In Marcus Aurelius' Meditations he opens with a list of all the people who he admires and had a good influence in his life. His adoptive father, Marcus Annius Verus, three times consul (like a chief magistrate) of Rome, gets the longest section.

And of all the praise that Aurelius heaps on his father one caught my eye, that he didn't take his baths* at inconvenient times.

I love that little detail.

His father was available to his people and understood the role and responsibility of a public official. That is, to serve and not to revel in luxury.

Get skin in the game, don't take your baths at inconvenient times.

Pierre

*Keeping in mind of course, that taking a bath in Roman times was like going to a spa for the day.

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