Musonius Rufus: Beyond the "Big Three" Roman-Era Stoics

Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius: These are the sources most familiar to modern students of Stoicism. By comparison, Musonius Rufus has received little attention, even though 21 of his lectures have survived to the present day. Join us as we change that!

About Musonius Rufus

Gaius Musonius Rufus was a slightly younger contemporary of Seneca, living in the 1st century CE. Besides his day job as philosophy teacher (Epictetus was one of his pupils, and Musonius is mentioned in the Discourses), he was also politically active. He tried (unsuccessfully) to end a civil war peacefully and was exiled at least twice.

His surviving works are a set of lectures preserved by later writers. The lectures are short and can easily be read in a single sitting. Their themes range from education, the relationship between theory and practice, exile, the value of philosophical training, the qualities of a good ruler, marriage, and the relative status of women and men.

References

There are two main English translations of the lectures: Cora Lutz (1947) and Cynthia King (2011). The former is freely available in many formats:

• https://www.stoicsource.com/rufus/rufus-lectures/I
• https://sites.google.com/site/thestoiclife/the_teachers/musonius-rufus/lectures
• Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWu_DY_VGAo

More helpful links:

• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Musonius_Rufus
• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: https://iep.utm.edu/musonius/
• Daily Stoic on Musonius Rufus: https://dailystoic.com/musonius-rufus/
• Review of the King translation: https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2011/2011.11.47/

No prior knowledge of Stoicism is required. Newcomers welcome!