Sayings of Epictetus

Introduction

St. Augustine called Epictetus the most noble of Stoics, and if we may judge of him by the utterances recorded by his disciple, Flavius Arrian, who took them down from his lips at Nicopolis, we cannot help agreeing with this encomium. Arrian declares that they were not put into literary form, were merely u such things as one man might say to another on occasion,'* but that they represent the highest thought of the Master who, when he spoke, had but one aim — " to stir his hearers' minds toward the best things."

Almost nothing is known of Epictetus' life. He was born in Hieropolis, near the Phrygian Meander. He became the slave of Epaphroditus, whose character may be surmised when it is stated that he was the favourite of the Emperor Nero. There is a legend to the effect that Epaphroditus, who had himself been a slave, was twisting Epictetus' leg for amusement. Epictetus remarked, " If you persist, you will break my leg." Epaphroditus went on and broke the leg. Epictetus* only comment was : " Did I not warn you that you would break my leg?"

However cruelly the master may have treated the slave, he sent him to attend the lectures on philosophy by Musonius Rufus, the son of a Roman knight, and a very celebrated Stoic, whose works have unfortunately all perished. Just as Russian noblemen used to have poets and musicians among their serfs, so the Romans were proud to attach philosophers and scholars to their retinues. Often, undoubtedly, the prisoner of war, sold as a slave, may have been a man of more consequence than his fortuitous owner. Nero, whose cruelties and excesses were beginning to stir the Romans to revolt, committed suicide with the aid of Epaphroditus in 67 a. d. Epaphroditus himself was put to death by Domitian, and when that cruel emperor expelled all the philosophers from Rome with the exception of Musonius Rufus, Epictetus went to Nicopolis, the city of Augustus, at the southwestern extremity of Epirus. Here he lived to a venerable old age in spite of his feeble health and his lameness. He is said to have been true to his own teachings, to have lived with the utmost simplicity, with no servant or other inmate of his house. A story illustrating his kindness of heart relates how he rescued an infant that had been exposed to death by some parent who had wished to check the growth of his family. Epictetus took the child and hired a nurse to care for it and brought it up.

The philosophy of Stoicism, as expounded in the fragmentary sentences of Epictetus, is unquestionably conducive to a happy life, a life of serenity. It is not strange that Epictetus should have been adopted by the Christian Church : the Encheiridion or Handbook has the distinction of being the only pagan book recommended to the religious. It deserves it. For it certainly helps men to be manly, to endure afflictions without repining, to take life as it comes, to be

iii simple and duly humble, to be sympathetic and unselfish. Its teachings are inspiring. Such a book as this, coming down to us through nineteen centuries, is indeed a breviary treasure to be commended for reading and meditation.

N. H. D.

IV

THE TEACHING OF EPICTETUS

I. The Beginning Of Philosophy

If you would be good, then first believe that you are evil.

The beginning of philosophy, at least with those who lay hold of it as they ought and enter by the door, is the consciousness of their own feebleness and incapacity in respect of necessary things.

For we come into the world having by nature no idea of a right-angled triangle or of a quarter-tone, or of a semi-tone, but by a certain tradition of art we learn each of these things. And thus those who know them not, do not suppose that they know them. But good and evil, and nobleness and baseness, and the seemly and the unseemly, and happiness and misfortune, and what is our concern and what is not, and what ought to be done and what not — who has come into the world without an implanted notion of these things ? Thus we all use these terms, and endeavour to fit our natural conceptions to every several thing.

Behold, the beginning of philosophy is the observation of how men contradict one another, and the search whence comes this contradiction, and the censure and mistrust of bare opinion. And it is an inquiry into that which seems, whether it rightly seems ; and the discovery of a certain rule, even as we have found a balance for weights and a plumb line for straight and crooked. This is the beginning of philosophy. Are all things right to all to whom they seem so ? But how can contradictory things be right ?

No, not all things, but those that seem to us right.

And why to you more than to the Syrians, or to the Egyptians ? Why more than to me or to any other man ?

Not at all more.

Seeming then does not for every man answer to Being ; for neither in weights or measures does the bare appearance satisfy us, but for each case we have discovered some rule.

And here then is there no rule above seeming ?

And how could it be that there were no evidence or discovery of things the most necessary for men ? So there is a rule. And why do we not seek it and find it and, having found it, henceforth use it without transgression and not so much as stretch forth a finger without it ? For this it is, I think, that when it is discovered cures of their madness those that mismeasure all things by seeming alone ; so that henceforth, setting out from things known and investigated, we may use an organised body of natural conceptions in all our several dealings.

What is the subject about which we are inquiring ?

Pleasure ?

Submit it to the rule, cast it into the scales. Now the Good must be a thing of such sort that we ought to trust in it ?

Truly.

And we ought to have faith in it ?

We ought.

And ought we to trust in anything which is unstable ?

No.

And has pleasure any stability ?

It has not.

Take it then and fling it out of the scales and set it far away from the place of the Good.

But if you are dim of sight and one balance does not suffice, then take another.

Is it right to be elated in what is good ?

Yes.

And is it right to be elated in the presence of a pleasure ? See to it that thou say not it is right ; or I shall not hold thee worthy even of the balance. Thus are things judged and weighed when the rules are held in readiness. And the aim of philosophy is this : to examine and establish the rules. And to use them when they are known is the task of an wise and good man.

ON THE NATURAL CONCEPTION

The natural conceptions are common to all men, and one can not contradict another. For who of us but affirms that the Good is profitable, and that we should choose it and in all circumstances follow and pursue it ? Who of us but affirms that uprightness is honourable and becoming ?

Where then does the contradiction arise ?

Concerning the application of the natural conceptions to things severally. When one says, " He did well, he is a worthy man," and another, u Nay, but he did foolishly," then there is a contradiction among men, one with another. And there is the same contradiction among the Jews and the Syrians and the Egyptians and the Romans; not whether that which is righteous should be preferred to all things and in all cases pursued, but whether it be righteous or unrighteous to eat the flesh of swine.

What is it then to be educated ?

It is to learn to apply the natural conceptions to each thing severally according to nature; and further, to discern that of things that exist some are in our own power and the rest are not in our own power. And things that are in our own power are the will and all the works of the will. And things that are not in our own power are the body and the parts of the body, and possessions and parents and brethren and children and country and, in a word, our associates. Where now shall we place the Good ? To what objects shall we apply it ?

To those which are in our own power ?

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Then is not health good, and whole limbs and life ? and are not children and parents and country ? And who will bear with you if you say this ? Let us then transfer it to these things. Now, can one be happy who is injured, and has missed gaining what is good ?

He can not.

And can such a one bear himself toward his fellows as he ought ?

How could he ? For I have it from nature that I must seek my own profit. If it profits me to own a piece of land, it profits me to take it from my neighbour. If it profits me to have a garment, it profits me to steal it from the bath. And hence wars, seditions, tyrannies, conspiracies. And how shall I be able to maintain a right mind toward God ? for if I suffer injury and misfortune, it can not be but he neglects me. And what have I to do with him if he can not help me ? And, again, what have I to do with him if he is willing to let me continue in the evils in which I am ? Henceforth I begin to hate him. Why then do we build temples and set up statues to Zeus as we do to powers of evil, such as Fever ? And how is he now the Saviour and the Raingiver and the Fruitgiver ? And verily, all this follows, if we place anywhere in external things the nature and being of the Good.

THE MASTER - FACULTY

Of all our faculties you shall find but one that can contemplate itself, or, therefore, approve or disapprove itself. How far has grammar the power of contemplation ?

Only so far as to judge concerning letters.

And music ?

Only so far as to judge concerning melodies.

Does any of them then contemplate itself ?

Not one.

But when you have need to write to your friend, grammar will tell you how to write ; but whether to write or not, grammar will not tell. And so with the musical art in the case of melodies ; but whether it is now meet or not to sing or to play, music will not tell.

What, then, will tell it ?

That faculty which both contemplates itself and all other things.

And what is this ?

It is the faculty of Reason; for we have received none other which can consider itself — what it is, and what it can, and what it is worth — and all the other faculties as well. For what else is it that tells us that a golden thing is beautiful, since itself does not ? Clearly it is the faculty that makes use of appearances. What else is it that judges of music and grammar, and the other faculties and proves their uses and shows the fit occasions ?

None else than this.

Thus the Gods, as it was fit they should, place in our power only that which is the mightiest and master thing, the right use of appearances ; but other things are not in our power.

Was it that they did not wish it ?

Indeed I think that had they been able they had made over to us those things also ; but this they could in no way do. For being on the earth and bound up with this flesh and with these associates, how could we fail as regards these to be hindered by external things ?

But what saith Zeus ?

" Epictetus, if it were possible, I would have made both this thy little body and thy little property free and unhampered. But now forget not that this is but finely tempered clay, and nothing of thine own. And since I could not do this, I have given thee a part of ourselves, this power of desiring and disliking and pursuing, avoiding and rejecting, and, in brief, the use of appearances. Have a care then of this, hold

IV.

THE NATURE OF THE GOOD

The subject for the good and wise man is his own master-faculty, as the body is for the physician and the trainer, and the soil is the subject for the husbandman. And the work of the good and wise man is to use appearances according to Nature. For it is the nature of every soul to consent to what is good and to reject what is evil, and to hold back about what is uncertain ; and thus to be moved to pursue the good and to avoid the evil, and neither way toward what is neither good nor evil. For as it is not lawful for the money-changer or the seller of herbs to reject Caesar's coin, but if one present it, then, whether he will or no, he must give up what is sold for it, so it is also with the soul. When the Good appears, straightway the soul is moved toward it and from the Evil. And never does the soul reject any clear appearance of the good, any more than Caesar's coin. On this hangs every movement both of God and man.

The nature and essence of the Good is in a certain disposition of the Will ; likewise that of the Evil.

What then are outward things ?

Matter for the Will, about which being occupied it shall attain its own good or evil. How shall it attain the Good ? Through not being dazzled with admiration of what it works on. For our opinions of this, when right, make the will right, and when wrong make it evil. This law has God established, and says, " If thou wouldst have aught of good, have it from thyself."

If these things are true (and if we are not fools or hypocrites), that Good, for man, lies in the Will, and likewise Evil, and all other things are nothing to us, why are we still troubled? why do we fear ? The things for which we have been zealous are in no other man's power; and for the things that are in others' power we are not concerned. And why shall I direct thee ? has not God directed thee ? has he not given thee that which is thine own unhindered and unhampered, and hindered and hampered that which is not thine own ? And what direction, what word of command didst thou receive from him when thou earnest thence ?

" Hold fast everything which is thine own — covet not that which is alien to thee. And faithfulness is thine, and reverence is thine : who, then, can rob thee of these things ? who can hinder thee from using them, if not thyself?

But thyself can do it, and how ? When thou art zealous about things not thine own, and hast cast away the things that are."

THE PROMISE OF PHILOSOPHY

Of things that exist, some are in our own power, some are not in our own power. Of things that are in our own power are our opinions, impulses, pursuits, avoidances, and, in brief, all that is of our own doing. Of things that are not in our own power are the body, possessions, reputation, authority, and, in brief, all that is not of our own doing. And the things that are in our own power are in their nature free, not liable to hindrance or embarrassment, while the things that are not in our own power are strengthless, servile, subject, alien.

Remember, then, if you hold things by their nature subject to be free, and things alien to be your proper concern, you will be hampered, you will lament, you will be troubled, you will blame Gods and men. But if you hold that only to be your own which is so, and the alien for what it is, alien, then none shall ever compel you, none shall hinder you, you will blame no one, accuse no one, you will not do the least thing unwillingly, none shall harm you, you shall have no foe, for you shall suffer no injury.

Aiming, then, at things so high, remember that it is no moderate passion wherewith you must attempt them, but some things you must utterly renounce, and put some, for the present, aside. For if, let us say, you aim also at this, to rule and to gather riches, then you are like, through aiming at the chief things also, to miss these lower ends ; and shall most assuredly miss those others, through which alone freedom and happiness are won. Straightway, then, practise saying to every harsh appearance — Thou art an Appearance and not at all the thing thou appearest to be. Then examine it, and prove it by the rules you have, but first and above all by this, whether it concern something that is in our own power, or something that is not in our own power. And if the latter, then be the thought at hand : It is nothing to Me.

VI.

THE WAY OF PHILOSOPHY

Every art is wearisome, in the learning of it, to the untaught and unskilled. Yet things that are made by the arts immediately declare their use, and for what they were made, and in most of them is something attractive and pleasing.

Thus when a shoemaker is learning his trade it is no pleasure to stand by and observe him, but the shoe is useful, and moreover not unpleasing to behold. The learning of a carpenter's trade is very grievous to an untaught person who happens to be present, but the work done declares the need of the art.

But far more is this seen in music, for if you are by where one is learning, it will appear the most painful of all instructions ; but that which is produced by the musical art is sweet and delightful to hear, even to those who are untaught in it. And here we conceive the work of one who studies philosophy to be some such thing, that he must fit his desire to all events, so that nothing may come to pass against our will, nor may aught fail to come to pass that we wish for. Whence it results to those who so order it, that they never fail to obtain what they would, or to avoid what they would not, living, as regards themselves, without pain, fear, or trouble; and as regards their fellows, observing all the relations, natural and acquired ; as son or father, or brother or citizen, or husband or wife, or neighbour or fellowtraveller, or prince or subject. Such we conceive to be the work of one who pursues philosophy. And next we must inquire how this may come about.

We see, then, that the carpenter becomes a carpenter by learning something, and by learning something the pilot becomes a pilot. And here also is it not on this wise ? Is it enough that we merely wish to become good and wise, or must we not also learn something ? We inquire, then, what we have to learn.

The philosophers say that, before all things, it is needful to learn that God is, and takes thought for all things ; and that nothing can be hid from him, neither deeds, nor even thoughts or wishes ; thereafter, of what nature the Gods are. For whatever they are found to be, he who would please and serve them must strive, with all his might, to be like them. If the Divine is faithful, so must he be faithful ; if free, so must he be free ; if beneficent, so must he be beneficent ; if high-minded, so must he be high-minded ; so that thus emulating God, he shall both

*4 ^*-

^^TVjV^^^^jgK do and speak the things that follow therefrom.

What could you suppose to be lacking to you ? Wealth you have, and children, and it may be a wife and many servants ; Caesar knows you, you have won many friends in Rome, you give every man his due, you reward with good him that does good to you, and with evil him that does evil. What is still lacking to you ?

If, now, I shall show you that you lack the greatest and most necessary things for happiness, and that to this day you have cared for everything rather than for what behoved you ; and if I crown all and say that you know not what God is nor what man is, nor Good nor Evil ; — and what I say of other things is perhaps endurable, but if I say you know not your own self, how can you endure me, and bear the accusation and abide here ?

Never — but straightway you will go away in anger. And yet what evil have I done you ? Unless the mirror does evil to the ill-favoured man, when it shows him to himself such as he is, and unless the physician is thought to affront the sick man when he may say to him : Man, dost thou think thou art not ailing ? Thou hast a fever : fast to-day and drink water. And none says, What an affront. But if one shall say to a man : Thy pursuits are inflamed, thine avoidances are mean, thy purposes are lawless, thy impulses accord not with nature, thine opinions are vain and lying — straightway he goeth forth and says, He affronted me.

We follow our business as in a great fair. Cattle and oxen are brought to be sold ; and the greater part of the men come some to buy, some to sell ; and few are they who come for the spectacle of the fair, — how it comes to pass, and fr-ftgklfev wherefore, and who are they who have established it, and to what end. And so it is here, too, in this assembly of life. Some, indeed, like cattle, concern themselves with nothing but fodder; even such as those that care for possessions and lands and servants and offices, for these are nothing more than fodder. But few are they who come to the fair for love of the spectacle, what the world is and by whom it is governed. By no one ? And how is it possible that a state or a house cannot endure, no not for the shortest time, without a governor and overseer, but this so great and fair fabric should be guided thus orderly by chance and accident ?

There is, then, one who governs. But what is his nature ? and how does he govern ? and we, that were made by him, what are we, and for what are we? or have we at least some intercourse and link with him, or have we none ? Thus

TO THE LEARNER

Remember that pursuit declares the aim of attaining the thing pursued, and avoidance that of not falling into the thing shunned ; and he who fails in his pursuit is unfortunate, and it is misfortune to fall into what he would avoid. If now you shun only those things in your power which are contrary to Nature, you shall never fall into what you would avoid. But if you shun disease or death or poverty, you shall have misfortune.

No great thing comes suddenly into being, for not even a bunch of grapes can, or a fig. If you say to me now : I desire a fig, I answer that there is need of time : let it first of all flower and then

T> bring forth the fruit and then ripen. When the fruit of a fig-tree is not perfected at once, and in a single hour, would you win the fruit of a man's mind thus quickly and easily ? Even if I say to you, expect it not.

To fulfil the promise of a man's nature is itself no common thing. For what is a man ? A living creature, say you ; mortal, and endowed with Reason. And from what are we set apart by Reason ? From the wild beasts. And what others ? From sheep and the like. Look to it, then, that you do nothing like a wild beast, for if you do, the man in you perishes, you have not fulfilled his promise. Look to it, that you do nothing like a sheep, or thus too the man has perished. What, then, can we do as sheep ? When we are gluttonous, sensual, reckless, filthy, thoughtless, to what are we then sunken ? To sheep. What have we lost ? Our faculty of Reason.

And when we are contentious, and hurtful, and angry and violent, to what are we sunken ? To wild beasts. And for the rest some of us are great wild beasts, and some of us little and evil

Each thing is increased and saved by the corresponding works — the carpenter by the practice of carpentry, the grammarian by the study of grammar ; but if he used to write ungrammatically, it must needs be that his art shall be corrupted and destroyed. Thus, too, the works of reverence save the reverent man, and those of shamelessness destroy him. And works of faithfulness save the faithful and the contrary destroy him. And men of the contrary character are strengthened therein by contrary deeds ; the irreverent by irreverence, the faithless by faithlessness, the reviler by reviling, the angry by anger, the avaricious by unfair giving and taking.

Every great power is perilous to beginners. You must bear such things according to your strength. But I must live according to Nature ? That is not for a sick man. Lead your life as a sick man for a while, so that you may hereafter live it as a whole man. Fast, drink water, abstain for a while from pursuit of every kind, in order that you may pursue as Reason bids. And if as Reason bids, then when you have aught of good in you, your pursuit shall be well. Nay, but we would live as sages and do good to men. What good ? What will you do ? Have you done good to yourself ? But you would exhort them ? And have you exhorted yourself ? You would do them good — then do not chatter to them, but show them in yourself what manner of men philosophy can make. In your eating do good to those that eat with you, in your drinking to those that drink, by

VIII.

THE CYNIC

In no well-ordered house does one come in and say to himself: I should be the steward of the house, else, when the lord of the house shall have observed it, and see him insolently giving orders, he will drag him forth and chastise him.

So it is also in this great city of the universe, for here too there is a master of the house who ordereth each and all : " Thou art the Sun j thy power is to travel round and to make the year and the seasons, and to increase and nourish fruits, and to stir the winds and still them, and temperately to warm the bodies of men. Go forth, run thy course, and minister thus to the greatest things and to the least. Thou art a calf ;

when a lion shall appear, do what befits thee, or it shall be worse for thee. Thou art a bull ; come forth and fight, for this is thy part and pride, and this thou canst. Thou art able to lead the army against Ilion ; be Agamemnon. Thou canst fight in single combat with Hector ; be Achilles. But if Thersites come forth and pretend to the authority, then either he would not gain it, or, gaining it, he would be shamed before many witnesses." And as to being a Cynic, take thought upon it earnestly, for it is not such as it seems to you. I wear a rough cloak now, and I shall wear it then ; I sleep hard now, and I shall sleep so then. I will take to myself a wallet and staff, and I will begin to go about and beg, and to reprove everyone I meet with ; and if I shall see one that plucks out his hairs, I will censure him, or one that has his hair curled, or that goes in purple raiment. If you conceive the matter on this wise, far be it from you — go not near it, it is not for you. But if you conceive of it as it is, and hold yourself not unworthy of it, then behold to how great an enterprise you are putting forth your hand.

First, in things that concern yourself, you must appear in nothing like what you now do. You must not accuse God or man ; you must utterly give over pursuit, and avoid only those things that are in the power of your will ; anger is not meet for you, nor resentment, nor envy, nor pity ; nor must a girl appear to you fair, neither must reputation, nor a flat cake. For it must be understood that other men shelter themselves by walls and houses and by darkness when they do such things, and many means of concealment have they. One shuts the door, places someone before the chamber; if anyone should come, say, He is out, he is busy.