How to Be Freer Than a King

We just got back from an amazing vacation in Italy. I'll bring you some clips from it over the next couple weeks. Although it was as hot as it has literally ever been, it was one of the best family trips we've ever had. We stayed in this amazing palazzo on Airbnb—500 years old, with Roman funerary headstones inside, like a museum. The hosts lovingly restored it, and by listing on Airbnb, they share this experience with the world and fund upkeep. If you're planning a trip, consider listing your place at Airbnb.com/host.

The Central Question: Who Is Your Master?

One man was a slave. The other was the most powerful man in the world. One lived with almost nothing. The other ruled from a palace in Rome. Yet the Stoic philosopher Epictetus was free, while the Emperor Nero was trapped. Nero could command armies, order executions, and bend an empire to his will, but he could not govern himself. He was ruled by his appetites, his anger, his vanity, and his fear. Epictetus possessed no throne, no fortune, no political power. For the first thirty years of his life, he did not even possess legal freedom. But through discipline, he learned to govern his judgments, his desires, and his actions.