Augustus: Invitation to Philosophy

Enter the mind of Rome's greatest emperor.

Ingenious and fascinating … Neel Burton rivals the greats. All those who love history and philosophy should read this book.
— Readers' Favorite

According to the historian Suetonius, the emperor Augustus wrote an invitation (or exhortation) to philosophy. If this is true, it would have been inspired by Cicero's famous Hortensius, which was, in turn, informed by Aristotle's Protrepticus. Tragically, all three protreptics have been lost, depriving us of antiquity's most popular, inspiring, and potentially life-changing genre of philosophy.

This concise, readable work is an imaginative reconstruction of the first Roman emperor's invitation to philosophy, based on arguments and anecdotes gleaned from other ancient authors, including Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Cicero, Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius. It features Augustus in conversation with his two young grandsons (who were also his adopted sons and heirs), Gaius and Lucius, in the forlorn hope that they might one day rise into philosopher-kings, or, even, philosopher-emperors.

At his trial, Socrates declaimed that the unexamined life is not worth living. But what are the arguments behind this slogan, and why should we, today, take up the study of philosophy?

Among the arguments, you will learn:

•How to feel more alive.
•When to disobey your parents.
•The dangers of teaching the wrong person.
•The key differences between man, animal, plant, and god.
•Why money could never buy happiness.
•Why people never consult a philosopher.
•Why death is your second-best friend.
•How best to participate in eternity.
•And much, much more.

A paean to the life of the mind. If you enjoyed the Stoic Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, you will absolutely love this book.
—Charles Mauleverer, composer

What a lovely idea, to reconstruct the emperor Augustus's lost Invitation to Philosophy. Neel Burton has done so with admirable scholarship and imagination.
—Prof Armand d'Angour, classical scholar and author of Socrates in Love