EPICTETUS

THE
DISCOURSES AND MANUAL

TRANSLATED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES

BY

P. E. MATHESON

FELLOW AND TUTOR OF NEW COLLEGE

IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. II.

OXFORD

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1916

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

LONDON EDINBURGH GLASGOW NEW YORK
TORONTO MELBOURNE BOMBAY

HUMPHREY MILFORD M.A.

PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY

6

546.24H

BOOK III

CHAPTER I

On Adornment.

WHEN a young student of rhetoric came into his Beauty
lecture-room with his hair elaborately arranged and different
paying great attention to his dress in general: Tell creatures:
me, said he, do you not think that some dogs and j n C t h" sistS
horses are beautiful and some ugly, and is it not so fulfilment

with every creature ? of the i f

, T , . , nature.

I think so , he said.

Is not the same true of men, some are beautiful, some
ugly?

Certainly.

Now do we give the attribute beautiful to each of
them in their own 1 kind on the same grounds or on special
grounds in each case? Listen and you will see what I
mean. Since we see that a dog is born for one thing
and a horse for another, and a nightingale, if you like
to take that, for another, speaking generally one would
not be giving an absurd opinion in saying that each of
them was beautiful when it best fulfilled its nature ;
and since the nature of each is different, I think that
each of them would be beautiful in a different way,
would it not?

Yes.

A2

4 Discourses of Epictetus

So that what makes a dog beautiful makes a horse
ugly, and what makes a horse beautiful makes a dog ugly,
seeing that their natures are different ?

So it seems.

Yes, for what makes a pancratiast 2 beautiful does
not, I imagine, make a good wrestler, and makes a very
ridiculous runner ; and one who is beautiful for the
pentathlon makes a very ugly appearance as a wrestler ?

True , he said.

What then makes a man beautiful if it is not that which
in its kind makes dog and horse beautiful?

It is just that , he said.

What then makes a dog beautiful? The presence

of a dog s virtue. What makes a horse beautiful? The

presence of a horse s virtue. What makes a man beautiful?

Therefore, Is it the presence of a man s virtue? Therefore, young

beaut am man ^ y U wou ^ be beautiful, make this the object

you must of your effort, human virtue. And what is human virtue ?

Consider whom you praise, when you praise men dis-

virtue. passionately ; do you praise the just or the unjust?

The just.

Do you praise the temperate or the intemperate?

The temperate.

The continent or the incontinent ?

The continent.

Therefore if you make yourself such an one, be sure

that you will make yourself beautiful, but as long as

you neglect this you cannot help being ugly, though

you should use every device to appear beautiful.

Epictetus, But beyond this I do not know what more to say to

Book III, Chapter i 5-

you ; for, if I say what I think, I shall vex you and you if he does

will go out and perhaps never return, but if I say nothing not s P eak
f, 7 6 > out, may

consider what my conduct will be then ; you come to fairly be

me to get good, and I shall be refusing to do you good ; Iamed
you come to me to consult a philosopher, and I shall
be refusing you a philosopher s advice. Besides, it is
cruelty towards you to leave you uncorrected. 3 If some
day hereafter you come to your senses you will accuse
me with good reason : What did Epictetus find in me,
that when he saw me coming in to him in such a shameful
state he should do nothing for me and say never a word
to me? Did he so utterly despair of me? Was I not
young ? Was I not fit to listen to discourse ? How many
other young men make many mistakes like me in their
youth ? I hear that one Polemo, who had been the most
intemperate of young men, underwent such a wonderful
change. Grant that he did not think I should be a Polemo :
he could have set my hair right, have taken away my
bangles, have stopped me pulling my hairs out, but seeing
that I had the aspect of whom shall I say? 4 he said
nothing. I do not say whose aspect this is, but you
will say it for yourself when you come to look into your
own heart, and you will learn what it means and what
sort of men they are who adopt it.

If hereafter you bring this charge against me, what It is no

defence shall I be able to make ? excus u e to

say that

Yes, but suppose I do speak, and he will not obey? he would

Did Laius obey Apollo ? Did he not go away in his
drunken stupor and dismiss the oracle from his mind? listened to.
What then? Did Apollo withhold the truth from

Socrates
took no
heed of
this.

The philo
sopher is
bound to
take
interest
in men.

6 Discourses of Epictetus

him for that reason? Indeed I do not know whether
you will obey me or not, but Apollo knew most certainly
that Laius would not obey, and yet he spoke. Why
did he speak? Nay, why is he Apollo, why does he give
oracles, why has he set himself in this position, to be
a Prophet and a Fountain of truth, so that men from all
the world come to him ? Why is Know thyself written
up over his shrine, though no one understands it ?

Did Socrates persuade all who came to him to attend
to their characters ? Not one in a thousand ! Neverthe
less when appointed to this post, as he says, by the ordi
nance of God, he refused to desert it. Nay, what did
he say to his judges? If you acquit me , he says, on
these terms, that I cease to do what I do now, I shall
not accept your offer, nor give up my ways, but I shall
go to any one I meet, young or old, and put to him these
questions that I put now, and I shall question you my
fellow citizens far more than any others because you are
nearer akin to me.

Are you so fussy and interfering, Socrates ? What do
you care what we do ?

What language to use ! You are my fellow and kins
man, yet you neglect yourself and provide the city with
a bad citizen, your kinsmen with a bad kinsman, and your
neighbours with a bad neighbour !

Who are you, then?

To this question it is a weighty answer to say, I am
he who is bound to take interest in men. For ordinary
cattle dare not resist the lion ; 5 but if the bull comes up
to withstand him, say to him, if you think fit, Who are

Book ///, Chapter i 7

you? and What do you care? Man! in every class

of creatures nature produces some exceptional specimen ;

it is so among cattle, dogs, bees, horses. Do not say

then to the exception, What are you then? If you do, He is like

he will get a voice somehow and say, * I am like the purple * ^ e P" r P le

in a garment: do not require me to be like the rest, a garment.

nor blame my nature, because it made me different

from the rest.

What then? Am I fit to play this part? How can I be ? Adorn

And are you fit to hear the truth ? Would that it were > T ur

t m reason, if

so ! Nevertheless since I am condemned, it seems, to you would

wear a white beard and a cloak, and since you come to attam to

J beauty,

me as to a philosopher, I will not treat you cruelly as

though I despaired of you, but will say, Young man,
who is it that you want to make beautiful ? First get to
know who you are and then adorn yourself. You are
a man, that is, a mortal creature which has the power to
deal with impressions rationally. What does rationally
mean? Perfectly, and in accordance with nature. What
then is your distinctive possession ? Your animal nature ?
No. Your mortality? No. Your power to deal with
impressions? No. Your reasoning faculty is the dis
tinctive one : this you must adorn and make beautiful.
Leave your hair to Him that formed it in accordance
with His will. Tell me, what other names have you?
Are you man or woman?

Man.

Adorn Man then, not Woman. Woman is born smooth Do not

and tender, and if she has much hair on her body it is malce a

7 woman of

a prodigy, and exhibited in Rome as a prodigy. But in yourself,

8 Discourses of Epictetus

a. man it is a prodigy not to be hairy : if he is born smooth
it is a prodigy, and if he make himself smooth by shaving
and plucking, what are we to make of him? Where are
we to show him, and what notice are we to put up?
I will show you a man who prefers to be a woman.
What a shocking exhibition ! Every one will be astonished
at the notice : by Zeus, I think that even the men who
pluck out their hairs do so without understanding that
this is what they are doing ! Man, what complaint
have you to make of Nature? Is it that she made you
a man? Ought she to have made all to be women?
Why, if all were women, there would be no one to adorn
yourself for.

If you are not satisfied with your condition as it is,
unless you do the thing completely. Remove what shall I call
"r^cUo * tt? t ^ at w ^ cn 1S tne ca use of your hairiness; make
do so com- yourself a woman out and out, and not half-man, half-
pie y. woman, and then we shall not be misled. Whom do you
wish to please? Your darling womenkind? Then please
them as a man.

Yes, but they like smooth men.

Go and hang yourself ! If they liked unnatural
creatures, would you become one ? Is this your function,
is this what you were born for, that profligate women
should take pleasure in you? Is it with this character
that we are to make you a citizen of Corinth, and, if
it so chance, City-warden, or Governor of the Ephebi, 6
or General, or Steward of the games ? Well, and when
you have married a wife, are you going to pluck yourself
smooth? For whom and for what? And when you

Book III) Chapter \ 9

have begotten boys, are you going to bring them into
our citizenship as plucked creatures too? Noble citizen
and senator and orator ! Is this the kind of young man
we are to pray to have bred and reared for us?

Nay, by the gods, young man ! but when once you Epictetus,
have heard these words, go and say to yourself : These ^Jen"?) 118
are not the words of Epictetus : how could they be ? but beautify
some kind god speaks through him ; for it would never ^\
have occurred to Epictetus to say this, as he is not wont the mouth-
to speak to any one. Come then, let us obey God, that
we may not incur God s wrath.

Why, if a raven croaks and gives you a sign, it is not
the raven that gives the sign, but God through him :
and if He gives you a sign through a human voice, will
He not be making man tell you this, that you may learn
the power of the divine, and see that it gives signs to
some in this way, and to others in that, and of the highest
and most sovereign matters gives signs through the
noblest messenger? What else is the meaning of the
poet, when he says

Since we warned him
By Hermes Argus-slayer, clear of sight,
To slay him not nor woo his wedded wife ?

And as Hermes was sent down to tell him this, so now
the gods have sent Hermes the Argus-slayer, their
messenger, and tell you this not to pervert what is
good and right, and not to interfere with it, but to leave
man man and woman woman, the beautiful person
a beautiful person, and the ugly person an ugly person.

i o Discourses of Epictetus

For you are not flesh, nor hair, but a rational will : if
you get this beautiful, then you will be beautiful.

So far I do not dare to tell you that you are ugly,
for I think you would hear anything rather than that.
But see what Socrates says to Alcibiades, most beautiful
and charming of men : Strive then to attain beauty.
What does he say to him ? Does he say, Arrange your
hair and smooth your legs ? God forbid ! but Set
your will in order, rid it of bad judgements.

* How treat the poor body then ?

According to its nature : that is God s 7 concern, trust
it to Him.

What then? Is the body to be unclean?

God forbid ! but cleanse your true, natural self : let
man be clean as man, woman as woman, child as child.

Nay, let us pluck out the lion s mane, 8 lest it be un
clean, and the cock s comb, for he too must be clean !

Clean? yes, but clean as a cock, and the lion as a lion,
and the hound of the chase as such a hound should be.

CHAPTER II

(i) In what matters should the man who is to make progress
train himself : and (2) that we neglect what is most
vital.

There are THERE are three departments - 1 in which a man who

three de- t ^ good and noble must be trained. The first

partments

of training, concerns the will to get and will to avoid ; he must

(i) be trained not to fail to get what he wills to get nor fall

Book III, Chapter 2 n

into what he wills to avoid. The second is concerned ( 2 )
with impulse to act and not to act, and, in a word,
the sphere of what is fitting : that we should act in order,
with due consideration, and with proper care. The
object of the third is that we may not be deceived, (3)
and may not judge at random, and generally it is
concerned with assent.

Of these the most important and the most pressing
is the first, which is concerned with strong emotions, 2
for such emotion does not arise except when the will to
get or the will to avoid fails of its object. This it is
which brings with it disturbances, tumults, misfortunes,
bad fortunes, mournings, lamentations, envies ; which
makes men envious and jealous passions which make
us unable to listen to reason.

The second is the sphere of what is fitting : for I
must not be without feeling like a statue, but must main
tain my natural and acquired relations, as a religious
man, as son, brother, father, citizen.

The third department is appropriate only for those who The third,
are already making progress, and is concerned with * . .
giving certainty in the very things we have spoken of, suited only
so that even in sleep or drunkenness or melancholy no formen .
untested impression may come upon us unawares. a state of

This , says a pupil, is beyond us. progress.

But the philosophers of to-day have disregarded the
first and the second departments, and devote themselves
to the third variable premises, syllogisms concluding with
a question, hypothetical syllogisms, fallacious arguments.

Of course, he says, when a man is engaged on these

I 2

Discourses of Epictetus

subjects he must take pains to escape being deceived.
But whose business is it to do this ? It is only for the man
who is already good.

You fall In logic then you fall short : but have you reached
thisVut perfection in other subjects? Are you proof against deceit
are you in regard to money? If you see a pretty girl, do you

thefothens? resist the im P ression? If 7 our nei g nbour comes in for
an inheritance, do you not feel a twinge? Do you lack
nothing now but security of judgement? 3 Unhappy
man, even while you are learning this lesson you are in
an agony of terror lest some one should think scorn of
you, and you ask whether any one is talking about you !
And if some one comes and tells you, We were discussing
who was the best philosopher, and one who was there
said, " There is only one philosopher, So-and-so (naming
you) " , straightway your poor little four-inch soul shoots
up to two cubits ! Then if another who is by says,
Nonsense ! It is not worth while to listen to So-and-so :
what does he know ? he has the first rudiments, nothing
more , you are beside yourself, and grow pale and cry
out at once, I will show him the man I am, he shall
see I am a great philosopher. Why, the facts themselves
are evidence ; why do you want to show it by something
else? Do you not know that Diogenes pointed out one
of the sophists thus, making a vulgar gesture ? 4 Then,
when the man was furious, That is So-and-so, said he,
* I have shown him to you. A man is not indeed like a
stone or a log, that you can show what he is by just
pointing a finger, but you show what he is as a man,
when you show what are his judgements.

Book III, Chapter 2 13

Let us look at your judgements too. Is it not clear that Your
you set no value on your will, but look outside to things ^l"
beyond your will? what So-and-so will say, what men will show what
think of you, whether they will think you a scholar, ^ u reallv
one who has read Chrysippus or Antipater, for if you have
read them and Archedemus as well, you have read every
thing. Why are you still in an agony, lest you should fail
to show us what manner of man you are? Would you
like me to say what manner of man you showed yourself
to us? A man who comes before us mean, critical,
quick-tempered, cowardly, blaming everything, accusing
every one, never quiet, vainglorious that is what you
showed us ! Go away now and read Archedemus ; then
if a mouse fall and make a noise, you die of fright ! For
the same sort of death awaits you, as whom shall I say ?
Crinis ! He too was proud of understanding Archedemus!

Unhappy man, will you not leave these things alone, Until you

which do not concern you? They are suited only to can resist

11 i r i_ your pas-

those who can learn them without contusion, to those s i ons ft j s

who are able to say, I feel no anger, pain, or envy ; useless to

I am under no hindrance, no constraint. What is left

for me to do? I have leisure and peace of mind. Let

us see how we ought to deal with logical changes : 5 let

us see how one may adopt a hypothesis and not be led

to an absurd conclusion.

These are matters well enough for men like that. 6
It is fitting for sailors who are in good trim to light
a fire, and take their dinner, if luck serves, and to sing
and dance : but you come to me when the ship is sinking
and begin hoisting the topsails !

Discourses of Epictetus

The good
has a
natural
attraction
for the
soul. It is
like good
coin, which
cannot be
refused.

It over
rides all
other
claims.

CHAPTER III

What is the material with which the good man deals : and
what should be the object of our training.

THE material of the good man is his own Governing
Principle, as the body is the material of the physician and
trainer, the land of the farmer ; and it is the function
of the good man to deal with his impressions naturally.
And just as it is the nature of every soul to assent to what
is true and dissent from what is false, and withhold
judgement in what is uncertain, so it is its nature to
be moved with the will to get what is good and the
will to avoid what is evil, and to be neutral towards what
is neither good nor evil. For just as neither the banker
nor the greengrocer can refuse the Emperor s currency,
but, if you show it, he must part, willy-nilly, with what
the coin will buy, so it is also with the soul. The very
sight of good attracts one towards it, the sight of evil
repels. The soul will never reject a clear impression of
good, any more than we reject Caesar s currency. On this
depends every motion of man and of God. Therefore
the good is preferred to every tie of kinship.

I have no concern with my father, but with the good !

Are you so hard-hearted?

It is my nature ; this is the currency which God has
given me. Therefore if the good is different from the
noble and just, then father and brother, country and
all such things disappear.

Book ///, Chapter 3 15-

I say, am I to neglect my good, that you may get it ?
am I to make way for you ? Why should I ? l

I am your father.

But not my good.

* I am your brother.

But not my good. If we make the good consist in
right will, the mere maintenance of such relations 2 be
comes good : further, he who resigns some of his external
possessions attains the good.

My father is taking away my money.

But he is not harming you.

My brother will have the greater part of the land.

Let him have as much as he likes : does he gain in Character

character? Is he more modest, trustworthy, brotherly? * s not

T T7 , r , touched by

Who can eject one from that possession ? Not even Zeus : external

nor did He wish to eject me ; He put my character in things,
my keeping and gave it me as He had it himself, un
hindered, unfettered, unrestrained.

Inasmuch then as different people have a different Different

currency, a man shows his coin and gets what it will ^f" use
, A 1 r i different

buy. A thief has come to the province as Proconsul. What currency.

coin does he use? Money. Show him money, and carry
off what you will. An adulterer has come. What
currency does he use? Pretty girls. Take your coin ,
says he, * and sell me the thing I want. Give, and buy.
Another s heart is set on minions. Give him the coin
and take what you will. Another is a sportsman. Give
him a fine horse or dog. With sighs and groans he will
sell you what you like for it : for he is constrained from
within, by Another, who has ordained this currency. 3

Train
yourself
to reject
as false
coin all
that is be
yond the
region of
the will.

For want
of training
we pass
wrong
judge
ments.

1 6 Discourses of Epictetus

It is by this principle above all that you must guide
yourself in training. Go out as soon as it is dawn and
whomsoever you may see and hear, question yourself
and answer as to an interrogator.

What did you see ? A beautiful woman or boy. Apply
the rule : Is this within the will s control or beyond it?
Beyond. Away with it then !

What did you see? One mourning at his child s death.
Apply the rule. Is death beyond the will, or can the will
control it? Death is beyond the will s control. Put it
out of the way then !

Did a Consul meet you? Apply the rule. What is
a consulship ? Is it beyond the will s control or within
it? Beyond it. Take it away : the coin will not pass ;
reject it, you have no concern with it.

I say, if we did this and trained ourselves on this prin
ciple every day from dawn to night, we should indeed
achieve something. As it is, we are caught open-mouthed
by every impression we meet, and only in the lecture-
room, if then, does our mind wake up a little. Then
we go into the street and if we see a mourner we say,
He is undone ; if a Consul, Lucky man ; if an
outlaw, Miserable man ; if a poor man, Wretched
man, he has nothing to buy food with.

These mistaken judgements we must eradicate, and
concentrate our efforts on doing so. For what is weeping
and lamenting? A matter of judgement. What is
misfortune? Judgement. What is faction, discord,
criticism, accusation, irreligion, foolishness? All these
are judgements, nothing else, and judgements passed on

Book III) Chapter 3 17

things beyond the will, as though they were good and evil.
Only let a man turn these efforts to the sphere of the will,
and I guarantee that he will enjoy peace of mind, what
ever his circumstances may be.

The soul is like a dish full of water, and the impressions
like the rays of light which strike the water. Now when
the water is disturbed the light seems to be disturbed
too, but it is not really disturbed. So when a man has
a fit of dizziness, the arts and virtues are not put to
confusion, but only the spirit 4 in which they exist :
when this is at rest, they come to rest too.

CHAPTER IV

Against one who was indecorously excited in the theatre.

WHEN the Procurator of Epirus 1 offended decorum by The Pro-

the way he showed interest in a comedian, the people curator

who can-
reviled him for this ; thereupon when he brought word no t control

of this to Epictetus and expressed annoyance at those J is feeli ngs
who reviled him : Why ! he said, what harm were they reason to
doing? They too showed their interest as you did ! criticize
What ! said he, is this the way they show interest ?
Yes, he said, when they saw you, their Governor, the
friend and Procurator of Caesar, showing your interest
in this way, would you not expect them to do the same?
If it is not right to show interest in that way, leave off
doing it yourself : but if it is right, why are you angry
at their imitating you? For whom else but you, their
superiors, have the people to imitate? Whom are they

546.24 II B

i 8 Discourses of Epictetus

to look to when they come to the theatre but you?

See , they say, how Caesar s Procurator behaves in

the theatre. He cries out : then I will cry out too. He

jumps from his seat. I will do so too. His claque

of slaves shout from their scattered seats : I have no

slaves, I will cry as loud as I can to make up for it.

He ought You ought to know then that when you enter the theatre

to set an you enter J t as a pattern and example to all other specta-

by keeping tors how to behave. Why then did they revile you ?

his will in Because every man hates what stands in his way. They

accord

with wanted So-and-so to be crowned, you wanted another ;

nature. ^gy stO od in your way and you in theirs. You were
found to be stronger than they ; they did what they
could, they reviled what stood in their way. What
would you have then? That you should do what you
wish, and they should not even say what they wish?
Nay, what wonder they should talk so ? Do not farmers
revile Zeus, when he stands in their way? Do not sailors
revile him? Do they not revile Caesar without ceasing?
What follows? Does not Zeus know? Does not Caesar
have reported to him what men say? What does he do
then? He knows that if he punishes all who revile him
he will have no one left to rule over. What is my con
clusion? When you enter the theatre you ought not
to say, Let me have Sophron crowned , 2 but, Let me
keep my will in accord with Nature in this matter, for
no one is dearer to me than myself : it is absurd then
that I should be injured, that another may be victorious
on the stage.

Whom then do I want to win ? The victor : and

Book III, Chapter 4 19

so the victory will always be in accordance with my
wish.

* But I wish Sophron to be crowned.

Hold as many contests as you please in your own house
and proclaim him there victor in the Nemean, Pythian,
Isthmian and Olympic games : but in public do not
claim more than your share, nor steal what is public
property. If you do, you must put up with being re
viled : for when you do as the people do, you put yourself
on their level.

CHAPTER V

Against those who make illness an excuse for leaving the
lecture-room.

I AM ill here, says one, and want to go away home. A student
What, were you never ill at home ? Do you not wll is
consider whether you are doing anything here to improve learning
your will, for if you are doing no good, you might just w !^ not
as well never have come ? Go away, and attend to your turn home,
affairs at home : for if your Governing Principle cannot
be brought into accord with Nature, no doubt your bit
of land will prosper ; * you will add to your bit of money !
You will tend your old father, frequent the market
place, serve as a magistrate, do anything that comes
next, poor wretch, in your wretched way. But if you
understand that you are getting rid of bad judgements
and gaining others in their place, and that you have
transferred your attention from things outside the will s
control to things within it, and that now if you cry, Ah
B 2

20 Discourses of Epictetus

me ! it is not for your father or your brother but for

yourself that you cry, then why should you take account

Disease of illness any more? Do you not know that disease

and death an( j death are bound to overtake us whatever we are

tc^all. doing? They overtake the farmer at his farming, the

sailor on the seas. What would you like to be doing when

they overtake you? For you must needs be overtaken,

whatever you are doing. If you can find anything

better than this to be doing when you are overtaken,

do it by all means !

Let them For my own part I would wish death to overtake me

find u ? , occupied with nothing but the care of my will, trying
occupied j r T

in training to make it calm, unhindered, unconstrained, tree,

our will to would fain be found SQ em pi 07 ed, that I may be able

ODCV (jrOQ. y rr-M 1 1 T\* J

to say to God, Did I transgress Thy commands ? Did
I use the faculties Thou gavest me to wrong purpose?
Did I use my senses or my primary notions in vain?
Did I ever accuse Thee? Did I ever find fault with
Thy ordinance ? I fell sick, when it was Thy will : so
did others, but I rebelled not. I became poor when
Thou didst will it, but I rejoiced in my poverty. I held
no office, because it was Thy will : I never coveted office.
Didst Thou ever see me gloomy for that reason? Did
I ever come before Thee but with a cheerful face, ready
for any commands or orders that Thou mightest give?
Now it is Thy will for me to leave the festival. I go,
giving all thanks to Thee, that Thou didst deign to let
me share Thy festival and see Thy works and understand
Thy government. May these be my thoughts, these my
studies, writing or reading, when death comes upon me !

Book III, Chapter y 21

But I am ill, and shall not have my mother to hold This is

, , worth more

m 7 head - than home

Go to your mother then ; for you deserve to be ill, comforts.

with her to hold your head.

* But I had a nice bed to lie on at home.

Go to your nice bed then ; sick or well you deserve to
lie on a bed of that sort ! Pray do not lose what you can
do there.

But what does Socrates say? As one man , he says,
delights to improve his field, and another his horse, so
I delight in following day by day my own improvement.

In what? In paltry phrases?

Man, hold your peace.

In pretty precepts then?

Enough of that.

* Nay, but philosophers busy themselves with nothing
else, so far as I see.

Is it nothing (do you think?) never to accuse any one,
God or man, never to blame any, to go in and out with

the same countenance? These are the things which This, and

... , not phrases

Socrates knew, and yet he never said that he knew or or pre .

taught anything ; and if any one asked for phrases or <
precepts, he would take him away to Protagoras or Hippias. j )0se of jj e
In the same way if any one had come looking for greenstuff,
he would have taken him to the gardener. Which of
you then makes this 2 the purpose of his life ? Why, if
you did, you would gladly suffer sickness and hunger and
death. If any one of you was ever in love with a pretty
girl, he knows that I speak true !

22

Discourses of Epictetus

Progress
is propor
tionate to
effort
spent.

The good
man can
suffer no
defeat.

General

sense is

CHAPTER VI

Scattered sayings.

WHEN one of his acquaintances asked why more
progress was made in old days, although the processes of
reason have been more studied by the men of to-day,
he answered, On what has the effort been spent, and
in what was the greater progress in the past? for you
will find that progress to-day corresponds exactly to
the effort spent. The fact is that to-day men have spent
their effort on the analysis of syllogisms, and progress is
made in that : in old days men spent their effort on
maintaining their mind in accord with Nature, and they
made progress in that. Therefore do not confound the
processes, nor seek to spend effort on one thing and make
progress in another. If you look whether any of us who
sets himself to keep in accord with Nature and to live
his life so, fails to make progress, you will find there
is none.

The good man can suffer no defeat.

Of course, for he engages in no contest where he is
not superior. Take my lands, if you will : take my
servants, take my office, take my poor "body, yet you will
not make me fail to get what I will or fall into what I
will to avoid. This is the only contest for which he
enters that which is concerned with the sphere of the
will, and therefore he cannot fail to be invincible.

When some one asked him what general perception
meant, he replied, You might describe the faculty

Booh 111, Chapter 6

which only distinguishes sounds as general hearing, the faculty
but the faculty which distinguishes musical sounds ables .^j
you would not call general but technical . In the men to see
same way there are certain things which all men who are t hj n s
not utterly perverted can see in virtue of their general
faculties. It is this mental constitution to which the
name general perception 1 is given.

It is not easy to give stimulus to young men who Young
have no grit : you cannot lift a cream-cheese by a hook : jj^ 111 "^
but young men of parts hold fast to reason even if you if they are
try to deter them. That is why Rufus generally tried j o ^ or
to deter them, and made this his test of those who were to hold
gifted and those who were not ; for , said he, just as their own<
the stone, if you throw it up, will fall to the earth by
its own nature, so the gifted soul is all the more inclined
towards its natural object, the more you try to beat
it off.

CHAPTER VII

Dialogue with the Commissioner 1 of the Free Cities, who
was an Epicurean.

WHEN the Commissioner, who was an Epicurean, He asked

. , ^ . the Epicu-

came into his lecture-room, It is proper, said Epictetus, rean gover-

that we who are ignorant should inquire of you philo- nor, what
sophers what is the Best Thing in the world, just as those be " st part
who come to a strange city make inquiry of the citizens of man,
who know the place ; that having learnt what it is we
may pursue it for ourselves, and come to the sight of
it, as foreigners visit the sights of the cities. For all,

and elici
ted the
answer,
Not the
flesh ,

but that
which
gives
rational
delight to
the soul
that is, the
good of
the soul.

24 Discourses of Epictetus

one may say, are agreed that man has to do with
three things, soul and body and external things ; it only
remains for you to answer the question, * What is the
best in man? What shall we say to men? Shall we
say, The flesh ? and was it for this that Maximus 2
sailed as far as Cassiope to see his son on his way? Was
it to have pleasure in the flesh ? When the Commissioner
denied it, saying, God forbid ! Epictetus went on,
Is it not proper to devote our efforts to what is best
in us?

1 It is most proper.

What have we then better than the flesh?
The soul , he said.

And which are better, the goods of the best element in
us or the goods of the inferior?
Those of the best.

Are the goods of the soul in the sphere of the will
or beyond it?

* Within the sphere of the will.

Is the pleasure of the soul then within the sphere of
the will?

Yes , he said.

And what gives rise to it? Does it arise of itself?

That is inconceivable ; for we must assume the existence

of the good as something which has value in itself,

by partaking in which we shall have pleasure in the soul.

To this too he agreed.

What then will give rise to this pleasure of the soul
m us? If the goods of the soul give rise to it, then the
nature of the good is discovered ; for it is impossible

Booh III) Chapter 7 ^^

that the good and that which gives us rational delight
should be different from one another, or that the conse
quence should be good unless that on which it depends
is good. For the primary end must be good, if that
which follows on it is to be rational. But you cannot say But this
this if you have any sense, for you will be saying what [ s 1 ?" t u S
is inconsistent with Epicurus, and with the other judge- Epicurus
ments of your school. You will be reduced to saying doctnne -
that the pleasure of the soul is pleasure in bodily things :
these, as it now appears, are of primary value and are
identical with the nature of the good.

Therefore Maximus acted foolishly, if he had any motive
in sailing but the flesh, that is the highest principle. He
acts like a fool too if, as a judge, he refrains from other
men s goods when he can take them. If you think fit
to do it, the only point for us to look to is that it be
done secretly, securely, without any one s knowledge.
For even Epicurus himself does not set down stealing If you are

as evil, but only detected stealing : and he says * Do not *? be con "

sistcntj
steal , only because it is impossible to be sure of escaping you must

detection . But I tell you that if it be done cleverly

and cautiously, we shall escape detection. Further, we in such a

have powerful friends in Rome, both men and women, way ^ to

escape
and the Greeks are feeble folk : no one will have the detection.

courage to go o Rome to prosecute. Why do you
refrain from your own good? It is foolish and silly.
Nay, even if you tell me you refrain, I will not believe
you ; for just as it is impossible to assent to what appears
false and to reject what is true, so it is impossible to
hold aloof from what appears good. Now wealth is

2.6 Discourses of Epictetus

a good thing, and, so to speak, most productive of pleasure.
Why should not one acquire it? Why should we not
corrupt our neighbour s wife, if we can do it without
detection ; and if her husband talks nonsense, why should
we not break his neck as well? This, if you wish to be
a philosopher of the right sort, to be perfect and consistent
with your own judgements. Otherwise you will be no
If you do better than we so-called Stoics, 3 for we too say one thing

the flesh W ancl do anotner : we Sa 7 n ble words and do shameful
you will be deeds ! You will be suffering from the opposite perversion,
tentaTwe" of utterm shameful judgements, and doing noble deeds !
Stoics are. Before God, I ask you, can you imagine a city of

You Epicureans?

cannot , . .

imagine 1 sna U not marry (says one).

a city < N or s hall I (says another) for it is wrong to marry.

based on . . . . .. ,

Epicurus Yes, and it is wrong to get children, and wrong to

principles, be a citizen !

What is to happen then ? Where will your citizens come
from ? Who will educate them ? Who will be Governor of
the Ephebi ? Who will manage the Gymnasia ? 4 Yes,
and what will be their education ? Will it be the educa
tion the Lacedaemonians or Athenians received? Take
me a young man and bring him up in accordance with
your judgements. The judgements are bad, subversive of
the city, ruinous to family life, not even fit for women.

As the Man, leave these principles alone. You live in an imperial

aSmperial cit 7 : ^ ou must hold office J ud 8 e J ust1 ^ refrain from
city, you other men s property : no woman but your wife must

lobler iDt seem ta tf in your eyes, no boy, no silver or gold plate,
principles. You must look for judgements that will be in keeping

Book 111, Chapter 7 27

with such conduct, and will enable you to refrain with
pleasure from things so persuasive to attract and to
overcome you. If on the other hand we back up their
persuasive power by this philosophy, such as it is, that
we have discovered, thrusting us forward and confirming
us in the same direction, what is to become of us ? What
is the best part of a piece of plate, the silver or the art
spent on it? The hand in itself is mere flesh, it is the
products of the hand that claim precedence. So too Appro-
appropriate actions are of three kinds : the first class actions
relative to mere existence, 5 the second relative to parti
cular conditions, the third commanding and absolute.
On this principle too we ought not to honour man s which are

material being, his rags of flesh, but his leading character- concerned
T T71 with man s

istics. What are these? Citizenship, marriage, pro- command-
creation of children, worship of God, care of parents, m . charac-
and in general, will to get and to avoid, impulse to
act and not to act, each in its proper and natural
manner.

What is our nature? To be free, noble, self-respecting.
What other animal blushes ? What other can have
a conception of shame? We must subordinate pleasure
to these principles, to minister to them as a servant,
to evoke our interests and to keep us in the way of our
natural activities.

* But I am rich, and have need of nothing. If you pre-

Why then do you still pretend to be a philosopher? tend to be
j -i i aphiloso-

and silver plate are enough for you : what need pher, you

have you of judgements? must rule

Nay, but I also sit as judge over the Greeks. rational

28

Discourses of Epictetus

creatures,
and win
them to
emulate
your obe
dience to
God.

What ! you know how to judge? What made you
know that?

Caesar wrote me a patent.

Let him write to you to judge questions of music :
what use will it be to you ? But let that pass. How did
you get made a judge? Whose hand did you kiss? Was
it Symphorus or Numenius ? 6 In whose antechamber
did you sleep? To whom did you send gifts? After
all, do you not see that being judge is worth no more nor
less than Numenius is worth ?

Well, but I can put any one I wish in prison.

As you may a stone !

* But I can cudgel to death any one I wish.

As you can an ass ! This is not governing men. Govern
us as rational creatures by showing us what is expedient,
and we will follow it : show us what is inexpedient and
we will turn away from it. Make us admire and emulate
you, as Socrates made men do. He was the true ruler of
men, for he brought men to submit to him their will to
get and to avoid, their impulse to act and not to act.

Do this, refrain from this, or I will put you in prison.
This is not how rational beings are ruled. But, Do this
as Zeus ordained : if not, you will suffer penalty and
harm. What kind of harm? No harm but that of
failing to do your duty : you will destroy the trust
worthy, self-respecting, well-behaved man in you.
Look not for any greater harm than this !

Book ///, Chapter 8 29

CHAPTER VIII

How we should, train ourselves to deal with impressions

As we train ourselves to deal with sophistical questions,
so we ought to train ourselves day by day to deal with
impressions : for these too propound questions to us.

* The son of So-and-so is dead.

Answer, That is beyond the will, not an evil.

* So-and-so s father has disinherited him : what do
you think?

It is outside the will, not an evil.
Caesar has condemned him.
That is outside the will, not an evil.
Something has made him grieve.
That is an act of will, and evil.

* He has endured nobly.
That is an act of will, and good.

If we acquire this habit, we shall make progress, for
we shall never assent to anything but that of which we
get a convincing impression. 1

The son dies. What happens?

The son dies.

Nothing more?

Nothing.

The ship is lost. What happens ?

The ship is lost.

He is led to prison. What happens?

He is led to prison. Each man may add, * He has fared
ill , but if so, that is his own affair.

3 o Discourses of Epictetus

* Still , you say, Zeus does wrong to act so.
Why? Do you mean because He made you patient,
noble-minded, because He saved these things from being
evil, because He puts it in your power to endure these
troubles and still be happy, because He opens the door
to you, when your position is impossible? Leave the
scene, man, and do not complain.

If you would know the attitude of the Romans to
philosophers, listen to this. Italicus, a man of the highest
repute as a philosopher among them, in my presence
expressed his indignation at his lot, which he thought
intolerable, by saying, * I cannot bear it : you are ruining
me, you will make me like him , and pointed to me 1

CHAPTER IX

To a Rhetor going up to Rome for a trial.

A man s WHEN a man, who was going to Rome for an action

judge- regarding his official position, came in to see him, he

ments . . . .

determine inquired the reason for his journey, and when the man

his success went on to as k hi m \^ opinion on the matter, If you
ask me , he said, what you will do in Rome, whether
you will succeed or fail, I have no precept to offer :
but if you ask me how you will do, I can say this, that
if your judgements are right you will do well, if wrong,
you will do ill. For every man s action is determined
by a judgement. What is it that made you desire to
be elected patron 1 of the Cnossians? Judgement.

Booh II 7, Chapter 9 31

What is the reason you now go to Rome? Judgement.
Yes, and in stormy weather and at your own risk and
charges?

Necessity compels me.

Who tells you this? Your judgement. If then judge
ments are the cause of everything and a man has bad
judgements, the result resembles the cause, whatever this
be. Have we all then sound judgements ? Have you and
your opponent ? Then how are you at variance ? Have
you sound judgements any more than he? Why? You
think so. So does he, and so do madmen. Opinion is
a bad criterion. No ! Show me that you have examined You

your judgements and paid attention to them. You are shoulcl

J r therefore

now sailing to Rome to be patron of the Cnossians and are examine

not content to stay at home with the honours you had y ur J u dge-
before, but desire some greater and more distinguished
honour. When did you ever take the trouble to sail like
this in order to examine your judgements and reject any
that are bad? Whom have you ever consulted for this
purpose? What time or what part of your life have you
charged with this duty? Review the seasons of your life
in your own mind, if you respect me. Did you examine
your judgements when you were a boy? Did not you do
what you did then as you do everything now ? And when
you grew to be a youth and listened to the teachers of
rhetoric and wrote declamations of your own, what
did you imagine that you lacked? And when in early
manhood you began to enter public life and to plead
in cases and to have a reputation, did you ever think
any one your equal? Would you ever have let any one

The only
precept a
philoso
pher can
give is :
Keep your
Governing
Principle
in accord
with
nature.

It is easy
to listen
for a mo
ment and
go away
scoffing.

3 2 Discourses of Epictetus

examine you and show that your judgements were bad ?
What then would you have me tell you ?

Give me some help in the matter.

I have no precepts to offer for your purpose : and if
you have come to me for this, you have come to me as
you would come to a greengrocer or a shoemaker and not
as to a philosopher. 2

For what purpose then have philosophers precepts to
offer?

For this : that, whatever the issue may be, we should
keep our Governing Principle in accord with Nature to
our life s end. Do you think this a small matter ?

No, the greatest of all.

Well then : will a little time suffice for this, and can
it be acquired in a passing visit? Acquire it if you
can !

Then you will go away and say, I met Epictetus,
it was like meeting a stone, or a statue.

Yes, for you just saw me and no more. Man can only
meet man properly when he gets to understand his
convictions and shows him his own in turn. Get to
know my judgements, and show me yours, and then
say that you have met me. Let us question one another :
if one of my judgements is bad, remove it : if you have
anything to say, put it forward. That is how to meet
a philosopher. That s not your way, but We are
passing through : while we wait to charter our ship,
we can see Epictetus ; let us see what he is saying.
Then when you leave you say, Epictetus was nothing :
he talked bad Greek, outlandish stuff. Of course, of

Booh Illy Chapter 9 33

what else are you competent to judge, coming in like
that ?

But , he goes on, if I let myself be absorbed in these
things, I shall be like you without land, like you without
silver cups, like you without fine cattle.

To this perhaps it is sufficient to answer, I have no The philo-
need of them : but if you get a large property, you so F>h er does
still need something else, and willy-nilly you are poorer need of
than I.

What do you mean that I need ?

You need what you have not got tranquillity, a mind
in accord with Nature, and free from perturbation.
Whether I am Patron 1 or not, what does it matter?
It does matter to you. I am richer than you : I am not
in an agony as to what Caesar will think of me : I do
not flatter any one for that. This is what I have instead
of your silver and gold plate. You have vessels of gold,
but your reason judgements, assent, impulse, will is
of common clay. But mine are in accord with Nature, if his mind
and that being so, why should I not make a special ^"J^K
study of reasoning? I have leisure, and my mind is Nature,
not distracted. How can I occupy my mind that is
thus free ? I cannot find an occupation more worthy
of man than that. When you have nothing to do, you
are troubled in spirit, and enter a theatre, or wander
aimlessly. Why should not the philosopher devote his He can
efforts to developing his own reason? You devote j?? vot ? f
yourself to crystal vases, I to the syllogism called * the to logical
Liar : you to murrhine 3 vessels, I to the syllogism of
* Denial . To you all that you have appears small :

546.24 II C

We must
have our
judge
ments
ready at
the right
moment.

If illness
comes, you
must show
that you
are trained
to bear it.

34 Discourses of Epictetus

to me all I have appears great. Your desire can never
be fulfilled, mine is fulfilled already. Your case is like
that of children putting their hand into a narrow-necked
jar and pulling out raisins and almonds. If a child fills
his hand full, he cannot pull it out and then he cries.
Let a few go, child, and you will get it out. So I say to
you, * Let your desire go. Do not crave much, and you
will obtain.

CHAPTER X

How one should bear illnesses.

WE should have each judgement ready at the moment
when it is needed : judgements on dinner at dinner-time,
on the bath at bathing-time, on bed at bedtime.
Admit not sleep into your tender eyelids
Till you have reckoned up each deed of the day
How have I erred, what done or left undone ?
So start, and so review your acts, and then
For vile deeds chide yourself , for good be glad.
Keep hold of these lines for practical use, not to
declaim them as a cry like Paean Apollo . Again in
a fever we must be ready with judgements for that ;
if we fall into a fever we must not give up and forget
everything, and say, * If I ever study philosophy again,
may the worst befall me ! I must go off somewhere and
attend to my poor body. Well, but does not fever
come there ? 1 What does studying philosophy mean ?
Does it not mean preparing to face events? Do you
not understand then that what you are saying comes to

Book Hl y Chapter i o 35-

this, If I go on preparing to bear events quietly, may
the worst befall me ? That is as though a man should
give up competing for the pancration because he has
been struck. But there it is possible to leave off and so
escape a beating : but what profit do we get if we leave
off studying philosophy ?

What ought one to say then as each hardship comes?
* I was practising for this, I was training for this. 1 God
says to you, Give me a proof, whether you have kept
the rules of wrestling eaten the proper food, trained,
and obeyed the trainer. After that, are you going to
play the coward when the moment of action comes ? If
now is the time for fever, take your fever in the right way ;
if for thirst, thirst in the right way, if for hunger, hunger
aright. Is it not in your power? Who will hinder you ?
The physician will hinder you from drinking, but he
cannot hinder you from thirsting aright : he will hinder
you from eating, but he cannot hinder you from hungering
in the right way.

But am I not a student ? 2 The stu-

Why are you a student ? Slave, is it not that you may 1-

be happy and have peace of mind? Is it not that you no pur-

may conform to nature and so live your life ? What pose lf ^ e
7 cannot

hinders you in a fever from keeping your Governing bear what

Principle in accord with nature ? Here is the test of the comes<

matter, this is how the philosopher is proved. For fever

too is a part of life, like walking, sailing, travelling. Do

you read when you are walking? No. Nor do you in

a fever : but if you walk aright, you have done your part

as a walker ; if you bear your fever aright, you have done

C2

3 6 Discourses of Epictetus

your part as a sick man. What does bearing fever rightly

mean? It means not to blame God or man, not to be

crushed by what happens, to await, death in a right spirit,

to do what you are bidden ; when the physician comes in,

not to be afraid of what he may say, and if he says, You

are doing well , not to be overjoyed: for what good

is there in that? What good had you when you were

in health? It means not to be disheartened if he says,

You are doing badly ; for what does * doing badly

mean? It means drawing near the dissolution of the

Therefore soul from the body. What is there to fear in that? If

do not fear ^ QU ^ Q nQt ^raw near noW;) shall you not draw near

the phy- later ? Is the world going to be turned upside down by

sician,but ^ Qur death? Why then do you coax the physician?

his due. Why do you say, Master, if you will, I shall get well ?

Why do you give him occasion to lift his brow in arrogance ?

As you give the shoemaker his due in regard to the foot,

the builder in regard to the house, why do you not give

the physician his due (and no more) in regard to the

paltry body, for the body is not mine and is naturally

dead? This is what the moment requires from the man

in a fever : if he fulfils these requirements, he has what

is his own.

The philo- It is not the business of the philosopher to guard these

sopher has outward things paltry wine or oil or body but to
no concern .

to keep guard his Governing Principle. How is he to regard out-
outward war d things ? Only so far that he does not concern him-
only to self with them unreasonably. What occasion is left then

guard his or ear ? \Vhat occasion for anger, what occasion for fear
principles. .

concerning things that are not our own, nor ot any value r

Booh HI) Chapter 10 37

For the two principles we must have ready at command
are these : that outside the will there is nothing good
or evil, and that we must not lead events but follow
them. My brother ought not to have behaved so to
me. No, but it is his business to look to that; how
ever he may behave, I will deal with him as I ought.
This is my part, that is another s : this no one can
hinder, that is subject to hindrance.

CHAPTER XI

Scattered sayings.

THERE are certain punishments ordained as it were by In all the

f ^ i relations of
law for those who disobey the government ot (jod. jjf ewe

Whoever judges anything to be good except what depends must obey
upon the will, let him be liable to envy, desire, flattery, W h se eyes
distraction. Whoever judges anything else to be evil are upon
(save acts of the will), let distress be his, and mourning,
lamentation, misfortune. And yet, though we suffer
punishments so severe, we cannot refrain.

Remember what the poet says about the stranger :

Stranger, though baser man than thou should come,

He must be honoured, for the hand of Zeus

Guards stranger folk and poor.

One should be ready to apply this to a father : Though
a baser one than thou should come, I may not dishonour
a father ; for all depend on Zeus, God of our fathers ,
and to a brother, for all depend on Zeus, God of kindred .
In the same way we shall find that Zeus is Protector of
all other relations of life.

3 8 Discourses of Epictetus

CHAPTER XII

On training.

Training WE ought not to train ourselves in unnatural or
directed extraordinary actions, for in that case we who claim
not to to be philosophers shall be no better than mountebanks,
ordinary ^or it is difficult to walk on a tight-rope, and not only
objects, difficult but dangerous as well : ought we for that reason
to practise walking on a tight-rope or setting up a palm-
tree, 1 or embracing statues ? 2 By no means. Not every
thing that is difficult and dangerous is suitable for training,
but only that which is conducive to what is set before
but to con- us as the object of our effort. What is set before us as
the w^fl the bJ ect f our effort ? To move without hindrance in
the will to get and the will to avoid. And what does
that mean? Not to fail in what we will nor to fall into
what we avoid. To this end, therefore, let our training
be directed : for since it is impossible without great and
continuous effort to secure that the will to get fail not
and the will to avoid be not foiled, know that, if you
allow training to be directed to things lying outside and
beyond the will, you will not get what you will to get
nor avoid what you will to avoid.

especially And since habit has established a strong predominance,
viou^hab i ^ ecause we ^ ave acc pi re d the habit of turning our
has a will to get and our will to avoid only to what lies outside

Ur contr l> we must set a contrary habit to counteract
the former, and where impressions are most likely to
go wrong there employ training as an antidote.

Book II I) Chapter 12 39

I am inclined to pleasure : in order to train myself
I will incline beyond measure in the opposite direction.
I am disposed to avoid trouble : I will harden and train
my impressions to this end, that my will to avoid may
hold aloof from everything of this kind. For how do we
describe the man who trains? He is the man who
practises avoiding the use of his will to get, 3 and willing
to avoid only what is in the sphere of the will and who Each man
exercises himself in what is hard to overcome. And so ovcrcome
different men have to train for different objects. What different
is it to the purpose here to set up a palm-tree, or to carry
about a hut of skins or a pestle and mortar? 4 Man,
train yourself, if you are arrogant, to bear with being
reviled, and not to be annoyed when you are disparaged.
Then you will make such progress that, even if you are
struck, you will say to yourself, Imagine that you have
embraced a statue. Next train yourself to use wine
properly, not for heavy drinking for there are men mis
guided enough to train for this but first to abstain from
wine, and to leave alone pretty maids and sweet cakes.
Then, if the proper time comes, you will enter the lists,
if at all, to try yourself and learn whether your impressions
overcome you as before. But to begin with, fly far from
enemies that are stronger than you. The battle is an
unequal one when it is between a pretty maid and
a young man beginning philosophy. Pot and stone , as
the saying is, do not agree.

Next after the will to get and the will to avoid comes We have
the sphere of impulse for action and against action : JJJJJJ^
where the object is to obey reason, not to do anything action,

and for
assent.

Never
train for
show.

40 Discourses of Epictetus

at the wrong time or place, or offend the harmony of
things in any other way.

Third comes the sphere of assents, concerned with
things plausible and attractive. For, as Socrates bade
men ( not live a life without examination , so you ought
not to accept an impression without examination, but
say, Wait, let me see who you are and whence you come ,
just as the night-watch say, Show me your token.
Have you the token given by nature, which the impres
sion that is to be accepted must have ?

And to conclude, the methods which are applied to
the body by those who exercise it, may themselves
conduce to training, if they tend in this direction, that
is, if they bear upon the will to get and the will to avoid.
But if their object is display, they are the marks of one
who has swerved from the right line, whose aims are
alien, one who is looking for spectators to say, What
a great man ! This is why Apollonius was right in
saying, If you wish to train for your soul s sake, when
you are thirsty in hot weather take a mouthful of cold
water and spit it out and tell no one !

CHAPTER XIII

What a forlorn condition means., and a forlorn man.

To be ^ THE forlorn state is the condition of one without

means not ^P- For a man is not forlorn simply because he is

to be alone, alone, any more than a man in a crowd is unforlorn.

At any rate when we lose a brother or a son or a friend,

Book ///, Chapter 13 41

in whom we rest our trust, we say that we have been left without
forlorn, though often we are in Rome, with that great
throng meeting us in the streets, and those numbers
living about us, and sometimes we have a multitude of
slaves. For according to its conception the term for
lorn means that a man is without help, exposed to
those who wish to harm him. For this reason, when we
are travelling, we call ourselves forlorn most of all,
when we fall among robbers. For it is not the sight
of a man as such that relieves us from being forlorn,
but the sight of one who is faithful and self-respecting
and serviceable. For if being alone is enough to make Otherwise
one forlorn, you must say that Zeus Himself is forlorn at
the Conflagration of the Universe 1 and bewails Himself :
Unhappy me ! I have neither Hera nor Athena nor
Apollo nor, in a word, brother or son or grandson or
kinsman. And in fact this is what some say that He does,
when left alone in the Conflagration : for they cannot
conceive of the mode of life of a solitary Being : they
start with a natural principle, the fact that men are by
nature drawn by ties of fellowship and mutual affection,
and enjoy converse with their kind. But nevertheless We ought
a man must prepare himself for solitude too he must Dependent
be able to suffice for himself, and able to commune with of others
himself. Just as Zeus communes with Himself and is at f or er _
peace with Himself and reflects upon the nature of His fection.
government, and occupies Himself with thoughts appro
priate to Himself, so should we be able to talk to ourselves,
without need of others, or craving for diversion : we
should study the divine government and the relation

Caesar can
give us
outward
but not
inward
peace.

Only

reason can
give this
sense of
peace.

God, who
provides
for our
needs,

42 Discourses of Epictetus

in which we stand to other things : we should consider
what was our attitude to events before, and what it
is now : what the things are which still afflict us : how
they may be cured, how removed : if any things need to
be brought to perfection, perfect them as reason requires.
For see : Caesar 2 seems to provide us with profound
peace ; there are no wars nor battles any more, no great
bands of robbers or pirates : we are able to travel by
land at every season, and to sail from sunrise to sunset.
Can he then provide us also with peace from fever, from
shipwreck, from fire or earthquake or thunderbolt?
Go to, can he give us peace from love? He cannot.
From mourning? He cannot. From envy? No !
he cannot give us peace from any of them. But the
reasoning of philosophers promises to give us peace
from these troubles also. What does it say? Men, if
you attend to me, wherever you may be, whatever you
may be doing, you will feel no distress, no anger, no
compulsion, no hindrance, but will live undisturbed
and free from all distractions. When a man has this
peace proclaimed to him, not by Caesar (how could he
proclaim it ?) but proclaimed by God, through the voice
of reason, is he not content when he is alone ? When he
considers and reflects, Now no evil can befall me, robber
exists not for me, earthquake exists not : all is full of
peace and tranquillity : every road, every city, every
meeting, neighbour, companion all are harmless.
Another, 3 Who takes care of me, supplies food and raiment ;
He has given me senses and primary conceptions ; and
when He does not provide necessaries, He sounds the

Booh Illy Chaffer 13 43

recall, He opens the door and says, "Come." Where? gives us a
To nothing you need fear, but to that whence you were ^eatl^has
born, to your friends and kindred, the elements. So no terrors,
much of you as was fire shall pass into fire, what was earth j^ns re .
shall pass into earth, the spirit into spirit, the water into turn to the
water. There is no Hades, nor Acheron, nor Cocytus, e
nor Pyriphlegethon, 4 but all is full of gods and divine
beings. When one has this to think upon, and when he
beholds the sun and moon and stars, and enjoys land and
sea, he is not forlorn any more than he is destitute of
help.

Nay, you say, but what if one come upon me alone
and murder me?

Fool, he murders not you, but your paltry body.

How can we speak any more then of being forlorn We must

and helpless? Why do we make ourselves worse than not ben ve
worse than

children? For what do children do when they are left children,
alone? They pick up potsherds and dust and build
something or other and then pull it down and build
something else again, and so they never lack diversion.
If you sail away, am I to sit and shed tears because I am
left alone and forlorn? Shall I not in that case have
my potsherds and my dust? But they do this in their
foolishness : do we in our wisdom make ourselves miser
able?

We must
5 Great power is always dangerous in a beginner. We not be too

must then bear such things according: to our strength, ambitious,

5 but cam-
but always according to nature. [A certain course may our

suit a strong man] but not a consumptive. 5 Be content P rinci P les

. . ..I mtoevery-

to practise the life of an invalid, that you may one day day life.

44 Discourses of Epictetus

live the life of a healthy man. Take scant food, drink
water : refrain from willing to get anything for a while,
that you may one day direct your will rationally. If
you do so, then, when you have some good in you, you
will direct your will aright. 6

No, you say, we want at once to live as wise men
and benefit mankind.

Benefit indeed ! What are you after? Did you ever
benefit yourself?

But I want to stir them up.

Have you stirred yourself up first? You want to
benefit them ; then show them in your own life what
sort of men philosophy makes, and cease to talk folly.
When you eat, benefit those who eat with you, when you
drink, benefit those who drink, by yielding and giving
way to all, by bearing with them : that is the way to
benefit them and not by venting your own phlegm 7
upon them !

CHAPTER XIV

Scattered sayings.

Man must As bad actors cannot sing alone, but only in a large
walk alone. com p anVj so SO me men cannot walk alone. Man, if you
are worth anything, you must walk alone, and talk to
yourself and not hide in the chorus. Learn to bear
mockery, look about you, examine yourself, that you
may get to know who you are.

Do not When a man drinks water, or puts himself in training

makeadis- 11 i_ j

in any way, he tells everybody at every opportunity,

Book III) Chapter 14 45-

* I am a water-drinker. What? Do you drink water play of
for the sake of drinking it? Man, if it is to your profit Sine^
to drink it, drink ; if not, your conduct is absurd. I say,
if you drink water because it does you good, say nothing
to those who dislike it. 1 What ? Are these the people
of all others that you wish to please ?

Actions have varying degrees of value : some are based
on first principles, 2 others are determined by circum
stances, or compromise, or compliance, or manner of
life.

There are two qualities that men must get rid of Conceit

conceit and diffidence. Conceit is to think that one ^

. diffidence

needs nothing beyond oneself : diffidence is to suppose are equally

that one cannot live the untroubled life in the midst to b . e
of so many difficulties. Now conceit is removed by cross-
questioning, and that was what Socrates began with :
that the thing is not impossible you must discover by
thought and search. This search will do you no harm :
and indeed philosophy means very little else but this
to search how it is practicable to exercise the will to get
and the will to avoid without hindrance.

* I am better than you, for my father is of consular Rank and
rank. Another says, I have been tribune, and you j^J^^.
have not. If we were horses you would say, My sire was periority.
swifter , or, I have plenty of barley and fodder , or, I
have fine trappings. If you said that, you may imagine
me replying, * Very well then, let us try our paces. Come,
is there nothing in men, like the pace of a horse, which
will enable us to distinguish the better from the worse ?
Are there not self-respect, honour, justice? Show

4 6 Discourses of Efictetus

yourself superior in these qualities, that you may be
superior as a man should be. If you say to me, I am
great at kicking , I shall answer, * That is the boast of

an ass

i >

attempt
anything
consider
it well
before
hand.

CHAPTER XV

That we should, approach everything with consideration}-

Before you IN everything you do consider what comes first and
what follows, and so approach it. Otherwise you will
come to it with a good heart at first because you have
not reflected on any of the consequences, and afterwards
when difficulties come in sight you will shamefully desist.

* I wish to win at the Olympic games.

* So do I, by the gods, for it is a fine thing.

Yes, but consider the first steps to it and what follows :
and then, if it is to your advantage, lay your hand to the
work. You must be under discipline, eat to order,
touch no sweets, train under compulsion, at a fixed hour,
in heat and cold, drink no cold water, nor wine, except
to order ; you must hand yourself over completely
to your trainer as you would to a physician. Then,
when the contest comes, you get hacked, 2 sometimes
dislocate your hand, twist your ankle, swallow plenty
of sand, get a flogging, 3 and with all this you are some-
times defeated. First consider these things and then
enter n the athlete s career, if you still wish to do
so : otherwise, look you, you will be behaving like the
children who one da X P la 7 at Athletes, another at
gladiators, then sound the trumpet, next dramatize any-

Otherwise

by turns

Book III) Chapter if 47

thing they see and admire. You will be just the same now like
athlete, now gladiator, then philosopher, then orator, children
but nothing with all your soul. Like an ape you imitate
everything you see, and one thing after another takes
your fancy, but nothing that is familiar pleases you, for
you undertake nothing with forethought ; you do not
survey the whole subject and examine it beforehand,
but you take it up half-heartedly and at random. In
the same way some people when they see a philosopher,
and hear some one speaking like Euphrates (and indeed
who can speak as he can ?) wish to be philosophers them
selves.

Man, consider first, what it is you are undertaking : Philo-
then consider your own powers, and what you can bear, s phy,hke
If you want to be a wrestler, look to your shoulders, your things,

thighs, your loins. For different men are born for , mu 1 ^ t 1 n t
. . be lightly

different things. Do you suppose that you can be taken in

a philosopher if you do as you do now ? Do you suppose "and.
that you can eat and drink as you do now, and indulge
your anger and displeasure just as before ? Nay, you must
sit up late, you must work hard, conquer some of your
desires, abandon your own people, be looked down on
by a mere slave, be ridiculed by those who meet you, get
the worst of it in everything in office, in honour, in
justice. When you have carefully considered these
drawbacks, then come to us, if you think fit : if you are
willing to pay this price for peace of mind, freedom,
tranquillity. If not, do not come near : do not be like
the children, first a philosopher, then a tax-collector,
then an orator, than one of Caesar s procurators. These

48 Discourses of Epictetu*

You must callings do not agree. You must be one man, good or
choice be- bad : 7 OU must develop either your rational soul, or

tween the y Our outward endowments, you must be busy either

inner and . , , . . , ,

the outer wltn 7 our mner man, or with things outside, that is,

life. y OU must choose between the position of a philosopher

and that of an ordinary man.

When Galba was killed some one said to Rufus, Now
the world is governed by Providence, isn t it? To
which he answered, Did I base my proof that the world
is governed by Providence upon a casual thing like
Galba s death ? 4

CHAPTER XVI

That we must be cautious in our social relations.

A man can- THE man who mixes with other people a good deal
not mix .. .

in society either for talk or for a wine-party or generally for social

without purposes, must needs either grow like them himself
it or being 3 or convert them to his likeness ; for if you put a quenched
influenced coa i by one t h at j s burning, either it will put the burning
one out, or will catch fire from it. As the risk then is
so serious, you must be cautious in indulging lightly
in the society of the untrained, for it is impossible to
rub up against one who is covered with soot and not
get sooty oneself. What are you going to do, if he talks
about gladiators, about horses, about athletes, worse still
if he talks about men : * So and so is bad , So and so is
good : That was well done , That was ill done : again,
if he mocks or jeers, or shows a malicious humour? Has
any of you the perfect skill of the lyre-player, who takes

Book III) Chapter 16 49

up his lyre and has only to touch the strings to know
which are out of tune and so tune his instrument ? Which
of you has the faculty that Socrates had, of drawing to
his side those who met him in any kind of society? How
could you have ? You must needs be converted by your
untrained companions.

Why then are they stronger than you ? It is because Unless you
these unsound sayings of theirs are based upon judgements, ^m^nn 1
but your fine words come merely from your lips : that ciples you
is why they are without life or vigour, that is why a man JJ rlUbc
may well loathe the sound of your exhortations and your
wretched virtue , which you prate of so glibly. That is
how the untrained get the better of you : for judgement
is powerful everywhere, judgement suffers no defeat.
Therefore, until your fine ideas are firmly fastened in
you, and until you acquire some power to secure them,
I advise you to be cautious in associating with the un
trained : otherwise anything you take note of in the
lecture-room will melt away day by day like wax in the
sun. Therefore go away somewhere far from the sun, While you
as long as your ideas are in this waxen state. For this j 1 ^ 6 k e e ^ rn "
reason philosophers even advise us to leave our own to yourself
countries, because old habits are a drag on us and prevent awa^from
us from beginning to acquire a new set of habits, and we the world
cannot bear men meeting us and saying, Look, So-and-so ^" ur J
is turning philosopher, behaving like this and like that. habits.
On the same principle physicians send away patients
who are ill for long to a new country and a new climate,
and rightly so. Do the same. Adopt new habits : fix
your opinions, exercise yourselves in them. No, you

546.24 II D

fo Discourses of Epictetus

leave the lecture-room to go to a show, a gladiatorial
display, a colonnade, a circus : then you come back here
from them and return there again, and nothing affects
you. So you acquire no habit that gives you distinction ;
you pay no regard or attention to yourself : you do not
watch yourself and ask, How do I deal with the impres
sions that meet me? Naturally, or unnaturally? How
am I to answer their call ? Rightly or wrongly ? Do I warn
things beyond my will that they have no concern with
me ? I say, if you are not yet in this state, then fly from
your former habits, fly from the uneducated, if you wish
to begin at last to be more than ciphers.

CHAPTER XVII

Concerning Providence.

Do not WHEN you accuse Providence, only consider the matter,

accuse an( j you w jjj understand that its action is according to
forgiving reason.

th^wicked ^ ut t ^ ie un J ust man 7 OU Sa 7> * * s better off.

In what ? In money : for in regard to this he has the
advantage over you, because he flatters, is shameless,
is vigilant. Is this surprising? But look whether he
is better off than you in being trustworthy and self-
respecting. You will find that he is not ; where you
are superior to him, you will find that you are better
off. So when some one was indignant once at the pros
perity of Philostorgos, I said, Would you be willing
to share the bed of Suras? May that day never
come I he said. Why then aie you indignant at his

Book ///, Chapter 17 5-1

getting a return for what he sells, or how do you come
to count him blessed who gets what he has by means
that you abhor? Or what is the harm in Providence
giving the better lot to those who are better? Is it not
better to be self-respecting than to be rich?

He agreed.

Man, why are you indignant then at having the better
lot? Therefore always remember the truth and be ready
to apply it that it is a law of nature for the better to
have the advantage of the worse in that in which he is
better, and then you will never be indignant.

But my wife uses me ill.

Very well : if any one asks you, What is the matter?
say, * My wife uses me ill.

Nothing else ?

Nothing.

* My father gives me nothing . . . but need you go
further in your own mind and add this lie, that poverty
is evil? For this reason it is not poverty that we must
cast out, but our judgement about poverty, and so we
shall be at peace.

Providence
gives the
better man
the better
portion.

CHAPTER XVIII

That we must not allow news to disturb us.

WHEN any disturbing news is brought you, bear this
in mind, that news cannot affect anything within the
region of the will. Can any one bring news to you that
you are wrong in your thought or wrong in your will?
Surely not : but only that some one is dead ; what does
D 2

No news
. should
disturb us,
for news
concerns
only what
is outside
the region
of the will.

$2 Discourses of Epictetus

that concern you ? That some one speaks ill of you ; what
does that concern you ? That your father has some design
or other. Against whom ? Is it against your will ? How
can he have? No, it is against your wretched body, or
your wretched property; you are safe, it is not against you.

But the judge pronounces that you are guilty of
impiety. Did not the judges pronounce the same on
Socrates? Is it your concern that the judge pronounced
on you? No. Why then do you trouble yourself?
Your father has a duty of his own, which he must fulfil,
or else lose his character as father, affectionate and gentle.
Do not try to make him lose anything else for that
reason ; for a man never suffers harm except in that
in which he is at fault.

Again, it is your duty to make your defence with
firmness, self-respect, dispassionately : otherwise you lose
your character as son, self-respecting and honourable.
What then? Is the judge free from danger? No:
he too incurs danger just as much. Why then do you
still fear what judgement he will give? What have you
to do with another s evil? Your evil is to defend yourself
badly : that is the only thing you need be careful about.
Whether you are condemned or not condemned is an
other s business, and the evil in the same way is another s.

So-and-so threatens you.

Threatens me? No.

1 He blames you.

It will be for him to see how he does his own business.

* He is going to condemn you unjustly.

All the worse for him !

Booh IIJ, Chapter 19 5-3

CHAPTER XIX

What is the difference between the philosopher and the
uneducated man. 1

THE first difference between the philosopher and the The philo-
uneducated man is that the latter says, Woe is me for ^^ 1S
my child, for my brother, woe is me for my father , guished
and the other, if he is compelled to speak, considers the [gn^-an?
matter and says, Woe is me for myself. For nothing man by
outside the will can hinder or harm the will; it can bkmeon
only harm itself. If then we accept this, and, when things the right
go amiss, are inclined to blame ourselves, remembering per
that judgement alone can disturb our peace and constancy,
I swear to you by all the gods that we have made progress.

Instead of this we have come the wrong way from
the beginning. When we were still children, if we
stumbled when we were star-gazing, the nurse, instead
of rebuking us, struck the stone. What is wrong with the
stone? Was it to move out of the way because of your
child s folly? Again, if (when children) we do not find
something to eat after our bath our attendant does not
check our appetite, but flogs the cook. Man, did we
appoint you to attend on the cook? No, on our child :
correct him, do him good. So even when we are grown
up we appear like children : for it is being a child to be
unmusical in musical things, ungrammatical in grammar,
uneducated in life.

f 4

Discourses of Epictetus

In life, as
in intel-

thins,

on our-
selves.

Thus good

maybe

gamed

from

disease

and death

CHAPTER XX

That benefit may be derived from all outward things.

IN regard to intellectual impressions it is generally
a g re ed that good and evil depend upon us and not upon
external things. No one calls the proposition, It is

^ g d r lt is night bad r Three is four
the greatest of evils. No, they say that knowledge is

good and error evil, so that good may arise even in regard
to what is false ; that is, the knowledge that it is false.
The same ought to be true in practical life.

4 Is health good, and disease evil ?

No, man.

What then?

To use health well is good, to use it ill is evil.

Do you mean that benefit can be gained even from
disease?

By heaven, can it not be gained even from death, aye

or f rom l ame ness ? * Do you think Menoeceus 2 gained

J
but little good by his death ?

* Nay, if any one says that sort of thing, I wish him
a benefit like that Menoeceus gained ! 3

Out upon you, man, did he not preserve the patriot, the
man of great mind, trustworthy and noble? And if
he had lived on, was he not bound to lose all these, and
win their very opposite? Would he not in that case
have assumed the character of the coward, the ignoble,
the hater of his country and lover of his life ? Go to, do
you think he gained but little good by his death ? Well,

Boot III, Chapter 20 55

did Admetus father gain great good by living on so ignobly
and miserably? Did he not die afterwards? I adjure
you by the gods, cease to admire material things, cease
to make yourselves slaves, first of things, and next, for
their sake,of men who can acquire them or take them away.

* Can we then get benefit from these things ? The magic

wand of

From all. Hermes

Even from one who reviles us ? turns

Why, what good does the athlete get from the man who ^ng "to
wrestles with him? The greatest. So my reviler helps gold,
to train me for the contest : he trains me to be patient,
dispassionate, gentle. You deny it ? You admit that the
man who grips my neck and gets my loins and shoulders
into order does me good, and the trainer does well to
bid me lift the pestle with both hands , and the more
severe he is, the more good do I get : and are you going
to tell me that he who trains me to be free from anger
does me no good ? That means that you do not know how
to get any good from humankind.

4 He is a bad neighbour , you say?

Yes, for himself : but he is good for me ; he trains
me to be considerate and fair-minded.

4 A bad father.

Yes, for himself, but not for me. This is the magic
wand of Hermes. Touch what you will , he says,
and it will turn to gold. Nay, bring what you will
and I will turn it to good. Bring illness, bring death,
bring poverty, bring reviling, bring the utmost peril
of the law-court : the wand of Hermes will turn them
all to good purpose !

56 Discourses of Epictetus

1 What will you make of death ?

What else but an adornment for you, what else but
a means for you to show in deed what man is when he
follows the will of nature ?

What will you make of sickness ?

I will show its nature, I will shine in it. I will be firm
and tranquil, I will not natter my physician nor pray for
death. What more do you look for ? Whatever you give
me I will make it a means of blessedness and happiness,
make it dignified and admirable.

That is not your way. You say, See you do not fall
ill, it is an evil. It is like saying, See you do not get an
impression that three is four, it is an evil. Man, how is it
an evil? If I get a right notion of it, it cannot harm me
any more. Will it not rather do me good? If then I
have proper notions of poverty, of sickness, of life without
office, is not that enough for me? Will they not serve
my good? How then should I seek any more for good
and evil in things external?

We accept But we do not act on this. W r e carry these views to

this view, i , J

but we do tne lecture-room door, but no one takes them home : as

not act soon as we leave here we are at war with our slave-boy,
with our neighbours, with those who jeer and laugh at us.
Good luck to the Lesbian, for he convicts me every day
of knowing nothing. 4

Book ///, Chapter 21 5-7

CHAPTER XXI

To those who undertake the profession of teacher with a light
heart.

THOSE who have learnt precepts and nothing more are rj not try
anxious to give them out at once, just as men with weak ^ f tcadl ou
stomachs vomit food. First digest your precepts, and havediges-
then you will not vomit them : undigested, they become te o ^^
vomit indeed, impure and uneatable. Show us that heard,
you have digested them to some purpose, and that your
Governing Principle is changed, as athletes can show
their shoulders, as a result of their training and eating,
and as those who have acquired the arts can show the
result of their learning. The carpenter does not come
and say, Hear me discourse on carpentry , but he under
takes a contract and builds a house and so shows that he
has acquired the art. Do you likewise : eat as a man,
drink as a man, adorn yourself, marry, get children, live
a citizen s life ; endure revilings, bear with an incon
siderate brother, bear with a father, a son, a travelling
companion. Show us that you can do this, and then L ive your

we shall see that you have in truth learnt something precepts

, instead of

from the philosophers. Not you : you say, Come and i ectu ring

hear me reading out comments ! Away with you, look on them,
for some one to disgorge your vomit on.

I assure you I will expound Chrysippus doctrines to
you as no one else can. I will break up his language and
make it quite clear. I will add, it may be, a touch of
Antipater s or Archedemus verve.

How can
you teach
what you
have not
learnt
yourself ?

You are
setting up
mysteries
of your
own with
out proper
prepara
tion.

5*8 Discourses of Epictetus

What ! is it for this that young men are to leave their
countries and their parents, that they may come and hear
you expounding petty points of language ? Ought they
not to return ready to bear with others and work with
them, tranquil and free from tumult, furnished with
a provision for life s journey, which will enable them to
bear what befalls them well and to adorn themselves
thereby ? And how are you to impart to them what you
do not possess yourself ? For your sole occupation from
the first has been this how you are to resolve syllogisms
and variable arguments, and arguments concluding with
a question.

1 But So-and-so gives lectures, why should not I ?

Slave, you cannot do this off-hand, and in a random
fashion. It demands mature years, and a certain way
of life, and the guidance of God.

You say no : but no one sails from harbour without
sacrificing to the gods and invoking their help, and men
do not sow at random, but only when they have invoked
Demeter ; and when a man has laid his hand to a task
so momentous as this without the gods help, will he be
secure and will those who come to him be fortunate
in their coming? Man, what are you doing but making
the Mysteries common? You say, There is a shrine at
Eleusis, lo, here is one also : there is a hierophant there :
I too will make a hierophant : there is a herald there, I
too will appoint a herald : there is a torch-bearer there,
I too will have a torch-bearer : there are torches there,
so there are here : the cries are the same. What differ
ence is there between our doings and the Mysteries ?

Book HI, Chapter 21 T9

Most impious of men, is there no difference? The
benefit of the Mysteries depends on proper place and
time: one must approach with sacrifice and prayer, with
body purified and mind ready and disposed to approach
holy rites and ancient sanctities. Only so do the Mys
teries bring benefit, only so do we arrive at the belief that
all these things were established by those of old for our
education and the amendment of our life. But you
publish and divulge them out of place and out of season,
without sacrifices or purifying : you have not the dress
which the hierophant should have, nor the proper hair,
nor the fillet : you have not the right voice nor age, you
have not lived pure as he has, but you have merely
learnt off the words and say, The words have a holy
power in themselves.

You must approach the task in another fashion : it The
is momentous and full of mystery, not a chance gift
which any one can command. The care of the young me ntous
demands, it may be, more than wisdom : yes, by Zeus, andje-
one must have a certain readiness and special fitness, high quali
and a certain habit of body, and above all the counsel f
of God advising one to discharge this duty, as He coun
selled Socrates to examine men, and Diogenes to rebuke
men in royal fashion, and Zeno to instruct and lay down
precepts. You open a doctor s consulting-room with
nothing but some drugs, without ever taking the trouble
to acquire a knowledge of when or how they are applied.
See, that s his remedy, eye-salve (you say) : I have
that too. Have you also the faculty of using it ? Do you
know when and how and to whom it will do good?

tfo Discourses of Epictetus

Why then do you play at hazard with matters of highest
moment, why are you reckless, why do you take in hand
a task unsuited to your powers ? Leave it to those who

If you can do it and do it with distinction.

attempt it -^ , .

off-hand JJo not brm g disgrace upon philosophy by your personal

you will act, nor join those who disparage the profession : but

dishonour ., , ,

philo- " tne study ot precepts really attracts you, sit quietly and

sophy. turn them over in your mind, but never call yourself
a philosopher nor allow any one else to do so, but say :
He is in error : I am unchanged ; my will, my impulses,
my assent, are what they were, and, in a word, I have
not advanced from my position, but deal with impres
sions as before. So think, so speak about yourself, if you
would think aright. But if this is beyond you, then play
at hazard and do as you are doing, for you will be acting
in character.

CHAPTER XXII

On the calling of the Cynic. 1

of h the alling WHEN one of his acquaintance, who seemed inclined

Cynic must to tne Cynic School, asked him what should be the

jlJ- be character of the Cynic, and what was the primary

assumed, conception of the school, he said, We will consider

it at leisure : but this much I can tell you, that he who

undertakes so great an enterprise without God s help

is under God s wrath, and has no other wish but to

disgrace himself in the public eye, for in a well-managed

house a man does not come forward and say to himself,

I ought to be steward : for, if he does, the master

of the house takes notice, and when he sees him swaggering

Book ///, Chapter 22 61

and ordering people about, he drags him away and gives
him the lash. So it happens also in this great City of the

Universe. Here, too, there is a Master of the House who For each

... . , creature

assigns each thing its place.

* You are the sun : your faculty is to revolve and make place al-

, j . lotted to

the year and the seasons, to give growth and increase him>

to the fruits, to rouse the winds and bring them to rest
and to give temperate warmth to men s bodies ; go,
travel on your course and so move all things from the
greatest to the least.

You are a calf : when a lion appears, do your part, or
you will suffer for it. You are a bull, come near and
fight : for this is your proper portion and lies within
your powers. You can lead the army against Ilion : be
Agamemnon. You can fight Hector in single combat :
be Achilles. But if Thersites came forward and claimed
the command he would not get it, or if he got it he
would be shamed before a multitude of witnesses.

You, like the rest, must give the matter careful thought : The Cynic

. , j is not

it is not what you think. I wear a coarse cloak now and made by

shall do so then, I sleep hard now and shall still do so, his clothes
I shall take to myself a wallet and a staff and begin outwar( j
to go about begging and reviling those I meet, and if behaviour.
I see any one using pitch-plasters, 2 or with his hair
finely dressed, or walking in scarlet, I shall rebuke him.
If that is your impression of the Cynic s calling, give
it a wide berth : do not come near it, for you have no
concern with it ; but if you have a true impression of
it and still deem yourself not unworthy, then consider
what a great enterprise you are taking in hand.

The Cynic
must have
a pure
heart, for
his only
defence
is self-
respect.

The Cynic
must rely
upon his
reason
alone.

62 Discourses of Epictetus

First, you must show a complete change in your
conduct, and must cease to accuse God or man : you must
utterly put away the will to get, 3 and must will to avoid
only what lies within the sphere of your will : you must
harbour no anger, wrath, envy, pity : a fair maid, a fair
name, favourites, or sweet cakes, must mean nothing
to you. For you must know that other men, when they
indulge in such things, have the protection of their walls
and houses and darkness. There are many things to hide
them : one, may be, has closed the door, or has set some
one to guard his chamber : If any one comes, say, " He
is out " or " He is busy." But the Cynic, instead of all
these, should have self-respect for his shelter : if he has
not that, he will be naked and exposed and put to shame.
This is his house, his door, this his chamber-guards,
this his darkness : for he must not wish to conceal
anything that is his : if he does, he disappears ; he loses
the true Cynic, the free open-air spirit, he has begun
to fear outward things, he has begun to have need of
concealment, and when he would hide himself he cannot ;
for he has no place or means to hide himself. But if
by chance the public teacher, the pedagogue is caught
erring 4 what must be his feelings ! Is it possible with these
fears before one to be confident with one s whole mind,
and command other men? It is impracticable, im
possible.

First then you must make your Governing Principle
pure, and hold fast this rule of life, ( Henceforth my mind
is the material I have to work on, as the carpenter has
his timber and the shoemaker his leather : my business is

Booh III, Chapter 22 63

to deal with my impressions aright. My wretched body
is nothing to me, its parts are nothing to me. Death?
Let it come when it will, whether to my whole body or
to a part of it. Exile? Can one be sent into exile
beyond the Universe? One cannot. Wherever I go,
there is the sun, there is the moon, there are the stars,
dreams, auguries, conversation with the gods.

The true Cynic when he has ordered himself thus He is a
cannot be satisfied with this : he must know that he is J^^Q
sent as a messenger from God to men concerning things
good and evil, to show them that they have gone astray
and are seeking the true nature of good and evil where
it is not to be found, and take no thought where it
really is : he must realize, in the words of Diogenes
when brought before Philip after the battle of Chaeronea,
that he is sent * to reconnoitre . 5 For indeed the Cynic
has to discover what things are friendly to men and
what are hostile : and when he has accurately made
his observations he must return and report the truth,
not driven by fear to point out enemies where there are
none, nor in any other way disturbed or confounded by
his impressions.

He must then be able, if chance so offer, to come and must
forward on the tragic stage, and with a loud voice utter ^ n
the words of Socrates : Oh race of men, whither are men
ye hurrying? What are you doing, miserable creatures?
You wander up and down like blind folk : you have
left the true path and go away on a vain errand, you seek
peace and happiness elsewhere, where it is not to be
found, and believe not when another shows the way.

against
looking for
happiness
in the
wrong
place.

The true
cause of
misery is
neglect of
the reason

64 Discourses of Epictetus

Why do you seek it outside ? Do you seek it in the body ?
It is not there. If you doubt, look at Myron, look at
Ophellius. In property? It is not there. If you
disbelieve, look at Croesus, look at the rich men of
to-day, and see how full their life is of lamentation. In
office? It is not there. If it were, then those who have
twice or thrice been consuls should be happy, but they
are not. Whom shall we trust on this matter? Shall
we trust you who look upon their fortune from outside
and are dazzled by the outward show, or the men them
selves? What do they say? Listen to them, when they
lament and sigh, and think their condition to be more
miserable and perilous just because of their consulships
and glory and distinction. Shall you find it in royalty?
It is not there. If it were, Nero would have been happy,
and Sardanapalus. Why, even Agamemnon was not
happy, though he was a finer fellow than Sardanapalus
and Nero. When the rest were snoring what did he do ?
4 Many hairs he plucked by the roots from his head ,
and what did he say himself? Thus do I wander and
am in agony of spirit, and my heart leaps from my breast?
Miserable man, what is wrong with your affairs? Is
it your property? No. Your body? No. You have
store of gold and copper \ What is wrong with you
then? You have neglected and ruined that in you
whatever it be wherewith we exercise the will to get
and to avoid, the impulse to act and not to act. How
have you neglected it? It is ignorant of the true nature
of the good to which it is born and of the nature of evil,
and of what concerns it and what does not. And so

Book III y Chapter 22 <Sy

when something that does not concern it is in bad case,
it says, Woe is me, the Hellenes are in peril ! Oh
miserable mind of man, alone neglected and uncared for !

* They are going to perish, slain by the Trojans !

And if the Trojans slay them not, will they not die?

Yes, but not all at once.

What does it matter then? If death is evil, it is
equally evil, whether men die alone or together. Will
anything else happen, but that body and soul will be
separated ?

Nothing.

And if the Hellenes perish, is the door closed to you?
Is not death within your power ?

It is.

Why do you mourn then? Bravo ! a king indeed, and
holding the sceptre of Zeus ! 6

A king cannot be miserable any more than God can
be. What are you then ? A shepherd in very truth,
for you weep just like shepherds when a wolf carries
off one of their sheep : yes and these whom you rule
are sheep too. And why did you come here? Was
there any danger to your will to get or your will to avoid,
your impulse for action and against action?

No, he says, but my brother s poor wife was
carried off.

It is a great gain to be robbed of an adulterous wife.

Are we then to suffer the scorn of the Trojans?

What are they? Are they wise or foolish? If they are
wise, why do you make war on them? If they are
foolish, what does it matter to you?

546.24 II E

66 Discourses of Epictetus

The good In what then does the good reside, since it is not in
b^und these things? Tell us, Sir Messenger and Spy.
outside us. It is where you think not, and will not seek for it.
For if you had wished you would have found it in your
selves and would not have wandered outside and would
not have sought the things of others as your own. Turn
again to yourselves., learn to understand the primary
notions which you have. Of what nature do you imagine
the good to be?

* Tranquil, fraught with happiness, unhindered.
Nay, but do you not imagine it as naturally great?
Do you not imagine it as precious ? Do you not imagine
it as free from harm? I ask you then, in what subject
must we seek for that which is tranquil and unhindered ?
In the slavish or the free?
In the free.

Your poor body then, is it slavish or free ?
We know not.

Do you not know that it is a slave to fever, gout,
ophthalmia, dysentery, the tyrant, fire, sword, everything
stronger than itself?
* Yes, it is a slave.

How then can any part of the body be still free from
hindrance? How can that which is naturally dead
earth and clay be great or precious? What then?
Have you no element of freedom?
Perhaps none.

Why, who can compel you to assent to what appears
false?

No one.

Booh ///, Chapter 22 67

And who to refuse assent to what appears true?
No one.

Here then you see that there is something in you which
is naturally free. What man among you can have will to
get or to avoid, impulse to act or not to act, or can prepare
or put an object before himself, without conceiving an
impression of what is profitable or fitting ?
1 No one.

Here too then you have free and unhindered action.
Miserable men, develop this, set your minds on this, seek
your good here.

( Nay, but how is it possible for a man who has nothing, The true
naked, without home or hearth, in squalor, without a slave, C y nic is .
without a city, to live a tranquil life ? de^enden

Lo, God has sent you one who shall show indeed that
it is possible. Look at me, I have no house or city,
property or slave : I sleep on the ground, I have no wife
or children, no miserable palace, but only earth and sky
and one poor cloak. Yet what do I lack? Am I not quit
of pain and fear, am I not free? When has any of you
ever seen me failing to get what I will to get, or falling
into what I will to avoid ? When did I blame God or man,
when did I accuse any? Has any of you seen me with
a gloomy face? How do I meet those of whom you stand
in fear and awe? Do I not meet them as slaves? Who that
sees me but thinks that he sees his king and master?
There you have the true Cynic s words ; this is his charac
ter, and scheme of life. No, you say, what makes the Cynic The Cynic
is a little wallet, and a staff and a big pair of jaws ; to who is
devour or hoard everything you give him or to revile out oulwardly

68 Discourses of Epictetus

does not o f season those who meet him, or to make a show of his
fine shoulder !

of his task. Is this the spirit in which you mean to take in hand so
great an enterprise? Take a mirror first, look at your
shoulders, take note of your loins and your thighs. Man,
it is an Olympic contest you are about to enter your name
for, not a miserable, make-believe match. At Olympia you
cannot simply be beaten and leave the grounds ; in the
first place you must be disgraced in the sight of all the
world, not before men of Athens only or of Lacedaemon
or of Nicopolis ; in the next place the man who lightly
enters the lists 7 must be flogged, but before he is flogged
he must suffer thirst and scorching heat and swallow
plenty of dust. Think it over more carefully, know your
self, inquire of heaven, attempt not the task without God.
If He advise you, know that He wishes you to become
The Cynic great or to receive many stripes. For this too is a very
must be ne stran d WOV en into the Cynic s lot : he must suffer
suffer pa- strokes like an ass and love the very men that strike him

tiently the ag though he were the father or brother of all.
discipline , . ,

of Zeus. No, no ; if a man nogs you, you must stand in the

midst and cry aloud, * Caesar, what pains I suffer under
your rule of peace ! Let us go to the proconsul.

What has the Cynic to do with Caesar or proconsul or
any one else but Zeus, Who has sent him upon earth, and
Whom he serves ? Does he call upon any one but Him ? Is
he not convinced that whatever pains he suffers are God s
training of him ? Why, Heracles, when he was being trained
by Eurystheus, did not count himself wretched, but
fulfilled all his commands without shrinking, and shall this

Booh III, Chapter 22 69

man, who is under the training and discipline of Zeus, cry
aloud in indignation, if lie be worthy to carry the staff of
Diogenes ? Listen to what Diogenes said when the fever He must
was on him to those who passed by : * Base creatures, he L ltate
said, will you not stay? You go all that way toOlympia to whore-
see athletes killed or matched in battle, and vet have vou J oic ^\ n

hardship,

no wish to see a battle between fever and a man? I sup
pose you think a man like that would have been very likely
to accuse God, Who sent him, of using him hardly? Nay,
he was proud of his distresses, and was fain to be the
spectacle of passers-by. On what ground is he to accuse
God? That he is living a seemly life, and that he is dis
playing his virtue in a clearer light? 8 But what does he and
say of poverty, of death, of pain ? How did he compare f^g^t
his own happiness with that of the Great King? Nay, happier
he did not so much as think it comparable. For where ~ ln
there are tumults, and distresses, and fears, where the will King s.
to get is unfulfilled, and the will to avoid is foiled, a
world of envies and jealousies, how can happiness find
a way there? But wherever there are unsound judge
ments, there all these passions must be.

And when the young man asked Epictetus, whether, if The Cynic
he fell sick and a friend asked him to come to his house "^f [ lot
to be tended in his sickness, he was to consent, he said, friendship
Where will you find me a Cynic s friend ? For he must f^fone
be another like himself, that he may be worthy to be who can
counted as his friend ; he must share with him the
sceptre and the kingdom and be a worthy minister, if he
is to be deemed worthy of his friendship, as Diogenes was
worthy of Antisthenes, and Crates of Diogenes. Or do

70 Discourses of Epictetus

you think that if he salutes him as he comes near that makes
him his friend, and the Cynic will count him worthy to
receive him in his house? Wherefore, if this is your
opinion and such your thoughts, look round rather for
a fine dunghill to have your fever on, one that shelters
you from the north wind, to save you from a chill. But
you seem to me to want to get away into some one s house
for a time and eat your fill. How comes it then that
you should take in hand so great a matter ?
A Cynic Will the Cynic , said his questioner, accept marriage

may marry ^ children as matters of prime importance ?

in a city of ...

wise men, If, he replied, you grant me a city of wise men, it

may be that no one will lightly adopt the Cynic s calling.

For what reason should he take upon him this manner

of life? But if we assume that he does, there will be

nothing to prevent him from marrying and getting

children ; for his wife will be like himself, and his wife s

father will be like him, and his children will be brought

but not in up on these lines. But in the present constitution of

this the world which is that of the battlefield it is a

world of question whether the Cynic should not be undistracted

conflict, entirely, devoted to the service of God, able to go to
where /J . , c

marriage and fro among men, not tied down to acts that bent

means that private occasions, nor involved in personal relations,
tracted which if he violates he will cease to keep his character
from his as a goO( marij an( j jf ^ e maintains them he will destroy
the Messenger and Spy and Herald of the gods that is
in him. For he must show services to his father-in-law,
and render them to his wife s other relations and to her
self ; and so he is reduced to being a sick nurse or a general

Booh Illy Chapter 22 71

provider. Not to speak of other things, he must needs
have a saucepan, to make water hot for the baby, to wash
him in the bath ; when his wife has had a child he must
provide wool and oil for her, and a bed and a cup the
vessels mount up at once not to mention other business
and distraction. What becomes now of that king of ours
who watches every interest of the public,

Trusted with clans and full of many cares,

whose duty it is to watch others, those who have married
and got children, to see which of them uses his wife well,
which ill, who is quarrelsome, which house is prospering
and which is not, going about like a physician and feeling
men s pulses ? You have a fever, you a headache, you
the gout ; I prescribe fasting for you, food for you, no
bath for you ; you need the surgeon s knife, you the
cautery. How can the man who is involved in the acts You take
appropriate to private life find leisure? Must he not
procure clothes for the children? Must he not send them
to the schoolmaster with their tablets and note-books, and
provide them with beds, for they cannot be Cynics from
their mother s womb? If he does not provide for them,
it were better to fling them aside as soon as born rather
than kill them thus. See to what a pass we bring our
Cynic, how we take away his kingdom !

Yes, but Crates married.

The case you mention was a special one and a love-
match, and you have to assume a wife who was a Crates
herself. Our inquiry is concerned with ordinary marriages
which are liable to distraction ; and from this point of

72 Discourses of Epictetus

view we do not find that in these circumstances marriage
has a primary claim on the Cynic.

How then , says he, f will he keep society going ?
To rear By God, do you think that those who bring into the

children is wor j ( j two or three ugly little squeakers to fill their place
not the fo J

only public do men greater benefit than those who exercise oversight,

>ervice. gQ ar ag t k ev can ^ OV er all men, to see what they do, how

they live, what they attend to, what they undutifully

neglect ? Do you think the Thebans reaped greater benefit

from those who left them children than from Epaminon-

das who died childless ? Did Priam who begat fifty sons,

rascals all, or Danaus or Aeolus contribute more to

The society than Homer? What? Shall a man abstain from

Cynic s marrying or getting children for the sake of acting as

is worth general or writing a treatise, and be thought to have

this price. g Qt a a r ^ch^gg f or hi s childlessness, and shall the

kingdom of the Cynic be thought no compensation?
We must Perhaps we do not realize his greatness nor picture at
* ts true wortn tne character of Diogenes : we only look

ideal at the Cynics of to-day,

Cynic, not

the frauds j) ogs O j t fo ta ^ g Uar dians of the gate,

who copy those of old in nothing, except perhaps in dirty
habits.

If we knew what a Cynic was we should not be moved
or astonished at his not marrying or getting children.
Man, he is parent to all men, he has men for his sons,
women for his daughters ; he approaches all and treats
all in the spirit of a father. Do you think he reviles
those he meets because he is a busybody? He does it as

Booh HI, Chapter 22 73

a father, as a brother, and as servant of Zeus, the Father
of all.

Nay, ask me if you think well, whether he will take His politics

. . . are some-

part in politics. thing

Fool, do you look for a higher form of politics than those greater
he handles now? Is he to come forward and address an J^ranguing
Athenian assembly on revenues or ways and means, when the people,
he ought to be discoursing to all mankind, alike to
Athenians, to Corinthians, and to Romans, not about ways
and means or revenues or peace and war, but about
happiness and unhappiness, good fortune and bad fortune,
slavery and freedom. When a man is engaged in politics
of such moment, do you ask me if he is to be a politician?
Nay, ask me if he is to hold office. Fool, what office is
greater than this that he holds ?

Yet such an one has need also of a body of a certain The Cynic
quality; for if he come forward with a consumptive jjjj^|
figure, thin and pale, his testimony no longer carries the vigorous
same force. For he must not only display mental qualities
to convince the lay mind that it is possible to be good
and noble without the things that they set store by, but
his body must show that the plain and simple life of the
open air does no harm to the body Look you, how
my body and I bear witness to this. As indeed Diogenes
did ; for he went about with the glow of health on his
face, and attracted the masses by his bodily presence.
But a Cynic who excites pity is like a beggar ; every one
turns from him and takes offence at him ; for he ought
not to appear dirty, lest he should scare men away thereby ;
nay his very squalor should be cleanly and attractive.

a gracious
manner,
and a
ready wit.

Above all,
his reason
should be
unstained,
if he is to
concern
himself
with the
affairs of
all men.

74 Discourses of Epictetus

Further, the Cynic ought to have great natural grace
and quickness of wit (without this he is a driveller, nothing
more) that he may be able to give a ready and apposite
answer to each question that arises : as Diogenes answered
him who said, Are you the Diogenes who disbelieves in
the gods ? by saying, How can I be when I think the
gods hate you ? or again, when Alexander stood over
him as he slept and said :

Sleep all night long becomes not men of counsel,
replied, still in his sleep,

Trusted with clans and full of many cares.

But above all, his Governing Principle must be purer
than the sun ; otherwise he must needs be a gambler and
a reckless person ; he will be rebuking others when he is
involved in evil himself. See what this means. The kings
and tyrants of this world have their armed bodyguard
which enables them to rebuke certain persons and to punish
those who do wrong even though they are wicked them
selves, but the Cynic s conscience takes the place of arms
and bodyguard and furnishes him with this authority. 9
When he sees that he has watched and toiled for men,
and that his sleep has been pure, and that when sleep
leaves him he is purer still, and that all the thoughts of
his heart have been those of one who is a friend and
servant of the gods, and who shares the rule of Zeus, and
that everywhere he is ready to say :

Lead me, O Zeus, and lead me, Destiny,
and If thus the gods would have it, be it so then, I ask,

Eooh III, Chapter 22 7f

why should he not have confidence to speak freely to his
brothers, to his children, and in a word to his kinsfolk ?

Therefore the man whose mind is thus disposed is not
fussy nor impertinent, for when he is inspecting the
affairs of men, he is concerned with what is not another s
but his own, unless you are to call the general too a busy- Otherwise
body, when he inspects and reviews and keeps watch J-J^JJai^
over his soldiers, and punishes those who offend against rejected,
discipline. But if you rebuke others when you are carry
ing a nice cake hid under your arm, I shall say to you,
* Would not you rather go off into a corner and eat what*
you have stolen? What have you to do with other men s
concerns ? Who are you ? Are you the bull or the queen
bee ? Show me the tokens of your royalty, like those which
nature gives her. But if you are only a drone claiming the
kingdom of the bees, do not you think that your fellow
citizens will make an end of you, as the bees do to the
drones ?

r The Cynic must have the spirit of patience in such The Cynic

J , i f r must be

measure as to seem to the multitude as unfeeling as a unmove( j

stone. Reviling or blows or insults are nothing to him ; by the
he has given his bit of a body to any one who will, to treat of his
it as he pleases. For he remembers that the inferior inferiors,
must needs be conquered by the superior, where it is
inferior, and the body is inferior to the multitude, the
weaker inferior to them that are stronger. He therefore
never enters upon this contest, where he may be con
quered, but at once resigns what does not belong to him
and does not claim power over slaves. But when it But his
comes to the will and the power of dealing with impres-

76 Discourses of Epictetus

effort is sions then you will see what eyes he has, so that you will

the region sa ^ Argus was kHnd ^ n comparison. Is there reckless

of the will, assent, is there vain impulse, will to get which fails, will

to avoid which is foiled, purpose incomplete, blame, dis

paragement or envy? It is on these he concentrates his

attention and energy ; for the rest he snores and takes

his ease, and all is peace. No one robs him of his will or

masters that.

Do they master his bit of a body?
Yes.

* And his bit of property?
Yes.

And offices and honours?

What does he care for these? When any one tries to
frighten him with these fears he says to him, Get away,
look for children to frighten. They think masks fearsome,
but I know that they are made of pot, and have nothing
inside.

The So momentous is the profession you are thinking of.

task 10 Before God I beg you to wait if you will, and look first to
demands your equipment ; for mark what Hector says to Andro-
great gifts. mache . <Q Q rat h er to t ^ e house*, he says, and weave :

War shall be men s concern,
All men s, and, mine in chief.

So truly did he realize his own endowment and her
incapacity.

Booh HI, Chapter 23

CHAPTER XXI II

To those who read and discourse for display.

FIRST say to yourself, what manner of man you want You must
to be ; when you have settled this, act upon it in all you Jj^ t y OU
do ; for in pretty nearly all pursuits we see that done, want to
Athletes first decide what they want to be, and then am
they act accordingly. If a man is to be a long-distance
runner, he takes the diet, the walking, the rubbing, and
the gymnastic suited to that ; if he is going in for the
short course, he alters all this to suit his aim, if for the
pentathlon he alters his training still more. You will find
the same done in the arts. If you are a carpenter you
will have this kind of work ; if a smith, you will have that
kind. For in everything we do, if we have no standard
to go by, we shall do it ineffectively ; if we use the wrong
standard, we shall fail completely.

Now we have two standards to go by, one general and
one special. The first is that we must act as human
beings. What does this include? We must not act like
a sheep, at random, nor like a brute, destructively. The
special standard is relative to each man s occupation and
purpose. The lyre-player must act as a lyre-player, the
carpenter as a carpenter, the philosopher as :. philosopher,
the orator as an orator. When therefore you say, Come
and hear me lecturing to you , see to it first that you are
not acting without aim. Then if you find you have
a standard, see to it that it is the right one.

7 8 Discourses of Epictetus

If you wish Do you wish to do men good or to receive compliments ?

to do men At once vou ] iave t ] ie answer What account do I take

good, you

must show of the praise of the multitude ?

by your An excellent answer. Nor does the musician heed the
judge- . . -

ments multitude, so far as he is a true musician, nor the geome
trician. Do you wish then to do good? What are you
aiming at ? Tell us, that we too may run to your lecture-
room. Now can any one do good to others unless he has
received good himself? No, no more than the man who
is no carpenter can help others in carpentry, or he who is
no shoemaker in shoemaking.
that you Would you really know then whether you have received

fitedb* " an7 g d? Produce y ur judgements, my philosopher.

your train- What does the will to get profess ? Success in getting.

ing- And the will to avoid ? Escape from what it avoids. Well,

do we fulfil their profession? Tell me the truth, and if

you lie, I will tell you myself. When lately your audience

were slack in their attendance, and did not applaud you,

you went away in low spirits. Again when you were lately

praised you went round and said to every one, What did

you think of me ?

I thought you wonderful, master, as I live.

* How did I give that passage ?

Which do you mean ?

Where I described Pan and the Nymphs.

Superlatively.

And yet you tell me that in respect to that will to get
and will to avoid you behave in a natural way. Go to, get
some one else to believe you ! Did you not lately praise
So-and-so against your real opinion? Did you not natter

Book 111, Chapter 23 79

So-and-so, the senator s son? Did you want your children
to be like that ?
Heaven forbid !

Why then did you praise him and pay him attention ?

* He is a young man of parts, and ready to listen to
arguments.

How do you know that?

He admires me.

Now you have stated the true reason. After all, what Do not
do you think? Do not these very admirers secretly despise flatter
you ? When a man who is conscious of no good action or hearers,
good thought meets a philosopher who says, Here is
a genius, frank and unspoilt , do not you think he is
bound to say to himself, This man wants something from
me ? Tell me, what sign of genius has he displayed ?
Why, he has been with you all this long time, he has
heard you discoursing, he has heard you lecturing. Has
he grown modest ? Has he returned to himself ? l Has
he realized what misery he is in? Has he cast away his
vanity? Is he looking for some one to teach him?

He is.

Some one to teach him how he should live? No, you
fool, but how he should speak, for that is what he ad
mires you for. .Listen and hear what he says: This
man is a perfect artist in style, his style is much finer than
Dio s. That s a different thing altogether. Does he say,
This man has self-respect, he is trustworthy and tran
quil-minded ? If he did say so, I should say, * Since he
is trustworthy, tell me what you mean by this " trust
worthy " man , and if he could not answer I should

8 o Discourses of Epictetus

add, * First learn what your words mean, and then
speak/

If you are in this sorry state, gaping for men to praise
you, and counting your audience, do you really want to
do others good?

To-day I had a much larger audience.

Yes, it was a large one.

I suppose five hundred.

Nonsense ! put them at a thousand.

Dio never had so large an audience.

How is that ?

Why, they have a fine turn for understanding argu
ments,

Study the Noble teaching, master, can move even a stone.
spirit of There you have the words of a philosopher ! 2 These are
and not his the feelings of one who is to benefit mankind, there you
sty e have a man who has listened to reason, who has read the
teaching of Socrates in the spirit of Socrates, and not as
so much Lysias or Isocrates ! " I have often wondered
by what arguments " no, " by what argument " the
singular is smoother than the plural. 3 Did you ever read
the words except as one reads paltry songs? If you had
read them properly you would not have dwelt on these
points of language, but would rather have studied the
passage, Anytus and Meletus can kill me, but they cannot
harm me , and this, * My nature is such that I cannot
attend to my affairs, but only to the argument which
appears best to me when I reflect. That was why no
one ever heard Socrates say, I know and teach ; no,
he sent one man here, another there ; and therefore they

Book ///, Chapter 23 81

used to come to him, asking to be introduced by him
to philosophers, and he took and introduced them.
No, of course, as he went with them he would say,

* Come and hear me discourse to-day in the house 4 of
Quadratus !

What am I to hear from you? Do you want to display The true
to me your fine composition? Man, you compose well philo-
enough, and what good does it do you ? should

Do praise me, I beg. draw his

. , audience

What do you mean by praise : by force of

1 Say " Bravo ! " to me, or " Marvellous ! " character

Very well, I say it ; but if praise is what philosophers
put in the category of the good, what praise can I give
you ? If correct speaking is a good thing, teach me that,
and I will praise you.

* What ? are you bound to dislike listening to fine
oratory?

Heaven forbid ! I do not dislike listening to a harp-
player, but am I therefore bound to stand and play the
harp? Hear what Socrates says, It would not be seemly
for me, sir, at this time of life, to come before you like
a youth framing fine phrases. Like a youth , he says.
Yes, it is indeed a pretty art, to select fine phrases and
put them together, and then come forward and read them
or recite them with ability, and as one reads to add,

* There are not many that can understand what I say, as
sure as you hope to live.

Does the philosopher invite men to a lecture? Does he
not draw to him those who are going to get good from
him, as the sun draws sustenance to itself? No physician

546.24 II F

8 2 Discourses of Epictetus

worth the name invites men to come and be healed by
him, though I hear that in Rome to-day physicians do
invite them ; in my day physicians were called in by
their patients.

I bid you to come and hear that you are in a bad way,
that you attend to everything rather than what you
should attend to, and that you do not know what is good
and what is evil, and are unhappy and miserable.

A fine invitation !

Surely, unless the philosopher s words force home this
and not 7 r r .

by fine lesson, they are dead and so is he. Rufus was wont to
phrases. say ^ < jf you n( j l e i sure to praise me, my words are spoken
in vain. Wherefore he spoke in such fashion that each
of us as he sat there thought he was himself accused :
such was his grip of men s doings, so vividly did he set each
man s ills before his eyes. The philosopher s school,
sirs, is a physician s consulting-room. You must leave it
in pain, not in pleasure ; for you come to it in disorder,
one with a shoulder put out, another with an ulcer,
another with fistula, another with headache. And
then you would have me sit there and utter fine little
thoughts and phrases, that you may leave me with praise
on your lips, and carrying away, one his shoulder, one
his head, one his ulcer, one his fistula, exactly in the
state he brought them to me. Is it for this you say that
young men are to go abroad and leave their parents and
friends and kinsmen and property, that they may say, Ye
gods ! to you when you deliver your phrases ? Was this
what Socrates did, or Zeno, or Cleanthes ?
You ask, Is there not the hortatory style?

Book ///, Chapter 23 83

Yes no one denies it just as there is the style for The true
proof and the style for teaching. Who has ever named hortatory
a fourth style along with them, the ostentatious? What hold on
is the hortatory style ? The power of showing to one and character,
to many what a sordid struggle they are plunged in, and
how they pay regard to everything rather than to what
they want. For they want what tends to happiness, but
they seek it in the wrong place. Is it for this that you
must set up a thousand benches 5 and invite men to come
and hear you, and then mount the rostrum in a fine robe
or an elegant cloak and describe the death of Achilles?
Cease, by all your gods, to dishonour noble words and
subjects, so far as in you lies. Nothing is more effective
in exhortation than when the speaker makes plain to his
hearers that he has need of them. 6 Tell me, in all your
readings or discourses, did you ever make one of your
audience anxious about himself or rouse him to a sense of
his position? Did you ever send one away saying, The
philosopher has got a good grip of me : I must act so no
more ? Why, even if your fame is at its height, he
only says to some one, * A pretty description that about
Xerxes ! while another puts in, No, the battle of
Thermopylae. Is this what a philosopher s lecture
comes to?

F2

84 Discourses of Epictetus

CHAPTER XXIV

That we ought not to spend our feelings on things beyond
our power.

Men s un- IF a thing goes against another s nature, you must not

happiness t ^ -^ ag ey ^ or QU . f or vou are b orn not to share

is their J J

own fault, humiliation or evil fortune, but to share good fortune.

And if a man is unfortunate, remember that his misfortune

is his own fault ; for God created all men for happiness

and peace of mind. To this end He gave men resources,

giving each man some things for his own, and some not

for his own, things subject to hindrance and deprivation

and compulsion not for his own, but t