Stoicism went from an intriguing foreign philosophy to a popular practice as it was adopted by several high-profile figures. Scipio Africanus, the original esteemed Roman Stoic, died in 129 BC, but about 40 years later a new group of celebrated Romans adopted Stoic practice. During the fall of the Roman Republic a group of famous orators, generals and statesmen including Marcus Junius Brutus (85-42 BC), Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC), Pompey the Great (106-48 BC) and Cato the Younger ( 95-46 BC) all professed to be Stoics. This group of powerful statesmen and leaders who practiced Stoicism spread it throughout Rome. Octavian (63 BC- 14 AD), who later became Caesar Augustus, had a Stoic tutor, and many years later the young emperor Nero also had a Stoic tutor. As Stoicism grew more esteemed and more popular, it became the natural choice to hire a Stoic tutor for one's sons destined for politics. Stoicism was particularly attractive to political leaders. Historian Gilbert Murray states: "Almost all of Alexander's successors – we may say all the principal kings existing in the generations after Zeno – professed themselves to be Stoics." While not all rulers professed to be Stoics, for example Julius Caesar was an Epicurean, many were not just students of Stoicism but Stoic disciples such as the Greek king Antigonus and the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. Stoicism was popularized by the Roman elite of the late republic, and appealed to elites largely because it provided lessons on how to deal with conflicts. During the civil war between Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar and the resulting power vacuum after Caesar's assassination, the chaos and violence resulted in the desire for a...... middle of paper .......htmlRussell , Bertand. A history of Western philosophy. USA: Simon and Schuster Press, 1945. “Scipio Africanus the Younger.” Encyclopedia Britannica Online.http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/117565/Scipio-Africanus-the-Younger.Sellars, John. Stoicism.CA: University of California Press, 2006.Smiley, Charles N. “Stoicism and its Influence on Roman Life and Thought.” The ClassicalJournal 29 (1934) 645-657.Solomon, Robert. A brief history of philosophy. USA: Oxford University Press, 1996. “Stoicism.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. April 15, 1996. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/stoicism/.“Seneca.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. November 21, 2011. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/seneca/Strange, Steven. Zupko, Jack. Stoicism: traditions and transformations. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004.