This Cannot Be Taken (Only Given)
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Only given. Nero could take their freedom. He could confiscate their wealth. He could remove them from their positions. He was, after all, a tyrant. And in many cases, he did take those things. Just ask Seneca, ask Thrasia, ask Agrippinus, all Stoics whom we profile in Lives of the Stoics. But there was something else that not even the most powerful dictator can deprive someone of without their consent. Their dignity, their self-respect, their values.

It was this that Agrippinus maintained despite the culture of fear around him, refusing even to attend Nero's banquets. Thrasia declined to take part in the farce that was so many of Nero's edicts and policies. He declined to participate in the fiction and the unreality that Nero's enablers chose to co-sign.

Seneca, unfortunately, did give up so much of his dignity and respectability in order to maintain his position with Nero, as did countless other Romans. Nero didn't take this from Seneca. It was given. As Sophocles said, whoever makes his journey to a tyrant's court becomes his slave, although he went there a free man. The same holds true in our times. Powerful people can take from you. They can push you around. They can do great harm to you.

But still, the Stoics would say that our character remains ours to preserve or debase. Our dignity depends on what we do and has nothing to do with external circumstances. We must never give it up.

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