This course is an examination of philosophy as practiced in ancient Rome. The Romans took to philosophy just as the Republic was teetering on the brink of collapse and the Empire taking shape. In this era most sought peace but found only strife. Some insisted that the purpose of life was pleasure, others duty. Nearly all agreed that there was no time for academic obscurities, only the big questions: the meaning of life, the possibility of knowing, the nature of love, the value of friendship, the best form of government, the rightness of empire, and the character of death. Philosophy was a passionate search for the wisdom that would lead to the good human life and the well-run empire. It was "ordinary people" who engaged in philosophy, from every walk of life, whether emperor (Marcus Aurelius) or slave (Epictetus), politician (Cicero) or poet (Virgil). Seneca philosophized while serving as the Emperor Nero’s chief advisor; Marcus Aurelius wrote his meditations while fighting barbarians on the frontier. Students will study all five of the major schools of Hellenistic philosophy that arose after the conquests of Alexander the Great—Stoicism Skepticism, Cynicism, Epicureanism, and Neo-Platonism—each found disciples in the Roman Empire.