# 36 Who You Spend Time With *Week 7, Day 1 of [[00 The Wealthy Stoic Course]]* #source/course << [[35 Week 6 Tips and Tools|Back]] | [[37 Set Up Your Board of Advisors|Next]] >> ⁠ ## Content The Stoics understood the power of your network. The entire philosophy was built on it. Zeno of Citium founded the first school of Stoicism at the Stoa Poikile  (“Painted Porch”). The stoa (“porch’”) became a place for individuals to gather, exchange ideas, and work on becoming the best version of themselves. It was the physical ground upon which the foundation of their community was laid.   About a century after Zeno, Panaetius helped form what became known as The Scipionic Circle—a kind of philosophical club that met at the house of Scipio, one of Rome's greatest generals.The Roman historian Velleius Paterculus talked about the direct influence this club had on Scipio’s rise to greatness. He “kept constantly with him,” Paterculus writes, “two men of eminent genius, Polybius and Panaetius."  Not unlike the way that the expat scene in France after the First World War nurtured the careers of Hemingway, Stein, and Fitzgerald, or how a company like PayPal would give the world Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, and Elon Musk, or what we’ve been building over at Daily Stoic Life, the Scipionic Circle became a kind of breeding ground for influential Stoics and a generation of leaders. Publius Rutilius Rufus, who defied Rome’s culture of corruption, was often present. The historian Polybius was too. Countless other brilliant minds dipped in and out, debated and contributed. Velleius Paterculus records in his History of Rome that Scipio “kept constantly with him, at home and in the field, two men of eminent genius, Polybius and Panaetius.”  Plutarch talked about the direct influence this small community had, not on the members themselves, but on the world at large. “It is a fine thing,” Plutarch wrote in Moralia, “when we gain advantage from the friendship of great men, to turn it to the welfare of our community, as Polybius and Panaetius, through Scipio's goodwill towards them, conferred great benefits upon their native States." Of course, we cannot. The Scipionic Circle is dead and past, just as the expat scene in France is over and the members of the PayPal Mafia are now considerably older and occupy different roles in the industry than they did in those heady, early days. Should we despair? No! We should get to work starting our own such groups. Over Zoom. In a WhatsApp thread. At a vacation rental where you and four or five other peers all get together once a year.  The proverb in the ancient world: “If you dwell with a lame man, you will learn how to limp.” It’s a pretty observable truth. We become like the people we spend the most time with. That’s why we have to be so careful about the influences we allow into our life.  But that idea of dwelling with a lame man cuts both ways. Epictetus was famously “lame,” from having his leg crippled while in slavery. Marcus Aurelius spent enormous amounts of time with Epictetus’s writings. It didn’t make him limp—it made him wiser, more resilient, calmer, more compassionate. Epictetus passed those things onto him. A slave shaped a king and made him better.  The modern name for this kind of thing is a “mastermind” but it doesn’t really matter what you call it. What matters is that you partake in the sharing and discussing and connecting of a scene of your own. If you’re not exposing yourself to new ideas, how will you get better? If you don’t discuss problems with your peers, how will you solve them? If you’re not helping others solve their problems, how can you call yourself good? If you’re not being challenged, how can you become wise? We all need our own Scipionic Circle—for business and personal reasons. Without it, we wither. Without it, we atrophy. Without it, we’re not as good as we can be. --- ## Activity **Do you have your own Scipionic Circle?** If so, who's in it? Why are they in it? What do you bring to the table? If you don't have a group of people to bounce off ideas how can you create this group? Is there a circle you can join? **Week 7 Workshop** Does your approach to money and wealth change depending on who you surround yourself with? Or do you keep your relationship with wealth and people separate? Do you think the people you currently surround yourself with would have a positive or negative impact on your relationship with wealth?