Good day, Stoics.
The emperor told Helvidius Priscus not to attend the Senate.
Helvidius was a Roman senator and a Stoic. According to Epictetus, Emperor Vespasian wanted him kept away from a Senate meeting.
Helvidius answered, essentially:
You have the power to remove me from the Senate. But while I’m still a senator, I have a duty to attend.
So Vespasian tried something else.
Fine. Attend, but don’t speak.
Helvidius replied:
Then don’t ask for my opinion.
Vespasian told him that his opinion would have to be asked.
And Helvidius answered that, if asked, he would have to say what he believed was right.
Even when threatened with death, he wouldn’t surrender that responsibility.
That’s a remarkable example of Stoic integrity.
Helvidius understood the difference between what another person could control and what still belonged to him.
The emperor could remove his title.
He could exile him.
He could even threaten his life.
But Helvidius would decide whether Helvidius acted dishonorably.
Most of us won’t face anything remotely that dramatic today.
But we’ll face smaller versions of the same question.
Will you say what you don’t believe because it’s easier?
Will you stay quiet when your conscience tells you to speak?
Will you become a different person because someone else has made integrity inconvenient?
Stoicism doesn’t promise that doing what’s right will always protect us from consequences.
It asks whether we’re willing to do what’s right even when it doesn’t.
Stay steady.