The Teaching of Epictetus Being the 'Encheiridion of Epictetus,' with Selections from the 'Dissertations' and 'Fragments'

1. One of his pupils, who seemed to be drawn towards the way of Cynicism, inquired of Epictetus what manner of man the Cynic ought to be, and what was the natural conception of...

1. Let not another's vice be thy evil. For thou wast not born to be abject with others, or unfortunate with others, but to prosper with them. But if any one is unfortunate, reme...

1. If those things are true which are said by philosophers concerning the kinship of God and men, what else remains for men to do than after Socrates' way, who never, when men i...

1. The clearer be the characters in which a book is writ, the more pleasantly and conveniently shall any man read it. Thus also a man shall listen more conveniently to any disco...

1. Whereinsoever a man is zealous, this, it is fair to suppose, he loveth. Are men, then, zealous for evil things? Never.[1] Or, perchance, for things which do not concern them?...

1. The master-argument seems to start from propositions such as these:[1] There being a mutual contradiction among these three propositions--(1) "Every past event is necessarily...

1. If a man have any advantage over others, or thinks himself to have it when he hath it not, it cannot but be that if he is an untaught man he shall be puffed up by it. Thus th...

1. The Administrator[1] having visited him (and this man was an Epicurean), It is proper, said Epictetus, that ignorant people like us should inquire of you that are philosopher...

1. God is beneficial. But the Good is also beneficial. It is likely, then, that where the essence of God is, there also should be the essence of the Good. And what is the essenc...

1. Beliefs which are sound and manifestly true are of necessity used even by those who deny them. And perhaps a man might adduce this as the greatest possible proof of the manif...

2. Things are indifferent, but the uses of them are not indifferent. How, then, shall one preserve at once both a steadfast and tranquil mind, and also carefulness of things, th...

1. Every skill and faculty is maintained and increased by the corresponding acts; as, the faculty of walking by walking, of running by running. If you will read aloud well, then...

1. To some it may perchance seem a paradox, this axiom of the philosophers; yet let us make the best inquiry we can if it be true that it is possible to do all things at once wi...

1. A certain Roman having entered with his son and listened to one lecture, "This," said Epictetus, "is the manner of teaching;" and he was silent. But when the other prayed him...

1. To suppose that we shall become contemptible in the eyes of others, unless in some way we inflict an injury on those who first showed hostility to us, is the character of mos...

2. Disease is a hindrance of the body, not of the Will, unless the Will itself consent. Lameness is a hindrance of the leg, not of the Will. And this you may say on every occasi...

1. A certain young man, a rhetorician, having come to Epictetus with his hair dressed in an unusually elaborate way, and his other attire much adorned, Tell me, said Epictetus,...

2. And for the most part keep silence, or speak only what is necessary, and in few words. But when occasion may call thee to speak, then speak, but sparingly, and not about any...

2. The beginning of philosophy, at least with those who lay hold of it as they ought and enter by the door,[1] is the consciousness of their own feebleness and incapacity in res...

1. Doth a man bathe himself quickly? Then, say not, _Wrongly_, but _Quickly_. Doth he drink much wine? Then say not, _Wrongly_, but _Much_. For whence do you know if it were ill...

1. Solitude is the state of one who is helpless. For he who is alone is not therefore solitary; even as he who is in a great company is not therefore not solitary. When, therefo...

1. Concerning the Gods, there are some who say that a Divine Being does not exist; and others, that it exists indeed, but is idle and uncaring, and hath no forethought for anyth...

1. The first of these quotations is from the Stoic Cleanthes, the second from a lost play of Euripides; in the third Epictetus has joined together two sayings of Socrates, one f...

1. Remember that pursuit declares the aim of attaining the thing pursued, and avoidance that of not falling into the thing shunned; and he who fails in his pursuit is unfortunat...

1. The founder of the Cynic school was Antisthenes, who taught in the gymnasium named the Cynosarges, at Athens; whence the name of his school. Zeller takes this striking chapte...

1. Appearances exist for us in four ways. Either things appear even as they are; or having no existence, neither do they appear to have it; or they exist, and appear not; or the...

1. Marvel not if the other animals have all things that are needful for the body without preparation, not alone food and drink, but sleeping places also, and they have no need o...

1. Even Epicurus is conscious that we are by nature social, but having once placed the Good in the husk,[1] he cannot thereafter speak anything but what agrees with this; for ag...

1. The natural conceptions are common to all men, and one cannot contradict another. For which of us but affirms that the Good is profitable, and that we should choose it, and i...

1. For my part I think the old man should be sitting here, not to devise how ye may have no mean thoughts, nor speak no mean nor ignoble things about yourselves, but to watch th...

1. If that which the philosophers say is true--that there is one principle in all men, as when I assent to something, the feeling that it is so; and when I dissent, the feeling...

1. Each thing that allures the mind or offers an advantage or is loved by you, remember to speak of it as it is, from the smallest things upward. If you love an earthen jar, the...

1. Of all our faculties ye shall find but one that can contemplate itself, or, therefore, approve or disapprove itself. How far hath grammar the power of contemplation? Only so...

1. In every work you will take in hand mark well what must go before and what must follow, and so proceed. For else you shall at first set out eagerly, as not regarding what is...

1. The subject for the good and wise man is his own master-faculty, as the body is for the physician and the trainer, and the soil is the subject for the husbandman. And the wor...

Of these the chief and most urgent is that which hath to do with the passions,[2] for the passions arise in no other way than by our failing in endeavor to attain or to avoid so...

1. Remember that thou art an actor in a play, of such a part as it may please the director to assign thee; of a short part if he choose a short part; of a long one if he choose...

1. What things a man must have learned in order to be able to reason well have been accurately defined by our philosophers; but in the fitting use of them we are wholly unexerci...

1. The appearances by which the mind of man is smitten with the first aspect of a thing as it approaches the soul, are not matters of the will, nor can we control them; but by a...

1. Thou art a fool if thou desire wife and children and friends to live forever, for that is desiring things to be in thy power which are not in thy power, and things pertaining...

1. Let such thoughts never afflict thee as, _I shall live unhonored, and never be anybody anywhere_. For if lack of honor be an evil, thou canst no more fall into evil through a...

1. Of things that exist, some are in our own power, some are not in our own power. Of things that are in our own power are our opinions, impulses, pursuits, avoidances, and, in...

1. Of religion towards the Gods, know that the chief element is to have right opinions concerning them, as existing and governing the whole in fair order and justice; and then t...

1. Since Reason is that by which all other things are organized and perfected,[1] it is meet that itself should not remain unorganized. But by what shall it be organized? For it...

1. Is some one preferred before thee at a feast, or in salutation, or in being invited to give counsel? Then, if these things are good, it behooves thee rejoice that he hath gai...

1. A certain man having inquired how one may make his meals in a manner pleasing to the Gods, If he do it uprightly, said Epictetus, and considerately, and equably, and temperat...

1. When a raven croaks you a bad omen, be not carried away by the appearance; but straightway distinguish with yourself and say, _None of these things bodes aught to myself, but...

1. When thou goest to inquire of an oracle, remember that what the event will be thou knowest not, for this is the thing thou art come to learn from the seer; but of what nature...

1. The strong and growing yearning for some direct, personal revelation of God, some supernatural manifestation of His existence and care for men, is noted by Zeller as a specia...

1. According to the view of James Harris, in a long and valuable note communicated to Upton, the "master-argument" was so called from the supreme importance of the issues with w...

1. "My friends, fly all culture," is an injunction reported of Epicurus (_Diog. L._ x. 6). However, neglect of form in literary style was a characteristic of philosophic writers...

1. _Zealous for evil things._--Epictetus must mean things which they know to be evil--evil things _as_ evil. It was a Socratic doctrine which we find again alluded to in this ch...

1. How long wilt thou delay to hold thyself worthy of the best things, and to transgress in nothing the decrees of Reason? Thou hast received the maxims by which it behooves the...

1. Euripides.--Musonius Rufus, the teacher of Epictetus, is reported to have said, "Take the chance of dying nobly when thou canst, lest after a little death indeed come to thee...

1. Administrator, [Greek: diorthôtês]; in Latin, _Corrector_--a State officer of whom inscriptions, etc., make frequent mention, but of whose functions not much appears to be kn...

1. The sophism, or puzzle, called the Liar, ran thus:--A liar says he lies: if it is true, he is no liar; and if he lies, he is speaking truth. The Quiescent ([Greek: ho hêsycha...

Chap. I. _Diss._ II. xix. Chap. II. 1 _Frag._ LXIX. Chap. II. 2, 3 _Diss._ II. v. 1-9. Chap. II. 4 _Diss._ II. xvi. 15. Chap. II. 5, 6 _Diss._ II. vi. 9-19. Chap. II. 7, 8 _Diss...

1. Not with the stones of Euboea and Sparta let the structure of your city walls be variegated; but let the discipline and teaching that comes from Greece penetrate with order t...

1. The husk is, of course, the body. If it is maintained that Nature has made the ease of this our only proper pursuit, of course the altruistic, or social instincts have to be...

1. Thou shalt never proclaim thyself a philosopher, nor speak much among the vulgar of the philosophic maxims; but do the things that follow from the maxims. For example, do not...

1. Chap. VI. i. is a passage from the lost Fifth Book of the Discourses, preserved for us in a rather obscure Latin translation by Aulus Gellius. During a storm at sea, a certai...

When some one may exalt himself in that he is able to understand and expound the works of Chrysippus, say then to thyself: If Chrysippus had not written obscurely, this man woul...

1. Simplicius explains that the oath was to be refused, because to call God to witness in any merely personal and earthly interest implies a want of reverence towards Him; but t...

Chap. I. 1-5 _Ench._ XXXIII. 1-6, Chap. I. 6 _Diss._ III. xvi. 5-9. Chap. I. 7-16 _Ench._ XXXIII. 7-16. Chap. II. 1-4 _Diss._ II., xviii. 1-21 to [Greek: apothanontôn] Chap. II....

1. The position and token of the vulgar: he looks never to himself for benefit or hurt, but always to outward things. The position and character of the philosopher: he looks for...

1. If you would advance in philosophy you must abandon such thoughts as, _If I neglect my affairs I shall not have the means of living. If I do not correct my servant he will be...

Even as in a sea voyage, when the ship is brought to anchor, and you go out to fetch in water, you make a by-work of gathering a few roots and shells by the way, but have need e...

1. If thou set thine heart upon philosophy, prepare straightway to be laughed at and mocked by many who will say, _Behold, he has suddenly come back to us a philosopher_; or, _H...

1. The first and most necessary point in philosophy is the use of the precepts, for example, not to lie. The second is the proof of these, as, Whence it comes that it is wrong t...

2. A complex or conjunctive proposition is one which contains several assertions so united as to form a single statement which will be false if any one of its parts is false--_e...

1. The Greek is [Greek: Epeidê logos estin ho diarthrôn kai exergazomenos ta loipa]. [Greek: diarthroô] means, literally, to fashion with joints, hence constitute organically, w...

"Lead me, O Zeus, and thou, Destiny, whithersoever ye have appointed me to go, and may I follow fearlessly. But if in an evil mind I be unwilling, still must I follow."

1. Phrygia, the birthplace of Epictetus, was one of the great centers of the wild and fearful cult of Cybele, whose priests gashed and mutilated themselves in the excitement of...

1. Obligations are universally defined by the bonds of relation. Is such a man your father? Then it is implied that you are to take care of him, to give place to him in all thin...

1. This means, apparently, that the judgment has no right to do more than endorse the deliverances of the perceptive faculty. If a man commits any error, he does it under the co...

1. When thou hast received the appearance of some pleasure, then, as in other things, guard thyself lest thou be carried away by it, but delay with thyself a little, and let the...

2. And some one having inquired, _How then, shall each of us perceive what character he befits?_ Whence, said Epictetus, doth the bull alone, when the lion approacheth, discover...

1. _Nor have any object in themselves._--Readers of Lotze will be reminded of the term Fürsichseinheit, used by him to denote the self-centered quality of true Being. The Greek...

1. The will of Nature is to be learned from matters which do not concern ourselves.[1] Thus, when a boy may break the cup of another man, we are ready to say, _It is a common ch...

1. The sense of human dignity was strong in Epictetus, and he would have it practically observed in men's relations with each other. Compare Ch. v. 7. Zeller must have overlooke...

When some one may do you an injury, or speak ill of you, remember that he either does it or speaks it believing that it is right and meet for him to do so. It is not possible, t...

2. _The stamp of Nero._--I believe there is no other record than this of any rejection of Nero's coins, and those which have come down to us are of perfectly good quality. He wa...

2. "Friend, if indeed, escaping from this war, we were destined thereafter to an ageless and deathless life, then neither would I fight in the van nor set thee in the press of g...

Chap. I. _Ench._ XXX. Chap. II. 1, 2 _Diss._ I. xxiii. Chap. II. 3-7 _Diss._ II. v. 24-30. Chap. III. 1-9 _Diss._ II. xx. 1-27. Chap. IV. 1 _Diss._ I. xiii. Chap. IV. 2, 3 _Frag...

2. Long suggests that the words translated "air to air" might be equally well rendered "spirit to spirit" ([Greek: hoson pneumatiou eis pneumation]), thus finding a place for th...

When thou seest one lamenting in grief because his son is gone abroad, or because he hath lost his goods, look to it that thou be not carried away by the appearance to think tha...

As the sayings, _It is day_, _It is night_, are wholly justifiable if viewed disjunctively, but not if viewed together, even so at a feast, to pick out the largest portion for o...

1. [Greek: ta men eisin eph' hêmin, ta de ouk eph' hêmin]. A fundamental distinction in the Epictetean system, which he sometimes expresses by the phrases, [Greek: ta hêmetera]...

1. "Enter by the door" (_cf._ S. John, x. 1). The parallelisms in thought and expression between Epictetus and the New Testament have often been noticed, and the reader will dis...

4. Much of this must refer to the period of probation or discipleship, for Epictetus is clear that the ordinary Stoic (who had not embraced the special mission of Cynicism) was...

1. The word in the Greek is [Greek: peristaseis], literally _circumstances_, but the word is evidently used in a bad sense, as equivalent to afflictions. Doom is likewise etymol...

The measure of gain for each man is the body, as the foot is for the shoe. Take your stand on this, and you shall preserve the measure. But if you transgress it, you must thence...

When you have adapted the body to a frugal way of living, do not flatter yourself on that, nor if you drink only water, say, on every opportunity, _I drink only water_. And if y...

3. A most characteristic feature of the whole Stoic school was its treatment of ancient mythology and legend. These things were closely and earnestly studied, with a constant vi...

1. This is the reading of one of the Christian Paraphrases. The other versions add the words [Greek: pros allêlous] after [Greek: ex hôn ou diapherometha], giving the sense "fro...

Chap. I. 1 _Frag._ III. Chap. I. 2-5 _Diss._ II. xi. 1-25. Chap. II. _Diss._ I. xxii. 1-16. Chap. III. _Diss._ I. i. 1-17. Chap. IV. 1 _Diss._ III. iii. 1-4. Chap. IV. 2 _Diss._...

Never in any case say, _I have lost_ such a thing, but _I have returned it_. Is thy child dead? it is returned. Is thy wife dead? she is returned. Art thou deprived of thy estat...

If thou wouldst advance, be content to let people think thee senseless and foolish as regards external things. Wish not ever to seem wise, and if ever thou shalt find thyself ac...

1. Briefly, the three divisions seem to be Action, Character, and Judgment. The last is to be approached through training in logic, in the penetration of fallacies, etc., by whi...

Remember at anything that shall befall thee to turn to thyself and seek what faculty thou hast for making use of it. If thou see a beautiful person, thou wilt find a faculty for...

Every matter hath two handles--by the one it may be carried; by the other, not. If thy brother do thee wrong, take not this thing by the handle, _He wrongs me_; for that is the...

In doing aught which thou hast clearly discerned as right to do, seek never to avoid being seen in the doing of it, even though the multitude should be destined to form some wro...

1. This chapter seems to me to contain a truth expressed so baldly and crudely as to appear a falsehood. The reader's mind will be fixed upon the truth or falsehood according as...

From the age of fourteen years women are flattered and worshiped by men. Seeing thus that there is nothing else for them but to serve the pleasure of men, they begin to beautify...

There is no true conclusion in these reasonings: _I am richer than thou, therefore I am better_: _I am more eloquent than thou, therefore I am better_. But the conclusions are r...

In going about, you are careful not to step upon a nail or to twist your foot. Care thus also lest you injure your ruling faculty. And if we observe this in each thing we do, we...

It betokens a dull nature to be greatly occupied in matters that concern the body, as to be much concerned about exercising one's self, or eating, or drinking, or other bodily a...

If any one should set your body at the mercy of every passer-by, you would be indignant. When, therefore, you set your own mind at the mercy of every chance, to be troubled and...

1. The allusion is to _Odyssey_, v. 82-4. "But he was sitting on the beach and weeping, where he was wont; and tormented his spirit with tears and groanings and woes, and wept a...

1. _A way wherein to walk._--Literally, the power of using a way. It seems to me likely that this term, way--[Greek: hodos], here signifies the Stoic philosophy, just as in the...

Chap. I. _Ench._ XXXI. Chap. II. 1, 2 _Diss._ I. xii. 1-7. Chap. II. 3, 4 _Diss._ I. xiv. 1-17. Chap. III. _Diss._ I. xvi. Chap. IV. 1, 2 _Diss._ II. viii. 1-8. Chap. IV. 3 _Dis...

1. _If viewed disjunctively._--That is, if we say, It is day, or, It is night. This is a difficult chapter, and full of corruptions. The feast alluded to is, doubtless, the feas...

1. _Winter training._--Such as the Roman troops underwent when in winter-quarters. They were accustomed to exercise themselves with arms of double the normal weight, and prepare...

1. There is an allusion to this curious feature of the Olympic contests in the Fourth Idyll of Theocritus. Casaubon (_Lect. Theocr._ ad Idyll. 4) quoted by Schweighäuser, in his...

Abide in the precepts as in laws which it were impious to transgress. And whatsoever any man may say of thee, regard it not; for neither is this anything of thine own.