Day 152: Courage in Practice—Cato the Younger on Being Incorruptible | Dying Every Day
Dying Every Day (Stoic Meditations) · Jun 25, 2026 · 10:14
Dying Every Day (Stoic Meditations)
Dying Every Day (Stoic Meditations) · Jun 25, 2026 · 10:14
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Welcome back to Dying Every Day. This is Day 152.
There is a man almost no one talks about anymore, and a small detail in his story that is hard to forget once you have noticed it.
His name was Cato—Cato the Younger. He lived in the final decades of the Roman Republic, when the whole system was rotting from within. Bribery was everywhere. Everyone was on the take. Power went to whoever could buy the most votes. And Cato was the one man who would not play along.
A group of candidates for office—ambitious, self-interested men, exactly the sort you would expect to cheat—made a pact among themselves. Each would put up a large sum of money, and anyone caught bribing voters would forfeit it to the others. An honor system among people with very little honor. And they needed someone to hold the money: someone who could not be leaned on, someone who could not be bought.
They chose Cato. [...]
#stoicism #philosophy #lifelessons
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