I have read about half of the book. It's a really good and philosophically inspiring read, though he has some silly convictions, like that his uncle is very modest because he does not care about the beauty of his slaves.
The stark contrast of the stoic philosophy and those silly convictions fascinates me.
Indeed. Not being familiar with that particular passage, my thought would be that he means, his uncle does not consider the status-signaling property of "beautiful" (and expensive) property to have any utility. This seems in line with Stoic reasoning.
I would also assume that by "slaves" he means, legal status aside, what would be called "the help" in a different era, i.e., the most visible members of a wealthy person's household and retinue. I'm sure that nobody was socially shunned because their salt-miners and ice-cutters were hideous to behold.
