Stoic Sage: Enchiridion Translation

THE HANDBOOK OF EPICTETUS

Chapter 1

1. Of the things that exist some are under our control and some are not under our control. Those things under our control are judgment, motivation, desire, aversion and, in a word, such things as are our own work. Not under our control are the body, property, reputations, power and, in a word, such things as are not our own work.

2. Those things under our control are by nature free, unhindered and unimpeded while those not under our control are weak, slavish, hindered, and alien.

3. Remember, therefore, that if you think that things slavish by nature are free, and things alien by nature are your own, you will be thwarted, you will lament, you will be disturbed, and you will blame both gods and men. But if you think only what is yours is yours, and what is alien is alien, as indeed it is, no one will ever compel you, no one will hinder you , nor will you blame anyone nor accuse anyone. Unwillingly you will not do one thing, you will have no enemy, no one will hurt you, nor will you suffer any harm.

4. Aiming then at such great things you must remember that if you have aroused yourself moderately it is necessary not to undertake those things, but rather to let go of some things altogether and to put off others for the present time. If you do want these great things and you want also to have power and to have riches, perhaps you will not get power and riches because of aiming at those great things and you will altogether lose even those great things, through which alone freedom and wellbeing arise.

5 Begin at once therefore to practice saying to every rough impression, “You are an impression and not a reality.” Then examine it and test it with those precepts which you possess and especially with this one first: whether it has to do with things under our control or things not under our control. And if it should be concerned with any of those things not under our control, let there be ready at hand this answer, “This is nothing to me.”

Chapter 2

1. Remember that the promise of desire is achieving what you desire and the promise of avoidance is not falling into that which is avoided. The person who fails in his desire is unlucky, while the person who falls into what he avoided has bad luck. If you wish to avoid only those things contrary to nature which are under your control, you will not fall into any of the things you avoid. But if you wish to avoid sickness or death or poverty, you will have bad luck.

2. Therefore, remove avoidance from all things not under our control and put it with those things contrary to nature which are under our control. Put away desire altogether for the time being. If you should desire something of those things not under our control, you will be unlucky of necessity, and if you desire something of those things which are under our control, so many as may be good to be desired, none of them yet will be in your power. Use only choice and refusal, lightly, however, and with reserve and gently.

Chapter 3

For each of those things which are interesting to you or provide you an advantage and for each of those things of which you are fond remember to consider what sort of thing it is, beginning with the least significant ones. If you are fond of a jug, say, “I am fond of a jug.” For then if the jug is broken, you will not be disturbed. If you kiss your child or your wife, say that you kiss a person. For should the person die, you will not be disturbed.

Chapter 4

When you are about to undertake some project, remind yourself what sort of thing the project is. If you should go out to bathe review with yourself the things that occur in the baths: those who splash water, those knocking about, those handing out abuse, those stealing. You will undertake the project more securely if you say at the outset, “I wish to bathe and to preserve my choice which is according to nature.” It is the same for each thing you do. For in this way if something should come up to interfere with your bath, there will be ready at hand this thought, “That was not the only thing I wanted, but I also wanted to preserve my choice which is in accord with nature, and I will not preserve it if I am annoyed with these events.”

Chapter 5

Things do not disturb people, but rather opinions about things do. Death is nothing terrible, for if it were, it would have appeared so to Socrates. The opinion concerning death, that it is terrible, that opinion itself is the terrible thing. So when we are confused or disturbed or grief-stricken, we should never blame someone else but rather ourselves, that is , our own opinions. It is the part of an uneducated person to blame others when he is doing badly. To blame himself is the part of a person who has begun to be educated. Not blaming someone else or oneself is the part of an educated person.

Chapter 6

You should not be pleased at any advantage that is not your own. If a horse were pleased and said, “I am excellent,” it would be endurable. But when you are pleased and say, “I have an excellent horse,” you must know that you are pleased with the goodness of the horse. What then is your own? The use of impressions. So that when you keep yourself in accord with nature in the use of impressions, at that point you should be pleased. For then you are pleased with something good of your own.

Chapter 7

Just as on a voyage when your ship has been brought to anchor, if you should go ashore to get water and on the way as a diversion you should pick up a seashell and a flower, it is necessary to keep your mind on the ship and to turn around to check on it constantly lest at some point the captain should call and, if he should call, it is necessary to drop all those things so that you are not tied up and taken on board like sheep. So also in life if instead of a flower and a shell, a young woman and a little child are given to you, then so be it. But if the captain should call, run to the ship dropping all those things and not turning back. And if you are an old man, you should not at any time be allowed far from the ship lest you should miss the captain’s call.

Chapter 8

Don’t expect the things that exist to be as you wish them, but wish the things that exist to be as they are and you will do well.

Chapter 9

Disease is a hindrance to the body but not to choice unless that very choice wills it to be so. Lameness is a hindrance to the leg but not to choice. And you should say this about each thing that comes up. For you will find hindrances to other things but none to yourself.

Chapter 10

For each thing that befalls you, remember to turn to yourself and to see what strength you have for the management of it. If you see a beautiful boy or a beautiful woman, you will find that the strength needed for these is self-control. If hard labour is imposed, you will find that you need endurance. If abuse, you will find you need forbearance. Being so accustomed, impressions will not seize and carry you away.

Chapter 11

Not at any time to anyone should you say, “I have lost it,” but rather, “I have given it back.” Has your child died? He has been given back. Has your wife died? She has been given back. “My land has been taken.” Even this has been given back. “But the man who took it for himself was wicked.” What concern is it of yours for what reason the giver asks you to return it? While he gives it, you must care for it as something belonging to another, as travelers do an inn.

Chapter 12

1. If you wish to make progress, put aside such considerations as these: “If I don’t attend to my business I will have nothing to live on.” “If I don’t punish my slave he will be bad.” It is better to die of starvation free of suffering and fear than to live in plenty disturbed in mind. Better your slave to be bad than you in bad spirits. Begin, therefore, with small things.

2. Some olive oil is spilled. Your cheap wine is stolen. Say, “For such a price tranquility is sold, for such a price a calm mind.” Nothing comes free of charge. When you call your slave, keep in mind that it is possible he may not respond and if he does respond he may do nothing of what you wish. But things are not so good with him that your tranquility is in his power.

Chapter 13

If you want to make progress, endure seeming as though you are mindless and foolish about external things. Wish to seem to know nothing. If you seem to be someone to people, distrust yourself. You must know that it is not easy to preserve your own ability to choose and at the same time to take an interest in external things, but in attending to one it is entirely necessary to neglect the other.

Chapter 14

1. If you want your children and wife and friends to live forever, you are foolish, for you are wishing for things not under your control to be under your control and things belonging to another to be yours. In the same way if you want your slave not to make mistakes, you are a fool. For you are wanting fault not to be fault but something else. But if you desire something and you wish not to miss out on it, this you are able to do. Therefore, practice that which you are able to do.

2. The master of each and every person is the one who has the authority to provide or take away what that person wants or does not want. Whoever wishes to be free must not want anything or avoid anything under the control of others. Otherwise he is a slave of necessity.

Chapter 15

Remember that it is necessary to conduct yourself as you would at a dinner party. Something is passed around to you. Stretching out your hand take some of it discreetly. It is going by. Don’t hold it back. It has not yet arrived. Do not throw your desire forward, but wait until the dish is before you. So for children, so for one’s wife, so for power, so for money. At some point you will be a fellow diner worthy of the gods. Should you not partake of the things set before you but ignore them, then you will be not only a fellow diner of the gods but also a fellow ruler. For in so acting Diogenes and Heraclitus and others like them were god-like and were properly called god-like.

Chapter 16

When you see someone crying in his grief either because his child has gone away or he has lost his possessions, take heed that the impression not seize you that he is in troubles which are external, but immediately let there be at hand this statement, “This thing that has occurred does not distress him (for it does not distress any other person) but rather his belief concerning it distresses him.” As far as it consists with reason, however, do not hesitate to be carried along with him, and if it so happens, even to groan with him. Take heed, however, that you do not groan inwardly also.

Chapter 17

Remember that you are an actor in a drama of such a sort as the director may wish, short if he wants it short, long if he wants it long. Should he want you to act the part of a beggar, see that you act even this part naturally. And the same for the part of a lame man or a ruler or an ignoramus. This is your part, the one given to you to be acted well. But the choosing of the part belongs to someone else.

Chapter 18

When the raven has croaked something that does not bode well, do not let the impression of it seize and carry you away. Immediately make an interpretation for yourself and say, “Nothing of this is significant for me but rather for my poor body, or for my poor property, or for my poor reputation, or for my children, or for my wife. All things are signified as boding well for me if I so wish. For whatever comes from these things, it is mine to be helped by it.”

Chapter 19

1. You are able to be unconquered if you enter into no contest which is not under your control to win.

2. See to it that when you see someone being particularly honored or holding great power or enjoying great repute you do not pronounce him happy, being seized and carried away by the impression. For if the existence of the good is in those things that are under our control, then neither envy nor jealousy has a place with us. You yourself will not wish to be either a general or a senator or a consul, but free. One road to this exists, contempt for those things that are not under our control.

Chapter 20

Remember, it is not the one insulting or striking you who outrages you but your belief concerning these things, that they are outrageous. Therefore, when someone angers you, know that your assumption is what angers you. Accordingly try not to be carried away immediately by the impression, for when you once gain time and preparation, you will more easily master yourself.

Chapter 21

Let death and exile and all terrible things be apparent to you before your eyes each day and especially of all these, death. Then you will not ever take to heart anything base, nor will you ever desire anything overmuch.

Chapter 22

If you want philosophy, prepare yourself on the spot to be laughed to scorn and to be mocked by many who will say, “All of a sudden a philosopher has come to us,” and “Whence came this brow upon us?” But you should not be a brow. When the best principles have been brought to light for you, act according to them as though you have been assigned by god to the place you are in. Remember that if you are steadfast in these principles, those laughing at you before will later admire you, but if you fall away from them, you will get twice the ridicule.

Chapter 23

If it ever happens to you that you should turn outwards towards wishing to please someone, know that you have destroyed your way of living. Be content with being a philosopher in every respect, but if you also wish to seem to be a philosopher, then be revealed to yourself as one and you will be sufficient.

Chapter 24

1. Do not let this sort of consideration trouble you: “Without honor I will live, a nobody, nowhere.” For if lack of honor is a bad thing, you are not able to be in that bad state because of another person any more than you are able to be in a base state because of another person. Surely it is not any of your business to obtain power or to be invited to a banquet, is it? Certainly not. How, therefore, is this still a lack of honor? How will you be nobody nowhere for whom it is necessary to be somebody in only those things under your control in which it is possible for you to be most esteemed?

2. But will your friends go without help? What do you mean, without help? They will have from you not one penny. Nor will you make them Roman citizens. Who told you that these things are among those under your control, and are not the business of others? And who is able to give to another what he himself does not have? “Make money then,” says a friend, “so that we can have some.”

3. If I am able to make money and keep myself modest and trustworthy and large minded, show me the way and I will make money. But if you honor me to destroy the things that are good in me so that you can acquire things that are not good, look to yourselves how unfair and senseless you are. What would you prefer? Money or a true and modest friend? In this, therefore, you must help me the more and not expect me to do those things because of which I will throw away these good things.

4. “But my native city! As for me,” he says, “it will be without help.” Again, what sort of thing is this help? The city will not have colonnades or baths on account of you. And so what? It does not have shoes from the blacksmith or armour from the cobbler. It is sufficient for each person to fulfill his own duties. If you supply your city with another true and modest citizen, do you benefit her in nothing? “I do benefit her.” Certainly you yourself will not be useless to her. “What place will I have in my city?” he says. Whatever place you can find, at the same time remaining that true and modest person you are.

5. But if, wishing to help your city, you throw away those qualities, how could you be helpful to her having ended up shameless and untrusted?

Chapter 25

1. Someone has been given greater honor than you at a banquet or in a greeting or in being invited to give advice. If these things are good, it is necessary for you to rejoice that that man has gained them. If they are bad, there is no need to be vexed since you have not acquired them. Remember that, without doing those things required for the acquisition of what is not under our control, you can’t be considered worthy of the same rewards.

2. For how is it possible for a man who does not hang around at the door of some patron to have the same things as one who does hang around the door? Or one who does not act as an escort, as one who does act as an escort? Or one who does not praise, as one who does praise? For you will be unjust and insatiable if, not paying the price for which those things are sold, you wish to get them free.

3. How much does lettuce sell for? An obol, perhaps. If someone pays his obol and takes his lettuce but you do not pay and do not take lettuce, do not think that you have less than the one who took the lettuce. For as that man has lettuce, so you have your obol which you did not give away.

4. In fact it is the same way here. You were not invited to someone’s dinner party? You did not give the inviter the price for which he sells the meal. He sells it for praise. He sells it for paying court. Give, therefore, the balance due of whatever the dinner is sold for, if it is profitable to you. If you wish not to pay for those things but you wish to have them, you are insatiable and stupid. So do you have nothing instead of the dinner? Not at all. You do not have to praise the person you did not wish to praise and you do not have to put up with those people of his at his door.

Chapter 26

It is the plan of nature for us to learn from those things in which we do not differ from each other. So when the slave of another man breaks his drinking cup, there is ready at hand the statement, “It is one of those things.” Know, therefore, that when the slave breaks your cup you must respond in the same way as when he broke the other man’s cup. Thus you must transfer these principles to greater things. The child or wife of another person has died. There is no one who would not say that, “This is human.” But when the child of someone himself dies, straightway he says, “Alas, I am wretched.” It is necessary to remember what we experienced hearing the same about others.

Chapter 27

Just as a target is not set up to be missed, so there is no nature of the bad in the universe.

Chapter 28

If someone turned your body over to some stranger, you would be distressed. But if you turn your own mind over to someone you happen to meet and he then reviles you so that your mind is distressed and confounded, are you not ashamed on account of this?

Chapter 29

1. In every action consider those things that guide it and those that result from it and thus approach the thing itself. Otherwise you will approach the action enthusiastically at first, inasmuch as you have carefully considered nothing of what follows, and later when difficulties have arisen, you will shamefully abandon it.

2. Do you want to win at the Olympic games? So do I, by the gods! That is a fine thing. But consider the things that go into it and the things that result from it and then undertake the task. You must be well-disciplined, follow a strict diet, stay away from pastries, exercise rigorously, at a fixed time, in the heat and in the cold, and you must not drink cold things, nor wine whenever you please. In a word, you must turn yourself over to your coach as though he were a doctor and then in the contest dig in beside another, and sometimes you may sprain your hand or turn your ankle or eat a lot of sand, and sometimes you may be whipped and even with all this you may lose.

3. Having examined these things, go to the games if you still want to. Otherwise you will be turned back like children who play now at being wrestlers, now at being gladiators, and at one time play the trumpet and then act in tragedy. In the same way you are first an athlete, then a gladiator, an orator, and a philosopher, and with your whole being you are nothing. But like a monkey you mimic everything you see and one thing pleases you at one point and another at another. For you did not go into the matter with inquiry nor did you check it from every side but you went into it without a plan and with tepid interest.

4. So it is that some people, seeing a philosopher and hearing someone speak like Euphrates speaks (who, though, can speak as he does?), wish to be philosophers themselves.

5. Good sir, first look carefully at what sort of business this is. Then examine your own nature to see if you are able to bear it. Do you want to be a pentathlete or a wrestler? Look at your arms, inspect your thighs and loins.

6. For one person is naturally good at one thing, another at another. Do you think that in doing these things you will be able to eat as required, drink as required, be stretched and suffer discomfort so? It is necessary to spend sleepless nights, to labor, to be away from your family, to be scorned by some slave boy, to be laughed at by those you meet and to have the worst of it in everything, in honor, in power, in law, and in every trifling matter.

7. Examine these things carefully to see if you wish to receive in exchange for them calmness, freedom, tranquility. If not, do not go forward lest like children you play the philosopher now and later the tax collector, the orator, the procurator of Caesar. These things don’t go together. It is necessary for you to be one man, either good or bad. You must work out the management of your own affairs or of external affairs. That is, you must hold the position of philosopher or layman.

Chapter 30

What is fitting is in general measured by the context. There is a father. It is necessary for you to care for him, to yield in all things to him, to endure it when he rails at you and strikes you. “But this is a bad father.” You were not in any way united by nature with a good father, were you? But you were united with a father. “My brother is unjust.” Watch carefully over your relationship with him. Don’t worry about what he does but consider carefully what your choices will do for you acting in accordance with nature. No one will hurt you if you do not wish it. Then you will be harmed whenever you suppose you are harmed. Thus you will find what is proper from a neighbor, from a citizen, from a general if you develop the habit of looking closely at the context.

Chapter 31

1. Concerning reverence towards the gods, you must know that this is the most important thing, to have right conceptions concerning them as existing and as managing the cosmos nobly and justly and to appoint yourself to this task, to obey them and to yield to them in all that happens and to follow them willingly as though they are accomplishing all by the best wisdom. For thus you will not ever blame the gods nor will you accuse them as though you were neglected.

2. But it is not possible for this to occur unless you lift the good and the bad out from among those things which are not under our control and put them among those which are under our control alone. So if you should suppose something of those things not under our control to be good or bad, it will be an absolute necessity, whenever you fail to achieve what you want and whenever you fall into what you don’t want, that you will blame and hate the causes.

3. It is natural in this regard for every living thing to flee and turn away from those things that are clearly harmful along with the causes of them, but to admire and pursue those things which are beneficial and their causes. Indeed it is impossible for someone perceiving that he is harmed to rejoice in the thing that is seen to be harming him, just as it is impossible to rejoice in the harm itself.

4. So it is that a father is reviled by his son whenever he does not give a share of those things which seem good to his child. What made Polynices and Eteocles enemies towards each other was thinking the kingship to be a good thing. On account of this also the farmer reviles the gods and on account of this so does the sailor and the merchant, and on account of this those who have lost their wives and children revile the gods. Where there is benefit there also is piety. Thus whoever attends to desire as is necessary and to avoidance, in this action also attends to piety.

5. It is proper to pour libations and make sacrifices and conduct rites according to the customs of our fathers, in purity, not in a slovenly manner nor carelessly nor shabbily nor indeed beyond your means.

Chaptrer 32

1. Whenever you go for a prophecy, remember that you do not know how it will turn out but you go there to learn something from the seer, and you have come knowing what sort of thing it is, if you are indeed a philosopher. For if it is one of those things not under our control, it is completely necessary that it is neither good nor bad.

2. Do not therefore bring desire or aversion to the seer and you will not go to him trembling with fear but armed with the knowledge that everything that is going to happen is indifferent and nothing to you, whatever it may be, and it will be possible to use this well and no one will hinder it. Take courage, therefore, and go to the gods as to counselors. And from that point on, when something is advised for you, remember what counselors you have taken and whom you will be ignoring if you do not obey them.

3 Go for prophecy just as Socrates thought fit, for those things about which the entire inquiry has reference to the outcome and about which neither reasoning nor from any other mechanism is given for the understanding of the matter at hand. Thus, when you need to face danger with a friend or for your native land, do not go to a seer if danger must truly be faced. For if the seer should say to you that the sacrifices are unfavorable, it is clear that death is signified or mutilation of a part of the body or exile. But reason requires that even with these risks you must stand by your friend and face danger for your native land. Indeed, turn your mind to a greater seer, the Pythian, who threw out of his temple a man who did not help his friend who was being killed.

Chapter 33

1. Set in order whatever character and type is already yours, which you will maintain both when you are by yourself and when you meet other people.

2. For the most part let there be silence or let necessary things be discussed and these briefly. From time to time when the occasion calls for speaking, speak, but concerning nothing that is trivial. Do not speak of gladiatorial contests, nor of horse races, nor of prizefighters, nor of food and drink – things that are spoken of everywhere – and especially do not speak about other people, blaming them or praising them or comparing them with each other.

3. Should you be able to do so therefore, use your own conversation to move that of your companions towards what is proper. But if you happen to be left among people of a different sort, be silent.

4. Let laughter be not abundant nor on many occasions nor unconstrained.

5. Decline an oath if possible on all occasions and otherwise according to what is in your power.

6. Avoid feasts both public and private. But if at some time there may be a fitting occasion, let your attention be exerted lest at any time you should slip into the ways of a common person. For you must know that if your companion becomes vile, it is necessary for the one rubbed up against by him to become vile also, even if he himself is clean.

7. Take care of the things that concern the body as far as bare necessity, such things as food, drink, clothes, house, and household. Anything that is for show or luxury, exclude.

8. Concerning sex it is necessary for one to be pure before marriage, as he is able. A person engaging in sex must do so according to what is customary. Do not be ponderous and critical of those who have sex, and do not proclaim it everywhere that you yourself do not engage in sex.

9. If someone reports to you that a person is saying bad things about you, do not defend yourself against those things but reply that, “He does not know about my other faults for if he did he would not have talked only of these.”

10. It is not necessary to go often to the theater. But if there is ever a good opportunity, let it be clear that you are acting on behalf of no one other than yourself; that is, you should wish to happen only the things that do happen and you should wish to win only the one who does win. For thus you will not be thwarted. Always refrain from shouting and laughing at anyone or from getting excited. And after the show lets out do not talk much about what happened, as such things do not bear on your own improvement. For it is clear from such talk that you admired the show.

11. Do not randomly and thoughtlessly attend the lectures of anyone. When you do go keep your dignity and bearing and at the same time your courtesy.

12. Whenever you are about to meet someone, especially one of those regarded for superiority, consider for yourself what Socrates or Zeno would have done and you will not be at a loss to handle fittingly whatever happens to come up.

13. Whenever you go to call on a very powerful person propose it to yourself that you will not find him in, that you will be shut out, that the doors will be slammed in your face, that he will give you no consideration. And if with all this it is fitting for you to go, go and accept what occurs and never say to yourself, “It was not of much significance.” For then you are vulgar and misled by external things.

14. In conversation let there be no excessive recalling of any deeds or dangerous exploits of your own. Although it is pleasant for you to remember your own dangerous exploits, it is not so pleasant for others to hear of what happened to you.

15. Do not stir up laughter. For that is a slippery way to vulgarity and at the same time it is enough to undo the respect of your neighbors toward you. It is hazardous, too, to use foul language.

16. Whenever something of this sort happens, should the occasion be suitable, reprove the person using that foul language. Otherwise, with silence and blushing and a look of disapproval let it be clear that you are annoyed at his talk.

Chapter 34

Whenever you receive an impression of some pleasure, just as you would in the case of other things, be on guard lest you be carried away by it. Let the matter wait for you and take a break for yourself. Then keep in mind a picture of two times, the first being the time during which you will enjoy the pleasure and the second the time when, having enjoyed it, you then repent and revile yourself. Contrast with these things how, if you restrain yourself, you will rejoice and commend yourself. But if an occasion does appear suitable to you to do the deed, take heed lest the softness of it and the sweetness and temptation should get the best of you. But contrast how much better it will be to know that you have won a victory.

Chapter 35

Whenever you are aware of something that must be done, you should do it, and you should not at any time try to escape from being seen doing it, should people assume something bad about it. If you are not acting rightly, flee the deed itself. If you are acting rightly, why should you fear those not rightly criticizing you?

Chapter 36

As the statements “it is day” and “it is night” have significant meaning concerning separation and no meaning for joining together, so also must choosing the greater portion have meaning concerning the body, while it has no meaning concerning the preservation of the common share at a feast, so far as that is possible. Therefore, whenever you eat with someone, remember not only to consider the value for the body of the things put before you but also to preserve the respect due to the host.

Chapter 37

If you take on some role beyond your capacity, you will disgrace yourself in it and you will neglect the role you were unable to fulfill.

Chapter 38

Just as you are careful walking not to step on a nail or turn your ankle, so you should take care not to injure your own sense of direction. For if we guard this carefully in each undertaking, we will approach the undertaking more securely.

Chapter 39

The measure of property for each person is the body, just as the foot is the measure of the shoe. If you adhere to this you will preserve the measure. But if you go beyond it, it is necessary for you in the end to be carried over the edge of a cliff. So it is in the case of your shoe that if you go beyond the needs of your foot it becomes a golden shoe, then a purple one and then an embroidered one. For of this embellishment, once it goes beyond measure, there is no limit.

Chapter 40

Women from the time they are fourteen years old are called ladies by men. Considering this, that because there is nothing else that is theirs but only that they may be given in marriage to men, they begin to beautify themselves and in this to put all their hopes. It is therefore worthwhile to take heed in order that they might perceive that they are valued for nothing else than appearing decent and respectful.

Chapter 41

It is a sign of foolishness to spend a great deal of time on things that concern the body, such as doing a great deal of exercise, eating a lot, drinking a lot, spending a lot of time in the latrine, having sex. Rather it is necessary to do these things as subordinate activities. Let all your attention be upon the mind.

Chapter 42

When someone wrongs you or speaks badly about you, remember that he does so or speaks so thinking that this is fitting for him. Therefore it is not possible for him to understand the matter as it looks to you but as it looks to himself, so that, if it is seen wrongly by him, he, the one who has been deceived, is the one who is injured. For should someone assume that a complex truth is false, the complex truth is not injured, but the person who is deceived is injured. Starting from these things, therefore, you will act gently towards the one rebuking you. Say, therefore, on each occasion that, “it seemed good to him.”

Chapter 43

Everything has two handles, the one by which it is carried and the one by which it is not carried. If your brother should do you an injustice, do not grasp the matter there, that he is unjust (for that is not his carrying handle), but grasp it here rather, that he is your brother, that you grew up together, and then you will take the matter by its carrying handle.

Chapter 44

These statements are illogical: “I am richer than you, therefore I am better than you.” “I am more eloquent than you, therefore I am better than you.” But these statements on the other hand are logical: “I am richer than you, therefore my property is better than yours.” “I am more eloquent than you, therefore my diction is better than yours.” For you are neither property nor diction.

Chapter 45

Someone bathes quickly. You should not say that he bathes badly, but that he bathes quickly. Someone drinks a lot of wine. You should not say that he drinks badly but that he drinks a lot. For until you know clearly how he sees the matter, how can you know if he is acting badly? Thus, it will not happen to you that you receive convincing images of one set of things and give assent to another.

Chapter 46

1. Never call yourself a philosopher or talk a lot among lay people about philosophical precepts, but instead conduct yourself according to those precepts. So at a dinner party do not talk about how one should eat, but eat as one should. For remember how Socrates had put aside ostentation of any sort to the extent that people came to him wanting to be directed to philosophers by him, and he accommodated them. So patiently did he bear being overlooked.

2. If mention of some precept is made in everyday conversation, be silent for the most part. For there is a great danger of vomiting right up what you have not digested. And when someone says to you that you know nothing and you are not stung, then you know you are beginning your work. For the flock does not show the shepherds how much it has eaten by bringing its food to them but having digested the fodder within it puts out wool and milk. You should not put the precepts on show to lay people but rather the deeds from those digested precepts.

Chapter 47

When you have adapted yourself to living frugally as far as the needs of the body, do not show off about it, and if you drink plain water, do not on every possible occasion comment that you drink water. If at some point you want to train for hardship, do it for yourself and not for those outside. Don’t embrace statues, but if you are very thirsty at some time, take a drink of cold water and then spit it out and do not tell anyone.

Chapter 48

1. The condition and character of the non-philosopher: never does he expect benefit or harm from himself but from those outside. The condition and character of the philosopher: he expects every benefit and harm from himself.

2. The signs of one who is making his way forward: he blames no one, praises no one, censures no one, accuses no one, says nothing about himself as though he were someone important or knew something. Whenever he is thwarted in something or prevented, he accuses himself. If someone praises him, he laughs to himself at the one who praises. If someone blames him, he does not defend himself. He goes around, as sick people do, being careful about moving anything that is knitting up before it has healed.

3. All desire he has removed from himself. And aversion he has moved exclusively to those things contrary to nature which are under our control. He uses a relaxed motivation in all things. If he seems foolish or ignorant, he is not concerned. In a word, he is on guard against himself as against an enemy and a treacherous opponent.

Chapter 49

When someone takes on a grave and solemn air about understanding and being able to expound the books of Chrysippus, you say to yourself, “If Chrysippus had not written unclearly, this person would have nothing to be grave and solemn about.” Do I want something? Yes, to understand nature thoroughly and to follow her. I seek, therefore, one who is her interpreter. And hearing that it is Chrysippus, I go to him. But I do not understand his writings. Therefore, I seek an interpreter. Up to this point there is no special accomplishment. But when I find the interpreter, it remains to put his precepts into use. This alone then is a fine accomplishment. But if I admire the interpretation as the accomplishment, what more would I have accomplished than a grammarian would, rather than a philosopher? Nothing, except that I interpreted Chrysippus instead of Homer. So when someone says to me, “Read me Chrysippus,” I blush when I am unable to demonstrate deeds and results in agreement with the words.

Chapter 50

Whatever precepts are put before you, keep them as though they were laws which it would be sinful for you to disobey. And pay no attention to anything that anyone may say about you, for this is no longer your affair.

Chapter 51

1. How long are you going to put off thinking yourself worthy of the best things, in nothing omitting the use of reason? You have received the precepts which you needed to interpret and you have interpreted them. What sort of teacher are you still expecting, that you put off improving yourself waiting for him. You are no longer a boy but already a grown man. If now you are careless and neglectful and you constantly make one postponement after another and set one date and then another after which you will attend to yourself, you will, without noticing it, make no progress but you will end up as an ignorant person living and dying.

2. Now, therefore, think yourself worthy to live as an accomplished and advancing person. Let everything that seems best to you be a law not to be broken. If anything difficult or pleasant or honorable or dishonorable comes up, remember that the contest is now and the Olympics are already here and it is not possible to put things off any longer and that in one day, in one event, progress is lost and saved.

3. In this way Socrates became accomplished in everything that came up for him, holding to nothing else than reason. And,if you are not yet Socrates, you ought to live your life wishing to be like Socrates.

Chapter 52

The first and most necessary topic in philosophy is the use of precepts, such as, do not lie. The second topic is that of proofs, such as why it is necessary not to lie. The third topic is explanatory and confirmatory of these things, such as why is it that this constitutes a proof. In fact, what is a proof? What is a consequence? What is a contradiction? What is a truth? What is a falsehood? So the third topic is necessary on account of the second and the second is necessary on account of the first. The topic that is most important and where we must abide is the first. But we do the opposite. For we spend our time in the third topic and all our effort is spent on it and we neglect the first altogether. Indeed, we lie while we have ready at hand a proof to demonstrate that it is necessary not to lie.

Chapter 53

1. On every occasion it is necessary to have on hand these statements.

Lead me, Zeus, and you, Fate

Where I once was destined by you to go.

Surely I will follow without hesitation. But if I do not want to,

Because I am weak, still I will follow.

2. “Whoever has rightly yielded to necessity,

Is wise in our eyes and understands divine things.”

3. “But Crito, if it is thus pleasing to the gods, thus it must be.”

4. “Anytus and Meletus can kill me, but they cannot harm me.”

Philosophical terms used in the Enchiridion

ἀγανακτέω be annoyed, be discontented

ἀδιάφορος indifferent

αἰδήμων modest

αἴσιος boding well, auspicious

ἀκολουθία consequence

ἀκωλυτός unhindered

ἀληθές true

ἀμφορμαι means, origins

ἀναφορά reference

ἀνεξικακία forbearance, long suffering

ἀπάθεια freedom from emotion

ἀπαραπόδισος not entangled at the feet, unimpeded

ἀπόδειξις proof

ἀρχαί power, office

ἀσύνακτος illogical, incoherent, incompatible

ἀταραξία calmness, tranquility

ἄτιμος without honor

ἀτυχής luckless

ἀφορμάω refuse; τὸ ἀφορμᾶν refusal

διαιρέω analyze, interpret, draw a distinction

διαλογίσμος consideration, calculation

διατροφή sustenance, support

δόγμα that which seems to one, opinion, dogma, belief

δόξαι reputation, public acclaim

δυστυχής having bad luck

ἐγκαλέω blame

ἐγκρατεία self-control, continence

ἔκβασις outcome, result

ἔκκλισις aversion

ἐλευθερία freedom

ἐνθυμέομαι take to heart, be hurt by

ἔνστασις plan of life

ἐπαίρω lift up; passive: be excited about, be pleased

ἐπιθυμέω desire

ἐπιλογισμός reckoning, calculation, consideration

ἐπιστήμη knowledge

ἐπιτυχία luck, chance, advantage, success

εὐροέω flow well, speak well, do well

θεωρήμα precept

θλἰβω distress

θλἰψις affliction

κανών precept, rule

καρτερία patience, endurance, patient endurance

καταληπτικός able to seize, conveying direct apprehension of an object

καταφρόνησις contempt, disdain

κτῆσις property

κωλυτός hindered

λοιδορία railing, abuse

μάχη contradiction

ὅλα, τὰ ὅλα the cosmos

ὄρεξις desire

ὁρμάω choose; τὸ ὁρμᾶν choice

ὁρμή impulse, intention, motivation

παραποδίζω entangle the feet of

πιστός true, trustworthy

προαίρεσις volition, will choice

προκείμενον matter set forth

προκόπτω make progress, (cut forward)

προτέρημα advantage, victory

σκέψις inquiry, viewing, perception, speculation, thought, doubt, hesitation

συνακτικός logical, coherent

ταπεινός base, low

ταρασσόμενος disturbed in mind

τηρέω watch over, preserve

ὑπεξαίρεσις reserve, reservation, removal

ὑπόληψις judgment, understanding, conception

φαινόμενον manifest thing

φαντασία impression

χρῆσις φαντασιῶν use of impressions

ψεῦδος false

Appendix I

What Socrates says about our limited time – we have to choose what it is we want to know and to be. Socrates and Phaedrus are walking outside the walls of Athens towards noon on a summer day. Phaedrus 229a – 230a.

Socrates. Let’s turn aside here and go down the Ilissus where it seems we can sit down in peace.

Phaedrus. For the occasion, as it seems, I happen to be barefoot. But you are always barefoot. So it will be very easy for us to go down the stream wetting our feet and not unpleasant at any time but especially at this season of the year and this time of day.

Soc. Then lead the way and at the same time watch for a place where we can sit down.

Ph. Do you see that very tall plane tree?

Soc. Yes indeed.

Ph. There is shade there and a moderate breeze and grass to sit on or, if we wish, to lie down on.

Soc. Lead on.

Ph. Tell me, Socrates, isn’t it here someplace that it’s said Boreas carried away Oreithuia from the Ilissos?

Soc. Yes, that is what is said.

Ph. Was it just here? At any rate the stream looks lovely and pure and clear and very suitable for maidens to play beside it.

Soc. No, but down from here about two or three furlongs, where we go through to Agra, and where there is a certain alter to Boreas right there.

Ph. I have not particularly noticed it. But tell me for heaven’s sake, Socrates, do you believe this legend is true?

Soc. If I disbelieved it as our wise me do, I would not be out of line, and accordingly I might explain that the wind of Boreas threw her down the nearby rocks as she was playing with Pharmakeia, and that after she had died in this way it was said she was carried off by Boreas. But, Phaedrus, I think otherwise about such accomplished explanations, that they are the work of a most strange and laborious and not entirely fortunate man, if for no other reason than that after this he must explain the appearance of the Centaur and after that of the Chimera and after that a crowd of such creatures floods in on him, Gorgons and Pegasuses and other inexplicable things and peculiarities and throngs of monstrous natures. If someone disbelieves in these and explains each one according to what is reasonable, employing a sort of common sense, he will need a great deal of time. I have no leisure at all for those things, and the reason, my friend, is this. I have not been able yet, according to the Delphic inscription, to know myself, and it certainly appears laughable to me for one who doesn’t yet know even that to be looking into other things. So it is that saying good bye to those things and believing what is customarily thought about the, as I was saying just now, I do not investigate them but rather myself, if perchance I happen to be some beast more complex than Typho and more furious, or rather a creature more gentle and more simple partaking by nature in something divine and in a quiet share of life. But look, my friend, in the midst of our conversation, is not this the tree to which you were leading us?

Ph. This is the very one.

Soc. By Hera, this is a lovely resting place. For this plane tree is wide-spreading and lofty, and the height of the willow and its shade are altogether beautiful and as it is at the peak of its flowering it can make the place most fragrant. Then the very lovely spring under the plane tree is flowing with water that is very cool, to judge with my foot. It seems to be the sacred place of some nymphs and of Achelous judging from the small images and statues. And again if you wish, the breeziness of the place, how lovely and very pleasant, and summer’s clear voice is echoing with the chorus of the cicadas. But the most elegant thing of all is the grass that grows on the gentle slope, abundant enough for a person lying down to rest his head very comfortably. Thus most excellently have you guided the stranger, my dear Phaedrus.

APPENDIX II

A summary of what Simplicius says about Chapter XXVII

Ὥσπερ σκοπὸς πρὸς τὸ ἀποτυχεῖν οὐ τίθεται, οὕτως οὐδὲ κακοῦ φύσις ἐν κόσμῳ γίνεται.

Simplicius discusses the problem of saying there are two different origins of existent things, good and bad.

If this were the case what would be the nature of the origin of – the prior cause of – both the good and the bad?

Being opposites good and bad must be of the same genus and so have the same prior cause.

The good or god cannot be said to be the origin of all things if there is a separate cause of bad.

If the bad has its own origin and compels souls to badness, what defense does the soul have? The soul then acts under compulsion and is therefore blameless.

How can good or god produce bad?

If the bad is not an independent force and not produced by good/god, where does it come from? Answer: “ . . . οὐδὲ κακοῦ φύσις ἐν κόσμῳ γίνεται.” It does not exist. The bad is not a substance, it is an accident, i.e. it is not a thing but an attribute.

This substance vs. accident idea says that the bad arises and passes away without destruction of the substrate and does not exist in itself. Every badness has to belong to something. Goodness is also an accident. However, it is an accident inherent in and part of the nature of anything.

Goodness is κατὰ φύσιν.

The bad is παρὰ φύσιν.

But the good is the natural state of anything while the bad is a falling away from that state. Therefore the bad has no primary existence but rather a derivative existence, derived from the good.

Wickedness of the soul is to virtue as disease of the body is to health.

Derivation runs only from good to bad.

In sum, the bad is accidental, a failure to attain or falling away from the good, and derivative from the good.

What is the cause of the bad?

Good or god created first goods, second goods and third level goods (including human beings) able by nature to turn away from what is in accordance with their nature and from the good, towards what is contrary to their nature – which is what we call the bad. There follows a neo-Platonic riff on first goods, intermediate goods and the lowest goods in which the lowest have to exist so the intermediate and highest can have their proper honor. The lowest bodies have to participate in dispositions contrary to their nature such as disease and decay and Simplicius says that (Hadot p.334, ll. 289-290), “this, I think, is not actually bad, but rather good for bodies.” Sick bodies are relieved of their burdens when they are resolved into their elements. This destruction and dissolution is good for the whole kosmos given that the destruction of one is the generation of another. This is the eternal cycle of life.

Human souls (Hadot p.336, l. 332 ff) are between the intermediate ones above which are always good and animal and plant souls below and can by choice – prohairesis – move up or down. People choose the higher and the lower just as amphibians choose land or water as they like. This choice or prohairesis is what defines good and bad in everyday life. “. . . god, well laid down laws, and of men those who are sensible and good, judge the good and bad actions of men not by the deeds themselves but by the prohairesis of the doer.” (Hadot p.338, ll. 399-401)

“οὐδὲν γὰρ αἱρεῖται τὸ κακὸν ὡς κακόν – ἀλλ’ὡς φαινομένου μὲν ἀγαθοῦ, κρύπτοντος δὲ ἐν αὐτῷ τὸ κακὸν ὅπερ ἀνάγκη μετὰ τοῦ φαινομένου λαβεῖν ἀγαθοῦ.” “Nothing chooses the bad as bad but rather as an apparent good which hides within itself the bad which the soul must take along with the apparent good.” (Hadot p.339, ll. 409-411)

Simplicius concludes that the cause of the bad is the soul in its employment of prohairesis. There good or god is not the cause of the bad.

Someone might say good or god should not have allowed the soul to choose the bad. Answers are, 1) if the nature of human beings is sometimes to choose the good, sometimes the bad, good or god’s intervention would alter human nature and, 2) this would eradicate from the cosmos any soul having self-determination.

Human virtue could not exist without choice. “From this account the turning away of the soul and the badness ascribed to it are shown to be necessary since without this turning away neither the human virtues nor the very form of man would have come into being.” (“ἐκ δὴ τούτου τοῦ λόγου ἀναγκαία δείκνυται ἡ παρατροπὴ καὶ τὸ κατ’αὐτὴν λεγόμενον κακόν, εἴπερ ἄνευ ταύτης οὐκ ἂν παρῆλθον εἰς τὰ ὄντα αἱ ἀρεταὶ αἱ ἀνθρώπιναι οὐδε τὸ εἶδος ὅλως τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.” Hadot p.340, l. 441ff.)

Simplicius comes back several times to the problem of good or god as creator of choice which can result in the bad.

He says, 1) good or god made human beings with choice, so this kind of species would have its place in the universe; 2) good or god is the cause of self-determined substance which is good and better than many of the goods in the cosmos: and 3) the turning away from the good to the bad is the human soul’s activity, not good or god’s.

APPENDIX III

Simplicius, a 6^th century Neo-Platonist had been the student of Damascius at the Academy in Athens and was his fellow teacher there when Justinian closed the schools of philosophy in 529 A.D. Damascius, the last Scholarch of the Academy, which Plato had founded in the early 4^th century B.C. fled with Simplicius and several other philosophers to Ctesiphon on the Tigris where a Persian ruler interested in philosophy was willing to receive them. After a sojourn there they were able to return to the Byzantine world and Simplicius settled in Carrhae (modern Harran in extreme southeastern Turkey) which was so remote that he was able to resume teaching pagan philosophy and it was there that he wrote his commentary on the Enchiridion in about 533 A.D. His school survived into the 11^th century, escaping, undoubtedly because of its location beyond the Euphrates on the very edge of the Byzantine eastern frontier, the attention of both Christians and Muslims. An account of the closing of the schools by Justinian is given by Gibbon, as quoted below.

Abolition of the Schools of Athens

The Gothic arms were less fatal to the schools of Athens than the establishment of a new religion, whose ministers superseded the exercise of reason, resolved every question by an article of faith, and condemned the infidel or sceptic to eternal flames. In many a volume of laborious controversy, they exposed the weakness of the understanding and the corruption of the heart, insulted human nature in the sages of antiquity, and proscribed the spirit of philosophical inquiry, so repugnant to the doctrine, or at least to the temper, of an humble believer. The surviving sects of the Platonists, whom Plato would have blushed to acknowledge, extravagantly mingled a sublime theory with the practice of superstition and magic; and as they remained alone in the midst of a Christian world, they indulged a secret rancor against the government of the church and state, whose severity was still suspended over their heads. ^. About a century after the reign of Julian, Proclus was permitted to teach in the philosophic chair of the academy; and such was his industry, that he frequently, in the same day, pronounced five lessons, and composed seven hundred lines. His sagacious mind explored the deepest questions of morals and metaphysics, and he ventured to urge eighteen arguments against the Christian doctrine of the creation of the world. But in the intervals of study, he personally conversed with Pan, Aesculapius, and Minerva, in whose mysteries he was secretly initiated, and whose prostrate statues he adored; in the devout persuasion that the philosopher, who is a citizen of the universe, should be the priest of its various deities. An eclipse of the sun announced his approaching end; and his life, with that of his scholar Isidore, compiled by two of their most learned disciples, exhibits a deplorable picture of the second childhood of human reason. Yet the golden chain, as it was fondly styled, of the Platonic succession, continued forty-four years from the death of Proclus to the edict of Justinian, which imposed a perpetual silence on the schools of Athens, and excited the grief and indignation of the few remaining votaries of Grecian science and superstition. Seven friends and philosophers, Diogenes and Hermias, Eulalius and Priscian, Damascius, Isidore, and Simplicius, who dissented from the religion of their sovereign, embraced the resolution of seeking in a foreign land the freedom which was denied in their native country. They had heard, and they credulously believed, that the republic of Plato was realized in the despotic government of Persia, and that a patriot king reigned ever the happiest and most virtuous of nations. They were soon astonished by the natural discovery, that Persia resembled the other countries of the globe; that Chosroes, who affected the name of a philosopher, was vain, cruel, and ambitious; that bigotry, and a spirit of intolerance, prevailed among the Magi; that the nobles were haughty, the courtiers servile, and the magistrates unjust; that the guilty sometimes escaped, and that the innocent were often oppressed. The disappointment of the philosophers provoked them to overlook the real virtues of the Persians; and they were scandalized, more deeply perhaps than became their profession, with the plurality of wives and concubines, the incestuous marriages, and the custom of exposing dead bodies to the dogs and vultures, instead of hiding them in the earth, or consuming them with fire. Their repentance was expressed by a precipitate return, and they loudly declared that they had rather die on the borders of the empire, than enjoy the wealth and favor of the Barbarian. From this journey, however, they derived a benefit which reflects the purest lustre on the character of Chosroes. He required, that the seven sages who had visited the court of Persia should be exempted from the penal laws which Justinian enacted against his Pagan subjects; and this privilege, expressly stipulated in a treaty of peace, was guarded by the vigilance of a powerful mediator. Simplicius and his companions ended their lives in peace and obscurity; and as they left no disciples, they terminate the long list of Grecian philosophers, who may be justly praised, notwithstanding their defects, as the wisest and most virtuous of their contemporaries. The writings of Simplicius are now extant. His physical and metaphysical commentaries on Aristotle have passed away with the fashion of the times; but his moral interpretation of Epictetus is preserved in the library of nations, as a classic book, most excellently adapted to direct the will, to purify the heart, and to confirm the understanding, by a just confidence in the nature both of God and man.

Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapter 40 section VII.

Notes

1. Oldfather Vol. 1, p. vii

2. Stockdale, J. (1993) Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus’s Doctrines in a Laboratory of Human Behavior (Hoover Institute, Stanford)

3. Oldfather Vol 2, pp. 483-4

4.Hadot Simplicius p. 228, l. 15

5. Hadot Simplicius p. 322 ff

6. Brittan and Brennan Simplicius Vol. 2 p. 105

7. Hadot Simplicius p. 434, ll. 33-37

8. Hadot Simplicius p. 451, l. 7 ff

9. SVF = H. von Arnim, Stoicorum veterum fragmenta (Leipzig 1903 – 5)

10. Nauck = August Nauck, Tragicorum Graecorum fragmenta (Gottingen 1981)

Bibliography

Brittan, C. and Brennan, T. 2002 Simplicius On Epictetus’ Handbook 1-26 (Ithaca, NY)

Brittan, C. and Brennan, T. 2002 Simplicius On Epictetus’ Handbook 27-53 (Ithaca, NY)

Glare, P.G.W. 1982 Oxford Latin Dictionary (Oxford)

Goodwin, W.W. and Gulick, C.B. 1930 Greek Grammar (Boston)

Hadot, I. 1996 Simplicius Commentaire sur le Manuel d’Epictete (Leiden)

Liddell, H.G. and Scott, R. 1889 An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon (Oxford)

Liddell, H.G. and Scott, R. revised by Jones, H.S. 1996 A Greek-English Lexicon (Oxford)

Morwood, J. 2001 Oxford Grammar of Classical Greek (Oxford)

Oldfather, W.A. 1925 Epictetus The Discourses as Reported by Arrian Books I-II (Cambridge, MA)

Oldfather, W.A. 1928 Epictetus The Discourses Books III-IV, Fragments, Encheiridion (Cambridge, MA)

Schenkl, H. 1916 Epicteti Dissertationes ab Arriano digestae. Epictetus. Heinrich Schenkl. editor. (Leipzig. B. G. Teubner)

Smyth, H.W. 1956 Greek Grammar (Cambridge, MA)

Abbreviations:

G&G – Goodwin, W.W. and Gulick, C.B. 1930 Greek Grammar (Boston)

L&S – Liddell, H.G. and Scott, R. 1889 An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon (Oxford)

LSJ – Liddell, H.G. and Scott, R. revised by Jones, H.S. 1996 A Greek-English Lexicon (Oxford)