Epictetus - The Enchiridion

November 20, 2020 • 7,853 words

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1.1. Some things are within our power, while others are not. Within our
power are opinion, motivation, desire, aversion, and, in a word,
whatever is of our own doing; not within our power are our body, our
property, reputation, office, and, in a word, whatever is not of our
own doing.

The things that are within our power are by nature free,
and immune to hindrance and obstruction, while those that are not
within our power are weak, slavish, subject to hindrance, and not our
own.
Remember, then, that if you regard that which is by nature
slavish as being free, and that which is not your own as being your
own, you’ll have cause to lament, you’ll have a troubled mind, and
you’ll find fault with both gods and human beings; but if you regard
only that which is your own as being your own, and that which isn’t
your own as not being your own (as is indeed the case), no one will
ever be able to coerce you, no one will hinder you, you’ll find fault
with no one, you’ll accuse no one, you’ll do nothing whatever
against your will, you’ll have no enemy, and no one will ever harm
you because no harm can affect you.
Since you’re aiming, then, at such great things, remember that
you’ll have to exert no small effort to attain them, and that
you’ll have to renounce some things altogether, while postponing
others for the present. But if you want to have both these things and
public office and riches too, you’ll quite possibly not even gain the
latter because you’re aiming at the former too, and you’ll
certainly fail to get the former, through which alone happiness and
freedom can be secured.
Practise, then, from the very beginning to say to every disagreeable
impression, ‘You’re an impression and not at all what you appear to
be.’ Then examine it and test it by these rules that you possess, and
first and foremost by this one, whether the impression relates to those
things that are within our power, or those that aren’t within our
power; and if it relates to anything that isn’t within our power, be
ready to reply, ‘That’s nothing to me.’

2.1. Remember that desire promises the attaining of what you desire,
and aversion the avoiding of what you want to avoid, and that he who
falls into desire is unfortunate, while he who falls into what he wants
to avoid suffers misfortune. If you seek to avoid, then, only what is
contrary to nature among those things that are within your own power,
you’ll never fall into anything that you want to avoid; but if you
attempt to avoid illness, or death, or poverty, you’ll suffer
misfortune. 2. Remove your aversion, then, from everything that is not
within our power, and transfer it to what is contrary to nature among
those things that are within our power. For the present, however,
suppress your desires entirely; for if you desire any of the things
that are not within our power, you’re bound to be unfortunate, while
those that are within our power, which it would be right for you to
desire, aren’t yet within your reach. But use only your motives to
act or not to act, and even those lightly, with reservations and
without straining.

With regard to everything that is a source of delight to you, or is
useful to you, or of which you are fond, remember to keep telling
yourself what kind of thing it is, starting with the most
insignificant. If you’re fond of a jug, say, ‘This is a jug that
I’m fond of,’ and then, if it gets broken, you won’t be upset. If
you kiss your child or your wife, say to yourself that it is a human
being that you’re kissing; and then, if one of them should die, you
won’t be upset.
When you’re about to embark on any action, remind yourself what
kind of action it is. If you’re going out to take a bath, set before
your mind the things that happen at the baths, that people splash you,
that people knock up against you, that people steal from you. And
you’ll thus undertake the action in a surer manner if you say to
yourself at the outset, ‘I want to take a bath and ensure at the same
time that my choice remains in harmony with nature.’ And follow the
same course in every action that you embark on. So if anything gets in
your way while you’re taking your bath, you’ll be ready to tell
yourself, ‘Well, this wasn’t the only thing that I wanted to do,
but I also wanted to keep my choice in harmony with nature; and I
won’t keep it so if I get annoyed at what is happening.’
It isn’t the things themselves that disturb people, but the
judgements that they form about them. Death, for instance, is nothing
terrible, or else it would have seemed so to Socrates too; no, it is in
the judgement that death is terrible that the terror lies. So
accordingly, whenever we’re impeded, disturbed, or distressed, we
should never blame anyone else, but only ourselves, that is to say, our
judgements. It is the act of an ill-educated person to cast blame on
others when things are going badly for him; one who has taken the first
step towards becoming properly educated casts blame on himself; while
one who is fully educated casts blame neither on another nor on
himself.
Don’t pride yourself on any excellence that is not your own. If a
horse were to say in its pride, ‘I’m beautiful,’ that would be
bearable; but when you exclaim in your pride, ‘I have a beautiful
horse,’ you should be clear in your mind that you’re priding
yourself on a good quality that belongs to a horse. What is your own,
then? The use of impressions.* So when you’re in harmony with nature
through the right use of impressions, you should then be proud of
yourself; for then you’ll be taking pride in some good of your own.
When you’re on a voyage and your ship has set anchor, if you
should go ashore to fetch water, you may pick up a little shellfish or
bulb on the way, but you have to keep your attention directed towards
the ship, and turn round constantly in case the captain calls you back;
and if he does, you must cast these things aside, if you don’t want
to be thrown on board trussed up like a sheep. So in life too, if in
place of some little bulb or shellfish, a little wife and child should
be granted to you, there is nothing wrong with that; but if the captain
calls, you must give up all of these things and run to the ship,
without even turning around to look back. And if you’re an old man,
you shouldn’t even wander any distance from the ship, so as not to be
missing when the call comes.
Don’t seek that all that comes about should come about as you
wish, but wish that everything that comes about should come about just
as it does, and then you’ll have a calm and happy life.
Disease is an impediment to the body, but not to choice, unless
choice wills it to be so. Lameness is an impediment to the leg, but not
to choice.* And tell yourself the same with regard to everything that
happens to you; for you’ll find that it acts as an impediment to
something else, but not to yourself.
With regard to everything that happens to you, remember to look
inside yourself and see what capacity you have to enable you to deal
with it. If you catch sight of a beautiful boy or woman, you’ll find
that you have self-control to enable you to deal with that; if hard
work lies in store for you, you’ll find endurance; if vilification,
you’ll find forbearance. And if you get into the habit of following
this course, you won’t get swept away by your impressions.
Never say about anything, ‘I’ve lost it,’ but rather,
‘I’ve given it back.’ Your child has died? It has been given
back. Your wife has died? She has been given back. ‘My farm has been
taken from me.’ Well, that too has been given back. ‘Yes, but the
man who took it is a rogue.’ What does it matter to you through what
person the one who gave it to you demanded it back? So long as he
entrusts it to you, take care of it as something that isn’t your own,
as travellers treat an inn.

12.1. If you want to make progress, reject such thoughts as these:
‘If I neglect my affairs, I’ll have nothing to live on,’ or,
‘If I don’t punish my slave-boy, he’ll turn out badly.’ For it
is better to die of hunger, but free from distress and fear, than to
live in plenty with a troubled mind; and it is better that your slave
should be bad than that you should be unhappy. Make a start, then, with
small things. 2. A drop of oil is spilled, a little wine is stolen; say
to yourself, ‘Such is the price at which equanimity is bought; such
is the price that one pays for peace of mind.’ For nothing can be
acquired at no cost at all. When you summon your slave-boy, keep in
mind that he may not obey, and even if he does, he may not do what you
want; but he is hardly so well placed that it depends on him whether
you’re to enjoy peace of mind.

If you want to make progress, put up with being thought foolish and
silly with regard to external things, and don’t even wish to give the
impression of knowing anything about them; and if some people come to
think that you’re somebody of note, regard yourself with distrust.
For you should recognize that it isn’t easy to keep your choice in
accord with nature and, at the same time, hold onto externals, but if
you apply your attention to one of those things, you’re bound to
neglect the other.

14.1. If you want your children and wife and friends to live for ever,
you’re a fool, because you’re wanting things that aren’t within
your power to be within your power, and things that aren’t your own
to be your own. And likewise, if you want your slave-boy never to
commit a fault, you’re an idiot, because you’re wanting badness not
to be badness, but something else. If you make it your wish, however,
not to fail in your desires, that lies within your power. So exercise
yourself in that which you can achieve. 2. Everyone is subject to
anyone who has power over what he wants or doesn’t want, as one who
is in a position to confer it or take it away. If anyone wants to be
free, then, let him neither want anything nor seek to avoid anything
that is under the control of others; or else he is bound to be a slave.

Remember that you should behave in life as you do at a banquet.
Something is being passed around and arrives in front of you: reach out
your hand and take your share politely. It passes: don’t try to hold
it back. It has yet to reach you: don’t project your desire towards
it, but wait until it arrives in front of you. So act likewise with
regard to your children, to your wife, to public office, to riches, and
the time will come when you’re worthy to have a seat at the banquets
of the gods. And if you don’t even take these things when they’re
in front of you, but view them with contempt, then you’ll not only
share in the banquets of the gods, but also in their rule. For it was
by acting in such a way that Diogenes, and Heraclitus,* and others like
them, deservedly became divine and were called so.
When you see someone weeping in sorrow because his child has gone
away, or because he has lost his possessions, take care that you’re
not carried away by the impression that he is indeed in misfortune
because of these external things, but be ready at once with this
thought, ‘It isn’t what has happened that so distresses this
person—for someone else could suffer the same without feeling that
distress—but rather the judgement that he has formed about it.’ As
far as words go, however, don’t hesitate to sympathize with him, or
even, if the occasion arises, to join in his lamentations; but take
care that you don’t also lament deep inside.
Remember that you’re an actor in a play, which will be as the
author chooses, short if he wants it to be short, and long if he wants
it to be long. If he wants you to play the part of a beggar, act even
that part with all your skill; and likewise if you’re playing a
cripple, an official, or a private citizen. For that is your business,
to act the role that is assigned to you as well as you can; but it is
another’s* part to select that role.
When a raven croaks* inauspiciously, don’t allow yourself to be
carried away by the impression, but immediately draw a distinction
within your mind, and say, ‘None of these omens apply to me, but only
to my poor body, to my paltry possessions, or my reputation, or my
children, or my wife. But for me every omen is favourable for I want it
to be so; for whatever may come about, it is within my power to derive
benefit from it.’

19.1. You can be invincible if you never enter a contest in which the
victory doesn’t depend on you. 2. So whenever you see someone being
preferred above you in the awarding of honours, or holding great power,
or enjoying high repute in any other way, take care that you don’t
get carried away by the outward impression and count him as happy; for
if the nature of the good is one of the things that lie within our
power, there can be no place for either envy or jealousy, and you
yourself won’t want to be a praetor or senator or consul, but a free
man. Now there is one path alone that leads to that: to despise
everything that doesn’t lie within our own power.

Remember that what insults you isn’t the person who abuses you or
hits you, but your judgement that such people are insulting you. So
whenever anyone irritates you, recognize that it is your opinion that
has irritated you. Try above all, then, not to allow yourself to be
carried away by the impression; for if you delay things and gain time
to think, you’ll find it easier to gain control of yourself.
Day by day you must keep before your eyes death and exile and
everything else that seems frightening, but most especially death; and
then you’ll never harbour any mean thought, nor will you desire
anything beyond due measure.
If you set your desire on pursuing philosophy, prepare from that
moment to be subject to ridicule, and to have many people mocking you,
and saying, ‘Look, he’s come back to us having become a philosopher
all of a sudden!’ and ‘Where do you suppose he picked up that
supercilious air?’ You shouldn’t assume an air of self-importance,
but should hold fast to the things that seem best to you, as one who
has been appointed by God to this post; and remember that if you hold
true to the same principles, those who laughed at you will later come
to admire you; but if you allow these people to get the better of you,
you’ll merely be laughed at twice over.
If it should ever come about that you turn to external things
because you want to gratify another person, be clear that you’ve lost
your plan in life. Be content, then, to be a philosopher in all that
you do, and if you also want to be viewed as one, show yourself that
you are, and you’ll be able to achieve that.

24.1. Don’t allow these thoughts to upset you: ‘I’ll live
unhonoured, and be nobody anywhere.’ For if it is a bad thing to be
unhonoured, you cannot be in a bad state as a result of someone
else’s actions, any more than you can be brought into shame in that
way. It is no business of yours, surely, to gain a public post or be
invited to a dinner party? Certainly not. So how can this still be a
source of dishonour? And how will you be ‘nobody anywhere’ if you
only need to be somebody in those things that are within your own
power, and in which it is possible for you to be a man of the highest
worth? 2. But your friends will be left unhelped? What do you mean by
‘left unhelped’? They won’t receive any little payouts from you,
nor will you be able to grant them Roman citizenship. Well, who told
you that these are things that are within our power, rather than being
other people’s business? And who is able to give to another person
something that he himself doesn’t have? ‘Then get hold of some
money’, a friend says, ‘so that we too may have some.’ 3. If I
can get some while preserving my self-respect, trustworthiness, and
generosity of mind, show me the way and I’ll get it; but if you
require me to lose the good things that I have to enable you to acquire
things that aren’t good, consider how unfair you’re being, or how
foolish. After all, what would you rather have? Money, or a faithful
and self-respecting friend? So help me instead to become such a person,
and don’t require me to do things that would cause me to lose those
qualities.

‘But my country’, he says, ‘will receive no help from me, so
far as I can offer it.’ Here again, what kind of help do you mean? It
won’t acquire any arcades or baths through your good offices. And
what of that? For it doesn’t acquire shoes either through the good
offices of a blacksmith, or arms through those of a cobbler; it is
enough that each person fulfils his own function. And if you provide
your country with another citizen who is trustworthy and
self-respecting, would you bring it no benefit? ‘Indeed I would.’
Well then, in that case you wouldn’t be of no use to it. ‘What
place shall I hold in the state, then?’, he asks. Whatever place you
can hold while maintaining your trustworthiness and self-respect. 5.
But if, out of a wish to help the state, you sacrifice those qualities,
what use could you be to it, when you’ve turned out to be shameless
and untrustworthy?

25.1. Has someone been honoured above you at a banquet, or in being
saluted, or in being summoned to give advice? If these things are good,
you ought to rejoice if someone else has secured them; but if they’re
bad, don’t be aggrieved that you haven’t secured them. And
remember, too, that if you don’t resort to the same means as other
people to acquire things that aren’t within our power, you can’t
lay claim to an equal share of them. 2. For how can someone who
doesn’t hang around somebody’s door claim an equal share with
someone who does? Or if he doesn’t join the man’s retinue when he
goes out along with the other person? Or he doesn’t sing his praises
along with the other person? You’ll be unjust, then, and thoroughly
greedy, if you refuse to pay the price for which these things are
marketed, and want to get hold of them for nothing. 3. Well, at what
price are lettuces sold? An obol perhaps. If someone pays the obol,
then, and gets the lettuces, while you pay nothing and get nothing,
don’t suppose that you’re worse off than the man who gets the
lettuces; for while he has his lettuces, you have your obol, which you
haven’t given away. 4. Things follow the same course in the present
case too. You haven’t been invited to somebody’s dinner party? Of
course not, because you haven’t paid the host the price at which he
sells the dinner; he sells it for praise, he sells it for attention.
Very well, then, pay him the price for which it is sold, if it is in
your interest. But if you want to make no payment and still receive the
goods, you’re greedy and foolish. Do you have nothing, then, in place
of the dinner? Why, of course you have: you haven’t been obliged to
praise a man whom you didn’t want to praise, you didn’t have to
suffer the insolence of the people at the door.

The will of nature may be learned from those events in life in
which we don’t differ from one another. For instance, when someone
else’s slave-boy breaks a cup, we’re ready at once to say,
‘That’s just one of those things.’ So you should be clear, then,
that if your own cup gets broken, you ought to react in exactly the
same way as when someone else’s does. Transfer the principle to
greater matters too. Someone else’s child or wife has died; there
isn’t anyone who wouldn’t say, ‘Such is our human lot.’ And yet
when one’s own child or wife dies, one cries out at once, ‘Oh poor
wretch that I am.’ But we ought to remember how we feel when we hear
that the same thing has happened to others.
Just as a target isn’t set up to be missed, so nothing that is
bad by nature comes into being in the universe.
If someone handed over your body to somebody whom you encountered,
you’d be furious; but that you hand over your mind to anyone who
comes along, so that, if he abuses you, it becomes disturbed and
confused, do you feel no shame at that?
[See Discourse 3.15.1–13.]
Appropriate actions are measured on the whole by our social
relationships. He is your father: you’re obliged to take care of him,
to give way to him in everything, to put up with it if he scolds you or
strikes you. ‘But he’s a bad father.’ Do the ties of nature bind
you, then, only to a good father? No, but to a father. ‘My brother is
wronging me.’ Very well, maintain the relation that you have towards
him; don’t look to what he is doing, but to what you must do if you
are to keep your choice in harmony with nature. For no one will cause
you harm if you don’t wish it; you’ll have been harmed only when
you suppose that you’ve been harmed. In this way, then, you’ll
discover the appropriate actions to expect from a neighbour, from a
fellow citizen, from a general, if you get into the habit of examining
your social relationships.

31.1. As regards piety towards the gods, you should know that the most
important point is to hold correct opinions about them, regarding them
as beings who exist and govern the universe well and justly, and to
have made up your mind to obey them and submit to everything that comes
about, and to fall in with it of your own free will, as something that
has been brought to pass by the highest intelligence. For if you follow
that course, you’ll never find fault with the gods or accuse them of
having neglected you.

But it isn’t possible for you to achieve this in any other way
than by withdrawing your conception of good and bad from the things
that are not within our power, and placing it in those things alone
that are within our power. For if you regard any of the former as being
good or bad, it will necessarily follow that, whenever you fail to get
what you want or fall into things that you want to avoid, you’ll
blame and hate those who are responsible. 3. For it lies in the nature
of every living creature that it should flee from and seek to avoid
those things that seem harmful to it, and pursue and admire those that
are helpful and all that gives rise to them. Accordingly, it is
impossible for someone who thinks that he is suffering harm to take
pleasure in what he thinks to be responsible for that harm, just as it
is impossible for him to take pleasure in the harm itself. 4. And so it
comes about that even a father is abused by his son if he fails to give
him a share of the things that pass for good; and it was this that
caused Eteocles and Polynices* to become enemies: the idea that the
throne was a good thing. That is why a farmer reviles the gods, and so
too a sailor or merchant, and those who have lost their wives and
children. For where a person’s interest lies, there too lies his
piety. It follows that whoever takes care to exercise his desires and
aversions as he ought is taking care at the same time that he’ll act
with piety. 5. But it is also appropriate on each occasion to offer
libations and sacrifices, and first fruits, in accordance with the
customs of our forebears, and do so with purity, and in no casual or
perfunctory manner, and neither stingily nor beyond what we can afford.

32.1. When you take recourse to divination, remember that you don’t
know how that matter in question will turn out, but that you’ve come
to discover that from the diviner; but if you are indeed a philosopher,
you already know when you arrive what kind of thing it is. For if it is
one of those things that are not within our power, it follows with
absolute certainty that it must be neither good nor bad. 2. So you
should bring neither desire nor aversion to the diviner, and you
shouldn’t approach him with trepidation, but as one who fully
recognizes that every outcome is indifferent and of no concern to you,
and that whatever it may be, it will be possible for you to make good
use of it, and that no one can prevent you from doing so. So approach
the gods with confidence, as your advisers, and afterwards, when some
advice has been granted to you, remember who it is that you have taken
as your advisers, and whom you will be disregarding if you disobey
them. 3. Resort to divination as Socrates* thought right, in matters in
which the enquiry relates exclusively to the outcome, and where neither
reason nor any technical knowledge provides the means that are required
to discover the point in question. So accordingly, when it is your duty
to share a friend’s danger or that of your country, you shouldn’t
resort to divination to ask whether you should share that danger. For
even if the diviner should warn you that the omens from the sacrifice
are unfavourable, and it is clear that death is portended, or
mutilation of some part of your body, or exile, reason requires all the
same that, even in the face of these risks, you should support your
friend and share the danger of your country. Pay heed, then, to that
greater diviner the Pythian Apollo,* who cast out of his temple the man
who failed to come to the help of his friend when he was being
murdered.

33.1. Lay down from this moment a certain character and pattern of
behaviour for yourself, which you are to preserve both when you’re
alone and when you’re with others.

Remain silent for the most part, or say only what is essential, and
in few words. Very infrequently, however, when the occasion demands, do
speak, but not about any of the usual topics, not about gladiators, not
about horse-races, not about athletes, not about food and drink, the
subjects of everyday talk; but above all, don’t talk about people,
either to praise or criticize them, or to compare them. 3. If you’re
able to so, then, through the manner of your own conversation bring
that of your companions round to what is fit and proper. But if you
happen to find yourself alone among strangers, keep silent.
Don’t laugh much, or at many things, or without restraint.
Refuse to swear any oath at all, if that is possible, but if it
isn’t, refuse as far as you’re able.
Avoid parties that are hosted by outsiders and people who have no
knowledge of philosophy, but if you do have occasion to attend them,
take great care that you don’t fall back into a layman’s state of
mind. For you should be clear that if your companion is polluted,
anyone who rubs up against him is bound to become polluted too, even if
he himself happens to be clean.
In things relating to the body, take only as much as your bare need
requires, with regard to food, for instance, or drink, clothes,
housing, or household slaves; but exclude everything that is for show
or luxury.
As regards sexual relations, keep yourself pure, so far as you can,
until you marry; but if you do indulge, confine yourself to what is
lawful. Don’t make yourself tiresome, however, to those who indulge,
or be over-critical, and don’t constantly call attention to the fact
that you don’t behave like them.
If someone reports to you that a certain person is speaking ill of
you, don’t defend yourself against what has been said, but reply
instead, ‘Ah yes, he was plainly unaware of all my other faults, or
else those wouldn’t have been the only ones that he mentioned.’
There is no need on the whole to go to public shows, but if you
ever have occasion to do so, show yourself as not taking sides for
anyone other than yourself, that is to say, wish only that what
actually does happen should happen, and that only the man who actually
does win should win; for if you do that, you’ll meet with no
hindrance. But refrain entirely from shouting out, or laughing at
anyone, or getting overexcited. And after you’ve left, don’t talk
much about what has taken place, except in so far as that contributes
to your own improvement; for such talk would suggest that you were
impressed by the spectacle.
Don’t go casually or readily to people’s public readings;* but
if you do go, preserve your dignity and composure, taking care at the
same time not to make yourself disagreeable.
When you’re due to meet somebody, and in particular one who is
regarded with high respect, put this question to yourself: ‘What
would Socrates or Zeno have done in this situation?’ And then
you’ll have no difficulty in making proper use of the occasion. 13.
When you’re going to meet some very powerful man, put the thought to
yourself that you won’t find him at home, that you’ll be shut out,
that the door will be closed in your face, that he’ll pay no heed to
you. And if, in spite of all that, it is your duty to go, then go, and
put up with whatever comes about, and never tell yourself, ‘It
wasn’t worth the trouble.’ For that is the mark of a layman, of
someone who can be upset by externals.
In your conversation, avoid talking at length or overmuch about
your own exploits or the dangers that you’ve faced; for pleasant
though it may be for you to recall your perils, it is not as pleasant
for others to listen to everything that has happened to you.
Abstain too from trying to arouse laughter, for that is behaviour
that can easily slip into vulgarity, and tends at the same time to
cause your neighbours to view you with less respect. 16. It is
dangerous likewise to engage in smutty talk. So when anything like that
comes up, you should, if the occasion presents itself, even reproach
the person who has resorted to such talk; or if that isn’t possible,
show by your silence at least, and your blushes and frowns, that
you’re displeased at what is being said.
When you receive an impression of some pleasure, take care not to
get carried away by it, as with impressions in general; but rather,
make it wait for you, and allow yourself some slight delay. And next,
think about these two moments in time, that in which you’ll enjoy the
pleasure, and that in which you’ll come to repent after having
enjoyed it and will reproach yourself; and set against all of that how
you’ll rejoice if you’ve abstained from the pleasure, and will
congratulate yourself for having done so. If you think, however, that a
suitable occasion has come for you to engage in this task, take care
that you’re not overcome by its allure, and by the pleasantness and
attraction of it; but set against this the thought of how much better
it is to be conscious of having gained a victory over it.
When you’ve decided that you ought to do something and are doing
it, never try to avoid being seen to do it, even if most people will
probably view it with disapproval; for if it isn’t right to do it,
avoid doing it in the first place, but if it is, why be afraid of those
who’ll reproach you without justification?
Just as the propositions ‘it is day’ and ‘it is night’ are
entirely meaningful when taken separately, but become meaningless when
joined into one, so likewise it may make sense with regard to your body
to take the larger share at a dinner, but it makes no sense at all with
regard to the maintenance of proper social feeling. So when you’re
eating with another person, remember to look not only at the value that
the dishes set before you will have for your body, but also at the
value of maintaining proper respect for your host.
If you take on a role that is beyond your power, you’ll not only
disgrace yourself in that role, but you’ll also neglect to take on
that which you might have been capable of filling.
Just as, when walking around, you take care not to tread on a nail
or sprain your ankle, so take care likewise to avoid harming your
ruling centre; and if we observe this rule in every action, we’ll
undertake the task in a more secure fashion.
Each person’s body is the measure for his property,* as the foot
is for a shoe. If you abide by this principle, then, you’ll maintain
due measure, but if you pass beyond it, you’ll find yourself falling,
so to speak, over a cliff. It is the same in the case of a shoe: if you
pass beyond what the foot requires, you’ll first get a gilded shoe,
and then a purple one, and then an embroidered one; for as soon as
you’ve passed beyond the measure, there is no limit.
As soon as they reach the age of fourteen, women are called
mistresses by men. And so when they see that they have no other
function than to become bedfellows of men, they set to work to beautify
themselves, and place all their hopes in that. It is worth our while,
then, to make them aware that they’re valued for nothing other than
being modest and self-respecting.
It is a sign of a lack of natural aptitude to spend much time on
things relating to the body, by taking a large amount of exercise, for
instance, and eating too much, drinking too much, and spending too much
time emptying one’s bowels and copulating. No, these things should be
done in passing, and you should devote undivided attention to your
mind.
When someone acts badly towards you, or speaks badly of you,
remember that he is acting or speaking in that way because he regards
that as being the proper thing for him to do. Now, it isn’t possible
for him to act in accordance with what seems right to you, but only
with what seems right to him. So if he judges wrongly, he is the one
who suffers the harm, since he is the one who has been deceived. For if
anyone should think a true composite judgement* to be false, the
judgement itself isn’t harmed, but the person who has been deceived.
If you start out, then, from this way of thinking, you’ll be gentle
with someone who abuses you, for in each case you’ll say, ‘That is
how it seemed to him.’
Everything has two handles, and it may be carried by one of these
handles, but not by the other. If your brother acts wrongly towards
you, don’t try to grasp the matter by this handle, that he is
wronging you (because that is the handle by which it can’t be
carried), but rather by the other, that he is your brother, he was
brought up with you, and then you’ll be grasping the matter by the
handle by which it can be carried.
The following assertions don’t form a coherent argument: ‘I’m
richer than you, therefore I’m better than you’ or ‘I’m more
eloquent than you, therefore I’m better than you’; no, it is these
that do: ‘I’m richer than you, therefore my possessions are
superior to yours’ or ‘I’m more eloquent than you, therefore my
way of speaking is superior to yours.’ But you yourself are neither
your possessions nor your way of speaking.
Someone takes his bath in a hurry; don’t say that he bathes
badly, but that he does so in a hurry. Someone drinks a large amount of
wine. Don’t say that he drinks badly, but that he drinks a large
amount. For until you’ve determined from what judgement he is
proceeding, how do you know whether he is acting badly? And so in that
way it won’t come about that you receive convincing impressions of
some things but give your assent to others.

46.1. Never call yourself a philosopher, and don’t talk among laymen
for the most part about philosophical principles, but act in accordance
with those principles. At a banquet, for example, don’t talk about
how one ought to eat, but eat as one ought. Remember how Socrates so
completely renounced all outward show that when people came to him and
asked to be introduced to philosophers, he would take them along and
introduce them, so readily did he submit to being overlooked.* 2. And
accordingly, if any talk should arise among laymen about some
philosophical principle, keep silent for the most part, for there is a
great danger that you’ll simply vomit* up what you haven’t properly
digested. So when the day arrives when someone tells you that you know
nothing, and you, like Socrates, aren’t upset by that, you may be
sure that you’re making a start on your work as a philosopher. For
sheep, too, don’t vomit up their fodder to show the shepherds how
much they’ve eaten, but digest their food inside them, and produce
wool and milk on the outside. And so you likewise shouldn’t show off
your principles to laymen, but rather show them the actions that result
from those principles when they’ve been properly digested.

When you’ve become adapted to a simple way of life in bodily
matters, don’t pride yourself on that, and likewise, if you drink
nothing but water, don’t proclaim at every opportunity that you drink
nothing but water. And if at any time you want to train yourself to
endure hardship, do it for your own sake and not for others; don’t
embrace statues,* but if you ever find yourself extremely thirsty, take
some cold water into your mouth and then spit it out again, without
telling a soul.*

48.1. The condition and character of a layman is this: that he never
expects that benefit or harm will come to him from himself, but only
from externals. The condition and character of a philosopher is this:
that he expects all benefit and harm to come to him from himself.

The signs of one who is making progress are that he criticizes no
one, praises no one, blames or accuses no one, and never speaks of
himself as being anyone of importance, or as one who has any knowledge.
And if he is praised, he laughs within at the person who is praising
him, and if anyone finds fault with him, he makes no defence. He goes
about like an invalid, taking care not to disturb any part of him that
is getting better until he has achieved lasting recovery. 3. He has rid
himself of every desire,* and has transferred his aversion to those
things alone that are contrary to nature among the things that are
within our own power. He is moderate in his motives whatever they may
be directed towards. If he gives the impression of being foolish or
ignorant, he doesn’t mind. In a word, he keeps guard against himself,
as though he were an enemy lying in ambush for himself.
When someone is filled with pride because he is able to understand
and interpret the works of Chrysippus, say to yourself, ‘If
Chrysippus hadn’t written in such an obscure style, this person
wouldn’t have anything to pride himself on.’ But what is it that I
want? To understand nature and to follow it. So I look around for
someone who can interpret it, and having heard that Chrysippus can, I
go to him. But I don’t understand his writings, so I look for someone
who can interpret them. Up to this point, there is nothing to be proud
of. But when I find the interpreter, what remains for me to do is to
apply his precepts; that is the only thing that gives any ground for
pride. But if what I value is the mere act of interpretation, what else
have I achieved than to have become a literary scholar instead of a
philosopher? The only difference is that I’m interpreting Chrysippus
rather than Homer. So when someone says to me, ‘Read me some
Chrysippus,’ I blush rather than feeling any pride, when I’m unable
to show that my actions match up to his words and are consistent with
them.
Whatever rules of conduct are set for you, hold to them as if they
were laws, as if it would be an act of impiety for you to transgress
them; as to what anyone says about you, pay no heed to it, since in the
end that is not your concern.

51.1. How much longer will you delay before you think yourself worthy
of what is best, and transgress in nothing the distinctions that reason
imposes? You’ve acquired knowledge of the philosophical principles
that you ought to accept, and have accepted them. What kind of teacher,
then, are you still waiting for, that you should delay any effort to
reform yourself until he appears? You’re no longer a youth; you’re
a full-grown man. If you’re now negligent and idle, and are
constantly making one delay after another, and setting one day and then
another as the date after which you’ll devote proper attention to
yourself, then you’ll fail to appreciate that you’re making no
progress, but will continue to be a layman your whole life through
until you die. 2. So you should think fit from this moment to live as
an adult and as one who is making progress; and let everything that
seems best to you be an inviolable law for you. And if you come up
against anything that requires an effort, or is pleasant, or is
glorious or inglorious, remember that this is the time of the contest,
that the Olympic Games have now arrived, and that there is no
possibility of further delay, and that it depends on a single day and
single action whether progress is to be lost or secured. 3. It was in
this way that Socrates became the man he was, by attending to nothing
other than reason in everything that he had to deal with. And even if
you’re not yet a Socrates, you ought to live like someone who does in
fact wish to be a Socrates.*

52.1. The first and most necessary area of study in philosophy is the
one that deals with the application of principles, such as, ‘Don’t
lie.’ The second deals with demonstrations, for instance, ‘How is
it that we oughtn’t to lie?’ The third confirms and analyses the
other two, for instance, ‘How is this a demonstration?’ For what is
a demonstration, what is logical consequence, what is contradiction,
what is truth, what is falsehood? 2. The third area of study is
necessary, then, because of the second, and the second because of the
first, but the most necessary, and that on which we should dwell, is
the first. But we do the opposite; for we spend our time on the third
area of study, and employ all our efforts on that, while wholly
neglecting the first. And so it comes about that we lie, while having
at hand all the arguments that show why we oughtn’t to lie.

53.1. On every occasion we should have these arguments at hand:

Guide me, O Zeus, and thou, O Destiny,

To wheresoever you have assigned me;

I’ll follow unwaveringly, or if my will fails,

Base though I be, I’ll follow nonetheless.*

2. Whoever rightly yields
to necessity

We accord wise and learned in things divine.*

‘Well, Crito, if that is what is pleasing to the gods, so be
it.’*
‘Anytus and Meletus can kill me, but they cannot harm me.’*

EXPLANATORY NOTES

The notes to the text are keyed to the books, chapters (i.e. individual
Discourses), and paragraphs of the Discourses, the chapters of the
Handbook, or the numbers of the fragments. All references, if not
otherwise identified, are to the Discourses. References only by
paragraph are to the Discourse being discussed. All dates are AD unless
otherwise indicated.

ABBREVIATIONS

D.L.

Diogenes Laertius (third century AD philosophical handbook)

Dobbin

R. Dobbin, Epictetus: Discourses Book 1, trans. with introd. and comm.
(Oxford, 1998)

Gill

C. Gill, The Structured Self in Hellenistic and Roman Thought (Oxford,
2006)

Inwood

B. Inwood, Ethics and Human Action in Early Stoicism (Oxford, 1985)

Long

A. A. Long, Epictetus: A Stoic and Socratic Guide to Life (Oxford,
2002)

A. A. Long and D. N. Sedley, The Hellenistic Philosophers, 2 vols.
(Cambridge, 1987); references are to sections and passages unless
otherwise indicated

Scaltsas and Mason

T. Scaltsas and A. S. Mason (eds.), The Philosophy of Epictetus
(Oxford, 2007)