Reflections: Stoicism and The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

This article is part of a series. The article reveals my musings with Edward Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. The series are a little looser than the norm.

Stoicism played a part, a key part, in my exit from the scammy corners of online marketing. I can’t quite recall when I stumbled across Stoicism. I’m guessing around 2016. Stoicism, at that time, was undergoing a revival. It was hip. It was popular. That period of my life, I had sunk to the depths of professional scamminess, and floated to heights of spiritual limbo.

Regardless of how I discovered Stoicism, it came at a distinct time. When I left the scam world, I dove into Stoicism. I inhaled the primary texts, the scholarly texts, and various modern popularized versions. I went to the University of Wyoming’s Stoic Camp three times. I went to Stoicon in London. I frequented a Stoic meetup group in Denver. Stoicism glared light on the poor ethics of my online marketing; it helped rejuvenate my love of…