Everything he ever did is one big billboard screaming he doesn't believe in stoicism. First, Of the things mentioned in my own post, which focus on the start o

Everything he ever did is one big billboard screaming he doesn't believe in stoicism. First, Of the things mentioned in my own post, which focus on the start of his reign. His rise to power. Do you seriously believe he had no hand in that ? He must have fought, in many ways, to get the position of emperor. He pursued power, and not by working hard in any stoic sense (stoicism accepts only actual "hand" labour as labour, and worthy of reward. Things like holding senate/government/management positions, no matter how well executed, no matter how punctual you are, aren't ever very stoic at all). That, by itself, is very very very very un-stoic of him. Second argument is his reign. He was an emperor advocating stoicism, known for ... being extremely generous when it came to "bread and circuses". His power was built on what is close to the opposite of what his books advocate. And third argument is the end of his reign, his kid (and his family, but that would take us too far), and his succession. Clearly the behavior of his kid was an indication of how his household functioned. His kid, Commodus, was described as an extremely self-obsessed neurotic drunk ... It is not physically possible to become either self-obsessed or drunk in a stoic household.