness of time. It provides a wonderful distillation of Stoic wisdom. It is personal and practical in a way that makes it a useful guide to life. The intimate style allows one to imagine sitting with Aurelius, listening to him ponder life’s mysteries. Carpe diem, he urges; I can “find rest from vain fancies if I perform every act in life as though it was my last.”

Another Stoic classic. Written, again, in a highly accessible, conversational style. In fact, the only teachings by Epictetus that we know of today were recorded from his lectures by his disciple Arrian.  This book has given great solace to many people over the years. It is said that Frederick the Great never campaigned without it. And, the war hero Admiral James Stockdale credits Epictetus with helping him endure seven and a half years in a North Vietnamese military prison—including torture—and four years in solitary confinement. “No man is free who is not master of himself.”

Tom Wolfe’s second novel shares similarities with The Last Stoic in that it looks critically at contemporary society through a Stoic lens.  One of the characters, Conrad Hensley, discovers the writings of Epictetus while in prison and imparts this wisdom to the corrupt and covetous Charlie Croker, turning his life upside down. He comes to realize the truth of Arius Didymus’ statement that “excessive impulses are disobedient to reason,” and are therefore detrimental. Written in Wolfe’s inimitable and lively style, the book makes a powerful indictment on the preoccupations of our age: appetite and fear.