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Who is your master?

To the Stoics, freedom, true power and greatness came from one thing: being in command of yourself.

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For all of Rome's monumental architecture, much of it paid for by the wealthy and the powerful, it's easy to forget that one of the greatest people who ever lived walked its streets almost unnoticed.

Epictetus, whose name literally means “acquired one”, was a slave. He spent three decades of his life owned by another human being, working anonymously in Nero's court. Slowly, he earned his freedom, both literally and through philosophy, and he became one of Rome's greatest philosophers.

He wasn't just your favourite philosopher's favourite philosopher. He was the favourite philosopher of two emperors, the same emperors whose temples, arches and buildings he walked among. Hadrian went to Greece to hear him teach. A generation later, through one of his students, a copy of his lectures made its way to Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher king.

How did this happen?

Epictetus lived the Stoic idea that real power lies in command of yourself. You could command armies. You could live on a huge estate. But if you were a slave to your desires, a slave to your fears or a slave to things outside your control, you were not powerful at all.

In his view, the most important question there was came down to four words: who is your master? After years of studying Stoicism, Epictetus could give an answer that few emperors could.

Freedom, true power and greatness, to the Stoics, is being in command of yourself.