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diff --git a/871-0.txt b/871-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..607aad0 --- /dev/null +++ b/871-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3456 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Golden Sayings of Epictetus, by Epictetus + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: The Golden Sayings of Epictetus + +Author: Epictetus + +Translator: Hastings Crossley + +Release Date: April, 1997 [eBook #871] +[Most recently updated: February 12, 2023] + +Language: English + +Produced by: David P. Steelman and David Widger + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN SAYINGS OF EPICTETUS *** + + + + +THE GOLDEN SAYINGS OF EPICTETUS + +Translated and Arranged by Hastings Crossley + + + + +CONTENTS + + I + II + III + IV + V + VI + VII + VIII + IX + X + XI + XII + XIII + XIV + XV + XVI + XVII + XVIII + XIX + XX + XXI + XXII + XXIII + XXIV + XXV + XXVI + XXVII + XXVIII + XXIX + XXX + XXXI + XXXII + XXXIII + XXXIV + XXXV + XXXVI + XXXVII + XXXVIII + XXXIX + XL + XLI + XLII + XLIII + XLIV + XLV + XLVI + XLVII + XLVIII + XLIX + L + LI + LII + LIII + LIV + LV + LVI + LVII + LVIII + LIX + LX + LXI + LXII + LXIII + LXIV + LXV + LXVI + LXVII + LXVIII + LXIX + LXX + LXXI + LXXII + LXXIII + LXXIV + LXXV + LXXVI + LXXVII + LXXVIII + LXXIX + LXXX + LXXXI + LXXXII + LXXXIII + LXXXIV + LXXXV + LXXXVI + LXXXVII + LXXXVIII + LXXXIX + XC + XCI + XCII + XCIII + XCIV + XCV + XCVI + XCVII + XCVIII + XCIX + C + CI + CII + CIII + CIV + CV + CVI + CVII + CVIII + CIX + CX + CXI + CXII + CXIII + CXIV + CXV + CXVI + CXVII + CXVIII + CXIX + CXX + CXXI + CXXII + CXXIII + CXXIV + CXXV + CXXVI + CXXVII + CXXVIII + CXXIX + CXXX + CXXXI + CXXXII + CXXXIII + CXXXIV + CXXXV + CXXXVI + CXXXVII + CXXXVIII + CXXXIX + CXL + CXLI + CXLII + CXLII + CXLIV + CXLV + CXLVI + CXLVII + CXLVIII + CXLIX + CL + CLI + CLII + CLIII + CLIV + CLV + CLVI + CLVII + CLVIII + CLIX + CLX + CLXI + CLXII + CLXIII + CLXIV + CLXV + CLXVI + CLXVII + CLXVIII + CLXIX + CLXX + CLXXI + CLXXII + CLXXIII + CLXXIV + CLXXV + CLXXVI + CLXXVII + CLXXVIII + CLXXIX + CLXXX + CLXXXI + CLXXXII + CLXXXIII + CLXXXIV + CLXXXV + CLXXXVI + CLXXXVII + CLXXXVIII + CLXXXIX + (APPENDIX A) + Fragments Attributed to Epictetus + I + II + III + IV + V + VI + VII + VIII + IX + X + XI + XII + XIII + XIV + XV + XVI + XVII + XVIII + XIX + XX + XXI + XXII + XXIII + XXIV + (APPENDIX B) + The Hymn of Cleanthes + + + + +I + +Are these the only works of Providence within us? What words suffice to +praise or set them forth? Had we but understanding, should we ever +cease hymning and blessing the Divine Power, both openly and in secret, +and telling of His gracious gifts? Whether digging or ploughing or +eating, should we not sing the hymn to God:— + +_Great is God_, for that He hath given us such instruments to till the +ground withal: + + +_Great is God_, for that He hath given us hands and the power of +swallowing and digesting; of unconsciously growing and breathing while +we sleep! + + +Thus should we ever have sung; yea and this, the grandest and divinest +hymn of all:— + +_Great is God_, for that He hath given us a mind to apprehend these +things, and duly to use them! + + +What then! seeing that most of you are blinded, should there not be +some one to fill this place, and sing the hymn to God on behalf of all +men? What else can I that am old and lame do but sing to God? Were I a +nightingale, I should do after the manner of a nightingale. Were I a +swan, I should do after the manner of a swan. But now, since I am a +reasonable being, I must sing to God: that is my work: I do it, nor +will I desert this my post, as long as it is granted me to hold it; and +upon you too I call to join in this self-same hymn. + +II + +How then do men act? As though one returning to his country who had +sojourned for the night in a fair inn, should be so captivated thereby +as to take up his abode there. + +“Friend, thou hast forgotten thine intention! This was not thy +destination, but only lay on the way thither.” + +“Nay, but it is a proper place.” + +“And how many more of the sort there may be; only to pass through upon +thy way! Thy purpose was to return to thy country; to relieve thy +kinsmen’s fears for thee; thyself to discharge the duties of a citizen; +to marry a wife, to beget offspring, and to fill the appointed round of +office. Thou didst not come to choose out what places are most +pleasant; but rather to return to that wherein thou wast born and where +wert appointed to be a citizen.” + +III + +Try to enjoy the great festival of life with other men. + +IV + +But I have one whom I must please, to whom I must be subject, whom I +must obey:—God, and those who come next to Him. He hath entrusted me +with myself: He hath made my will subject to myself alone and given me +rules for the right use thereof. + +V + +Rufus used to say, _If you have leisure to praise me, what I say is +naught_. In truth he spoke in such wise, that each of us who sat there, +though that some one had accused him to Rufus:—so surely did he lay his +finger on the very deeds we did: so surely display the faults of each +before his very eyes. + +VI + +But what saith God?—“Had it been possible, Epictetus, I would have made +both that body of thine and thy possessions free and unimpeded, but as +it is, be not deceived:—it is not thine own; it is but finely tempered +clay. Since then this I could not do, I have given thee a portion of +Myself, in the power of desiring and declining and of pursuing and +avoiding, and in a word the power of dealing with the things of sense. +And if thou neglect not this, but place all that thou hast therein, +thou shalt never be let or hindered; thou shalt never lament; thou +shalt not blame or flatter any. What then? Seemth this to thee a little +thing?”—God forbid!—“Be content then therewith!” + +And so I pray the Gods. + +VII + +What saith Antisthenes? Hast thou never heard?— + +_It is a kingly thing, O Cyrus, to do well and to be evil spoken of_. + +VIII + +“Aye, but to debase myself thus were unworthy of me.” + +“That,” said Epictetus, “is for you to consider, not for me. You know +yourself what you are worth in your own eyes; and at what price you +will sell yourself. For men sell themselves at various prices. This was +why, when Florus was deliberating whether he should appear at Nero’s +shows, taking part in the performance himself, Agrippinus replied, ‘But +why do not _you_ appear?’ he answered, ‘Because I do not even consider +the question.’ For the man who has once stooped to consider such +questions, and to reckon up the value of external things, is not far +from forgetting what manner of man he is. Why, what is it that you ask +me? Is death preferable, or life? I reply, Life. Pain or pleasure? I +reply, Pleasure.” + +“Well, but if I do not act, I shall lose my head.” + +“Then go and act! But for my part I will not act.” + +“Why?” + +“Because _you_ think yourself but one among the many threads which make +up the texture of the doublet. _You_ should aim at being like men in +general—just as your thread has no ambition either to be anything +distinguished compared with the other threads. But I desire to be the +purple—that small and shining part which makes the rest seem fair and +beautiful. Why then do you bid me become even as the multitude? Then +were I no longer the purple.” + +IX + +If a man could be throughly penetrated, as he ought, with this thought, +that we are all in an especial manner sprung from God, and that God is +the Father of men as well as of Gods, full surely he would never +conceive aught ignoble or base of himself. Whereas if Cæsar were to +adopt you, your haughty looks would be intolerable; will you not be +elated at knowing that you are the son of God? Now however it is not so +with us: but seeing that in our birth these two things are +commingled—the body which we share with the animals, and the Reason and +Thought which we share with the Gods, many decline towards this unhappy +kinship with the dead, few rise to the blessed kinship with the Divine. +Since then every one must deal with each thing according to the view +which he forms about it, those few who hold that they are born for +fidelity, modesty, and unerring sureness in dealing with the things of +sense, never conceive aught base or ignoble of themselves: but the +multitude the contrary. Why, what am I?—A wretched human creature; with +this miserable flesh of mine. Miserable indeed! but you have something +better than that paltry flesh of yours. Why then cling to the one, and +neglect the other? + +X + +Thou art but a poor soul laden with a lifeless body. + +XI + +The other day I had an iron lamp placed beside my household gods. I +heard a noise at the door and on hastening down found my lamp carried +off. I reflected that the culprit was in no very strange case. +“Tomorrow, my friend,” I said, “you will find an earthenware lamp; for +a man can only lose what he has.” + +XII + +The reason why I lost my lamp was that the thief was superior to me in +vigilance. He paid however this price for the lamp, that in exchange +for it he consented to become a thief: in exchange for it, to become +faithless. + +XIII + +But God hath introduced Man to be a spectator of Himself and of His +works; and not a spectator only, but also an interpreter of them. +Wherefore it is a shame for man to begin and to leave off where the +brutes do. Rather he should begin there, and leave off where Nature +leaves off in us: and that is at contemplation, and understanding, and +a manner of life that is in harmony with herself. + +See then that ye die not without being spectators of these things. + +XIV + +You journey to Olympia to see the work of Phidias; and each of you +holds it a misfortune not to have beheld these things before you die. +Whereas when there is no need even to take a journey, but you are on +the spot, with the works before you, have you no care to contemplate +and study these? + +Will you not then perceive either who you are or unto what end you were +born: or for what purpose the power of contemplation has been bestowed +on you? + +“Well, but in life there are some things disagreeable and hard to +bear.” + +And are there none at Olympia? Are you not scorched by the heat? Are +you not cramped for room? Have you not to bathe with discomfort? Are +you not drenched when it rains? Have you not to endure the clamor and +shouting and such annoyances as these? Well, I suppose you set all this +over against the splendour of the spectacle and bear it patiently. What +then? have you not received greatness of heart, received courage, +received fortitude? What care I, if I am great of heart, for aught that +can come to pass? What shall cast me down or disturb me? What shall +seem painful? Shall I not use the power to the end for which I received +it, instead of moaning and wailing over what comes to pass? + +XV + +If what philosophers say of the kinship of God and Man be true, what +remains for men to do but as Socrates did:—never, when asked one’s +country, to answer, “I am an Athenian or a Corinthian,” but “I am a +citizen of the world.” + +XVI + +He that hath grasped the administration of the World, who hath learned +that this Community, which consists of God and men, is the foremost and +mightiest and most comprehensive of all:—that from God have descended +the germs of life, not to my father only and father’s father, but to +all things that are born and grow upon the earth, and in an especial +manner to those endowed with Reason (for those only are by their nature +fitted to hold communion with God, being by means of Reason conjoined +with Him)—why should not such an one call himself a citizen of the +world? Why not a son of God? Why should he fear aught that comes to +pass among men? Shall kinship with Cæsar, or any other of the great at +Rome, be enough to hedge men around with safety and consideration, +without a thought of apprehension: while to have God for our Maker, and +Father, and Kinsman, shall not this set us free from sorrows and fears? + +XVII + +I do not think that an old fellow like me need have been sitting here +to try and prevent your entertaining abject notions of yourselves, and +talking of yourselves in an abject and ignoble way: but to prevent +there being by chance among you any such young men as, after +recognising their kindred to the Gods, and their bondage in these +chains of the body and its manifold necessities, should desire to cast +them off as burdens too grievous to be borne, and depart their true +kindred. This is the struggle in which your Master and Teacher, were he +worthy of the name, should be engaged. You would come to me and say: +“Epictetus, we can no longer endure being chained to this wretched +body, giving food and drink and rest and purification: aye, and for its +sake forced to be subservient to this man and that. Are these not +things indifferent and nothing to us? Is it not true that death is no +evil? Are we not in a manner kinsmen of the Gods, and have we not come +from them? Let us depart thither, whence we came: let us be freed from +these chains that confine and press us down. Here are thieves and +robbers and tribunals: and they that are called tyrants, who deem that +they have after a fashion power over us, because of the miserable body +and what appertains to it. Let us show them that they have power over +none.” + +XVIII + +And to this I reply:— + +“Friends, wait for God. When He gives the signal, and releases you from +this service, then depart to Him. But for the present, endure to dwell +in the place wherein He hath assigned you your post. Short indeed is +the time of your habitation therein, and easy to those that are minded. +What tyrant, what robber, what tribunals have any terrors for those who +thus esteem the body and all that belong to it as of no account? Stay; +depart not rashly hence!” + +XIX + +Something like that is what should pass between a teacher and ingenuous +youths. As it is, what does pass? The teacher is a lifeless body, and +you are lifeless bodies yourselves. When you have had enough to eat +today, you sit down and weep about tomorrow’s food. Slave! if you have +it, well and good; if not, you will depart: the door is open—why +lament? What further room is there for tears? What further occasion for +flattery? Why should one envy another? Why should you stand in awe of +them that have much or are placed in power, especially if they be also +strong and passionate? Why, what should they do to us? What they can +do, we will not regard: what does concern us, that they cannot do. Who +then shall rule one that is thus minded? + +XX + +Seeing this then, and noting well the faculties which you have, you +should say,—“Send now, O God, any trial that Thou wilt; lo, I have +means and powers given me by Thee to acquit myself with honour through +whatever comes to pass!”—No; but there you sit, trembling for fear +certain things should come to pass, and moaning and groaning and +lamenting over what does come to pass. And then you upbraid the Gods. +Such meanness of spirit can have but one result—impiety. + +Yet God has not only given us these faculties by means of which we may +bear everything that comes to pass without being crushed or depressed +thereby; but like a good King and Father, He has given us this without +let or hindrance, placed wholly at our own disposition, without +reserving to Himself any power of impediment or restraint. Though +possessing all these things free and all you own, you do not use them! +you do not perceive what it is you have received nor whence it comes, +but sit moaning and groaning; some of you blind to the Giver, making no +acknowledgment to your Benefactor; others basely giving themselves to +complaints and accusations against God. + +Yet what faculties and powers you possess for attaining courage and +greatness of heart, I can easily show you; what you have for upbraiding +and accusation, it is for you to show me! + +XXI + +How did Socrates bear himself in this regard? How else than as became +one who was fully assured that he was the kinsman of Gods? + +XXII + +If God had made that part of His own nature which He severed from +Himself and gave to us, liable to be hindered or constrained either by +Himself or any other, He would not have been God, nor would He have +been taking care of us as He ought . . . . If you choose, you are free; +if you choose, you need blame no man—accuse no man. All things will be +at once according to your mind and according to the Mind of God. + +XXIII + +Petrifaction is of two sorts. There is petrifaction of the +understanding; and also of the sense of shame. This happens when a man +obstinately refuses to acknowledge plain truths, and persists in +maintaining what is self-contradictory. Most of us dread mortification +of the body, and would spare no pains to escape anything of that kind. +But of mortification of the soul we are utterly heedless. With regard, +indeed, to the soul, if a man is in such a state as to be incapable of +following or understanding anything, I grant you we do think him in a +bad way. But mortification of the sense of shame and modesty we go so +far as to dub strength of mind! + +XXIV + +If we were as intent upon our business as the old fellows at Rome are +upon what interests them, we too might perhaps accomplish something. I +know a man older than I am, now Superintendent of the Corn-market at +Rome, and I remember when he passed through this place on his way back +from exile, what an account he gave me of his former life, declaring +that for the future, once home again, his only care should be to pass +his remaining years in quiet and tranquility. “For how few years have I +left!” he cried. “That,” I said, “you will not do; but the moment the +scent of Rome is in your nostrils, you will forget it all; and if you +can but gain admission to Court, you will be glad enough to elbow your +way in, and thank God for it.” “Epictetus,” he replied, “if ever you +find me setting as much as one foot within the Court, think what you +will of me.” + +Well, as it was, what did he do? Ere ever he entered the city, he was +met by a despatch from the Emperor. He took it, and forgot the whole of +his resolutions. From that moment, he has been piling one thing upon +another. I should like to be beside him to remind him of what he said +when passing this way, and to add, How much better a prophet I am than +you! + +What then? do I say man is not made for an active life? Far from it! . +. . But there is a great difference between other men’s occupations and +ours. . . . A glance at theirs will make it clear to you. All day long +they do nothing but calculate, contrive, consult how to wring their +profit out of food-stuffs, farm-plots and the like. . . . Whereas, I +entreat you to learn what the administration of the World is, and what +place a Being endowed with reason holds therein: to consider what you +are yourself, and wherein your Good and Evil consists. + +XXV + +A man asked me to write to Rome on his behalf who, as most people +thought, had met with misfortune; for having been before wealthy and +distinguished, he had afterwards lost all and was living here. So I +wrote about him in a humble style. He however on reading the letter +returned it to me, with the words: “I asked for your help, not for your +pity. No evil has happened unto me.” + +XXVI + +True instruction is this:—to learn to wish that each thing should come +to pass as it does. And how does it come to pass? As the Disposer has +disposed it. Now He has disposed that there should be summer and +winter, and plenty and dearth, and vice and virtue, and all such +opposites, for the harmony of the whole. + +XXVII + +Have this thought ever present with thee, when thou losest any outward +thing, what thou gainest in its stead; and if this be the more +precious, say not, I have suffered loss. + +XXVIII + +Concerning the Gods, there are who deny the very existence of the +Godhead; others say that it exists, but neither bestirs nor concerns +itself nor has forethought for anything. A third party attribute to it +existence and forethought, but only for great and heavenly matters, not +for anything that is on earth. A fourth party admit things on earth as +well as in heaven, but only in general, and not with respect to each +individual. A fifth, of whom were Ulysses and Socrates are those that +cry:— + +_I move not without Thy knowledge!_ + +XXIX + +Considering all these things, the good and true man submits his +judgement to Him that administers the Universe, even as good citizens +to the law of the State. And he that is being instructed should come +thus minded:—How may I in all things follow the Gods; and, How may I +rest satisfied with the Divine Administration; and, How may I become +free? For he is free for whom all things come to pass according to his +will, and whom none can hinder. What then, is freedom madness? God +forbid. For madness and freedom exist not together. + +“But I wish all that I desire to come to pass and in the manner that I +desire.” + +—You are mad, you are beside yourself. Know you not that Freedom is a +glorious thing and of great worth? But that what I desired at random I +should wish at random to come to pass, so far from being noble, may +well be exceeding base. + +XXX + +You must know that it is no easy thing for a principle to become a +man’s own, unless each day he maintain it and hear it maintained, as +well as work it out in life. + +XXXI + +You are impatient and hard to please. If alone, you call it solitude: +if in the company of men, you dub them conspirators and thieves, and +find fault with your very parents, children, brothers, and neighbours. +Whereas when by yourself you should have called it Tranquillity and +Freedom: and herein deemed yourself like unto the Gods. And when in the +company of many, you should not have called it a wearisome crowd and +tumult, but an assembly and a tribunal; and thus accepted all with +contentment. + +XXXII + +What then is the chastisement of those who accept it not? To be as they +are. Is any discontented with being alone? let him be in solitude. Is +any discontented with his parents? let him be a bad son, and lament. Is +any discontented with his children? let him be a bad father.—“Throw him +into prison!”—What prison?—Where he is already: for he is there against +his will; and wherever a man is against his will, that to him is a +prison. Thus Socrates was not in prison, since he was there with his +own consent. + +XXXIII + +Knowest thou what a speck thou art in comparison with the +Universe?—-That is, with respect to the body; since with respect to +Reason, thou art not inferior to the Gods, nor less than they. For the +greatness of Reason is not measured by length or height, but by the +resolves of the mind. Place then thy happiness in that wherein thou art +equal to the Gods. + +XXXIV + +Asked how a man might eat acceptably to the Gods, Epictetus replied:—If +when he eats, he can be just, cheerful, equable, temperate, and +orderly, can he not thus eat acceptably to the Gods? But when you call +for warm water, and your slave does not answer, or when he answers +brings it lukewarm, or is not even found to be in the house at all, +then not to be vexed nor burst with anger, is not that acceptable to +the Gods? + +“But how can one endure such people?” + +Slave, will you not endure your own brother, that has God to his +forefather, even as a son sprung from the same stock, and of the same +high descent as yourself? And if you are stationed in a high position, +are you therefor forthwith set up for a tyrant? Remember who you are, +and whom you rule, that they are by nature your kinsmen, your brothers, +the offspring of God. + +“But I paid a price for them, not they for me.” + +Do you see whither you are looking—down to the earth, to the pit, to +those despicable laws of the dead? But to the laws of the Gods you do +not look. + +XXXV + +When we are invited to a banquet, we take what is set before us; and +were one to call upon his host to set fish upon the table or sweet +things, he would be deemed absurd. Yet in a word, we ask the Gods for +what they do not give; and that, although they have given us so many +things! + +XXXVI + +Asked how a man might convince himself that every single act of his was +under the eye of God, Epictetus answered:— + +“Do you not hold that things on earth and things in heaven are +continuous and in unison with each other?” + +“I do,” was the reply. + +“Else how should the trees so regularly, as though by God’s command, at +His bidding flower; at His bidding send forth shoots, bear fruit and +ripen it; at His bidding let it fall and shed their leaves, and folded +up upon themselves lie in quietness and rest? How else, as the Moon +waxes and wanes, as the Sun approaches and recedes, can it be that such +vicissitude and alternation is seen in earthly things? + +“If then all things that grow, nay, our own bodies, are thus bound up +with the whole, is not this still truer of our souls? And if our souls +are bound up and in contact with God, as being very parts and fragments +plucked from Himself, shall He not feel every movement of theirs as +though it were His own, and belonging to His own nature?” + +XXXVII + +“But,” you say, “I cannot comprehend all this at once.” + +“Why, who told you that your powers were equal to God’s?” + +Yet God hath placed by the side of each a man’s own Guardian Spirit, +who is charged to watch over him—a Guardian who sleeps not nor is +deceived. For to what better or more watchful Guardian could He have +committed which of us? So when you have shut the doors and made a +darkness within, remember never to say that you are alone; for you are +not alone, but God is within, and your Guardian Spirit, and what light +do they need to behold what you do? To this God you also should have +sworn allegiance, even as soldiers unto Cæsar. They, when their service +is hired, swear to hold the life of Cæsar dearer than all else: and +will you not swear your oath, that are deemed worthy of so many and +great gifts? And will you not keep your oath when you have sworn it? +And what oath will you swear? Never to disobey, never to arraign or +murmur at aught that comes to you from His hand: never unwillingly to +do or suffer aught that necessity lays upon you. + +“Is this oath like theirs?” + +They swear to hold no other dearer than Cæsar: you, to hold our true +selves dearer than all else beside. + +XXXVIII + +“How shall my brother cease to be wroth with me?” + +Bring him to me, and I will tell him. But to _thee_ I have nothing to +say about _his_ anger. + +XXXIX + +When one took counsel of Epictetus, saying, “What I seek is this, how +even though my brother be not reconciled to me, I may still remain as +Nature would have me to be,” he replied: “All great things are slow of +growth; nay, this is true even of a grape or of a fig. If then you say +to me now, I desire a fig, I shall answer, It needs time: wait till it +first flower, then cast its blossom, then ripen. Whereas then the fruit +of the fig-tree reaches not maturity suddenly nor yet in a single hour, +do you nevertheless desire so quickly, and easily to reap the fruit of +the mind of man?—Nay, expect it not, even though I bade you!” + +XL + +Epaphroditus had a shoemaker whom he sold as being good-for-nothing. +This fellow, by some accident, was afterwards purchased by one of +Cæsar’s men, and became a shoemaker to Cæsar. You should have seen what +respect Epaphroditus paid him then. “How does the good Felicion? Kindly +let me know!” And if any of us inquired, “What is Epaphroditus doing?” +the answer was, “He is consulting about so and so with Felicion.”—Had +he not sold him as good-for-nothing? Who had in a trice converted him +into a wiseacre? + +This is what comes of holding of importance anything but the things +that depend on the Will. + +XLI + +What you shun enduring yourself, attempt not to impose on others. You +shun slavery—beware of enslaving others! If you can endure to do that, +one would think you had been once upon a time a slave yourself. For +Vice has nothing in common with virtue, nor Freedom with slavery. + +XLII + +Has a man been raised to tribuneship? Every one that he meets +congratulates him. One kisses him on the eyes, another on the neck, +while the slaves kiss his hands. He goes home to find torches burning; +he ascends to the Capitol to sacrifice.—Who ever sacrificed for having +had right desires; for having conceived such inclinations as Nature +would have him? In truth we thank the Gods for that wherein we place +our happiness. + +XLIII + +A man was talking to me to-day about the priesthood of Augustus. I said +to him, “Let the thing go, my good Sir; you will spend a good deal to +no purpose.” + +“Well, but my name will be inserted in all documents and contracts.” + +“Will _you_ be standing there to tell those that read them, That is my +name written there? And even if you could now be there in every case, +what will you do when you are dead?” + +“At all events my name will remain.” + +“Inscribe it on a stone and it will remain just as well. And think, +beyond Nicopolis what memory of you will there be?” + +“But I shall have a golden wreath to wear.” + +“If you must have a wreath, get a wreath of roses and put it on; you +will look more elegant!” + +XLIV + +Above all, remember that the door stands open. Be not more fearful than +children; but as they, when they weary of the game, cry, “I will play +no more,” even so, when thou art in the like case, cry, “I will play no +more” and depart. But if thou stayest, make no lamentation. + +XLV + +Is there smoke in the room? If it be slight, I remain; if grievous, I +quit it. For you must remember this and hold it fast, that the door +stands open. + +“You shall not dwell at Nicopolis!” + +Well and good. + +“Nor at Athens.” + +Then I will not dwell at Athens either. + +“Nor at Rome.” + +Nor at Rome either. + +“You shall dwell in Gyara!” + +Well: but to dwell in Gyara seems to me like a grievous smoke; I depart +to a place where none can forbid me to dwell: _that_ habitation is open +unto all! As for the last garment of all, that is the poor body; beyond +that, none can do aught unto me. This why Demetrius said to Nero: “You +threaten me with death; it is Nature who threatens _you!_” + +XLVI + +The beginning of philosophy is to know the condition of one’s own mind. +If a man recognises that this is in a weakly state, he will not then +want to apply it to questions of the greatest moment. As it is, men who +are not fit to swallow even a morsel, buy whole treatises and try to +devour them. Accordingly they either vomit them up again, or suffer +from indigestion, whence come gripings, fluxions, and fevers. Whereas +they should have stopped to consider their capacity. + +XLVII + +In theory it is easy to convince an ignorant person: in actual life, +men not only object to offer themselves to be convinced, but hate the +man who has convinced them. Whereas Socrates used to say that we should +never lead a life not subjected to examination. + +XLVIII + +This is the reason why Socrates, when reminded that he should prepare +for his trial, answered: “Thinkest thou not that I have been preparing +for it all my life?” + +“In what way?” + +“I have maintained that which in me lay!” + +“How so?” + +“I have never, secretly or openly, done a wrong unto any.” + +XLIX + +In what character dost thou now come forward? + +As a witness summoned by God. “Come thou,” saith God, “and testify for +me, for thou art worthy of being brought forward as a witness by Me. Is +aught that is outside thy will either good or bad? Do I hurt any man? +Have I placed the good of each in the power of any other than himself? +What witness dost thou bear to God?” + +“I am in evil state, Master, I am undone! None careth for me, none +giveth me aught: all men blame, all speak evil of me.” + +Is this the witness thou wilt bear, and do dishonour to the calling +wherewith He hath called thee, because He hath done thee so great +honour, and deemed thee worthy of being summoned to bear witness in so +great a cause? + +L + +Wouldst thou have men speak good of thee? speak good of them. And when +thou hast learned to speak good of them, try to do good unto them, and +thus thou wilt reap in return their speaking good of thee. + +LI + +When thou goest in to any of the great, remember that Another from +above sees what is passing, and that thou shouldst please Him rather +than man. He therefore asks thee:— + +“In the Schools, what didst thou call exile, imprisonment, bonds, death +and shame?” + +“I called them things indifferent.” + +“What then dost thou call them now? Are they at all changed?” + +“No.” + +“Is it then thou that art changed?” + +“No.” + +“Say then, what are things indifferent?” + +“Things that are not in our power.” + +“Say then, what follows?” + +“That things which are not in our power are nothing to me.” + +“Say also what things you hold to be good.” + +“A will such as it ought to be, and a right use of the things of +sense.” + +“And what is the end?” + +“To follow Thee!” + +LII + +“That Socrates should ever have been so treated by the Athenians!” + +Slave! why say “Socrates”? Speak of the thing as it is: That ever then +the poor _body_ of Socrates should have been dragged away and haled by +main force to prison! That ever hemlock should have been given to the +_body_ of Socrates; that _that_ should have breathed its life away!—Do +you marvel at this? Do you hold this unjust? Is it for this that you +accuse God? Had Socrates no compensation for this? Where then for him +was the ideal Good? Whom shall we hearken to, you or him? And what says +he? + +“Anytus and Melitus may put me to death: to injure me is beyond their +power.” + +And again:— + +“If such be the will of God, so let it be.” + +LIII + +Nay, young man, for heaven’s sake; but once thou hast heard these +words, go home and say to thyself:—“It is not Epictetus that has told +me these things: how indeed should he? No, it is some gracious God +through him. Else it would never have entered his head to tell me +them—he that is not used to speak to any one thus. Well, then, let us +not lie under the wrath of God, but be obedient unto Him.”—-Nay, +indeed; but if a raven by its croaking bears thee any sign, it is not +the raven but God that sends the sign through the raven; and if He +signifies anything to thee through human voice, will _He_ not cause the +man to say these words to thee, that thou mayest know the power of the +Divine—how He sends a sign to some in one way and to others in another, +and on the greatest and highest matters of all signifies His will +through the noblest messenger? + +What else does the poet mean:— + +I spake unto him erst Myself, and sent +Hermes the shining One, to check and warn him, +The husband not to slay, nor woo the wife! + + +LIV + +In the same way my friend Heraclitus, who had a trifling suit about a +petty farm at Rhodes, first showed the judges that his cause was just, +and then at the finish cried, “I will not entreat you: nor do I care +what sentence you pass. It is you who are on your trial, not I!”—And so +he ended the case. + +LV + +As for us, we behave like a herd of deer. When they flee from the +huntsman’s feathers in affright, which way do they turn? What haven of +safety do they make for? Why, they rush upon the nets! And thus they +perish by confounding what they should fear with that wherein no danger +lies. . . . Not death or pain is to be feared, but the _fear_ of death +or pain. Well said the poet therefore:— + +Death has no terror; only a Death of shame! + + +LVI + +How is it then that certain external things are said to be natural, and +other contrary to Nature? + +Why, just as it might be said if we stood alone and apart from others. +A foot, for instance, I will allow it is natural should be clean. But +if you take it as a foot, and as a thing which does not stand by +itself, it will beseem it (if need be) to walk in the mud, to tread on +thorns, and sometimes even to be cut off, for the benefit of the whole +body; else it is no longer a foot. In some such way we should conceive +of ourselves also. What art thou?—A man.—Looked at as standing by +thyself and separate, it is natural for thee in health and wealth long +to live. But looked at as a _Man_, and only as a part of a Whole, it is +for that Whole’s sake that thou shouldest at one time fall sick, at +another brave the perils of the sea, again, know the meaning of want +and perhaps die an early death. Why then repine? Knowest thou not that +as the foot is no more a foot if detached from the body, so thou in +like case art no longer a Man? For what is a Man? A part of a +City:—first of the City of Gods and Men; next, of that which ranks +nearest it, a miniature of the universal City. . . . In such a body, in +such a world enveloping us, among lives like these, such things must +happen to one or another. Thy part, then, being here, is to speak of +these things as is meet, and to order them as befits the matter. + +LVII + +That was a good reply which Diogenes made to a man who asked him for +letters of recommendation.—“That you are a man, he will know when he +sees you;—whether a good or bad one, he will know if he has any skill +in discerning the good or bad. But if he has none, he will never know, +though I write him a thousand times.”—It is as though a piece of silver +money desired to be recommended to some one to be tested. If the man be +a good judge of silver, he will know: the coin will tell its own tale. + +LVIII + +Even as the traveller asks his way of him that he meets, inclined in no +wise to bear to the right rather than to the left (for he desires only +the way leading whither he would go), so should we come unto God as to +a guide; even as we use our eyes without admonishing them to show us +some things rather than others, but content to receive the images of +such things as they present to us. But as it is we stand anxiously +watching the victim, and with the voice of supplication call upon the +augur:—“Master, have mercy on me: vouchsafe unto me a way of escape!” +Slave, would you then have aught else then what is best? is there +anything better than what is God’s good pleasure? Why, as far as in you +lies, would you corrupt your Judge, and lead your Counsellor astray? + +LIX + +God is beneficent. But the Good also is beneficent. It should seem then +that where the real nature of God is, there too is to be found the real +nature of the Good. What then is the real nature of God?—Intelligence, +Knowledge, Right Reason. Here then without more ado seek the real +nature of the Good. For surely thou dost not seek it in a plant or in +an animal that reasoneth not. + +LX + +Seek then the real nature of the Good in that without whose presence +thou wilt not admit the Good to exist in aught else.—What then? Are not +these other things also works of God?—They are; but not _preferred to +honour_, nor are they portions of God. But thou art a thing preferred +to honour: thou art thyself a fragment torn from God:—thou hast a +portion of Him within thyself. How is it then that thou dost not know +thy high descent—dost not know whence thou comest? When thou eatest, +wilt thou not remember who thou art that eatest and whom thou feedest? +In intercourse, in exercise, in discussion knowest thou not that it is +a God whom thou feedest, a God whom thou exercisest, a God whom thou +bearest about with thee, O miserable! and thou perceivest it not. +Thinkest thou that I speak of a God of silver or gold, that is without +thee? Nay, thou bearest Him within thee! all unconscious of polluting +Him with thoughts impure and unclean deeds. Were an image of God +present, thou wouldest not dare to act as thou dost, yet, when God +Himself is present within thee, beholding and hearing all, thou dost +not blush to think such thoughts and do such deeds, O thou that art +insensible of thine own nature and liest under the wrath of God! + +LXI + +Why then are we afraid when we send a young man from the Schools into +active life, lest he should indulge his appetites intemperately, lest +he should debase himself by ragged clothing, or be puffed up by fine +raiment? Knows he not the God within him; knows he not with whom he is +starting on his way? Have we patience to hear him say to us, Would I +had _thee_ with me!—Hast thou not God where thou art, and having Him +dost thou still seek for any other! Would He tell thee aught else than +these things? Why, wert thou a statue of Phidias, an _Athena_ or a +_Zeus_, thou wouldst bethink thee both of thyself and thine artificer; +and hadst thou any sense, thou wouldst strive to do no dishonour to +thyself or him that fashioned thee, nor appear to beholders in +unbefitting guise. But now, because God is thy Maker, is that why thou +carest not of what sort thou shalt show thyself to be? Yet how +different the artists and their workmanship! What human artist’s work, +for example, has in it the faculties that are displayed in fashioning +it? Is it aught but marble, bronze, gold, or ivory? Nay, when the +_Athena_ of Phidias has put forth her hand and received therein a +_Victory_, in that attitude she stands for evermore. But God’s works +move and breathe; they use and judge the things of sense. The +workmanship of such an Artist, wilt thou dishonor Him? Ay, when he not +only fashioned thee, but placed thee, like a ward, in the care and +guardianship of thyself alone, wilt thou not only forget this, but also +do dishonour to what is committed to thy care! If God had entrusted +thee with an orphan, wouldst thou have thus neglected him? He hath +delivered thee to thine own care, saying, I had none more faithful than +myself: keep this man for me such as Nature hath made him—modest, +faithful, high-minded, a stranger to fear, to passion, to perturbation. +. . . + +Such will I show myself to you all.—“What, exempt from sickness also: +from age, from death?”—Nay, but accepting sickness, accepting death as +becomes a God! + +LXII + +No labour, according to Diogenes, is good but that which aims at +producing courage and strength of soul rather than of body. + +LXIII + +A guide, on finding a man who has lost his way, brings him back to the +right path—he does not mock and jeer at him and then take himself off. +You also must show the unlearned man the truth, and you will see that +he will follow. But so long as you do not show it him, you should not +mock, but rather feel your own incapacity. + +LXIV + +It was the first and most striking characteristic of Socrates never to +become heated in discourse, never to utter an injurious or insulting +word—on the contrary, he persistently bore insult from others and thus +put an end to the fray. If you care to know the extent of his power in +this direction, read Xenophon’s _Banquet_, and you will see how many +quarrels he put an end to. This is why the Poets are right in so highly +commending this faculty:— + +Quickly and wisely withal even bitter feuds would he settle. + + +Nevertheless the practice is not very safe at present, especially in +Rome. One who adopts it, I need not say, ought not to carry it out in +an obscure corner, but boldly accost, if occasion serve, some personage +of rank or wealth. + +“Can you tell me, sir, to whose care you entrust your horses?” + +“I can.” + +“Is it to the first comer, who knows nothing about them?” + +“Certainly not.” + +“Well, what of the man who takes care of your gold, your silver or your +raiment?” + +“He must be experienced also.” + +“And your body—have you ever considered about entrusting it to any +one’s care?” + +“Of course I have.” + +“And no doubt to a person of experience as a trainer, a physician?” + +“Surely.” + +“And these things the best you possess, or have you anything more +precious?” + +“What can you mean?” + +“I mean that which employs these; which weights all things; which takes +counsel and resolve.” + +“Oh, you mean the soul.” + +“You take me rightly; I do mean the soul. By Heaven, I hold that far +more precious than all else I possess. Can you show me then what care +you bestow on a soul? For it can scarcely be thought that a man of your +wisdom and consideration in the city would suffer your most precious +possession to go to ruin through carelessness and neglect.” + +“Certainly not.” + +“Well, do you take care of it yourself? Did any one teach you the right +method, or did you discover it yourself?” + +Now here comes in the danger: first, that the great man may answer, +“Why, what is that to you, my good fellow? are you my master?” And +then, if you persist in troubling him, may raise his hand to strike +you. It is a practice of which I was myself a warm admirer until such +experiences as these befell me. + +LXV + +When a youth was giving himself airs in the Theatre and saying, “I am +wise, for I have conversed with many wise men,” Epictetus replied, “I +too have conversed with many rich men, yet I am not rich!” + +LXVI + +We see that a carpenter becomes a carpenter by learning certain things: +that a pilot, by learning certain things, becomes a pilot. Possibly +also in the present case the mere desire to be wise and good is not +enough. It is necessary to learn certain things. This is then the +object of our search. The Philosophers would have us first learn that +there is a God, and that His Providence directs the Universe; further, +that to hide from Him not only one’s acts but even one’s thoughts and +intentions is impossible; secondly, what the nature of God is. Whatever +that nature is discovered to be, the man who would please and obey Him +must strive with all his might to be made like unto him. If the Divine +is faithful, he also must be faithful; if free, he also must be free; +if beneficent, he also must be beneficent; if magnanimous, he also must +be magnanimous. Thus as an imitator of God must he follow Him in every +deed and word. + +LXVII + +If I show you, that you lack just what is most important and necessary +to happiness, that hitherto your attention has been bestowed on +everything rather than that which claims it most; and, to crown all, +that you know neither what God nor Man is—neither what Good or Evil is: +why, that you are ignorant of everything else, perhaps you may bear to +be told; but to hear that you know nothing of yourself, how could you +submit to that? How could you stand your ground and suffer that to be +proved? Clearly not at all. You instantly turn away in wrath. Yet what +harm have I done to you? Unless indeed the mirror harms the +ill-favoured man by showing him to himself just as he is; unless the +physician can be thought to insult his patient, when he tells +him:—“Friend, do you suppose there is nothing wrong with you? why, you +have a fever. Eat nothing to-day, and drink only water.” Yet no one +says, “What an insufferable insult!” Whereas if you say to a man, “Your +desires are inflamed, your instincts of rejection are weak and low, +your aims are inconsistent, your impulses are not in harmony with +Nature, your opinions are rash and false,” he forthwith goes away and +complains that you have insulted him. + +LXVIII + +Our way of life resembles a fair. The flocks and herds are passing +along to be sold, and the greater part of the crowd to buy and sell. +But there are some few who come only to look at the fair, to inquire +how and why it is being held, upon what authority and with what object. +So too, in this great Fair of life, some, like the cattle, trouble +themselves about nothing but the fodder. Know all of you, who are +busied about land, slaves and public posts, that these are nothing but +fodder! Some few there are attending the Fair, who love to contemplate +what the world is, what He that administers it. Can there be no +Administrator? is it possible, that while neither city nor household +could endure even a moment without one to administer and see to its +welfare, this Fabric, so fair, so vast, should be administered in order +so harmonious, without a purpose and by blind chance? There is +therefore an Administrator. What is His nature and how does He +administer? And who are we that are His children and what work were we +born to perform? Have we any close connection or relation with Him or +not? + +Such are the impressions of the few of whom I speak. And further, they +apply themselves solely to considering and examining the great assembly +before they depart. Well, they are derided by the multitude. So are the +lookers-on by the traders: aye, and if the beasts had any sense, they +would deride those who thought much of anything but fodder! + +LXIX + +I think I know now what I never knew before—the meaning of the common +saying, _A fool you can neither bend nor break_. Pray heaven I may +never have a _wise fool_ for my friend! There is nothing more +intractable.—“My resolve is fixed!”—Why so madman say too; but the more +firmly they believe in their delusions, the more they stand in need of +treatment. + +LXX + +—“O! when shall I see Athens and its Acropolis again?”—Miserable man! +art thou not contented with the daily sights that meet thine eyes? +canst thou behold aught greater or nobler than the Sun, Moon, and +Stars; than the outspread Earth and Sea? If indeed thou apprehendest +Him who administers the universe, if thou bearest Him about within +thee, canst thou still hanker after mere fragments of stone and fine +rock? When thou art about to bid farewell to the Sun and Moon itself, +wilt thou sit down and cry like a child? Why, what didst thou hear, +what didst thou learn? why didst thou write thyself down a philosopher, +when thou mightest have written what was the fact, namely, “I have made +one or two _Compendiums_, I have read some works of Chrysippus, and I +have not even touched the hem of Philosophy’s robe!” + +LXXI + +Friend, lay hold with a desperate grasp, ere it is too late, on +Freedom, on Tranquility, on Greatness of soul! Lift up thy head, as one +escaped from slavery; dare to look up to God, and say:—“Deal with me +henceforth as Thou wilt; Thou and I are of one mind. I am Thine: I +refuse nothing that seeeth good to Thee; lead on whither Thou wilt; +clothe me in what garb Thou pleasest; wilt Thou have me a ruler or a +subject—at home or in exile—poor or rich? All these things will I +justify unto men for Thee. I will show the true nature of each. . . .” + +Who would Hercules have been had he loitered at home? no Hercules, but +Eurystheus. And in his wanderings through the world how many friends +and comrades did he find? but nothing dearer to him than God. Wherefore +he was believed to be God’s son, as indeed he was. So then in obedience +to Him, he went about delivering the earth from injustice and +lawlessness. + +But thou art not Hercules, thou sayest, and canst not deliver others +from their iniquity—not even Theseus, to deliver the soil of Attica +from its monsters? Purge away thine own, cast forth thence—from thine +own mind, not robbers and monsters, but Fear, Desire, Envy, Malignity, +Avarice, Effeminacy, Intemperance. And these may not be cast out, +except by looking to God alone, by fixing thy affections on Him only, +and by consecrating thyself to His commands. If thou choosest aught +else, with sighs and groans thou wilt be forced to follow a Might +greater than thine own, ever seeking Tranquillity without, and never +able to attain unto her. For thou seekest her where she is not to be +found; and where she is, there thou seekest her not! + +LXXII + +If a man would pursue Philosophy, his first task is to throw away +conceit. For it is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he has a +conceit that he already knows. + +LXXIII + +Give me but one young man, that has come to the School with this +intention, who stands forth a champion of this cause, and says, “All +else I renounce, content if I am but able to pass my life free from +hindrance and trouble; to raise my head aloft and face all things as a +free man; to look up to heaven as a friend of God, fearing nothing that +may come to pass!” Point out such a one to me, that I may say, “Enter, +young man, into possession of that which is thine own. For thy lot is +to adorn Philosophy. Thine are these possessions; thine these books, +these discourses!” + +And when our champion has duly exercised himself in this part of the +subject, I hope he will come back to me and say:—“What I desire is to +be free from passion and from perturbation; as one who grudges no pains +in the pursuit of piety and philosophy, what I desire is to know my +duty to the Gods, my duty to my parents, to my brothers, to my country, +to strangers.” + +“Enter then on the second part of the subject; it is thine also.” + +“But I have already mastered the second part; only I wished to stand +firm and unshaken—as firm when asleep as when awake, as firm when +elated with wine as in despondency and dejection.” + +“Friend, you are verily a God! you cherish great designs.” + +LXXIV + +“The question at stake,” said Epictetus, “is no common one; it is +this:—_Are we in our senses, or are we not?_” + +LXXV + +If you have given way to anger, be sure that over and above the evil +involved therein, you have strengthened the habit, and added fuel to +the fire. If overcome by a temptation of the flesh, do not reckon it a +single defeat, but that you have also strengthened your dissolute +habits. Habits and faculties are necessarily affected by the +corresponding acts. Those that were not there before, spring up: the +rest gain in strength and extent. This is the account which +Philosophers give of the origin of diseases of the mind:—Suppose you +have once lusted after money: if reason sufficient to produce a sense +of evil be applied, then the lust is checked, and the mind at once +regains its original authority; whereas if you have recourse to no +remedy, you can no longer look for this return—on the contrary, the +next time it is excited by the corresponding object, the flame of +desire leaps up more quickly than before. By frequent repetition, the +mind in the long run becomes callous; and thus this mental disease +produces confirmed Avarice. + +One who has had fever, even when it has left him, is not in the same +condition of health as before, unless indeed his cure is complete. +Something of the same sort is true also of diseases of the mind. +Behind, there remains a legacy of traces and blisters: and unless these +are effectually erased, subsequent blows on the same spot will produce +no longer mere blisters, but sores. If you do not wish to be prone to +anger, do not feed the habit; give it nothing which may tend its +increase. At first, keep quiet and count the days when you were not +angry: “I used to be angry every day, then every other day: next every +two, next every three days!” and if you succeed in passing thirty days, +sacrifice to the Gods in thanksgiving. + +LXXVI + +How then may this be attained?—Resolve, now if never before, to approve +thyself to thyself; resolve to show thyself fair in God’s sight; long +to be pure with thine own pure self and God! + +LXXVII + +That is the true athlete, that trains himself to resist such outward +impressions as these. + +“Stay, wretched man! suffer not thyself to be carried away!” Great is +the combat, divine the task! you are fighting for Kingship, for +Liberty, for Happiness, for Tranquillity. Remember God: call upon Him +to aid thee, like a comrade that stands beside thee in the fight. + +LXXVIII + +Who then is a Stoic—in the sense that we call a statue of Phidias which +is modelled after that master’s art? Show me a man in this sense +modelled after the doctrines that are ever upon his lips. Show me a man +that is sick—and happy; an exile—and happy; in evil report—and happy! +Show me him, I ask again. So help me Heaven, I long to see _one_ Stoic! +Nay, if you cannot show me one fully modelled, let me at least see one +in whom the process is at work—one whose bent is in that direction. Do +me that favour! Grudge it not to an old man, to behold a sight he has +never yet beheld. Think you I wish to see the _Zeus_ or _Athena_ of +Phidias, bedecked with gold and ivory?—Nay, show me, one of you, a +human soul, desiring to be of one mind with God, no more to lay blame +on God or man, to suffer nothing to disappoint, nothing to cross him, +to yield neither to anger, envy, nor jealousy—in a word, why disguise +the matter? one that from a man would fain become a God; one that while +still imprisoned in this dead body makes fellowship with God his aim. +Show me him!—Ah, you cannot! Then why mock yourselves and delude +others? why stalk about tricked out in other men’s attire, thieves and +robbers that you are of names and things to which you can show no +title! + +LXXIX + +If you have assumed a character beyond your strength, you have both +played a poor figure in that, and neglected one that is within your +powers. + +LXXX + +Fellow, you have come to blows at home with a slave: you have turned +the household upside down, and thrown the neighbourhood into confusion; +and do you come to me then with airs of assumed modesty—do you sit down +like a sage and criticise my explanation of the readings, and whatever +idle babble you say has come into my head? Have you come full of envy, +and dejected because nothing is sent you from home; and while the +discussion is going on, do you sit brooding on nothing but how your +father or your brother are disposed towards you:—“What are they saying +about me there? at this moment they imagine I am making progress and +saying, He will return perfectly omniscient! I wish I could become +omniscient before I return; but that would be very troublesome. No one +sends me anything—the baths at Nicopolis are dirty; things are wretched +at home and wretched here.” And then they say, “Nobody is any the +better for the School.”—Who comes to the School with a sincere wish to +learn: to submit his principles to correction and himself to +_treatment?_ Who, to gain a sense of his wants? Why then be surprised +if you carry home from the School exactly what you bring into it? + +LXXXI + +“Epictetus, I have often come desiring to hear you speak, and you have +never given me any answer; now if possible, I entreat you, say +something to me.” + +“Is there, do you think,” replied Epictetus, “an _art_ of speaking as +of other things, if it is to be done skilfully and with profit to the +hearer?” + +“Yes.” + +“And are all profited by what they hear, or only some among them? So +that it seems there is an art of hearing as well as of speaking. . . . +To make a statue needs skill: to view a statue aright needs skill +also.” + +“Admitted.” + +“And I think all will allow that one who proposes to hear philosophers +speak needs a considerable training in hearing. Is that not so? The +tell me on what subject your are able to _hear_ me.” + +“Why, on good and evil.” + +“The good and evil of what? a horse, an ox?” + +“No; of a man.” + +“Do we know then what Man is? what his nature is? what is the idea we +have of him? And are our _ears_ practised in any degree on the subject? +Nay, do you understand what Nature is? can you follow me in any degree +when I say that I shall have to use demonstration? Do you understand +what Demonstration is? what True or False is? . . . must I _drive_ you +to Philosophy? . . . Show me what good I am to do by discoursing with +you. Rouse my desire to do so. The sight of a pasture it loves stirs in +a sheep the desire to feed: show it a stone or a bit of bread and it +remains unmoved. Thus we also have certain natural desires, aye, and +one that moves us to speak when we find a listener that is worth his +salt: one that himself stirs the spirit. But if he sits by like a stone +or a tuft of grass, how can he rouse a man’s desire?” + +“Then you will say nothing to me?” + +“I can only tell you this: that one who knows not who he is and to what +end he was born; what kind of world this is and with whom he is +associated therein; one who cannot distinguish Good and Evil, Beauty +and Foulness, . . . Truth and Falsehood, will never follow Reason in +shaping his desires and impulses and repulsions, nor yet in assent, +denial, or suspension of judgement; but will in one word go about deaf +and blind, thinking himself to be somewhat, when he is in truth of no +account. Is there anything new in all this? Is not this ignorance the +cause of all the mistakes and mischances of men since the human race +began? . . .” + +“This is all I have to say to you, and even this against the grain. +Why? Because you have not stirred my spirit. For what can I see in you +to stir me, as a spirited horse will stir a judge of horses? Your body? +That you maltreat. Your dress? That is luxurious. You behavior, your +look?—Nothing whatever. When you want to hear a philosopher, do not +say, You say nothing to me’; only show yourself worthy or fit to +_hear_, and then you will see how you will move the speaker.” + +LXXXII + +And now, when you see brothers apparently good friends and living in +accord, do not immediately pronounce anything upon their friendship, +though they should affirm it with an oath, though they should declare, +“For us to live apart in a thing impossible!” For the heart of a bad +man is faithless, unprincipled, inconstant: now overpowered by one +impression, now by another. Ask not the usual questions, Were they born +of the same parents, reared together, and under the same tutor; but ask +this only, in what they place their real interest—whether in outward +things or in the Will. If in outward things, call them not friends, any +more than faithful, constant, brave or free: call them not even human +beings, if you have any sense. . . . But should you hear that these men +hold the Good to lie only in the _Will_, only in rightly dealing with +the things of sense, take no more trouble to inquire whether they are +father and son or brothers, or comrades of long standing; but, sure of +this one thing, pronounce as boldly that they are friends as that they +are faithful and just: for where else can Friendship be found than +where Modesty is, where there is an interchange of things fair and +honest, and of such only? + +LXXXIII + +No man can rob us of our Will—no man can lord it over that! + +LXXXIV + +When disease and death overtake me, I would fain be found engaged in +the task of liberating mine own Will from the assaults of passion, from +hindrance, from resentment, from slavery. + +Thus would I fain to be found employed, so that I may say to God, “Have +I in aught transgressed Thy commands? Have I in aught perverted the +faculties, the senses, the natural principles that Thou didst give me? +Have I ever blamed Thee or found fault with Thine administration? When +it was Thy good pleasure, I fell sick—and so did other men: by _my_ +will consented. Because it was Thy pleasure, I became poor: but _my_ +heart rejoiced. No power in the State was mine, because Thou wouldst +not: such power I never desired! Hast Thou ever seen me of more doleful +countenance on that account? Have I not ever drawn nigh unto Thee with +cheerful look, waiting upon Thy commands, attentive to Thy signals? +Wilt Thou that I now depart from the great Assembly of men? I go: I +give Thee all thanks, that Thou hast deemed me worthy to take part with +Thee in this Assembly: to behold Thy works, to comprehend this Thine +administration.” + +Such I would were the subject of my thoughts, my pen, my study, when +death overtakes me. + +LXXXV + +Seemeth it nothing to you, never to accuse, never to blame either God +or Man? to wear ever the same countenance in going forth as in coming +in? This was the secret of Socrates: yet he never said that he knew or +taught anything. . . . Who amongst you makes this his aim? Were it +indeed so, you would gladly endure sickness, hunger, aye, death itself. + +LXXXVI + +How are we constituted by Nature? To be free, to be noble, to be modest +(for what other living thing is capable of blushing, or of feeling the +impression of shame?) and to subordinate pleasure to the ends for which +Nature designed us, as a handmaid and a minister, in order to call +forth our activity; in order to keep us constant to the path prescribed +by Nature. + +LXXXVII + +The husbandman deals with land; physicians and trainers with the body; +the wise man with his own Mind. + +LXXXVIII + +Which of us does not admire what Lycurgus the Spartan did? A young +citizen had put out his eye, and been handed over to him by the people +to be punished at his own discretion. Lycurgus abstained from all +vengeance, but on the contrary instructed and made a good man of him. +Producing him in public in the theatre, he said to the astonished +Spartans:—“I received this young man at your hands full of violence and +wanton insolence; I restore him to you in his right mind and fit to +serve his country.” + +LXXXIX + +A money-changer may not reject Cæsar’s coin, nor may the seller of +herbs, but must when once the coin is shown, deliver what is sold for +it, whether he will or no. So is it also with the Soul. Once the Good +appears, it attracts towards itself; evil repels. But a clear and +certain impression of the Good the Soul will never reject, any more +than men do Cæsar’s coin. On this hangs every impulse alike of Man and +God. + +XC + +Asked what Common Sense was, Epictetus replied:— + +As that may be called a Common Ear which distinguishes only sounds, +while that which distinguishes musical notes is not common but produced +by training; so there are certain things which men not entirely +perverted see by the natural principles common to all. Such a +constitution of the Mind is called Common Sense. + +XCI + +Canst thou judge men? . . . then make us imitators of thyself, as +Socrates did. _Do this, do not do that, else will I cast thee into +prison:_ this is not governing men like reasonable creatures. Say +rather, _As God hath ordained, so do; else thou wilt suffer +chastisement and loss_. Askest thou what loss? None other than this: To +have left undone what thou shouldst have done: to have lost the +faithfulness, the reverence, the modesty that is in thee! Greater loss +than this seek not to find! + +XCII + +“His son is dead.” + +What has happened? + +“His son is dead.” + +Nothing more? + +“Nothing.” + +“His ship is lost.” + +“He has been haled to prison.” + +What has happened? + +“He has been haled to prison.” + +But that any of these things are _misfortunes_ to him, is an addition +which every one makes of his own. But (you say) God is unjust is +this.—Why? For having given thee endurance and greatness of soul? For +having made such things to be no evils? For placing happiness within +thy reach, even when enduring them? For open unto thee a door, when +things make not for thy good?—Depart, my friend and find fault no more! + +XCIII + +You are sailing to Rome (you tell me) to obtain the post of Governor of +Cnossus. You are not content to stay at home with the honours you had +before; you want something on a larger scale, and more conspicuous. But +when did you ever undertake a voyage for the purpose of reviewing your +own principles and getting rid of any of them that proved unsound? Whom +did you ever visit for that object? What time did you ever set yourself +for that? What age? Run over the times of your life—by yourself, if you +are ashamed before me. Did you examine your principles when a boy? Did +you not do everything just as you do now? Or when you were a stripling, +attending the school of oratory and practising the art yourself, what +did you ever imagine you lacked? And when you were a young man, entered +upon public life, and were pleading causes and making a name, who any +longer seemed equal to you? And at what moment would you have endured +another examining your principles and proving that they were unsound? +What then am I to say to you? “Help me in this matter!” you cry. Ah, +for that I have no rule! And neither did you, if that was your object, +come to me as a philosopher, but as you might have gone to a +herb-seller or a cobbler.—“What do philosophers have rules for, +then?”—Why, that whatever may betide, our ruling faculty may be as +Nature would have it, and so remain. Think you this a small matter? Not +so! but the greatest thing there is. Well, does it need but a short +time? Can it be grasped by a passer-by?—grasp it, if you can! + +Then you will say, “Yes, I met Epictetus!” + +Aye, just as you might a statue or a monument. You saw me! and that is +all. But a man who meets a man is one who learns the other’s mind, and +lets him see his in turn. Learn my mind—show me yours; and then go and +say that you met me. Let us try each other; if I have any wrong +principle, rid me of it; if _you_ have, out with it. That is what +meeting a philosopher means. Not so, you think; this is only a flying +visit; while we are hiring the ship, we can see Epictetus too! Let us +see what he has to say. Then on leaving you cry, “Out on Epictetus for +a worthless fellow, provincial and barbarous of speech!” What else +indeed did you come to judge of? + +XCIV + +Whether you will or no, you are poorer than I! + +“What then do I lack?” + +What you have not: Constancy of mind, such as Nature would have it be: +Tranquillity. Patron or no patron, what care I? but you do care. I am +richer than you: I am not racked with anxiety as to what Cæsar may +think of me; I flatter none on that account. This is what I have, +instead of vessels of gold and silver! your vessels may be of gold, but +your reason, your principles, your accepted views, your inclinations, +your desires are of earthenware. + +XCV + +To you, all you have seems small: to me, all I have seems great. Your +desire is insatiable, mine is satisfied. See children thrusting their +hands into a narrow-necked jar, and striving to pull out the nuts and +figs it contains: if they fill the hand, they cannot pull it out again, +and then they fall to tears.—“Let go a few of them, and then you can +draw out the rest!”—You, too, let your desire go! covet not many +things, and you will obtain. + +XCVI + +Pittacus wronged by one whom he had it in his power to punish, let him +go free, saying, _Forgiveness is better than revenge_. The one shows +native gentleness, the other savagery. + +XCVII + +“My brother ought not to have treated me thus.” + +True: but _he_ must see to that. However he may treat me, I must deal +rightly by him. This is what lies with me, what none can hinder. + +XCVIII + +Nevertheless a man should also be prepared to be sufficient unto +himself—to dwell with himself alone, even as God dwells with Himself +alone, shares His repose with none, and considers the nature of His own +administration, intent upon such thoughts as are meet unto Himself. So +should we also be able to converse with ourselves, to need none else +beside, to sigh for no distraction, to bend our thoughts upon the +Divine Administration, and how we stand related to all else; to observe +how human accidents touched us of old, and how they touch us now; what +things they are that still have power to hurt us, and how they may be +cured or removed; to perfect what needs perfecting as Reason would +direct. + +XCIX + +If a man has frequent intercourse with others, either in the way of +conversation, entertainment, or simple familiarity, he must either +become like them, or change them to his own fashion. A live coal placed +next a dead one will either kindle that or be quenched by it. Such +being the risk, it is well to be cautious in admitting intimacies of +this sort, remembering that one cannot rub shoulders with a +soot-stained man without sharing the soot oneself. What will you do, +supposing the talk turns on gladiators, or horses, or prize-fighters, +or (what is worse) on _persons_, condemning this and that, approving +the other? Or suppose a man sneers and jeers or shows a malignant +temper? Has any among us the skill of the lute-player, who knows at the +first touch which strings are out of tune and sets the instrument +right: has any of you such power as Socrates had, in all his +intercourse with men, of winning them over to his own convictions? Nay, +but _you_ must needs be swayed hither and thither by the uninstructed. +How comes it then that they prove so much stronger than you? Because +they speak from the fulness of the heart—their low, corrupt views are +their real convictions: whereas your fine sentiments are but from the +lips, outwards; that is why they are so nerveless and dead. It turns +one’s stomach to listen to _your_ exhortations, and hear of your +miserable Virtue, that you prate of up and down. Thus it is that the +Vulgar prove too strong for you. Everywhere strength, everywhere +victory waits your conviction! + +C + +In general, any methods of discipline applied to the body which tend to +modify its desires or repulsions, are good—for ascetic ends. But if +done for display, they betray at once a man who keeps an eye on outward +show; who has an ulterior purpose, and is looking for spectators to +shout, “Oh what a great man!” This is why Apollonius so well said: “If +you are bent upon a little private discipline, wait till you are +choking with heat some day—then take a mouthful of cold water, and spit +it out again, and tell no man!” + +CI + +Study how to give as one that is sick: that thou mayest hereafter give +as one that is whole. Fast; drink water only; abstain altogether from +desire, that thou mayest hereafter conform thy desire to Reason. + +CII + +Thou wouldst do good unto men? then show them by thine own example what +kind of men philosophy can make, and cease from foolish trifling. +Eating, do good to them that eat with thee; drinking, to them that +drink with thee; yield unto all, give way, and bear with them. Thus +shalt thou do them good: but vent not upon them thine own evil humour! + +CIII + +Even as bad actors cannot sing alone, but only in chorus: so some +cannot walk alone. + +Man, if thou art aught, strive to walk alone and hold converse with +thyself, instead of skulking in the chorus! at length think; look +around thee; bestir thyself, that thou mayest know who thou art! + +CIV + +You would fain be victor at the Olympic games, you say. Yes, but weigh +the conditions, weigh the consequences; then and then only, lay to your +hand—if it be for your profit. You must live by rule, submit to diet, +abstain from dainty meats, exercise your body perforce at stated hours, +in heat or in cold; drink no cold water, nor, it may be, wine. In a +word, you must surrender yourself wholly to your trainer, as though to +a physician. + +Then in the hour of contest, you will have to delve the ground, it may +chance dislocate an arm, sprain an ankle, gulp down abundance of yellow +sand, be scourge with the whip—and with all this sometimes lose the +victory. Count the cost—and then, if your desire still holds, try the +wrestler’s life. Else let me tell you that you will be behaving like a +pack of children playing now at wrestlers, now at gladiators; presently +falling to trumpeting and anon to stage-playing, when the fancy takes +them for what they have seen. And you are even the same: wrestler, +gladiator, philosopher, orator all by turns and none of them with your +whole soul. Like an ape, you mimic what you see, to one thing constant +never; the thing that is familiar charms no more. This is because you +never undertook aught with due consideration, nor after strictly +testing and viewing it from every side; no, your choice was +thoughtless; the glow of your desire had waxed cold . . . . + +Friend, bethink you first what it is you would do, and then what your +own nature is able to bear. Would you be a wrestler, consider your +shoulders, your thighs, your loins—not all men are formed to the same +end. Think you to be a philosopher while acting as you do? think you go +on thus eating, thus drinking, giving way in like manner to wrath and +to displeasure? Nay, you must watch, you must labour; overcome certain +desires; quit your familiar friends, submit to be despised by your +slave, to be held in derision by them that meet you, to take the lower +place in all things, in office, in positions of authority, in courts of +law. + +Weigh these things fully, and then, if you will, lay to your hand; if +as the price of these things you would gain Freedom, Tranquillity, and +passionless Serenity. + +CV + +He that hath no musical instruction is a child in Music; he that hath +no letters is a child in Learning; he that is untaught is a child in +Life. + +CVI + +Can any profit be derived from these men? Aye, from all. + +“What, even from a reviler?” + +Why, tell me what profit a wrestler gains from him who exercises him +beforehand? The very greatest: he trains me in the practice of +endurance, of controlling my temper, of gentle ways. You deny it. What, +the man who lays hold of my neck, and disciplines loins and shoulders, +does me good, . . . while he that trains me to keep my temper does me +none? This is what it means, not knowing how to gain advantage from +men! Is my neighbour bad? Bad to himself, but good to me: he brings my +good temper, my gentleness into play. Is my father bad? Bad to himself, +but good to me. This is the rod of Hermes; _touch what you will with +it_, they say, _and it becomes gold_. Nay, but bring what you will and +I will transmute it into Good. Bring sickness, bring death, bring +poverty and reproach, bring trial for life—all these things through the +rod of Hermes shall be turned to profit. + +CVII + +Till then these sound opinions have taken firm root in you, and you +have gained a measure of strength for your security, I counsel you to +be cautious in associating with the uninstructed. Else whatever +impressions you receive upon the tablets of your mind in the School +will day by day melt and disappear, like wax in the sun. Withdraw then +somewhere far from the sun, while you have these waxen sentiments. + +CVIII + +We must approach this matter in a different way; it is great and +mystical: it is no common thing; nor given to every man. Wisdom alone, +it may be, will not suffice for the care of youth: a man needs also a +certain measure of readiness—an aptitude for the office; aye, and +certain bodily qualities; and above all, to be counselled of God +Himself to undertake this post; even as He counselled Socrates to fill +the post of one who confutes error, assigning to Diogenes the royal +office of high reproof, and to Zeno that of positive instruction. +Whereas _you_ would fain set up for a physician provided with nothing +but drugs! Where and how they should be applied you neither know nor +care. + +CIX + +If what charms you is nothing but abstract principles, sit down and +turn them over quietly in your mind: but never dub yourself a +Philosopher, nor suffer others to call you so. Say rather: He is in +error; for my desires, my impulses are unaltered. I give in my adhesion +to what I did before; nor has my mode of dealing with the things of +sense undergone any change. + +CX + +When a friend inclined to Cynic views asked Epictetus, what sort of +person a true Cynic should be, requesting a general sketch of the +system, he answered:—“We will consider that at leisure. At present I +content myself with saying this much: If a man put his hand to so +weighty a matter without God, the wrath of God abides upon him. That +which he covets will but bring upon him public shame. Not even on +finding himself in a well-ordered house does a man step forward and say +to himself, I must be master here! Else the lord of that house takes +notice of it, and, seeing him insolently giving orders, drags him forth +and chastises him. So it is also in this great City, the World. Here +also is there a Lord of the House, who orders all thing:— + +“Thou are the Sun! in thine orbit thou hast power to make the year and +the seasons; to bid the fruits of the earth to grow and increase, the +winds arise and fall; thou canst in due measure cherish with thy warmth +the frames of men; go make thy circuit, and thus minister unto all from +the greatest to the least! . . .” +“Thou canst lead a host against Troy; be Agamemnon!” +“Thou canst meet Hector in single combat; be Achilles!” + + +“But had Thersites stepped forward and claimed the chief command, he +had been met with a refusal, or obtained it only to his own shame and +confusion of face, before a cloud of witnesses.” + +CXI + +Others may fence themselves with walls and houses, when they do such +deeds as these, and wrap themselves in darkness—aye, they have many a +device to hide themselves. Another may shut his door and station one +before his chamber to say, if any comes, _He has gone forth! he is not +at leisure!_ But the true Cynic will have none of these things; instead +of them, he must wrap himself in Modesty: else he will but bring +himself to shame, naked and under the open sky. _That_ is his house; +that is his door; that is the slave that guards his chamber; that is +his darkness! + +CXII + +Death? let it come when it will, whether it smite but a part of the +whole: Fly, you tell me—fly! But whither shall I fly? Can any man cast +me beyond the limits of the World? It may not be! And whithersoever I +go, there shall I still find Sun, Moon, and Stars; there I shall find +dreams, and omens, and converse with the Gods! + +CXIII + +Furthermore the true Cynic must know that he is sent as a Messenger +from God to men, to show unto them that as touching good and evil they +are in error; looking for these where they are not to be found, nor +ever bethinking themselves where they are. And like Diogenes when +brought before Philip after the battle of Chaeronea, the Cynic must +remember that he is a Spy. For a Spy he really is—to bring back word +what things are on Man’s side, and what against him. And when he had +diligently observed all, he must come back with a true report, not +terrified into announcing them to be foes that are no foes, nor +otherwise perturbed or confounded by the things of sense. + +CXIV + +How can it be that one who hath nothing, neither raiment, nor house, +nor home, nor bodily tendance, nor servant, nor city, should yet live +tranquil and contented? Behold God hath sent you a man to show you in +act and deed that it may be so. Behold me! I have neither house nor +possessions nor servants: the ground is my couch; I have no wife, no +children, no shelter—nothing but earth and sky, and one poor cloak. And +what lack I yet? am I not untouched by sorrow, by fear? am I not free? +. . . when have I laid anything to the charge of God or Man? when have +I accused any? hath any of you seen me with a sorrowful countenance? +And in what wise treat I those of whom you stand in fear and awe? Is it +not as slaves? Who when he seeth me doth not think that he beholdeth +his Master and his King? + +CXV + +Give thyself more diligently to reflection: know thyself: take counsel +with the Godhead: without God put thine hand unto nothing! + +CXVI + +“But to marry and to rear offspring,” said the young man, “will the +Cynic hold himself bound to undertake this as a chief duty?” + +Grant me a republic of wise men, answered Epictetus, and perhaps none +will lightly take the Cynic life upon him. For on whose account should +he embrace that method of life? Suppose however that he does, there +will then be nothing to hinder his marrying and rearing offspring. For +his wife will be even such another as himself, and likewise her father; +and in like manner will his children be brought up. + +But in the present condition of things, which resembles an Army in +battle array, ought not the Cynic to be free from all distraction and +given wholly to the service of God, so that he can go in and out among +men, neither fettered by the duties nor entangled by the relations of +common life? For if he transgress them, he will forfeit the character +of a good man and true; whereas if he observe them, there is an end to +him as the Messenger, the Spy, the Herald of the Gods! + +CXVII + +Ask me if you choose if a Cynic shall engage in the administration of +the State. O fool, seek you a nobler administration that that in which +he is engaged? Ask you if a man shall come forward in the Athenian +assembly and talk about revenue and supplies, when his business is to +converse with all men, Athenians, Corinthians, and Romans alike, not +about supplies, not about revenue, nor yet peace and war, but about +Happiness and Misery, Prosperity and Adversity, Slavery and Freedom? + +Ask you whether a man shall engage in the administration of the State +who has engaged in such an Administration as this? Ask me too if he +shall govern; and again I will answer, Fool, what greater government +shall he hold than he holds already? + +CXVIII + +Such a man needs also to have a certain habit of body. If he appears +consumptive, thin and pale, his testimony has no longer the same +authority. He must not only prove to the unlearned by showing them what +his Soul is that it is possible to be a good man apart from all that +_they_ admire; but he must also show them, by his body, that a plain +and simple manner of life under the open sky does no harm to the body +either. “See, I am proof of this! and my body also.” As Diogenes used +to do, who went about fresh of look and by the very appearance of his +body drew men’s eyes. But if a Cynic is an object of pity, he seems a +mere beggar; all turn away, all are offended at him. Nor should he be +slovenly of look, so as not to scare men from him in this way either; +on the contrary, his very roughness should be clean and attractive. + +CXIX + +Kings and tyrants have armed guards wherewith to chastise certain +persons, though they themselves be evil. But to the Cynic conscience +gives this power—not arms and guards. When he knows that he has watched +and laboured on behalf of mankind: that sleep hath found him pure, and +left him purer still: that his thoughts have been the thought of a +Friend of the Gods—of a servant, yet one that hath a part in the +government of the Supreme God: that the words are ever on his lips:— + +Lead me, O God, and thou, O Destiny! + + +as well as these:— + +If this be God’s will, so let it be! + + +Why should he not speak boldly unto his own brethren, unto his +children—in a word, unto all that are akin to him! + +CXX + +Does a Philosopher _apply_ to people to come and hear him? does he not +rather, of his own nature, _attract_ those that will be benefited by +him—like the sun that warms, the food that sustains them? What +Physician _applies_ to men to come and be healed? (Though indeed I hear +that the Physicians at Rome do nowadays apply for patients—in my time +they were applied to.) I apply to you to come and hear that you are in +evil case; that what deserves your attention most is the last thing to +gain it; that you know not good from evil, and are in short a hapless +wretch; a fine way to apply! though unless the words of the Philosopher +affect you thus, speaker and speech are alike dead. + +CXXI + +A Philosopher’s school is a Surgery: pain, not pleasure, you should +have felt therein. For on entering none of you is whole. One has a +shoulder out of joint, another an abscess: a third suffers from an +issue, a fourth from pains in the head. And am I then to sit down and +treat you to pretty sentiments and empty flourishes, so that you may +applaud me and depart, with neither shoulder, nor head, nor issue, nor +abscess a whit the better for your visit? Is it then for this that +young men are to quit their homes, and leave parents, friends, kinsmen +and substance to mouth out _Bravo_ to your empty phrases! + +CXXII + +If any be unhappy, let him remember that he is unhappy by reason of +himself alone. For God hath made all men to enjoy felicity and +constancy of good. + +CXXIII + +Shall we never wean ourselves—shall we never heed the teachings of +Philosophy (unless perchance they have been sounding in our ears like +an enchanter’s drone):— + +This World is one great City, and one is the substance whereof it is +fashioned: a certain period indeed there needs must be, while these +give place to those; some must perish for others to succeed; some move +and some abide: yet all is full of _friends_—first God, then Men, whom +Nature hath bound by ties of kindred each to each. + +CXXIV + +Nor did the hero weep and lament at leaving his children orphans. For +he knew that no man is an orphan, but it is the Father that careth for +all continually and for evermore. Not by mere report had he heard that +the Supreme God is the Father of men: seeing that he called Him +_Father_ believing Him so to be, and in all that he did had ever his +eyes fixed upon Him. Wherefore in whatsoever place he was, there is was +given him to live happily. + +CXXV + +Know you not that the thing is a warfare? one man’s duty is to mount +guard, another must go out to reconnoitre, a third to battle; all +cannot be in one place, nor would it even be expedient. But you, +instead of executing you Commander’s orders, complain if aught harsher +than usual is enjoined; not understanding to what condition you are +bringing the army, so far as in you lies. If all were to follow your +example, none would dig a trench, none would cast a rampart around the +camp, none would keep watch, or expose himself to danger; but all turn +out useless for the service of war. . . . Thus it is here also. Every +life is a warfare, and that long and various. You must fulfil a +soldier’s duty, and obey each order at your commander’s nod: aye, if it +be possible, divine what he would have done; for between that Command +and this, there is no comparison, either in might or in excellence. + +CXXVI + +Have you again forgotten? Know you not that a good man does nothing for +appearance’ sake, but for the sake of having done right? . . . + +“Is there no reward then?” + +Reward! do you seek any greater reward for a good man than doing what +is right and just? Yet at the Great Games you look for nothing else; +there the victor’s crown you deem enough. Seems it to you so small a +thing and worthless, to be a good man, and happy therein? + +CXXVII + +It befits thee not to be unhappy by reason of any, but rather to be +happy by reason of all men, and especially by reason of God, who formed +us to this end. + +CXXVIII + +What, did Diogenes love no man, he that was so gentle, so true a friend +to men as cheerfully to endure such bodily hardships for the common +weal of all mankind? But how loved he them? As behoved a minister of +the Supreme God, alike caring for men and subject unto God. + +CXXIX + +I am by Nature made for my own good; not for my own evil. + +CXXX + +Remind thyself that he whom thou lovest is mortal—that what thou lovest +is not thine own; it is given thee for the present, not irrevocably nor +for ever, but even as a fig or a bunch of grapes at the appointed +season of the year. . . . + +“But these are words of evil omen.”. . . + +What, callest thou aught _of evil omen_ save that which signifies some +evil thing? _Cowardice_ is a word of evil omen, if thou wilt, and +meanness of spirit, and lamentation and mourning, and shamelessness. . +. . + +But do not, I pray thee, call of evil omen a word that is significant +of any natural thing:—as well call of evil omen the reaping of the +corn; for that means the destruction of the ears, though not of the +World!—as well say that the fall of the leaf is of evil omen; that the +dried fig should take the place of the green; that raisins should be +made from grapes. All these are changes from a former state into +another; not destruction, but an ordered economy, a fixed +administration. Such is leaving home, a change of small account; such +is Death, a greater change, from what now is, not to what is not, but +to what is not _now_. + +“Shall I then no longer be?” + +Not so; thou wilt be; but something different, of which the World now +hath need. For thou too wert born not when thou chosest, but when the +World had need of thee. + +CXXXI + +Wherefore a good man and true, bearing in mind who he is and whence he +came and from whom he sprang, cares only how he may fill his post with +due discipline and obedience to God. + +Wilt thou that I continue to live? Then will I live, as one that is +free and noble, as Thou wouldst have me. For Thou hast made me free +from hindrance in what appertaineth unto me. But hast Thou no further +need of me? I thank Thee! Up to this hour have I stayed for Thy sake +and none other’s: and now in obedience to Thee I depart. + +“How dost thou depart?” + +Again I say, as Thou wouldst have me; as one that is free, as Thy +servant, as one whose ear is open unto what Thou dost enjoin, what Thou +dost forbid. + +CXXXII + +Whatsoever place or post Thou assignest me, _sooner will I die a +thousand deaths_, as Socrates said, _than desert it_. And where wilt +Thou have me to be? At Rome or Athens? At Thebes or on a desert island? +Only remember me there! Shouldst Thou send me where man cannot live as +Nature would have him, I will depart, not in disobedience to Thee, but +as though Thou wert sounding the signal for my retreat: I am not +deserting Thee—far be that from me! I only perceive that thou needest +me no longer. + +CXXXIII + +If you are in Gyaros, do not let your mind dwell upon life at Rome, and +all the pleasures it offered to you when living there, and all that +would attend your return. Rather be intent on this—how he that lives in +Gyaros may live in Gyaros like a man of spirit. And if you are at Rome, +do not let your mind dwell upon the life at Athens, but study only how +to live at Rome. + +Finally, in the room of all other pleasures put this—the pleasure which +springs from conscious obedience to God. + +CXXXIV + +To a good man there is no evil, either in life or death. And if God +supply not food, has He not, as a wise Commander, sounded the signal +for retreat and nothing more? I obey, I follow—speaking good of my +Commander, and praising His acts. For at His good pleasure I came; and +I depart when it pleases Him; and while I was yet alive that was my +work, to sing praises unto God! + +CXXXV + +Reflect that the chief source of all evils to Man, and of baseness and +cowardice, is not death, but the fear of death. + +Against this fear then, I pray you, harden yourself; to this let all +your reasonings, your exercises, your reading tend. Then shall you know +that thus alone are men set free. + +CXXXVI + +He is free who lives as he wishes to live; to whom none can do +violence, none hinder or compel; whose impulses are unimpeded, whose +desires are attain their purpose, who falls not into what he would +avoid. Who then would live in error?—None. Who would live deceived and +prone to fall, unjust, intemperate, in abject whining at his lot?—None. +Then doth no wicked man live as he would, and therefore neither is he +free. + +CXXXVII + +Thus do the more cautious of travellers act. The road is said to be +beset by robbers. The traveller will not venture alone, but awaits the +companionship on the road of an ambassador, a quaestor or a proconsul. +To him he attaches himself and thus passes by in safety. So doth the +wise man in the world. Many are the companies of robbers and tyrants, +many the storms, the straits, the losses of all a man holds dearest. +Whither shall he fall for refuge—how shall he pass by unassailed? What +companion on the road shall he await for protection? Such and such a +wealthy man, of consular rank? And how shall I be profited, if he is +stripped and falls to lamentation and weeping? And how if my +fellow-traveller himself turns upon me and robs me? What am I to do? I +will become a friend of Cæsar’s! in his train none will do me wrong! In +the first place—O the indignities I must endure to win distinction! O +the multitude of hands there will be to rob me! And if I succeed, Cæsar +too is but a mortal. While should it come to pass that I offend him, +whither shall I flee from his presence? To the wilderness? And may not +fever await me there? What then is to be done? Cannot a +fellow-traveller be found that is honest and loyal, strong and secure +against surprise? Thus doth the wise man reason, considering that if he +would pass through in safety, he must attach himself unto God. + +CXXXVIII + +“How understandest thou _attach himself to God?_” + +That what God wills, he should will also; that what God wills not, +neither should he will. + +“How then may this come to pass?” + +By considering the movements of God, and His administration. + +CXXXIX + +And dost thou that hast received all from another’s hands, repine and +blame the Giver, if He takes anything from thee? Why, who art thou, and +to what end comest thou here? was it not He that made the Light +manifest unto thee, that gave thee fellow-workers, and senses, and the +power to reason? And how brought He thee into the world? Was it not as +one born to die; as one bound to live out his earthly life in some +small tabernacle of flesh; to behold His administration, and for a +little while share with Him in the mighty march of this great Festival +Procession? Now therefore that thou hast beheld, while it was permitted +thee, the Solemn Feast and Assembly, wilt thou not cheerfully depart, +when He summons thee forth, with adoration and thanksgiving for what +thou hast seen and heard?—“Nay, but I would fain have stayed longer at +the Festival.”—Ah, so would the mystics fain have the rites prolonged; +so perchance would the crowd at the Great Games fain behold more +wrestlers still. But the Solemn Assembly is over! Come forth, depart +with thanksgiving and modesty—give place to others that must come into +being even as thyself. + +CXL + +Why art thou thus insatiable? why thus unreasonable? why encumber the +world?—“Aye, but I fain would have my wife and children with me +too.”—What, are they then _thine_, and not His that gave them—His that +made thee? Give up then that which is not thine own: yield it to One +who is better than thou. “Nay, but why did He bring one into the world +on these conditions?”—If it suits thee not, depart! He hath no need of +a spectator who finds fault with his lot! Them that will take part in +the Feast he needeth—that will lift their voices with the rest that men +may applaud the more, and exalt the Great Assembly in hymns and songs +of praise. But the wretched and the fearful He will not be displeased +to see absent from it: for when they were present, they did not behave +as at a Feast, nor fulfil their proper office; but moaned as though in +pain, and found fault with their fate, their fortune and their +companions; insensible to what had fallen to their lot, insensible to +the powers they had received for a very different purpose—the powers of +Magnanimity, Nobility of Heart, of Fortitude, or Freedom! + +CXLI + +Art _thou_ then free? a man may say. So help me heaven, I long and pray +for freedom! But I cannot look my masters boldly in the face; I still +value the poor body; I still set much store on its preservation whole +and sound. + +But I can point thee out a free man, that thou mayest be no more in +search of an example. Diogenes was free. How so? Not because he was of +free parentage (for that, indeed, was not the case), but because he was +himself free. He had cast away every handle whereby slavery might lay +hold of him to enslave him, nor was it possible for any to approach and +take hold of him to enslave him. All things sat loose upon him—all +things were to him attached by but slender ties. Hadst thou seized upon +his possessions, he would rather have let them go than have followed +thee for them—aye, had it been even a limb, or mayhap his whole body; +and in like manner, relatives, friends, and country. For he knew whence +they came—from whose hands and on what terms he had received them. His +true forefathers, the Gods, his true Country, he never would have +abandoned; nor would he have yielded to any man in obedience and +submission to the one nor in cheerfully dying for the other. For he was +ever mindful that everything that comes to pass has its source and +origin _there;_ being indeed brought about for the weal of that his +true Country, and directed by Him in whose governance it is. + +CXLII + +Ponder on this—on these convictions, on these words: fix thine eyes on +these examples, if thou wouldst be free, if thou hast thine heart set +upon the matter according to its worth. And what marvel if thou +purchase so great a thing at so great and high a price? For the sake of +this that men deem liberty, some hang themselves, others cast +themselves down from the rock; aye, time has been when whole cities +came utterly to an end: while for the sake of Freedom that is true, and +sure, and unassailable, dost thou grudge to God what He gave, when He +claims it? Wilt thou not study, as Plato saith, to endure, not death +alone, but torture, exile, stripes—in a word, to render up all that is +not thine own? Else thou wilt be a slave amid slaves, wert thou ten +thousand times a consul; aye, not a whit the less, though thou climb +the Palace steps. And thou shalt know how true the saying of Cleanthes, +that though the words of philosophers may run counter to the opinions +of the world, yet have they reason on their side. + +CXLIII + +Asked how a man should best grieve his enemy, Epictetus replied, “By +setting himself to live the noblest life himself.” + +CXLIV + +I am free, I am a friend of God, ready to render Him willing obedience. +Of all else I may set store by nothing—neither by mine own body, nor +possessions, nor office, nor good report, nor, in a word, aught else +beside. For it is not His Will, that I should so set store by these +things. Had it been His pleasure, He would have placed my Good therein. +But now He hath not done so: therefore I cannot transgress one jot of +His commands. In everything hold fast to that which is thy Good—but to +all else (as far as is given thee) within the measure of Reason only, +contented with this alone. Else thou wilt meet with failure, ill +success, let and hindrance. These are the Laws ordained of God—these +are His Edicts; these a man should expound and interpret; to these +submit himself, not to the laws of Masurius and Cassius. + +CXLV + +Remember that not the love of power and wealth sets us under the heel +of others, but even the love of tranquillity, of leisure, of change of +scene—of learning in general, it matters not what the outward thing may +be—to set store by it is to place thyself in subjection to another. +Where is the difference then between desiring to be a Senator, and +desiring not to be one: between thirsting for office and thirsting to +be quit of it? Where is the difference between crying, _Woe is me, I +know not what to do, bound hand and foot as I am to my books so that I +cannot stir!_ and crying, _Woe is me, I have not time to read!_ As +though a book were not as much an outward thing and independent of the +will, as office and power and the receptions of the great. + +Or what reason hast thou (tell me) for desiring to read? For if thou +aim at nothing beyond the mere delight of it, or gaining some scrap of +knowledge, thou art but a poor, spiritless knave. But if thou desirest +to study to its proper end, what else is this than a life that flows on +tranquil and serene? And if thy reading secures thee not serenity, what +profits it?—“Nay, but it doth secure it,” quoth he, “and that is why I +repine at being deprived of it.”—And what serenity is this that lies at +the mercy of every passer-by? I say not at the mercy of the Emperor or +Emperor’s favorite, but such as trembles at a raven’s croak and piper’s +din, a fever’s touch or a thousand things of like sort! Whereas the +life serene has no more certain mark than this, that it ever moves with +constant unimpeded flow. + +CXLVI + +If thou hast put malice and evil speaking from thee, altogether, or in +some degree: if thou hast put away from thee rashness, foulness of +tongue, intemperance, sluggishness: if thou art not moved by what once +moved thee, or in like manner as thou once wert moved—then thou mayest +celebrate a daily festival, to-day because thou hast done well in this +manner, to-morrow in that. How much greater cause is here for offering +sacrifice, than if a man should become Consul or Prefect? + +CXLVII + +These things hast thou from thyself and from the Gods: only remember +who it is that giveth them—to whom and for what purpose they were +given. Feeding thy soul on thoughts like these, dost thou debate in +what place happiness awaits thee? in what place thou shalt do God’s +pleasure? Are not the Gods nigh unto all places alike; see they not +alike what everywhere comes to pass? + +CXLVIII + +To each man God hath granted this inward freedom. These are the +principles that in a house create love, in a city concord, among +nations peace, teaching a man gratitude towards God and cheerful +confidence, wherever he may be, in dealing with outward things that he +knows are neither his nor worth striving after. + +CXLIX + +If you seek Truth, you will not seek to gain a victory by every +possible means; and when you have found Truth, you need not fear being +defeated. + +CL + +What foolish talk is this? how can I any longer lay claim to right +principles, if I am not content with being what I am, but am all +aflutter about what I am supposed to be? + +CLI + +God hath made all things in the world, nay, the world itself, free from +hindrance and perfect, and its parts for the use of the whole. No other +creature is capable of comprehending His administration thereof; but +the reasonable being Man possesses faculties for the consideration of +all these things—not only that he is himself a part, but what part he +is, and how it is meet that the parts should give place to the whole. +Nor is this all. Being naturally constituted noble, magnanimous, and +free, he sees that the things which surround him are of two kinds. Some +are free from hindrance and in the power of the will. Other are subject +to hindrance, and depend on the will of other men. If then he place his +own good, his own best interest, only in that which is free from +hindrance and in his power, he will be free, tranquil, happy, unharmed, +noble-hearted, and pious; giving thanks to all things unto God, finding +fault with nothing that comes to pass, laying no charge against +anything. Whereas if he place his good in outward things, depending not +on the will, he must perforce be subject to hindrance and restraint, +the slave of those that have power over the things he desires and +fears; he must perforce be impious, as deeming himself injured at the +hands of God; he must be unjust, as ever prone to claim more than his +due; he must perforce be of a mean and abject spirit. + +CLII + +Whom then shall I fear? the lords of the Bedchamber, lest they should +shut me out? If they find me desirous of entering in, let them shut me +out, if they will. + +“Then why comest thou to the door?” + +Because I think it meet and right, so long as the Play lasts, to take +part therein. + +“In what sense art thou then shut out?” + +Because, unless I am admitted, it is not my _will_ to enter: on the +contrary, my will is simply that which comes to pass. For I esteem what +God wills better than what I will. To Him will I cleave as His minister +and attendant; having the same movements, the same desires, in a word +the same Will as He. There is no such thing as being shut out for me, +but only for them that would force their way in. + +CLIII + +But what says Socrates?—“One man finds pleasure in improving his land, +another his horses. My pleasure lies in seeing that I myself grow +better day by day.” + +CLIV + +The dress is suited to the craft; the craftsman takes his name from the +craft, not from the dress. For this reason Euphrates was right in +saying, “I long endeavoured to conceal my following the philosophic +life; and this profited me much. In the first place, I knew that what I +did aright, I did not for the sake of lookers-on, but for my own. I ate +aright—unto myself; I kept the even tenor of my walk, my glance +composed and serene—all unto myself and unto God. Then as I fought +alone, I was alone in peril. If I did anything amiss or shameful, the +cause of Philosophy was not in me endangered; nor did I wrong the +multitude by transgressing as a professed philosopher. Wherefore those +that knew not my purpose marvelled how it came about, that whilst all +my life and conversation was passed with philosophers without +exception, I was yet none myself. And what harm that the philosopher +should be known by his acts, instead of mere outward signs and +symbols?” + +CLV + +First study to conceal what thou art; seek wisdom a little while unto +thyself. Thus grows the fruit; first, the seed must be buried in the +earth for a little space; there it must be hid and slowly grow, that it +may reach maturity. But if it produce the ear before the jointed stalk, +it is imperfect—a thing from the garden of Adonis. Such a sorry growth +art thou; thou hast blossomed too soon: the winter cold will wither +thee away! + +CLVI + +First of all, condemn the life thou art now leading: but when thou hast +condemned it, do not despair of thyself—be not like them of mean +spirit, who once they have yielded, abandon themselves entirely and as +it were allow the torrent to sweep them away. No; learn what the +wrestling masters do. Has the boy fallen? “Rise,” they say, “wrestle +again, till thy strength come to thee.” Even thus should it be with +thee. For know that there is nothing more tractable than the human +soul. It needs but to _will_, and the thing is done; the soul is set +upon the right path: as on the contrary it needs but to nod over the +task, and all is lost. For ruin and recovery alike are from within. + +CLVII + +It is the critical moment that shows the man. So when the crisis is +upon you, remember that God, like a trainer of wrestlers, has matched +you with a rough and stalwart antagonist.—“To what end?” you ask. That +you may prove the victor at the Great Games. Yet without toil and sweat +this may not be! + +CLVIII + +If thou wouldst make progress, be content to seem foolish and void of +understanding with respect to outward things. Care not to be thought to +know anything. If any should make account of thee, distrust thyself. + +CLIX + +Remember that in life thou shouldst order thy conduct as at a banquet. +Has any dish that is being served reached thee? Stretch forth thy hand +and help thyself modestly. Doth it pass thee by? Seek not to detain it. +Has it not yet come? Send not forth thy desire to meet it, but wait +until it reaches thee. Deal thus with children, thus with wife; thus +with office, thus with wealth—and one day thou wilt be meet to share +the Banquets of the Gods. But if thou dost not so much as touch that +which is placed before thee, but despisest it, then shalt thou not only +share the Banquets of the Gods, but their Empire also. + +CLX + +Remember that thou art an actor in a play, and of such sort as the +Author chooses, whether long or short. If it be his good pleasure to +assign thee the part of a beggar, a ruler, or a simple citizen, thine +it is to play it fitly. For thy business is to act the part assigned +thee, well: to choose it, is another’s. + +CLXI + +Keep death and exile daily before thine eyes, with all else that men +deem terrible, but more especially Death. Then wilt thou never think a +mean though, nor covet anything beyond measure. + +CLXII + +As a mark is not set up in order to be missed, so neither is such a +thing as natural evil produced in the World. + +CLXIII + +Piety toward the Gods, to be sure, consists chiefly in thinking rightly +concerning them—that they _are_, and that they govern the Universe with +goodness and justice; and that thou thyself art appointed to obey them, +and to submit under all circumstances that arise; acquiescing +cheerfully in whatever may happen, sure it is brought to pass and +accomplished by the most Perfect Understanding. Thus thou wilt never +find fault with the Gods, nor charge them with neglecting thee. + +CLXIV + +Lose no time in setting before you a certain stamp of character and +behaviour both when by yourself and in company with others. Let silence +be your general rule; or say only what is necessary and in few words. +We shall, however, when occasion demands, enter into discourse +sparingly. avoiding common topics as gladiators, horse-races, athletes; +and the perpetual talk about food and drink. Above all avoid speaking +of _persons_, either in way of praise or blame, or comparison. + +If you can, win over the conversation of your company to what it should +be by your own. But if you find yourself cut off without escape among +strangers and aliens, be silent. + +CLXV + +Laughter should not be much, nor frequent, nor unrestrained. + +CLXVI + +Refuse altogether to take an oath if you can, if not, as far as may be. + +CLXVII + +Banquets of the unlearned and of them that are without, avoid. But if +you have occasion to take part in them, let not your attention be +relaxed for a moment, lest you slip after all into evil ways. For you +may rest assured that be a man ever so pure himself, he cannot escape +defilement if his associates are impure. + +CLXVIII + +Take what relates to the body as far as the bare use warrants—as meat, +drink, raiment, house and servants. But all that makes for show and +luxury reject. + +CLXIX + +If you are told that such an one speaks ill of you, make no defence +against what was said, but answer, He surely knew not my other faults, +else he would not have mentioned these only! + +CLXX + +When you visit any of those in power, bethink yourself that you will +not find him in: that you may not be admitted: that the door may be +shut in your face: that he may not concern himself about you. If with +all this, it is your duty to go, bear what happens, and never say to +yourself, It was not worth the trouble! For that would smack of the +foolish and unlearned who suffer outward things to touch them. + +CLXXI + +In company avoid frequent and undue talk about your own actions and +dangers. However pleasant it may be to you to enlarge upon the risks +you have run, others may not find such pleasure in listening to your +adventures. Avoid provoking laughter also: it is a habit from which one +easily slides into the ways of the foolish, and apt to diminish the +respect which your neighbors feel for you. To border on coarse talk is +also dangerous. On such occasions, if a convenient opportunity offer, +rebuke the speaker. If not, at least by relapsing into silence, +colouring, and looking annoyed, show that you are displeased with the +subject. + +CLXXII + +When you have decided that a thing ought to be done, and are doing it, +never shun being _seen_ doing it, even though the multitude should be +likely to judge the matter amiss. For if you are not acting rightly, +shun the act itself; if rightly, however, why fear misplaced censure? + +CLXXIII + +It stamps a man of mean capacity to spend much time on the things of +the body, as to be long over bodily exercises, long over eating, long +over drinking, long over other bodily functions. Rather should these +things take the second place, while all your care is directed to the +understanding. + +CLXXIV + +Everything has two handles, one by which it may be borne, the other by +which it may not. If your brother sin against you lay not hold of it by +the handle of injustice, for by that it may not be borne: but rather by +this, that he is your brother, the comrade of your youth; and thus you +will lay hold on it so that it may be borne. + +CLXXV + +Never call yourself a Philosopher nor talk much among the unlearned +about Principles, but do that which follows from them. Thus at a +banquet, do not discuss how people ought to eat; but eat as you ought. +Remember that Socrates thus entirely avoided ostentation. Men would +come to him desiring to be recommended to philosophers, and he would +conduct them thither himself—so well did he bear being overlooked. +Accordingly if any talk concerning principles should arise among the +unlearned, be you for the most part silent. For you run great risk of +spewing up what you have ill digested. And when a man tells you that +you know nothing and you are not nettled at it, then you may be sure +that you have begun the work. + +CLXXVI + +When you have brought yourself to supply the needs of the body at small +cost, do not pique yourself on that, nor if you drink only water, keep +saying on each occasion, _I drink water!_ And if you ever want to +practise endurance and toil, do so unto yourself and not unto others—do +not embrace statues! + +CLXXVII + +When a man prides himself on being able to understand and interpret the +writings of Chrysippus, say to yourself:— + +If Chrysippus had not written obscurely, this fellow would have had +nothing to be proud of. But what is it that _I_ desire? To understand +Nature, and to follow her! Accordingly I ask who is the Interpreter. On +hearing that it is Chrysippus, I go to him. But it seems I do not +understand what he wrote. So I seek one to interpret that. So far there +is nothing to pride myself on. But when I have found my interpreter, +what remains is to put in practice his instructions. This itself is the +only thing to be proud of. But if I admire the interpretation and that +alone, what else have I turned out but a mere commentator instead of a +lover of wisdom?—except indeed that I happen to be interpreting +Chrysippus instead of Homer. So when any one says to me, _Prithee, read +me Chrysippus_, I am more inclined to blush, when I cannot show my +deeds to be in harmony and accordance with his sayings. + +CLXXVIII + +At feasts, remember that you are entertaining two guests, body and +soul. What you give to the body, you presently lose; what you give to +the soul, you keep for ever. + +CLXXIX + +At meals, see to it that those who serve be not more in number than +those who are served. It is absurd for a crowd of persons to be dancing +attendance on half a dozen chairs. + +CLXXX + +It is best to share with your attendants what is going forward, both in +the labour of preparation and in the enjoyment of the feast itself. If +such a thing be difficult at the time, recollect that you who are not +weary are being served by those that are; you who are eating and +drinking by those who do neither; you who are talking by those who are +silent; you who are at ease by those who are under constraint. Thus no +sudden wrath will betray you into unreasonable conduct, nor will you +behave harshly by irritating another. + +CLXXXI + +When Xanthippe was chiding Socrates for making scanty preparation for +entertaining his friends, he answered:—“If they are friends of ours +they will not care for that; if they are not, we shall care nothing for +them!” + +CLXXXII + +Asked, _Who is the rich man?_ Epictetus replied, “_He who is content_.” + +CLXXXIII + +Favorinus tells us how Epictetus would also say that there were two +faults far graver and fouler than any others—inability to bear, and +inability to forbear, when we neither patiently bear the blows that +must be borne, nor abstain from the things and the pleasures we ought +to abstain from. “So,” he went on, “if a man will only have these two +words at heart, and heed them carefully by ruling and watching over +himself, he will for the most part fall into no sin, and his life will +be tranquil and serene.” He meant the words [Greek: Anechou kai +apechou]—“Bear and Forbear.” + +CLXXXIV + +On all occasions these thoughts should be at hand:— + +Lead me, O God, and Thou, O Destiny +Be what it may the goal appointed me, +Bravely I’ll follow; nay, and if I would not, +I’d prove a coward, yet must follow still! + + +Again: + +Who to Necessity doth bow aright, +Is learn’d in wisdom and the things of God. + + +Once more:— + +Crito, if this be God’s will, so let it be. As for me, Anytus and +Meletus can indeed put me to death, but injure me, never! + + +CLXXXV + +We shall then be like Socrates, when we can indite hymns of praise to +the Gods in prison. + +CLXXXVI + +It is hard to combine and unite these two qualities, the carefulness of +one who is affected by circumstances, and the intrepidity of one who +heeds them not. But it is not impossible: else were happiness also +impossible. We should act as we do in seafaring. + +“What can I do?”—Choose the master, the crew, the day, the opportunity. +Then comes a sudden storm. What matters it to me? my part has been +fully done. The matter is in the hands of another—the Master of the +ship. The ship is foundering. What then have I to do? I do the only +thing that remains to me—to be drowned without fear, without a cry, +without upbraiding God, but knowing that what has been born must +likewise perish. For I am not Eternity, but a human being—a part of the +whole, as an hour is part of the day. I must come like the hour, and +like the hour must pass! + +CLXXXVII + +And now we are sending you to Rome to spy out the land; but none send a +coward as such a spy, that, if he hear but a noise and see a shadow +moving anywhere, loses his wits and comes flying to say, _The enemy are +upon us!_ + +So if _you_ go now, and come and tell us: “Everything at Rome is +terrible: Death is terrible, Exile is terrible, Slander is terrible, +Want is terrible; fly, comrades! the enemy are upon us!” we shall +reply, Get you gone, and prophesy to yourself! we have but erred in +sending such a spy as you. Diogenes, who was sent as a spy long before +you, brought us back another report than this. He says that Death is no +evil; for it need not even bring shame with it. He says that Fame is +but the empty noise of madmen. And what report did this spy bring us of +Pain, what of Pleasure, what of Want? That to be clothed in sackcloth +is better than any purple robe; that sleeping on the bare ground is the +softest couch; and in proof of each assertion he points to his own +courage, constancy, and freedom; to his own healthy and muscular frame. +“There is no enemy near,” he cries, “all is perfect peace!” + +CLXXXVIII + +If a man has this peace—not the peace proclaimed by Cæsar (how indeed +should _he_ have it to proclaim?), nay, but the peace proclaimed by God +through reason, will not that suffice him when alone, when he beholds +and reflects:—Now can no evil happen unto me; for me there is no +robber, for me no earthquake; all things are full of peace, full of +tranquillity; neither highway nor city nor gathering of men, neither +neighbor nor comrade can do me hurt. Another supplies my food, whose +care it is; another my raiment; another hath given me perceptions of +sense and primary conceptions. And when He supplies my necessities no +more, it is that He is sounding the retreat, that He hath opened the +door, and is saying to thee, Come!—Wither? To nought that thou needest +fear, but to the friendly kindred elements whence thou didst spring. +Whatsoever of fire is in thee, unto fire shall return; whatsoever of +earth, unto earth; of spirit, unto spirit; of water, unto water. There +is no Hades, no fabled rivers of Sighs, of Lamentation, or of Fire: but +all things are full of Beings spiritual and divine. With thoughts like +these, beholding the Sun, Moon, and Stars, enjoying earth and sea, a +man is neither helpless nor alone! + +CLXXXIX + +What wouldst thou be found doing when overtaken by Death? If I might +choose, I would be found doing some deed of true humanity, of wide +import, beneficent and noble. But if I may not be found engaged in +aught so lofty, let me hope at least for this—what none may hinder, +what is surely in my power—that I may be found raising up in myself +that which had fallen; learning to deal more wisely with the things of +sense; working out my own tranquillity, and thus rendering that which +is its due to every relation of life. . . . + +If death surprise me thus employed, it is enough if I can stretch forth +my hands to God and say, “The faculties which I received at Thy hands +for apprehending this thine Administration, I have not neglected. As +far as in me lay, I have done Thee no dishonour. Behold how I have used +the senses, the primary conceptions which Thous gavest me. Have I ever +laid anything to Thy charge? Have I ever murmured at aught that came to +pass, or wished it otherwise? Have I in anything transgressed the +relations of life? For that Thou didst beget me, I thank Thee for that +Thou hast given: for the time during which I have used the things that +were Thine, it suffices me. Take them back and place them wherever Thou +wilt! They were all Thine, and Thou gavest them me.”—If a man depart +thus minded, is it not enough? What life is fairer and more noble, what +end happier than his? + +(APPENDIX A) + +Fragments Attributed to Epictetus + +I + +A life entangled with Fortune is like a torrent. It is turbulent and +muddy; hard to pass and masterful of mood: noisy and of brief +continuance. + +II + +The soul that companies with Virtue is like an ever-flowing source. It +is a pure, clear, and wholesome draught; sweet, rich, and generous of +its store; that injures not, neither destroys. + +III + +It is a shame that one who sweetens his drink with the gifts of the +bee, should embitter God’s gift Reason with vice. + +IV + +Crows pick out the eyes of the dead, when the dead have no longer need +of them; but flatterers mar the soul of the living, and _her_ eyes they +blind. + +V + +Keep neither a blunt knife nor an ill-disciplined looseness of tongue. + +VI + +Nature hath given men one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from +others twice as much as we speak. + +VII + +Do not give sentence in another tribunal till you have been yourself +judged in the tribunal of Justice. + +VIII + +If is shameful for a Judge to be judged by others. + +IX + +Give me by all means the shorter and nobler life, instead of one that +is longer but of less account! + +X + +Freedom is the name of virtue: Slavery, of vice. . . . None is a slave +whose acts are free. + +XI + +Of pleasures, those which occur most rarely give the most delight. + +XII + +Exceed due measure, and the most delightful things become the least +delightful. + +XIII + +The anger of an ape—the threat of a flatterer:—these deserve equal +regard. + +XIV + +Chastise thy passions that they avenge not themselves upon thee. + +XV + +No man is free who is not master of himself. + +XVI + +A ship should not ride on a single anchor, nor life on a single hope. + +XVII + +Fortify thyself with contentment: that is an impregnable stronghold. + +XVIII + +No man who is a lover of money, of pleasure, of glory, is likewise a +lover of Men; but only he that is a lover of whatsoever things are fair +and good. + +XIX + +Think of God more often than thou breathest. + +XX + +Choose the life that is noblest, for custom can make it sweet to thee. + +XXI + +Let thy speech of God be renewed day by day, aye, rather than thy meat +and drink. + +XXII + +Even as the Sun doth not wait for prayers and incantations to rise, but +shines forth and is welcomed by all: so thou also wait not for clapping +of hands and shouts and praise to do thy duty; nay, do good of thine +own accord, and thou wilt be loved like the Sun. + +XXIII + +Let no man think that he is loved by any who loveth none. + +XXIV + +If thou rememberest that God standeth by to behold and visit all that +thou doest; whether in the body or in the soul, thou surely wilt not +err in any prayer or deed; and thou shalt have God to dwell with thee. + +Note.—Schweighæuser’s great edition collects 181 fragments attributed +to Epictetus, of which but a few are certainly genuine. Some (as xxi., +xxiv., above) bear the stamp of Pythagorean origin; others, though +changed in form, may well be based upon Epictetean sayings. Most have +been preserved in the Anthology of John of Stobi (Stobæus), a Byzantine +collector, of whom scarcely anything is known but that he probably +wrote towards the end of the fifth century, and made his vast body of +extracts from more than five hundred authors for his son’s use. The +best examination of the authenticity of the Fragments is _Quaestiones +Epicteteæ_, by R. Asmus, 1888. The above selection includes some of +doubtful origin but intrinsic interest.—Crossley. + +(APPENDIX B) + +The Hymn of Cleanthes + +Chiefest glory of deathless Gods, Almighty for ever, +Sovereign of Nature that rulest by law, what Name shall we give Thee?— +Blessed be Thou! for on Thee should call all things that are mortal. +For that we are Thine offspring; nay, all that in myriad motion +Lives for its day on the earth bears one impress—Thy likeness—upon it. +Wherefore my song is of Thee, and I hymn thy power for ever. + +Lo, the vast orb of the Worlds, round the Earth evermore as it rolleth, +Feels Thee its Ruler and Guide, and owns Thy lordship rejoicing. +Aye, for Thy conquering hands have a servant of living fire— +Sharp is the bolt!—where it falls, Nature shrinks at the shock and doth shudder. +Thus Thou directest the Word universal that pulses through all things, +Mingling its life with Lights that are great and Lights that are lesser, +E’en as beseemeth its birth, High King through ages unending. + +Nought is done that is done without Thee in the earth or the waters +Or in the heights of heaven, save the deed of the fool and the sinner. +Thou canst make rough things smooth; at Thy voice, lo, jarring disorder +Moveth to music, and Love is born where hatred abounded. +Thus hast Thou fitted alike things good and things evil together, +That over all might reign one Reason, supreme and eternal; +Though thereunto the hearts of the wicked be hardened and heedless— +Woe unto them!—for while ever their hands are grasping at good things, +Blind are their eyes, yea, stopped are their ears to God’s Law universal, +Calling through wise disobedience to live the life that is noble. +This they mark not, but heedless of right, turn each to his own way, +Here, a heart fired with ambition, in strife and straining unhallowed; +There, thrusting honour aside, fast set upon getting and gaining; +Others again given over to lusts and dissolute softness, +Working never God’s Law, but that which wareth upon it. + +Nay, but, O Giver of all things good, whose home is the dark cloud, +Thou that wields Heaven’s bolt, save men from their ignorance grievous; +Scatter its night from their souls, and grant them to come to that Wisdom +Wherewithal, sistered with Justice, Thou rulest and governest all things; +That we, honoured by Thee, may requite Thee with worship and honour, +Evermore praising thy works, as is meet for men that shall perish; +Seeing that none, be he mortal or God, hath privilege nobler +Than without stint, without stay, to extol Thy Law universal. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN SAYINGS OF EPICTETUS *** + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the +United States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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