The name Epictetus simply means acquired, a term for property added to an estate. This episode traces how a nameless, disabled slave in the household of Epaphroditus, a freedman secretary to Nero, survived the lethal whims of the imperial court and studied Stoicism under Musonius Rufus with his master's permission, likely because an educated slave was a status symbol, before winning his freedom after Nero's death in 68 AD.

The hosts follow his banishment from Rome under Domitian's decree against philosophers, the school he founded in Nicopolis, and the student Arrian whose transcripts became the Discourses and the Enchiridion. They unpack the dichotomy of control, the exercise of reminding yourself a child is mortal while kissing them goodnight, the three steps of philosophy illustrated with a brake pedal, his adoption of an infant left to  ...