"The emperor Hadrian never had a son so he devised a very specific succession plan. He adopted a fifty-one-year-old man named Antoninus Pius on the condition that he adopt Marcus Aurelius. He thought this would provide for five years of training for Marcus—instead Antoninus lived and instructed for twenty three. 

You might think that being a prince-in-waiting for that long, being the heir to the richest and most powerful man in the world would ruin a person. It ruined Caligula. It ruined Nero. It’s ruined the children of plenty of people in positions of far less privilege."

Why didn't it ruin young Marcus Aurelius? Ryan explains, in today's Daily Dad Podcast.

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