Handbook epictetus wiki

The final entry of the Enchiridion, or Handbook, begins: "Upon all occasions we ought to have these maxims ready at hand":. Conduct me, Zeus, and thou, Destiny, Wherever thy decree has fixed my lot. I follow willingly; and, did I not, Wicked and wretched would I follow still. Whoe'er yields properly to Fate is deemed Wise among men, and knows the laws of Heaven.

From Euripides ' Fragments, Crito, if it thus pleases the gods, thus let it be. From Plato 's Crito. Anytus and Meletus may indeed kill me, but they cannot harm me. From Plato's Apology. This was in part the outcome of discussions Wolfe had with James Stockdale see below.

The character Conrad, who through a series of mishaps finds himself in jail, and accidentally gets a copy of the Enchiridion of Epictetus , the Stoic's manual, finds a philosophy that strengthens him to endure the brutality of the jail environment.

He experiences Joseph Campbell 's ' hero's journey ' call to action and becomes a strong, honorable, undefeatable protagonist. Stephens in The Rebirth of Stoicism? Naipaul , is pleased to think himself a follower of Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius; the irony is that he never actually behaves as a Stoic. Lydia, the central character, turns often to The Golden Sayings of Epictetus —the latter being a modern selection from Epictetus's writings, compiled and translated by Hastings Crossley.

A line from the Enchiridion is used as a title quotation in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne , which translates to, "Not things, but opinions about things, trouble men. Epictetus is mentioned in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce : in the fifth chapter of the novel the protagonist Stephen Daedalus discusses Epictetus's famous lamp with a dean of his college.

Salinger , and is referred to by Theodore Dreiser in his novel Sister Carrie. Both the longevity of Epictetus's life and his philosophy are alluded to in John Berryman 's poem, "Of Suicide. Epictetus is referred to, but not mentioned by name, in Matthew Arnold 's sonnet "To a Friend". Arnold provides three historical personalities as his inspiration and support in difficult times Epictetus is preceded by Homer and succeeded by Sophocles :. Cleared Rome of what most shamed him.

After he had his head reattached and was brought back to life, he recounts his experience of the damned in hell:. After this manner, those that had been great lords and ladies here, got but a poor scurvy wretched living there below. When and for what reason Epictetus came to Rome and at what time he was released remains unclear.

In any case, he still studied philosophy as a slave with the stoic Gaius Musonius Rufus , for whose only oral teaching he is an important source, even if his own teaching seems to differ in some areas from that of his teacher. After his release, Epictetus taught himself in Rome. When Emperor Domitian had philosophers deported from Rome and Italy in 89 or 94 , Epictetus went to Nicopolis in Epirus with his students, among whom there were also prominent members of the noble family. There he resumed teaching and taught with great enthusiasm until his death.

An encounter between Epictetus and the emperor Hadrian and a personal relationship between the philosopher and the emperor have only come down to a late source, but are considered credible in research; the contact probably came about either in Athens or in Nicopolis.

Epictetus died around , maybe AD. According to an ancient tradition, he led such a poor life that his house in Rome did not need a bolt. It is also said that he limped from childhood or because of an illness. A large part of the sources, however, prefer the often embellished but basically credible episode that his master smashed his leg as a slave, which he endured in stoic composure.

Epictetus remained unmarried; in old age, however, he is said to have adopted the child of a poor friend who would otherwise have been abandoned and raised with the help of a wet nurse. Epictetus himself did not write any scriptures.

However, his oral lessons were already very influential during his lifetime. The first four books of Arrian's writing, which was known under different names and with a varying number of books in antiquity, have survived.

Corresponding to the Greek title, the sections of the work are written in the style of the diatribe , i. This style was mostly cultivated by Cynical and Stoic philosophers. In the foreword, in the form of a letter to a certain Lucius Gellius, Arrian emphasizes that he did not write the script himself, but simply wrote down what he heard verbatim. He wanted to keep the memory of his teacher for himself and had no intention of publishing the notes.

Arrian's claim to deliver Epictet's teaching literally met with doubts in research. Controversy arose as to the extent to which the work actually represents a credible reproduction of Epictet's lectures. Occasionally, scholars even see a work by Epictetus himself, the preface of which is only intended to create the impression of lecture notes. Representatives of the opposite position consider Arrian's claim to authenticity to be a literary fiction.

In their opinion, the doctrinal conversations are essentially Arrian's work; some of them come entirely from his pen and are deliberately based on the representation of Socrates in Xenophon , among other things. The question of the relationship between the doctrinal conversations and the doctrines of the historical epictetus cannot be answered conclusively, also due to the lack of sources of comparison. In any case, it is assumed that the Scriptures captured the core of Epictetus' thinking.

In this extremely popular work, which was received much more than the doctrinal conversations , Arrian repeats some of the ideas of the doctrinal conversations verbatim, while changing other statements. The essay deals primarily with practical philosophy.

Not theoretical considerations, but guiding principles for a lifestyle based on ethical criteria are conveyed. The doctrinal conversations , on the other hand, all go back to a single codex that dates from the second half of the 11th century and is now kept in the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

In addition, almost forty fragments are ascribed to Epictetus , which probably originate from the lost part of the doctrinal conversations and whose authenticity is in part disputed. These are mainly quotations from Johannes Stobaios , an author of the 5th century. Older editions included numerous other aphorisms from the anthology of Stobaius and from a collection of gnomes , but these are most likely not authentic. The philosophy of Epictetus, as it is passed down in the writings of Arrian, fits into the tradition of the Stoic school.

He constantly refers to the great school heads Zeno , Kleanthes and Chrysippos. However, he never directly quotes representatives of the Middle Stoa such as Panaitios or Poseidonios. In numerous passages he quotes or paraphrases his sayings and lists him as the epitome of a virtuous person who lives according to ethical principles. For Epictetus, Diogenes of Sinope embodies the ideal of Cynicism , which his teacher Musonius Rufus was already open to. In the doctrine of Cynicism , Epictetus accordingly paints the picture of the true Cynic, whose task it is to constantly call for philosophical lessons and a simple life and to criticize social conditions.

This educational function of the Cynics would only be superfluous in an ideal society of philosophically and morally educated people. The Diatribe Vom Kynismus is an important testimony to the influence of Cynicism on the Stoa of the imperial era and especially on Epictetus. Corresponding to the three areas of Stoic philosophy, Epiktet's teaching activities were also limited to physics , logic and ethics. The main focus of his teaching were ethical questions, especially topics of morality and religiosity.

Even if the research often emphasizes Epictet's adherence to traditional ideas of the Stoa, his philosophy contains many elements that were unknown to previous stoicism. In Epictetus - at least in the traditional works - logic plays a subordinate role compared to earlier Stoics.

Logic thus provides justifications for ethical principles, thereby securing the foundations of human conduct. Epictetus emphatically emphasizes the primacy of applied ethics over theoretical considerations, because, taken by themselves, the means of logic remain fruitless. According to Epictetus, philosophy consists of three areas: the application of its teachings, the evidence of their correctness and the justification and structure of this evidence.

These three aspects are related, but Epictetus gives priority to application. He criticizes the fact that the evidence for the principle that one must not lie is generally known, but the implementation, the actual avoidance of the lie, is often neglected. Epictetus occupied physics only in the context of his theology and anthropology. He is not concerned with cosmogony. In the tradition of the Stoa, Epictetus teaches the unity of the universe as the whole of reality including the deity.

The cosmos is an organic unity for him, he is like a "only city" in which a divine law on Will and crime watches, all items related to each other and interrelationships are subject. As the creator, steward and ruler of the universe, God arranged everything for the best. In the cosmos, which is completely ruled by divine reason, nothing inherently bad exists. The direct presence of God in the world immanence shows itself in the rational cosmic order.

The relationship of things in the cosmos extends to God himself, whose small component Epictetus sees the sun. Human beings are also part of the universe and are therefore part of the cosmic development. With his birth he emerged from the cosmos "when the world needed him"; in death he mixes with the elements and changes into another form. But Epictetus does not believe in an individual life after death. Man is made of matter. He is, however, a "preferred part" of her, because he not only has a material body like animals, but also has reason and judgment like the gods.

By nature, man has a special relationship with God through his reason and understanding , which he receives from God himself. As a being gifted with reason, he forms together with God the "greatest, most powerful and most comprehensive system". Because of this relationship, he can understand the work of the wise and benevolent God.

At the same time, he does not break with the polytheistic pantheism of the Stoic doctrine and repeatedly speaks of several gods. Man should be grateful to this divine for his physical and spiritual existence and constantly praise it. He has to voluntarily submit to the plans and laws of God until finally the will of God and that of man become one.

With every action one should make oneself aware that a part of God is always directly present in the agent. With this awareness one should act in a manner pleasing to God and not defile the God present in man through unclean deeds. Hence, Epictetus exhorts his disciples "to become pure in accordance with what is pure in you and in accordance with God". Epictet's theology is thus one of the foundations of his ethics and is closely related to it.

Just as on a voyage, when your ship has anchored, if you should go on shore to get fresh water, you may pick up a small shell-fish or little bulb [6] on the way, but you have to keep your attention fixed on the ship, and turn about frequently for fear lest the captain should call; and if he calls, you must give up all these things, if you would escape being thrown on board all tied up like the sheep.

And if you are an old man, never even get very far away from the ship, for fear that when He calls you may be missing. Do not seek to have everything that happens happen as you wish, but wish for everything to happen as it actually does happen, and your life will be serene. Disease is an impediment to the body, but not to the moral purpose, unless that consents. Lameness is an impediment to the leg, but not to the moral purpose. And say this to yourself at each thing that befalls you; for you will find the thing to be an impediment to something else, but not to yourself.

In the case of everything that befalls you, remember to turn to yourself and see what faculty you have to deal with it. If you see a handsome lad or woman, you will find continence the faculty to employ here; if hard labour is laid upon you, you will find endurance; if reviling, you will find patience to bear evil.

And if you habituate yourself in this fashion, your external impressions will not run away with you. Never say about anything, "I have lost it," but only "I have given it back. It has been given back. Is your wife dead? She has been given back. So long as He gives it you, take care of it as of a thing that is not your own, as travellers treat their inn. And it is better for your slave-boy to be bad than for you to be unhappy. Begin, therefore, with the little things. Your paltry oil gets spilled, your miserable wine stolen; say to yourself, "This is the price paid for a calm spirit, this the price for peace of mind.

And when you call your slave-boy, bear in mind that it is possible he may not heed you, and again, that even if he does heed, he may not do what you want done. But he is not in so happy a condition that your peace of mind depends upon him.

If you wish to make progress, then be content to appear senseless and foolish in externals, do not make it your wish to give the appearance of knowing anything; and if some people think you to be an important personage, distrust yourself.

For be assured that it is no easy matter to keep your moral purpose in a state of conformity with nature, and, at the same time, to keep externals; but the man who devotes his attention to one of these two things must inevitably neglect the other. If you make it your will that your children and your wife and your friends should live for ever, you are silly; for you are making it your will that things not under your control should be under your control, and that what is not your own should be your own.

If, however, it is your will not to fail in what you desire, this is in your power. Wherefore, exercise yourself in that which is in your power. Each man's master is the person who has the authority over what the man wishes or does not wish, so as to secure it, or take it away. Whoever, therefore, wants to be free, let him neither wish for anything, nor avoid anything, that is under the control of others; or else he is necessarily a slave.

Remember that you ought to behave in life as you would at a banquet. As something is being passed around it comes to you; stretch out your hand and take a portion of it politely. It passes on; do not detain it. Or it has not come to you yet; do not project your desire to meet it, but wait until it comes in front of you. So act toward children, so toward a wife, so toward office, so toward wealth; and then some day you will be worthy of the banquets of the gods. But if you do not take these things even when they are set before you, but despise them, then you will not only share the banquet of the gods, but share also their rule.

For it was by so doing that Diogenes and Heracleitus, and men like them, were deservedly divine and deservedly so called. When you see someone weeping in sorrow, either because a child has gone on a journey, or because he has lost his property, beware that you be not carried away by the impression that the man is in the midst of external ills, but straightway keep before you this thought: "It is not what has happened that distresses this man for it does not distress another , but his judgement about it.

When a raven croaks inauspiciously, let not the external impression carry you away, but straightway draw a distinction in your own mind, and say, "None of these portents are for me, but either for my paltry body, or my paltry estate, or my paltry opinion, or my children, or my wife. But for me every portent is favourable, if I so wish; for whatever be the outcome, it is within my power to derive benefit from it. You can be invincible if you never enter a contest in which victory is not under your control.

Beware lest, when you see some person preferred to you in honour, or possessing great power, or otherwise enjoying high repute, you are ever carried away by the external impression, and deem him happy.

For if the true nature of the good is one of the things that are under our control, there is no place for either envy or jealousy; and you yourself will not wish to be a praetor, or a senator, or a consul, but a free man.

Now there is but one way that leads to this, and that is to despise the things that are not under our control. Bear in mind that it is not the man who reviles or strikes you that insults you, but it is your judgement that these men are insulting you. Therefore, when someone irritates you, be assured that it is your own opinion which has irritated you. And so make it your first endeavour not to be carried away by the external impression; for if once you gain time and delay, you will more easily become master of yourself.

Keep before your eyes day by day death and exile, and everything that seems terrible, but most of all death; and then you will never have any abject thought, nor will you yearn for anything beyond measure. If you yearn for philosophy, prepare at once to be met with ridicule, to have many people jeer at you, and say, "Here he is again, turned philosopher all of a sudden," and "Where do you suppose he got that high brow?

If it should ever happen to you that you turn to externals with a view to pleasing someone, rest assured that you have lost your plan of life. Be content, therefore, in everything to be a philosopher, and if you wish also to be taken for one, show to yourself that you are one, and you will be able to accomplish it. Certainly not. How, then, can this be any longer a lack of honour?

And how is it that you will be "nobody anywhere," when you ought to be somebody only in those things which are under your control, wherein you are privileged to be a man of the very greatest honour? But your friends will be without assistance? What do you mean by being "without assistance"? They will not have paltry coin from you, and you will not make them Roman citizens. Well, who told you that these are some of the matters under our control, and not rather things which others do?

And who is able to give another what he does not himself have? But if you require me to lose the good things that belong to me, in order that you may acquire the things that are not good, you can see for yourselves how unfair and inconsiderate you are. And which do you really prefer? Money, or a faithful and self-respecting friend?

Help me, therefore, rather to this end, and do not require me to do those things which will make me lose these qualities. It will not have loggias or baths of your providing.

And what does that signify? For neither does it have shoes provided by the blacksmith, nor has it arms provided by the cobbler; but it is sufficient if each man fulfil his own proper function.

And if you secured for it another faithful and self-respecting citizen, would you not be doing it any good? Whatever place you can have, and at the same time maintain the man of fidelity and self-respect that is in you. But if, through your desire to help the State, you lose these qualities, of what good would you become to it, when in the end you turned out to be shameless and unfaithful?

Has someone been honoured above you at a dinner-party, or in salutation, or in being called in to give advice? As a mark is not set up for the purpose of missing the aim, so neither does the nature of evil exist in the world.

If any person was intending to put your body in the power of any man whom you fell in with on the way, you would be vexed: but that you put your understanding in the power of any man whom you meet, so that if he should revile you, it is disturbed and troubled, are you not ashamed at this? In every act observe the things which come first, and those which follow it; and so proceed to the act.

If you do not, at first you will approach it with alacrity, without having thought of the things which will follow; but afterward, when certain base ugly things have shown themselves, you will be ashamed.

A man wishes to conquer at the Olympic games. But observe both the things which come first, and the things which follow; and then begin the act. You must do everything according to rule, eat according to strict orders; abstain from delicacies; exercise yourself as you are bid at appointed times, in heat, in cold; you must not drink cold water, nor wine as you choose.

In a word, you must deliver yourself up to the exercise master as you do to the physician, and then proceed to the contest. And sometimes you will strain the hand, put the ankle out of joint, swallow much dust, sometimes be flogged, and after all this be defeated.

When you have considered all this, if you still choose, go to the contest: if you do not, you will behave like children, who at one time play at wrestlers, another time as flute players, again as gladiators, then as trumpeters, then as tragic actors: so you also will be at one time an athlete, at another a gladiator, then a rhetorician, then a philosopher, but with your whole soul you will be nothing at all; but like an ape you imitate everything that you see, and one thing after another pleases you.

For you have not undertaken anything with consideration, nor have you surveyed it well; but carelessly and with cold desire. Thus some who have seen a philosopher and having heard one speak, as Euphrates speaks—and who can speak as he does?

They wish to be philosophers themselves also. My man, first of all consider what kind of thing it is: and then examine your own nature, if you are able to sustain the character. Do you wish to be a pentathlete or a wrestler? Look at your arms, your thighs, examine your loins. For different men are formed by nature for different things.

Do you think that if you do these things, you can eat in the same manner, drink in the same manner, and in the same manner loathe certain things? You must pass sleepless nights; endure toil; go away from your kinsmen; be despised by a slave; in everything have the inferior part, in honor, in office, in the courts of justice, in every little matter.

Consider these things, if you would exchange for them, freedom from passions, liberty, tranquility. If not, take care that, like little children, you be not now a philosopher, then a servant of the publicani, then a rhetorician, then a procurator manager for Caesar. These things are not consistent. You must either cultivate your own ruling faculty, or external things; you must either exercise your skill on internal things or on external things; that is, you must either maintain the position of a philosopher or that of a common person.

Is a man a father? The precept is to take care of him, to yield to him in all things, to submit when he is reproachful, when he inflicts blows. But suppose that he is a bad father. Were you then by nature made akin to a good father? No; but to a father. Does a brother wrong you? Maintain then your own position toward him, and do not examine what he is doing, but what you must do that your will shall be conformable to nature. For another will not damage you, unless you choose: but you will be damaged then when you shall think that you are damaged.

In this way, then, you will discover your duty from the relation of a neighbor, from that of a citizen, from that of a general, if you are accustomed to contemplate the relations. As to piety toward the gods you must know that this is the chief thing, to have right opinions about them, to think that they exist, and that they administer the All well and justly; and you must fix yourself in this principle duty , to obey them, and yield to them in everything which happens, and voluntarily to follow it as being accomplished by the wisest intelligence.

For if you do so, you will never either blame the gods, nor will you accuse them of neglecting you. And it is not possible for this to be done in any other way than by withdrawing from the things which are not in our power, and by placing the good and the evil only in those things which are in our power. It is impossible, then, for a person who thinks that he is harmed to be delighted with that which he thinks to be the cause of the harm, as it is also impossible to be pleased with the harm itself.

For this reason also a father is reviled by his son, when he gives no part to his son of the things which are considered to be good: and it was this which made Polynices and Eteocles [21] enemies, the opinion that royal power was a good. It is for this reason that the cultivator of the earth reviles the gods, for this reason the sailor does, and the merchant, and for this reason those who lose their wives and their children.

For where the useful your interest is, there also piety is. But to make libations and to sacrifice and to offer first fruits according to the custom of our fathers, purely and not meanly nor carelessly nor scantily nor above our ability, is a thing which belongs to all to do.

When you have recourse to divination, remember that you do not know how it will turn out, but that you are come to inquire from the diviner.

For if it is any of the things which are not in our power, it is absolutely necessary that it must be neither good nor bad. But having determined in your mind that everything which shall turn out result is indifferent, and does not concern you, and whatever it may be, for it will be in your power to use it well, and no man will hinder this, come then with confidence to the gods as your advisers.

And then, when any advice shall have been given, remember whom you have taken as advisers, and whom you will have neglected, if you do not obey them. And go to divination, as Socrates said that you ought, about those matters in which all the inquiry has reference to the result, and in which means are not given either by reason nor by any other art for knowing the thing which is the subject of the inquiry. Wherefore, when we ought to share a friend's danger or that of our country, you must not consult the diviner whether you ought to share it.

For even if the diviner shall tell you that the signs of the victims are unlucky, it is plain that this is a token of death or mutilation of part of the body or of exile. But reason prevails that even with these risks we should share the dangers of our friend and of our country.

Therefore attend to the greater diviner, the Pythian god, who ejected from the temple him who did not assist his friend when he was being murdered. Immediately prescribe some character and some form to yourself, which you shall observe both when you are alone and when you meet with men.

And let silence be the general rule, or let only what is necessary be said, and in few words. If then you are able, bring over by your conversation the conversation of your associates to that which is proper; but if you should happen to be confined to the company of strangers, be silent.

Refuse altogether to take an oath, if it is possible: if it is not, refuse as far as you are able. Avoid banquets which are given by strangers [24] and by ignorant persons. But if ever there is occasion to join in them, let your attention be carefully fixed, that you slip not into the manners of the vulgar the uninstructed.

For you must know, that if your companion be impure, he also who keeps company with him must become impure, though he should happen to be pure. Take apply the things which relate to the body as far as the bare use, as food, drink, clothing, house, and slaves: but exclude everything which is for show or luxury.

As to pleasure with women, abstain as far as you can before marriage: but if you do indulge in it, do it in the way which is conformable to custom. If a man has reported to you, that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make any defense answer to what has been told you: but reply, The man did not know the rest of my faults, for he would not have mentioned these only. And when you are come away, do not talk much about what has passed on the stage, except about that which may lead to your own improvement.

For it is plain, if you do talk much, that you admired the spectacle more than you ought. Do not go to the hearing of certain persons' recitations nor visit them readily. When you are going to meet with any person, and particularly one of those who are considered to be in a superior condition, place before yourself what Socrates or Zeno would have done in such circumstances, and you will have no difficulty in making a proper use of the occasion.

When you are going to any of those who are in great power, place before yourself that you will not find the man at home, that you will be excluded, that the door will not be opened to you, that the man will not care about you. And if with all this it is your duty to visit him, bear what happens, and never say to yourself that it was not worth the trouble. For this is silly, and marks the character of a man who is offended by externals.

In company take care not to speak much and excessively about your own acts or dangers: for as it is pleasant to you to make mention of your dangers, it is not so pleasant to others to hear what has happened to you. Take care also not to provoke laughter; for this is a slippery way toward vulgar habits, and is also adapted to diminish the respect of your neighbors.

It is a dangerous habit also to approach obscene talk. When, then, anything of this kind happens, if there is a good opportunity, rebuke the man who has proceeded to this talk: but if there is not an opportunity, by your silence at least, and blushing and expression of dissatisfaction by your countenance, show plainly that you are displeased at such talk. Then think of both times, of the time when you will enjoy the pleasure, and of the time after the enjoyment of the pleasure when you will repent and will reproach yourself.