The shadow of death looms over the streets of collapsing Rome. The Antonine Plague, the first-known pandemic in history, hit the Roman Empire in 170 ad and eradicated 15% of the population within two decades. A widespread state of panic caused most survivors to either ransack or flee the city. Yet its emperor at that time, Marcus Aurelius, chose to stay and brave the crisis, reassuring the people that his life wasn’t worth more than anyone else’s, in stark contrast to so many of his predecessors. When faced with a life-threatening problem such as the plague, Aurelius’ Stoic training taught him to look at the whole instead of zooming in on his own situation.