On the price of a name

Epictetus taught this to students who kept mistaking applause for proof. A crowded lecture, a clever reputation, a famous friend: these felt like evidence a man was living well. He kept pulling them back. Chapter 23 of the handbook is blunt about it. The moment you arrange your conduct to win a spectator's nod, you have handed that spectator the verdict on your own worth, and you no longer own it. The value is theirs to grant or withhold. What you actually did stays exactly what it was.

This week a scuffed leather ball went to auction in Texas. The soccer ball used in the 1986 World Cup match in which Diego Maradona scored his infamous "Hand of God" goal sold for $3.35 million at Heritage Auctions, well below the lot's presale estimate of $10 million. Despite its historic significance, the final price fell considerably below the auction house's estimate. The same object held two acts minutes apart: a handball and a goal still called one of the greatest ever. The market set a number on both. The number tells you what a room was willing to pay. It does not tell you what the thing was worth doing.