Good day, Stoics. 🫡
Imagine finding out that the Roman Senate is deciding whether to exile or execute you.
That was the situation Paconius Agrippinus found himself in.
Epictetus tells us that while Agrippinus’ case was being decided, the usual hour for his daily exercise arrived.
So he exercised.
Afterward, someone came with the verdict.
He’d been condemned.
Agrippinus asked one question: Exile or death?
Exile.
His property hadn’t been confiscated either.
So Agrippinus essentially responded, Very well. We’ll eat lunch in Aricia instead.
That response is almost funny.
But underneath it is something profoundly Stoic.
Agrippinus refused to suffer the verdict before the verdict arrived.
While the Senate handled what belonged to the Senate, he handled what belonged to him.
Exercise.
Judgment.
Composure.
And when circumstances finally changed, he adjusted to the new circumstances.
No theatrical despair. No pretending exile was preferable. No demand that reality give him a different answer first.
Just: This is what has happened. What does the situation ask of me now?
There’s a lesson here for the much smaller uncertainties most of us face.
The email you’re waiting for.
The decision someone else is making.
The result you can’t speed up.
The future your mind keeps trying to live before it arrives.
Until something changes, you still have a life to live.
Don’t abandon the present just because the future is undecided.
Stay steady. ⚔️