Life Hacks from a Forgotten Stoic
Isocrates on Virtue, a Forerunner of Stoicism
It’s no secret that we are today rather obsessed with “life hacks.” However, you might be surprised to learn that we were as fixated with how to optimize our lives 2,500 years ago.
Remarkably, tips about the Good Life — a theme we’ve been reflecting on at Civic Renaissance, a publication I curate — are actually pretty constant. This is probably because human nature doesn’t change.
“Never hope to conceal any shameful thing which you have done; for even if you do conceal it from others, your own heart will know.”
One particularly entertaining treasure trove of hidden wisdom about the life well lived comes from Isocrates, the “Miss Manners of the Greco-Roman world,” who was among the best rhetoricians and orators in 4th Century B.C. Greece.
In a letter to Demonicus, the youthful son of one of his friends, Isocrates imparts his hard-earned wisdom for how to succeed in life. Many pieces of advice are reminiscent of etiquette books across history. Some even seem to channel Dale Carnegie, the author of the longtime bestselling self-help book How to Win Friends and Influence People.
It’s worth reading the full letter yourself but here are ten particularly good reminders for us today:
1. Pursue virtue for your mental health. Isocrates is an astute observer of human psychology. Like many moralists before and since, he knew that virtue was its own reward, and vice its own punishment. He wrote, “Never hope to conceal any shameful thing which you have done; for even if you do conceal it from others, your own heart will know.”
2. Be curious about anything and everything. Contrary to the ethos of educational specialization today, Isocrates recommends intellectual voraciousness, gleaning wisdom from across cultures and disciplines: “For just as we see the bee settling on all the flowers, and sipping the best from each, so also those who aspire to culture ought not to leave anything untasted, but should gather useful knowledge from every source.”
3. Pursue pastimes that better your soul. Isocrates understood what the Apostle Paul would famously say five hundred years after him: all things are permissible, but not all things are beneficial. There are better and worse ways to spend our time. Many people have made an astute observation about this as it relates to our media consumption. Spending hours on twitter or Netflix is like binging on junk foods like ice cream or potato chips — junk food might technically be food, but it’s not nourishing. Instead, why not pick up a book that will better your mind and soul, or even learn to think like a Roman emperor? Isocrates wrote, “Pursue the enjoyments which are of good repute; for pleasure attended by honor is the best thing in the world, but pleasure without honor is the worst.”
4. Whatever you do, pretend the whole world is watching. Yes, Isocrates proposed the Categorical Imperative a few millennia before German philosopher Immanuel Kant! Isocrates believed that one’s indiscretion would always find one out — so better to avoid acting without integrity in the first place! “In all things resolve to act as though the whole world would see what you do, for even if you conceal your deeds for the moment, later you will be found out,” Isocrates reminded Demonicus. He knew that good reputations were hard to build and easy to lose, and that the best way to defend against slander was to avoid giving your enemies any fodder. Here is Isocrates in his own words: “Guard yourself against accusations, even if they are false; for the multitude are ignorant of the truth and look only to reputation.”
5. Practice self-discipline to become sincerely free. Isocrates knew that true freedom was within one’s own mind. Controlling the passions throughs self-will was the hallmark of a person with authentic freedom. “Consider that no adornment so becomes you as modesty, justice, and self-control,” he wrote to Demonicus, “for these are the virtues by which, as all men are agreed, the character of the young is held in restraint.”
6. When it comes to building self-discipline, give yourself small wins. Isocrates knew that self-control was hard. He knew that, as with building any new habit, starting small and giving oneself small wins was the best approach to success. “Train yourself in self-imposed toils, that you may be able to endure those which others impose upon you,” he wrote. “Practice self-control in all the things by which it is shameful for the soul to be controlled, namely, gain, temper, pleasure, and pain.” Self-control was particularly important when interacting with others, because sacrificing what we want for the sake of community is important to both friendship and civilization. Isocrates notes that self-discipline can lead to wealth, but that’s now why we should do it.
7. Gossip corrodes trust — so don’t do it. It is exceptional how constant warnings against gossip are in the advice literature across human history and culture. Isocrates recognized what many before and after him would, too: trust is essential building friendship, community, and the conditions that allowed us to flourish as human beings. While keeping your word and having integrity builds trust, gossip corrodes it. “Guard more faithfully the secret which is confided to you than the money which is entrusted to your care,” he wrote, “For good men ought to show that they hold their honor more trustworthy than an oath.” With the same zeal that Isocrates cautioned Demonicus to be trustworthy, he also cautioned against trusting those who had proven untrustworthy: “Consider that you owe it to yourself no less to mistrust bad men than to put your trust in the good.” And the best way to keep private matters private? Don’t tell anyone in the first place! “On matters which you would keep secret, speak to no one save when it is equally expedient for you who speak and for those who hear that the facts should not be published.”
8. View money as a tool, not an end in itself. Isocrates recommended making “a thing to use as well as to possess.” Instead of accumulating wealth for its own sake, he suggested detachment from it, instead seeing it as a way to help others. Those who have this mindset about their resources have the secret to a happy life — and are much happier than those who acquire for acquisitions’ sake. “Prize the substance you have for two reasons — that you may have the means to meet a heavy loss and that you may go to the aid of a worthy friend when he is in distress; but for your life in general, cherish your possessions not in excess but in moderation.”
9. Be intentional about your friendships, and keep good ones for life. Isocrates suggested that, instead of befriending anyone and everyone willy-nilly, that we look to see how potential friends have treated their friends in the past. We all know people who serially use and abuse those around them. Not having many long-term friends is often the sign of a serious problem, such as a defective character. But once you’ve deliberately decided who you’ll befriend, “strive to make it lasting,” Isocrates writes. “For it is as reprehensible to make many changes in one’s associates as to have no friend at all.”
10. Above all, be kind. Isocrates was an enthusiastic advocate of considerate conduct. Reminders to treat others well reappear throughout his work. He suggested taking note of you were talking to them and act accordingly. “Be courteous in your manner, and cordial in your address,” said Isocrates. “It is the part of courtesy to greet those whom you meet; and of cordiality to enter into friendly talk with them.” He had specific conversational virtues in mind — such as not spending too much time talking about a single topic — and suggested that when find good friends, we hang on to them for life. “Be pleasant to all, but cultivate the best; thus you will avoid the dislike of the former and have the friendship of the latter. Avoid frequent conversations with the same persons, and long conversations on the same subject; for there is satiety in all things.”
Isocrates’ letter to the young Demonicus nearly 2500 years ago contains many insights and reminders that are familiar with us today. And the fact that older generations have long reminded younger generations of such things tells us that the challenges to human community — being selfish, gossiping, acting unkindly, pursuing vice when virtue is not attractive — are coeval with human nature. But if we know the challenges — and the remedies — to human community, what keeps us from doing the right thing? Why do we need to be reminded of these basic principles over and over again?
Exploring that question might be better suited for another post, but in the meantime, we can be grateful this genre of historical advice literature exists. It gave us great works such as Aristotle’s letter of advice to his son Nicomachus — which we have today in the Nicomachean Ethics. And it’s further exemplified by Cicero’s magnificent treatise On Duties.
This tradition is also why we have Isocrates’ letter to Demonicus, which stems from the same impulse to bequeath wisdom to burgeoning generations, and which offers reminders that are still relevant and important for personal fulfillment and happiness in our own lives today.
