{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_871/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_871","id":"gutenberg_871","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/871","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Classical Antiquity","Harvard Classics","Philosophy","Stoics"],"text":"THE GOLDEN SAYINGS OF EPICTETUS\n\nTranslated and Arranged by Hastings Crossley\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n I\n II\n III\n IV\n V\n VI\n VII\n VIII\n IX\n X\n XI\n XII\n XIII\n XIV\n XV\n XVI\n XVII\n XVIII\n XIX\n XX\n XXI\n XXII\n XXIII\n XXIV\n XXV\n XXVI\n XXVII\n XXVIII\n XXIX\n XXX\n XXXI\n XXXII\n XXXIII\n XXXIV\n XXXV\n XXXVI\n XXXVII\n XXXVIII\n XXXIX\n XL\n XLI\n XLII\n XLIII\n XLIV\n XLV\n XLVI\n XLVII\n XLVIII\n XLIX\n L\n LI\n LII\n LIII\n LIV\n LV\n LVI\n LVII\n LVIII\n LIX\n LX\n LXI\n LXII\n LXIII\n LXIV\n LXV\n LXVI\n LXVII\n LXVIII\n LXIX\n LXX\n LXXI\n LXXII\n LXXIII\n LXXIV\n LXXV\n LXXVI\n LXXVII\n LXXVIII\n LXXIX\n LXXX\n LXXXI\n LXXXII\n LXXXIII\n LXXXIV\n LXXXV\n LXXXVI\n LXXXVII\n LXXXVIII\n LXXXIX\n XC\n XCI\n XCII\n XCIII\n XCIV\n XCV\n XCVI\n XCVII\n XCVIII\n XCIX\n C\n CI\n CII\n CIII\n CIV\n CV\n CVI\n CVII\n CVIII\n CIX\n CX\n CXI\n CXII\n CXIII\n CXIV\n CXV\n CXVI\n CXVII\n CXVIII\n CXIX\n CXX\n CXXI\n CXXII\n CXXIII\n CXXIV\n CXXV\n CXXVI\n CXXVII\n CXXVIII\n CXXIX\n CXXX\n CXXXI\n CXXXII\n CXXXIII\n CXXXIV\n CXXXV\n CXXXVI\n CXXXVII\n CXXXVIII\n CXXXIX\n CXL\n CXLI\n CXLII\n CXLII\n CXLIV\n CXLV\n CXLVI\n CXLVII\n CXLVIII\n CXLIX\n CL\n CLI\n CLII\n CLIII\n CLIV\n CLV\n CLVI\n CLVII\n CLVIII\n CLIX\n CLX\n CLXI\n CLXII\n CLXIII\n CLXIV\n CLXV\n CLXVI\n CLXVII\n CLXVIII\n CLXIX\n CLXX\n CLXXI\n CLXXII\n CLXXIII\n CLXXIV\n CLXXV\n CLXXVI\n CLXXVII\n CLXXVIII\n CLXXIX\n CLXXX\n CLXXXI\n CLXXXII\n CLXXXIII\n CLXXXIV\n CLXXXV\n CLXXXVI\n CLXXXVII\n CLXXXVIII\n CLXXXIX\n (APPENDIX A)\n Fragments Attributed to Epictetus\n I\n II\n III\n IV\n V\n VI\n VII\n VIII\n IX\n X\n XI\n XII\n XIII\n XIV\n XV\n XVI\n XVII\n XVIII\n XIX\n XX\n XXI\n XXII\n XXIII\n XXIV\n (APPENDIX B)\n The Hymn of Cleanthes\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nAre these the only works of Providence within us? What words suffice to\npraise or set them forth? Had we but understanding, should we ever\ncease hymning and blessing the Divine Power, both openly and in secret,\nand telling of His gracious gifts? Whether digging or ploughing or\neating, should we not sing the hymn to God:\u2014\n\n_Great is God_, for that He hath given us such instruments to till the\nground withal:\n\n\n_Great is God_, for that He hath given us hands and the power of\nswallowing and digesting; of unconsciously growing and breathing while\nwe sleep!\n\n\nThus should we ever have sung; yea and this, the grandest and divinest\nhymn of all:\u2014\n\n_Great is God_, for that He hath given us a mind to apprehend these\nthings, and duly to use them!\n\n\nWhat then! seeing that most of you are blinded, should there not be\nsome one to fill this place, and sing the hymn to God on behalf of all\nmen? What else can I that am old and lame do but sing to God? Were I a\nnightingale, I should do after the manner of a nightingale. Were I a\nswan, I should do after the manner of a swan. But now, since I am a\nreasonable being, I must sing to God: that is my work: I do it, nor\nwill I desert this my post, as long as it is granted me to hold it; and\nupon you too I call to join in this self-same hymn.\n\nII\n\nHow then do men act? As though one returning to his country who had\nsojourned for the night in a fair inn, should be so captivated thereby\nas to take up his abode there.\n\n\u201cFriend, thou hast forgotten thine intention! This was not thy\ndestination, but only lay on the way thither.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay, but it is a proper place.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd how many more of the sort there may be; only to pass through upon\nthy way! Thy purpose was to return to thy country; to relieve thy\nkinsmen\u2019s fears for thee; thyself to discharge the duties of a citizen;\nto marry a wife, to beget offspring, and to fill the appointed round of\noffice. Thou didst not come to choose out what places are most\npleasant; but rather to return to that wherein thou wast born and where\nwert appointed to be a citizen.\u201d\n\nIII\n\nTry to enjoy the great festival of life with other men.\n\nIV\n\nBut I have one whom I must please, to whom I must be subject, whom I\nmust obey:\u2014God, and those who come next to Him. He hath entrusted me\nwith myself: He hath made my will subject to myself alone and given me\nrules for the right use thereof.\n\nV\n\nRufus used to say, _If you have leisure to praise me, what I say is\nnaught_. In truth he spoke in such wise, that each of us who sat there,\nthough that some one had accused him to Rufus:\u2014so surely did he lay his\nfinger on the very deeds we did: so surely display the faults of each\nbefore his very eyes.\n\nVI\n\nBut what saith God?\u2014\u201cHad it been possible, Epictetus, I would have made\nboth that body of thine and thy possessions free and unimpeded, but as\nit is, be not deceived:\u2014it is not thine own; it is but finely tempered\nclay. Since then this I could not do, I have given thee a portion of\nMyself, in the power of desiring and declining and of pursuing and\navoiding, and in a word the power of dealing with the things of sense.\nAnd if thou neglect not this, but place all that thou hast therein,\nthou shalt never be let or hindered; thou shalt never lament; thou\nshalt not blame or flatter any. What then? Seemth this to thee a little\nthing?\u201d\u2014God forbid!\u2014\u201cBe content then therewith!\u201d\n\nAnd so I pray the Gods.\n\nVII\n\nWhat saith Antisthenes? Hast thou never heard?\u2014\n\n_It is a kingly thing, O Cyrus, to do well and to be evil spoken of_.\n\nVIII\n\n\u201cAye, but to debase myself thus were unworthy of me.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat,\u201d said Epictetus, \u201cis for you to consider, not for me. You know\nyourself what you are worth in your own eyes; and at what price you\nwill sell yourself. For men sell themselves at various prices. This was\nwhy, when Florus was deliberating whether he should appear at Nero\u2019s\nshows, taking part in the performance himself, Agrippinus replied, \u2018But\nwhy do not _you_ appear?\u2019 he answered, \u2018Because I do not even consider\nthe question.\u2019 For the man who has once stooped to consider such\nquestions, and to reckon up the value of external things, is not far\nfrom forgetting what manner of man he is. Why, what is it that you ask\nme? Is death preferable, or life? I reply, Life. Pain or pleasure? I\nreply, Pleasure.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, but if I do not act, I shall lose my head.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen go and act! But for my part I will not act.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy?\u201d\n\n\u201cBecause _you_ think yourself but one among the many threads which make\nup the texture of the doublet. _You_ should aim at being like men in\ngeneral\u2014just as your thread has no ambition either to be anything\ndistinguished compared with the other threads. But I desire to be the\npurple\u2014that small and shining part which makes the rest seem fair and\nbeautiful. Why then do you bid me become even as the multitude? Then\nwere I no longer the purple.\u201d\n\nIX\n\nIf a man could be throughly penetrated, as he ought, with this thought,\nthat we are all in an especial manner sprung from God, and that God is\nthe Father of men as well as of Gods, full surely he would never\nconceive aught ignoble or base of himself. Whereas if C\u00e6sar were to\nadopt you, your haughty looks would be intolerable; will you not be\nelated at knowing that you are the son of God? Now however it is not so\nwith us: but seeing that in our birth these two things are\ncommingled\u2014the body which we share with the animals, and the Reason and\nThought which we share with the Gods, many decline towards this unhappy\nkinship with the dead, few rise to the blessed kinship with the Divine.\nSince then every one must deal with each thing according to the view\nwhich he forms about it, those few who hold that they are born for\nfidelity, modesty, and unerring sureness in dealing with the things of\nsense, never conceive aught base or ignoble of themselves: but the\nmultitude the contrary. Why, what am I?\u2014A wretched human creature; with\nthis miserable flesh of mine. Miserable indeed! but you have something\nbetter than that paltry flesh of yours. Why then cling to the one, and\nneglect the other?\n\nX\n\nThou art but a poor soul laden with a lifeless body.\n\nXI\n\nThe other day I had an iron lamp placed beside my household gods. I\nheard a noise at the door and on hastening down found my lamp carried\noff. I reflected that the culprit was in no very strange case.\n\u201cTomorrow, my friend,\u201d I said, \u201cyou will find an earthenware lamp; for\na man can only lose what he has.\u201d\n\nXII\n\nThe reason why I lost my lamp was that the thief was superior to me in\nvigilance. He paid however this price for the lamp, that in exchange\nfor it he consented to become a thief: in exchange for it, to become\nfaithless.\n\nXIII\n\nBut God hath introduced Man to be a spectator of Himself and of His\nworks; and not a spectator only, but also an interpreter of them.\nWherefore it is a shame for man to begin and to leave off where the\nbrutes do. Rather he should begin there, and leave off where Nature\nleaves off in us: and that is at contemplation, and understanding, and\na manner of life that is in harmony with herself.\n\nSee then that ye die not without being spectators of these things.\n\nXIV\n\nYou journey to Olympia to see the work of Phidias; and each of you\nholds it a misfortune not to have beheld these things before you die.\nWhereas when there is no need even to take a journey, but you are on\nthe spot, with the works before you, have you no care to contemplate\nand study these?\n\nWill you not then perceive either who you are or unto what end you were\nborn: or for what purpose the power of contemplation has been bestowed\non you?\n\n\u201cWell, but in life there are some things disagreeable and hard to\nbear.\u201d\n\nAnd are there none at Olympia? Are you not scorched by the heat? Are\nyou not cramped for room? Have you not to bathe with discomfort? Are\nyou not drenched when it rains? Have you not to endure the clamor and\nshouting and such annoyances as these? Well, I suppose you set all this\nover against the splendour of the spectacle and bear it patiently. What\nthen? have you not received greatness of heart, received courage,\nreceived fortitude? What care I, if I am great of heart, for aught that\ncan come to pass? What shall cast me down or disturb me? What shall\nseem painful? Shall I not use the power to the end for which I received\nit, instead of moaning and wailing over what comes to pass?\n\nXV\n\nIf what philosophers say of the kinship of God and Man be true, what\nremains for men to do but as Socrates did:\u2014never, when asked one\u2019s\ncountry, to answer, \u201cI am an Athenian or a Corinthian,\u201d but \u201cI am a\ncitizen of the world.\u201d\n\nXVI\n\nHe that hath grasped the administration of the World, who hath learned\nthat this Community, which consists of God and men, is the foremost and\nmightiest and most comprehensive of all:\u2014that from God have descended\nthe germs of life, not to my father only and father\u2019s father, but to\nall things that are born and grow upon the earth, and in an especial\nmanner to those endowed with Reason (for those only are by their nature\nfitted to hold communion with God, being by means of Reason conjoined\nwith Him)\u2014why should not such an one call himself a citizen of the\nworld? Why not a son of God? Why should he fear aught that comes to\npass among men? Shall kinship with C\u00e6sar, or any other of the great at\nRome, be enough to hedge men around with safety and consideration,\nwithout a thought of apprehension: while to have God for our Maker, and\nFather, and Kinsman, shall not this set us free from sorrows and fears?\n\nXVII\n\nI do not think that an old fellow like me need have been sitting here\nto try and prevent your entertaining abject notions of yourselves, and\ntalking of yourselves in an abject and ignoble way: but to prevent\nthere being by chance among you any such young men as, after\nrecognising their kindred to the Gods, and their bondage in these\nchains of the body and its manifold necessities, should desire to cast\nthem off as burdens too grievous to be borne, and depart their true\nkindred. This is the struggle in which your Master and Teacher, were he\nworthy of the name, should be engaged. You would come to me and say:\n\u201cEpictetus, we can no longer endure being chained to this wretched\nbody, giving food and drink and rest and purification: aye, and for its\nsake forced to be subservient to this man and that. Are these not\nthings indifferent and nothing to us? Is it not true that death is no\nevil? Are we not in a manner kinsmen of the Gods, and have we not come\nfrom them? Let us depart thither, whence we came: let us be freed from\nthese chains that confine and press us down. Here are thieves and\nrobbers and tribunals: and they that are called tyrants, who deem that\nthey have after a fashion power over us, because of the miserable body\nand what appertains to it. Let us show them that they have power over\nnone.\u201d\n\nXVIII\n\nAnd to this I reply:\u2014\n\n\u201cFriends, wait for God. When He gives the signal, and releases you from\nthis service, then depart to Him. But for the present, endure to dwell\nin the place wherein He hath assigned you your post. Short indeed is\nthe time of your habitation therein, and easy to those that are minded.\nWhat tyrant, what robber, what tribunals have any terrors for those who\nthus esteem the body and all that belong to it as of no account? Stay;\ndepart not rashly hence!\u201d\n\nXIX\n\nSomething like that is what should pass between a teacher and ingenuous\nyouths. As it is, what does pass? The teacher is a lifeless body, and\nyou are lifeless bodies yourselves. When you have had enough to eat\ntoday, you sit down and weep about tomorrow\u2019s food. Slave! if you have\nit, well and good; if not, you will depart: the door is open\u2014why\nlament? What further room is there for tears? What further occasion for\nflattery? Why should one envy another? Why should you stand in awe of\nthem that have much or are placed in power, especially if they be also\nstrong and passionate? Why, what should they do to us? What they can\ndo, we will not regard: what does concern us, that they cannot do. Who\nthen shall rule one that is thus minded?\n\nXX\n\nSeeing this then, and noting well the faculties which you have, you\nshould say,\u2014\u201cSend now, O God, any trial that Thou wilt; lo, I have\nmeans and powers given me by Thee to acquit myself with honour through\nwhatever comes to pass!\u201d\u2014No; but there you sit, trembling for fear\ncertain things should come to pass, and moaning and groaning and\nlamenting over what does come to pass. And then you upbraid the Gods.\nSuch meanness of spirit can have but one result\u2014impiety.\n\nYet God has not only given us these faculties by means of which we may\nbear everything that comes to pass without being crushed or depressed\nthereby; but like a good King and Father, He has given us this without\nlet or hindrance, placed wholly at our own disposition, without\nreserving to Himself any power of impediment or restraint. Though\npossessing all these things free and all you own, you do not use them!\nyou do not perceive what it is you have received nor whence it comes,\nbut sit moaning and groaning; some of you blind to the Giver, making no\nacknowledgment to your Benefactor; others basely giving themselves to\ncomplaints and accusations against God.\n\nYet what faculties and powers you possess for attaining courage and\ngreatness of heart, I can easily show you; what you have for upbraiding\nand accusation, it is for you to show me!\n\nXXI\n\nHow did Socrates bear himself in this regard? How else than as became\none who was fully assured that he was the kinsman of Gods?\n\nXXII\n\nIf God had made that part of His own nature which He severed from\nHimself and gave to us, liable to be hindered or constrained either by\nHimself or any other, He would not have been God, nor would He have\nbeen taking care of us as He ought . . . . If you choose, you are free;\nif you choose, you need blame no man\u2014accuse no man. All things will be\nat once according to your mind and according to the Mind of God.\n\nXXIII\n\nPetrifaction is of two sorts. There is petrifaction of the\nunderstanding; and also of the sense of shame. This happens when a man\nobstinately refuses to acknowledge plain truths, and persists in\nmaintaining what is self-contradictory. Most of us dread mortification\nof the body, and would spare no pains to escape anything of that kind.\nBut of mortification of the soul we are utterly heedless. With regard,\nindeed, to the soul, if a man is in such a state as to be incapable of\nfollowing or understanding anything, I grant you we do think him in a\nbad way. But mortification of the sense of shame and modesty we go so\nfar as to dub strength of mind!\n\nXXIV\n\nIf we were as intent upon our business as the old fellows at Rome are\nupon what interests them, we too might perhaps accomplish something. I\nknow a man older than I am, now Superintendent of the Corn-market at\nRome, and I remember when he passed through this place on his way back\nfrom exile, what an account he gave me of his former life, declaring\nthat for the future, once home again, his only care should be to pass\nhis remaining years in quiet and tranquility. \u201cFor how few years have I\nleft!\u201d he cried. \u201cThat,\u201d I said, \u201cyou will not do; but the moment the\nscent of Rome is in your nostrils, you will forget it all; and if you\ncan but gain admission to Court, you will be glad enough to elbow your\nway in, and thank God for it.\u201d \u201cEpictetus,\u201d he replied, \u201cif ever you\nfind me setting as much as one foot within the Court, think what you\nwill of me.\u201d\n\nWell, as it was, what did he do? Ere ever he entered the city, he was\nmet by a despatch from the Emperor. He took it, and forgot the whole of\nhis resolutions. From that moment, he has been piling one thing upon\nanother. I should like to be beside him to remind him of what he said\nwhen passing this way, and to add, How much better a prophet I am than\nyou!\n\nWhat then? do I say man is not made for an active life? Far from it! .\n. . But there is a great difference between other men\u2019s occupations and\nours. . . . A glance at theirs will make it clear to you. All day long\nthey do nothing but calculate, contrive, consult how to wring their\nprofit out of food-stuffs, farm-plots and the like. . . . Whereas, I\nentreat you to learn what the administration of the World is, and what\nplace a Being endowed with reason holds therein: to consider what you\nare yourself, and wherein your Good and Evil consists.\n\nXXV\n\nA man asked me to write to Rome on his behalf who, as most people\nthought, had met with misfortune; for having been before wealthy and\ndistinguished, he had afterwards lost all and was living here. So I\nwrote about him in a humble style. He however on reading the letter\nreturned it to me, with the words: \u201cI asked for your help, not for your\npity. No evil has happened unto me.\u201d\n\nXXVI\n\nTrue instruction is this:\u2014to learn to wish that each thing should come\nto pass as it does. And how does it come to pass? As the Disposer has\ndisposed it. Now He has disposed that there should be summer and\nwinter, and plenty and dearth, and vice and virtue, and all such\nopposites, for the harmony of the whole.\n\nXXVII\n\nHave this thought ever present with thee, when thou losest any outward\nthing, what thou gainest in its stead; and if this be the more\nprecious, say not, I have suffered loss.\n\nXXVIII\n\nConcerning the Gods, there are who deny the very existence of the\nGodhead; others say that it exists, but neither bestirs nor concerns\nitself nor has forethought for anything. A third party attribute to it\nexistence and forethought, but only for great and heavenly matters, not\nfor anything that is on earth. A fourth party admit things on earth as\nwell as in heaven, but only in general, and not with respect to each\nindividual. A fifth, of whom were Ulysses and Socrates are those that\ncry:\u2014\n\n_I move not without Thy knowledge!_\n\nXXIX\n\nConsidering all these things, the good and true man submits his\njudgement to Him that administers the Universe, even as good citizens\nto the law of the State. And he that is being instructed should come\nthus minded:\u2014How may I in all things follow the Gods; and, How may I\nrest satisfied with the Divine Administration; and, How may I become\nfree? For he is free for whom all things come to pass according to his\nwill, and whom none can hinder. What then, is freedom madness? God\nforbid. For madness and freedom exist not together.\n\n\u201cBut I wish all that I desire to come to pass and in the manner that I\ndesire.\u201d\n\n\u2014You are mad, you are beside yourself. Know you not that Freedom is a\nglorious thing and of great worth? But that what I desired at random I\nshould wish at random to come to pass, so far from being noble, may\nwell be exceeding base.\n\nXXX\n\nYou must know that it is no easy thing for a principle to become a\nman\u2019s own, unless each day he maintain it and hear it maintained, as\nwell as work it out in life.\n\nXXXI\n\nYou are impatient and hard to please. If alone, you call it solitude:\nif in the company of men, you dub them conspirators and thieves, and\nfind fault with your very parents, children, brothers, and neighbours.\nWhereas when by yourself you should have called it Tranquillity and\nFreedom: and herein deemed yourself like unto the Gods. And when in the\ncompany of many, you should not have called it a wearisome crowd and\ntumult, but an assembly and a tribunal; and thus accepted all with\ncontentment.\n\nXXXII\n\nWhat then is the chastisement of those who accept it not? To be as they\nare. Is any discontented with being alone? let him be in solitude. Is\nany discontented with his parents? let him be a bad son, and lament. Is\nany discontented with his children? let him be a bad father.\u2014\u201cThrow him\ninto prison!\u201d\u2014What prison?\u2014Where he is already: for he is there against\nhis will; and wherever a man is against his will, that to him is a\nprison. Thus Socrates was not in prison, since he was there with his\nown consent.\n\nXXXIII\n\nKnowest thou what a speck thou art in comparison with the\nUniverse?\u2014-That is, with respect to the body; since with respect to\nReason, thou art not inferior to the Gods, nor less than they. For the\ngreatness of Reason is not measured by length or height, but by the\nresolves of the mind. Place then thy happiness in that wherein thou art\nequal to the Gods.\n\nXXXIV\n\nAsked how a man might eat acceptably to the Gods, Epictetus replied:\u2014If\nwhen he eats, he can be just, cheerful, equable, temperate, and\norderly, can he not thus eat acceptably to the Gods? But when you call\nfor warm water, and your slave does not answer, or when he answers\nbrings it lukewarm, or is not even found to be in the house at all,\nthen not to be vexed nor burst with anger, is not that acceptable to\nthe Gods?\n\n\u201cBut how can one endure such people?\u201d\n\nSlave, will you not endure your own brother, that has God to his\nforefather, even as a son sprung from the same stock, and of the same\nhigh descent as yourself? And if you are stationed in a high position,\nare you therefor forthwith set up for a tyrant? Remember who you are,\nand whom you rule, that they are by nature your kinsmen, your brothers,\nthe offspring of God.\n\n\u201cBut I paid a price for them, not they for me.\u201d\n\nDo you see whither you are looking\u2014down to the earth, to the pit, to\nthose despicable laws of the dead? But to the laws of the Gods you do\nnot look.\n\nXXXV\n\nWhen we are invited to a banquet, we take what is set before us; and\nwere one to call upon his host to set fish upon the table or sweet\nthings, he would be deemed absurd. Yet in a word, we ask the Gods for\nwhat they do not give; and that, although they have given us so many\nthings!\n\nXXXVI\n\nAsked how a man might convince himself that every single act of his was\nunder the eye of God, Epictetus answered:\u2014\n\n\u201cDo you not hold that things on earth and things in heaven are\ncontinuous and in unison with each other?\u201d\n\n\u201cI do,\u201d was the reply.\n\n\u201cElse how should the trees so regularly, as though by God\u2019s command, at\nHis bidding flower; at His bidding send forth shoots, bear fruit and\nripen it; at His bidding let it fall and shed their leaves, and folded\nup upon themselves lie in quietness and rest? How else, as the Moon\nwaxes and wanes, as the Sun approaches and recedes, can it be that such\nvicissitude and alternation is seen in earthly things?\n\n\u201cIf then all things that grow, nay, our own bodies, are thus bound up\nwith the whole, is not this still truer of our souls? And if our souls\nare bound up and in contact with God, as being very parts and fragments\nplucked from Himself, shall He not feel every movement of theirs as\nthough it were His own, and belonging to His own nature?\u201d\n\nXXXVII\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d you say, \u201cI cannot comprehend all this at once.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, who told you that your powers were equal to God\u2019s?\u201d\n\nYet God hath placed by the side of each a man\u2019s own Guardian Spirit,\nwho is charged to watch over him\u2014a Guardian who sleeps not nor is\ndeceived. For to what better or more watchful Guardian could He have\ncommitted which of us? So when you have shut the doors and made a\ndarkness within, remember never to say that you are alone; for you are\nnot alone, but God is within, and your Guardian Spirit, and what light\ndo they need to behold what you do? To this God you also should have\nsworn allegiance, even as soldiers unto C\u00e6sar. They, when their service\nis hired, swear to hold the life of C\u00e6sar dearer than all else: and\nwill you not swear your oath, that are deemed worthy of so many and\ngreat gifts? And will you not keep your oath when you have sworn it?\nAnd what oath will you swear? Never to disobey, never to arraign or\nmurmur at aught that comes to you from His hand: never unwillingly to\ndo or suffer aught that necessity lays upon you.\n\n\u201cIs this oath like theirs?\u201d\n\nThey swear to hold no other dearer than C\u00e6sar: you, to hold our true\nselves dearer than all else beside.\n\nXXXVIII\n\n\u201cHow shall my brother cease to be wroth with me?\u201d\n\nBring him to me, and I will tell him. But to _thee_ I have nothing to\nsay about _his_ anger.\n\nXXXIX\n\nWhen one took counsel of Epictetus, saying, \u201cWhat I seek is this, how\neven though my brother be not reconciled to me, I may still remain as\nNature would have me to be,\u201d he replied: \u201cAll great things are slow of\ngrowth; nay, this is true even of a grape or of a fig. If then you say\nto me now, I desire a fig, I shall answer, It needs time: wait till it\nfirst flower, then cast its blossom, then ripen. Whereas then the fruit\nof the fig-tree reaches not maturity suddenly nor yet in a single hour,\ndo you nevertheless desire so quickly, and easily to reap the fruit of\nthe mind of man?\u2014Nay, expect it not, even though I bade you!\u201d\n\nXL\n\nEpaphroditus had a shoemaker whom he sold as being good-for-nothing.\nThis fellow, by some accident, was afterwards purchased by one of\nC\u00e6sar\u2019s men, and became a shoemaker to C\u00e6sar. You should have seen what\nrespect Epaphroditus paid him then. \u201cHow does the good Felicion? Kindly\nlet me know!\u201d And if any of us inquired, \u201cWhat is Epaphroditus doing?\u201d\nthe answer was, \u201cHe is consulting about so and so with Felicion.\u201d\u2014Had\nhe not sold him as good-for-nothing? Who had in a trice converted him\ninto a wiseacre?\n\nThis is what comes of holding of importance anything but the things\nthat depend on the Will.\n\nXLI\n\nWhat you shun enduring yourself, attempt not to impose on others. You\nshun slavery\u2014beware of enslaving others! If you can endure to do that,\none would think you had been once upon a time a slave yourself. For\nVice has nothing in common with virtue, nor Freedom with slavery.\n\nXLII\n\nHas a man been raised to tribuneship? Every one that he meets\ncongratulates him. One kisses him on the eyes, another on the neck,\nwhile the slaves kiss his hands. He goes home to find torches burning;\nhe ascends to the Capitol to sacrifice.\u2014Who ever sacrificed for having\nhad right desires; for having conceived such inclinations as Nature\nwould have him? In truth we thank the Gods for that wherein we place\nour happiness.\n\nXLIII\n\nA man was talking to me to-day about the priesthood of Augustus. I said\nto him, \u201cLet the thing go, my good Sir; you will spend a good deal to\nno purpose.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, but my name will be inserted in all documents and contracts.\u201d\n\n\u201cWill _you_ be standing there to tell those that read them, That is my\nname written there? And even if you could now be there in every case,\nwhat will you do when you are dead?\u201d\n\n\u201cAt all events my name will remain.\u201d\n\n\u201cInscribe it on a stone and it will remain just as well. And think,\nbeyond Nicopolis what memory of you will there be?\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I shall have a golden wreath to wear.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you must have a wreath, get a wreath of roses and put it on; you\nwill look more elegant!\u201d\n\nXLIV\n\nAbove all, remember that the door stands open. Be not more fearful than\nchildren; but as they, when they weary of the game, cry, \u201cI will play\nno more,\u201d even so, when thou art in the like case, cry, \u201cI will play no\nmore\u201d and depart. But if thou stayest, make no lamentation.\n\nXLV\n\nIs there smoke in the room? If it be slight, I remain; if grievous, I\nquit it. For you must remember this and hold it fast, that the door\nstands open.\n\n\u201cYou shall not dwell at Nicopolis!\u201d\n\nWell and good.\n\n\u201cNor at Athens.\u201d\n\nThen I will not dwell at Athens either.\n\n\u201cNor at Rome.\u201d\n\nNor at Rome either.\n\n\u201cYou shall dwell in Gyara!\u201d\n\nWell: but to dwell in Gyara seems to me like a grievous smoke; I depart\nto a place where none can forbid me to dwell: _that_ habitation is open\nunto all! As for the last garment of all, that is the poor body; beyond\nthat, none can do aught unto me. This why Demetrius said to Nero: \u201cYou\nthreaten me with death; it is Nature who threatens _you!_\u201d\n\nXLVI\n\nThe beginning of philosophy is to know the condition of one\u2019s own mind.\nIf a man recognises that this is in a weakly state, he will not then\nwant to apply it to questions of the greatest moment. As it is, men who\nare not fit to swallow even a morsel, buy whole treatises and try to\ndevour them. Accordingly they either vomit them up again, or suffer\nfrom indigestion, whence come gripings, fluxions, and fevers. Whereas\nthey should have stopped to consider their capacity.\n\nXLVII\n\nIn theory it is easy to convince an ignorant person: in actual life,\nmen not only object to offer themselves to be convinced, but hate the\nman who has convinced them. Whereas Socrates used to say that we should\nnever lead a life not subjected to examination.\n\nXLVIII\n\nThis is the reason why Socrates, when reminded that he should prepare\nfor his trial, answered: \u201cThinkest thou not that I have been preparing\nfor it all my life?\u201d\n\n\u201cIn what way?\u201d\n\n\u201cI have maintained that which in me lay!\u201d\n\n\u201cHow so?\u201d\n\n\u201cI have never, secretly or openly, done a wrong unto any.\u201d\n\nXLIX\n\nIn what character dost thou now come forward?\n\nAs a witness summoned by God. \u201cCome thou,\u201d saith God, \u201cand testify for\nme, for thou art worthy of being brought forward as a witness by Me. Is\naught that is outside thy will either good or bad? Do I hurt any man?\nHave I placed the good of each in the power of any other than himself?\nWhat witness dost thou bear to God?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am in evil state, Master, I am undone! None careth for me, none\ngiveth me aught: all men blame, all speak evil of me.\u201d\n\nIs this the witness thou wilt bear, and do dishonour to the calling\nwherewith He hath called thee, because He hath done thee so great\nhonour, and deemed thee worthy of being summoned to bear witness in so\ngreat a cause?\n\nL\n\nWouldst thou have men speak good of thee? speak good of them. And when\nthou hast learned to speak good of them, try to do good unto them, and\nthus thou wilt reap in return their speaking good of thee.\n\nLI\n\nWhen thou goest in to any of the great, remember that Another from\nabove sees what is passing, and that thou shouldst please Him rather\nthan man. He therefore asks thee:\u2014\n\n\u201cIn the Schools, what didst thou call exile, imprisonment, bonds, death\nand shame?\u201d\n\n\u201cI called them things indifferent.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat then dost thou call them now? Are they at all changed?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs it then thou that art changed?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo.\u201d\n\n\u201cSay then, what are things indifferent?\u201d\n\n\u201cThings that are not in our power.\u201d\n\n\u201cSay then, what follows?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat things which are not in our power are nothing to me.\u201d\n\n\u201cSay also what things you hold to be good.\u201d\n\n\u201cA will such as it ought to be, and a right use of the things of\nsense.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what is the end?\u201d\n\n\u201cTo follow Thee!\u201d\n\nLII\n\n\u201cThat Socrates should ever have been so treated by the Athenians!\u201d\n\nSlave! why say \u201cSocrates\u201d? Speak of the thing as it is: That ever then\nthe poor _body_ of Socrates should have been dragged away and haled by\nmain force to prison! That ever hemlock should have been given to the\n_body_ of Socrates; that _that_ should have breathed its life away!\u2014Do\nyou marvel at this? Do you hold this unjust? Is it for this that you\naccuse God? Had Socrates no compensation for this? Where then for him\nwas the ideal Good? Whom shall we hearken to, you or him? And what says\nhe?\n\n\u201cAnytus and Melitus may put me to death: to injure me is beyond their\npower.\u201d\n\nAnd again:\u2014\n\n\u201cIf such be the will of God, so let it be.\u201d\n\nLIII\n\nNay, young man, for heaven\u2019s sake; but once thou hast heard these\nwords, go home and say to thyself:\u2014\u201cIt is not Epictetus that has told\nme these things: how indeed should he? No, it is some gracious God\nthrough him. Else it would never have entered his head to tell me\nthem\u2014he that is not used to speak to any one thus. Well, then, let us\nnot lie under the wrath of God, but be obedient unto Him.\u201d\u2014-Nay,\nindeed; but if a raven by its croaking bears thee any sign, it is not\nthe raven but God that sends the sign through the raven; and if He\nsignifies anything to thee through human voice, will _He_ not cause the\nman to say these words to thee, that thou mayest know the power of the\nDivine\u2014how He sends a sign to some in one way and to others in another,\nand on the greatest and highest matters of all signifies His will\nthrough the noblest messenger?\n\nWhat else does the poet mean:\u2014\n\nI spake unto him erst Myself, and sent\nHermes the shining One, to check and warn him,\nThe husband not to slay, nor woo the wife!\n\n\nLIV\n\nIn the same way my friend Heraclitus, who had a trifling suit about a\npetty farm at Rhodes, first showed the judges that his cause was just,\nand then at the finish cried, \u201cI will not entreat you: nor do I care\nwhat sentence you pass. It is you who are on your trial, not I!\u201d\u2014And so\nhe ended the case.\n\nLV\n\nAs for us, we behave like a herd of deer. When they flee from the\nhuntsman\u2019s feathers in affright, which way do they turn? What haven of\nsafety do they make for? Why, they rush upon the nets! And thus they\nperish by confounding what they should fear with that wherein no danger\nlies. . . . Not death or pain is to be feared, but the _fear_ of death\nor pain. Well said the poet therefore:\u2014\n\nDeath has no terror; only a Death of shame!\n\n\nLVI\n\nHow is it then that certain external things are said to be natural, and\nother contrary to Nature?\n\nWhy, just as it might be said if we stood alone and apart from others.\nA foot, for instance, I will allow it is natural should be clean. But\nif you take it as a foot, and as a thing which does not stand by\nitself, it will beseem it (if need be) to walk in the mud, to tread on\nthorns, and sometimes even to be cut off, for the benefit of the whole\nbody; else it is no longer a foot. In some such way we should conceive\nof ourselves also. What art thou?\u2014A man.\u2014Looked at as standing by\nthyself and separate, it is natural for thee in health and wealth long\nto live. But looked at as a _Man_, and only as a part of a Whole, it is\nfor that Whole\u2019s sake that thou shouldest at one time fall sick, at\nanother brave the perils of the sea, again, know the meaning of want\nand perhaps die an early death. Why then repine? Knowest thou not that\nas the foot is no more a foot if detached from the body, so thou in\nlike case art no longer a Man? For what is a Man? A part of a\nCity:\u2014first of the City of Gods and Men; next, of that which ranks\nnearest it, a miniature of the universal City. . . . In such a body, in\nsuch a world enveloping us, among lives like these, such things must\nhappen to one or another. Thy part, then, being here, is to speak of\nthese things as is meet, and to order them as befits the matter.\n\nLVII\n\nThat was a good reply which Diogenes made to a man who asked him for\nletters of recommendation.\u2014\u201cThat you are a man, he will know when he\nsees you;\u2014whether a good or bad one, he will know if he has any skill\nin discerning the good or bad. But if he has none, he will never know,\nthough I write him a thousand times.\u201d\u2014It is as though a piece of silver\nmoney desired to be recommended to some one to be tested. If the man be\na good judge of silver, he will know: the coin will tell its own tale.\n\nLVIII\n\nEven as the traveller asks his way of him that he meets, inclined in no\nwise to bear to the right rather than to the left (for he desires only\nthe way leading whither he would go), so should we come unto God as to\na guide; even as we use our eyes without admonishing them to show us\nsome things rather than others, but content to receive the images of\nsuch things as they present to us. But as it is we stand anxiously\nwatching the victim, and with the voice of supplication call upon the\naugur:\u2014\u201cMaster, have mercy on me: vouchsafe unto me a way of escape!\u201d\nSlave, would you then have aught else then what is best? is there\nanything better than what is God\u2019s good pleasure? Why, as far as in you\nlies, would you corrupt your Judge, and lead your Counsellor astray?\n\nLIX\n\nGod is beneficent. But the Good also is beneficent. It should seem then\nthat where the real nature of God is, there too is to be found the real\nnature of the Good. What then is the real nature of God?\u2014Intelligence,\nKnowledge, Right Reason. Here then without more ado seek the real\nnature of the Good. For surely thou dost not seek it in a plant or in\nan animal that reasoneth not.\n\nLX\n\nSeek then the real nature of the Good in that without whose presence\nthou wilt not admit the Good to exist in aught else.\u2014What then? Are not\nthese other things also works of God?\u2014They are; but not _preferred to\nhonour_, nor are they portions of God. But thou art a thing preferred\nto honour: thou art thyself a fragment torn from God:\u2014thou hast a\nportion of Him within thyself. How is it then that thou dost not know\nthy high descent\u2014dost not know whence thou comest? When thou eatest,\nwilt thou not remember who thou art that eatest and whom thou feedest?\nIn intercourse, in exercise, in discussion knowest thou not that it is\na God whom thou feedest, a God whom thou exercisest, a God whom thou\nbearest about with thee, O miserable! and thou perceivest it not.\nThinkest thou that I speak of a God of silver or gold, that is without\nthee? Nay, thou bearest Him within thee! all unconscious of polluting\nHim with thoughts impure and unclean deeds. Were an image of God\npresent, thou wouldest not dare to act as thou dost, yet, when God\nHimself is present within thee, beholding and hearing all, thou dost\nnot blush to think such thoughts and do such deeds, O thou that art\ninsensible of thine own nature and liest under the wrath of God!\n\nLXI\n\nWhy then are we afraid when we send a young man from the Schools into\nactive life, lest he should indulge his appetites intemperately, lest\nhe should debase himself by ragged clothing, or be puffed up by fine\nraiment? Knows he not the God within him; knows he not with whom he is\nstarting on his way? Have we patience to hear him say to us, Would I\nhad _thee_ with me!\u2014Hast thou not God where thou art, and having Him\ndost thou still seek for any other! Would He tell thee aught else than\nthese things? Why, wert thou a statue of Phidias, an _Athena_ or a\n_Zeus_, thou wouldst bethink thee both of thyself and thine artificer;\nand hadst thou any sense, thou wouldst strive to do no dishonour to\nthyself or him that fashioned thee, nor appear to beholders in\nunbefitting guise. But now, because God is thy Maker, is that why thou\ncarest not of what sort thou shalt show thyself to be? Yet how\ndifferent the artists and their workmanship! What human artist\u2019s work,\nfor example, has in it the faculties that are displayed in fashioning\nit? Is it aught but marble, bronze, gold, or ivory? Nay, when the\n_Athena_ of Phidias has put forth her hand and received therein a\n_Victory_, in that attitude she stands for evermore. But God\u2019s works\nmove and breathe; they use and judge the things of sense. The\nworkmanship of such an Artist, wilt thou dishonor Him? Ay, when he not\nonly fashioned thee, but placed thee, like a ward, in the care and\nguardianship of thyself alone, wilt thou not only forget this, but also\ndo dishonour to what is committed to thy care! If God had entrusted\nthee with an orphan, wouldst thou have thus neglected him? He hath\ndelivered thee to thine own care, saying, I had none more faithful than\nmyself: keep this man for me such as Nature hath made him\u2014modest,\nfaithful, high-minded, a stranger to fear, to passion, to perturbation.\n. . .\n\nSuch will I show myself to you all.\u2014\u201cWhat, exempt from sickness also:\nfrom age, from death?\u201d\u2014Nay, but accepting sickness, accepting death as\nbecomes a God!\n\nLXII\n\nNo labour, according to Diogenes, is good but that which aims at\nproducing courage and strength of soul rather than of body.\n\nLXIII\n\nA guide, on finding a man who has lost his way, brings him back to the\nright path\u2014he does not mock and jeer at him and then take himself off.\nYou also must show the unlearned man the truth, and you will see that\nhe will follow. But so long as you do not show it him, you should not\nmock, but rather feel your own incapacity.\n\nLXIV\n\nIt was the first and most striking characteristic of Socrates never to\nbecome heated in discourse, never to utter an injurious or insulting\nword\u2014on the contrary, he persistently bore insult from others and thus\nput an end to the fray. If you care to know the extent of his power in\nthis direction, read Xenophon\u2019s _Banquet_, and you will see how many\nquarrels he put an end to. This is why the Poets are right in so highly\ncommending this faculty:\u2014\n\nQuickly and wisely withal even bitter feuds would he settle.\n\n\nNevertheless the practice is not very safe at present, especially in\nRome. One who adopts it, I need not say, ought not to carry it out in\nan obscure corner, but boldly accost, if occasion serve, some personage\nof rank or wealth.\n\n\u201cCan you tell me, sir, to whose care you entrust your horses?\u201d\n\n\u201cI can.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs it to the first comer, who knows nothing about them?\u201d\n\n\u201cCertainly not.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, what of the man who takes care of your gold, your silver or your\nraiment?\u201d\n\n\u201cHe must be experienced also.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd your body\u2014have you ever considered about entrusting it to any\none\u2019s care?\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course I have.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd no doubt to a person of experience as a trainer, a physician?\u201d\n\n\u201cSurely.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd these things the best you possess, or have you anything more\nprecious?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat can you mean?\u201d\n\n\u201cI mean that which employs these; which weights all things; which takes\ncounsel and resolve.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, you mean the soul.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou take me rightly; I do mean the soul. By Heaven, I hold that far\nmore precious than all else I possess. Can you show me then what care\nyou bestow on a soul? For it can scarcely be thought that a man of your\nwisdom and consideration in the city would suffer your most precious\npossession to go to ruin through carelessness and neglect.\u201d\n\n\u201cCertainly not.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, do you take care of it yourself? Did any one teach you the right\nmethod, or did you discover it yourself?\u201d\n\nNow here comes in the danger: first, that the great man may answer,\n\u201cWhy, what is that to you, my good fellow? are you my master?\u201d And\nthen, if you persist in troubling him, may raise his hand to strike\nyou. It is a practice of which I was myself a warm admirer until such\nexperiences as these befell me.\n\nLXV\n\nWhen a youth was giving himself airs in the Theatre and saying, \u201cI am\nwise, for I have conversed with many wise men,\u201d Epictetus replied, \u201cI\ntoo have conversed with many rich men, yet I am not rich!\u201d\n\nLXVI\n\nWe see that a carpenter becomes a carpenter by learning certain things:\nthat a pilot, by learning certain things, becomes a pilot. Possibly\nalso in the present case the mere desire to be wise and good is not\nenough. It is necessary to learn certain things. This is then the\nobject of our search. The Philosophers would have us first learn that\nthere is a God, and that His Providence directs the Universe; further,\nthat to hide from Him not only one\u2019s acts but even one\u2019s thoughts and\nintentions is impossible; secondly, what the nature of God is. Whatever\nthat nature is discovered to be, the man who would please and obey Him\nmust strive with all his might to be made like unto him. If the Divine\nis faithful, he also must be faithful; if free, he also must be free;\nif beneficent, he also must be beneficent; if magnanimous, he also must\nbe magnanimous. Thus as an imitator of God must he follow Him in every\ndeed and word.\n\nLXVII\n\nIf I show you, that you lack just what is most important and necessary\nto happiness, that hitherto your attention has been bestowed on\neverything rather than that which claims it most; and, to crown all,\nthat you know neither what God nor Man is\u2014neither what Good or Evil is:\nwhy, that you are ignorant of everything else, perhaps you may bear to\nbe told; but to hear that you know nothing of yourself, how could you\nsubmit to that? How could you stand your ground and suffer that to be\nproved? Clearly not at all. You instantly turn away in wrath. Yet what\nharm have I done to you? Unless indeed the mirror harms the\nill-favoured man by showing him to himself just as he is; unless the\nphysician can be thought to insult his patient, when he tells\nhim:\u2014\u201cFriend, do you suppose there is nothing wrong with you? why, you\nhave a fever. Eat nothing to-day, and drink only water.\u201d Yet no one\nsays, \u201cWhat an insufferable insult!\u201d Whereas if you say to a man, \u201cYour\ndesires are inflamed, your instincts of rejection are weak and low,\nyour aims are inconsistent, your impulses are not in harmony with\nNature, your opinions are rash and false,\u201d he forthwith goes away and\ncomplains that you have insulted him.\n\nLXVIII\n\nOur way of life resembles a fair. The flocks and herds are passing\nalong to be sold, and the greater part of the crowd to buy and sell.\nBut there are some few who come only to look at the fair, to inquire\nhow and why it is being held, upon what authority and with what object.\nSo too, in this great Fair of life, some, like the cattle, trouble\nthemselves about nothing but the fodder. Know all of you, who are\nbusied about land, slaves and public posts, that these are nothing but\nfodder! Some few there are attending the Fair, who love to contemplate\nwhat the world is, what He that administers it. Can there be no\nAdministrator? is it possible, that while neither city nor household\ncould endure even a moment without one to administer and see to its\nwelfare, this Fabric, so fair, so vast, should be administered in order\nso harmonious, without a purpose and by blind chance? There is\ntherefore an Administrator. What is His nature and how does He\nadminister? And who are we that are His children and what work were we\nborn to perform? Have we any close connection or relation with Him or\nnot?\n\nSuch are the impressions of the few of whom I speak. And further, they\napply themselves solely to considering and examining the great assembly\nbefore they depart. Well, they are derided by the multitude. So are the\nlookers-on by the traders: aye, and if the beasts had any sense, they\nwould deride those who thought much of anything but fodder!\n\nLXIX\n\nI think I know now what I never knew before\u2014the meaning of the common\nsaying, _A fool you can neither bend nor break_. Pray heaven I may\nnever have a _wise fool_ for my friend! There is nothing more\nintractable.\u2014\u201cMy resolve is fixed!\u201d\u2014Why so madman say too; but the more\nfirmly they believe in their delusions, the more they stand in need of\ntreatment.\n\nLXX\n\n\u2014\u201cO! when shall I see Athens and its Acropolis again?\u201d\u2014Miserable man!\nart thou not contented with the daily sights that meet thine eyes?\ncanst thou behold aught greater or nobler than the Sun, Moon, and\nStars; than the outspread Earth and Sea? If indeed thou apprehendest\nHim who administers the universe, if thou bearest Him about within\nthee, canst thou still hanker after mere fragments of stone and fine\nrock? When thou art about to bid farewell to the Sun and Moon itself,\nwilt thou sit down and cry like a child? Why, what didst thou hear,\nwhat didst thou learn? why didst thou write thyself down a philosopher,\nwhen thou mightest have written what was the fact, namely, \u201cI have made\none or two _Compendiums_, I have read some works of Chrysippus, and I\nhave not even touched the hem of Philosophy\u2019s robe!\u201d\n\nLXXI\n\nFriend, lay hold with a desperate grasp, ere it is too late, on\nFreedom, on Tranquility, on Greatness of soul! Lift up thy head, as one\nescaped from slavery; dare to look up to God, and say:\u2014\u201cDeal with me\nhenceforth as Thou wilt; Thou and I are of one mind. I am Thine: I\nrefuse nothing that seeeth good to Thee; lead on whither Thou wilt;\nclothe me in what garb Thou pleasest; wilt Thou have me a ruler or a\nsubject\u2014at home or in exile\u2014poor or rich? All these things will I\njustify unto men for Thee. I will show the true nature of each. . . .\u201d\n\nWho would Hercules have been had he loitered at home? no Hercules, but\nEurystheus. And in his wanderings through the world how many friends\nand comrades did he find? but nothing dearer to him than God. Wherefore\nhe was believed to be God\u2019s son, as indeed he was. So then in obedience\nto Him, he went about delivering the earth from injustice and\nlawlessness.\n\nBut thou art not Hercules, thou sayest, and canst not deliver others\nfrom their iniquity\u2014not even Theseus, to deliver the soil of Attica\nfrom its monsters? Purge away thine own, cast forth thence\u2014from thine\nown mind, not robbers and monsters, but Fear, Desire, Envy, Malignity,\nAvarice, Effeminacy, Intemperance. And these may not be cast out,\nexcept by looking to God alone, by fixing thy affections on Him only,\nand by consecrating thyself to His commands. If thou choosest aught\nelse, with sighs and groans thou wilt be forced to follow a Might\ngreater than thine own, ever seeking Tranquillity without, and never\nable to attain unto her. For thou seekest her where she is not to be\nfound; and where she is, there thou seekest her not!\n\nLXXII\n\nIf a man would pursue Philosophy, his first task is to throw away\nconceit. For it is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he has a\nconceit that he already knows.\n\nLXXIII\n\nGive me but one young man, that has come to the School with this\nintention, who stands forth a champion of this cause, and says, \u201cAll\nelse I renounce, content if I am but able to pass my life free from\nhindrance and trouble; to raise my head aloft and face all things as a\nfree man; to look up to heaven as a friend of God, fearing nothing that\nmay come to pass!\u201d Point out such a one to me, that I may say, \u201cEnter,\nyoung man, into possession of that which is thine own. For thy lot is\nto adorn Philosophy. Thine are these possessions; thine these books,\nthese discourses!\u201d\n\nAnd when our champion has duly exercised himself in this part of the\nsubject, I hope he will come back to me and say:\u2014\u201cWhat I desire is to\nbe free from passion and from perturbation; as one who grudges no pains\nin the pursuit of piety and philosophy, what I desire is to know my\nduty to the Gods, my duty to my parents, to my brothers, to my country,\nto strangers.\u201d\n\n\u201cEnter then on the second part of the subject; it is thine also.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I have already mastered the second part; only I wished to stand\nfirm and unshaken\u2014as firm when asleep as when awake, as firm when\nelated with wine as in despondency and dejection.\u201d\n\n\u201cFriend, you are verily a God! you cherish great designs.\u201d\n\nLXXIV\n\n\u201cThe question at stake,\u201d said Epictetus, \u201cis no common one; it is\nthis:\u2014_Are we in our senses, or are we not?_\u201d\n\nLXXV\n\nIf you have given way to anger, be sure that over and above the evil\ninvolved therein, you have strengthened the habit, and added fuel to\nthe fire. If overcome by a temptation of the flesh, do not reckon it a\nsingle defeat, but that you have also strengthened your dissolute\nhabits. Habits and faculties are necessarily affected by the\ncorresponding acts. Those that were not there before, spring up: the\nrest gain in strength and extent. This is the account which\nPhilosophers give of the origin of diseases of the mind:\u2014Suppose you\nhave once lusted after money: if reason sufficient to produce a sense\nof evil be applied, then the lust is checked, and the mind at once\nregains its original authority; whereas if you have recourse to no\nremedy, you can no longer look for this return\u2014on the contrary, the\nnext time it is excited by the corresponding object, the flame of\ndesire leaps up more quickly than before. By frequent repetition, the\nmind in the long run becomes callous; and thus this mental disease\nproduces confirmed Avarice.\n\nOne who has had fever, even when it has left him, is not in the same\ncondition of health as before, unless indeed his cure is complete.\nSomething of the same sort is true also of diseases of the mind.\nBehind, there remains a legacy of traces and blisters: and unless these\nare effectually erased, subsequent blows on the same spot will produce\nno longer mere blisters, but sores. If you do not wish to be prone to\nanger, do not feed the habit; give it nothing which may tend its\nincrease. At first, keep quiet and count the days when you were not\nangry: \u201cI used to be angry every day, then every other day: next every\ntwo, next every three days!\u201d and if you succeed in passing thirty days,\nsacrifice to the Gods in thanksgiving.\n\nLXXVI\n\nHow then may this be attained?\u2014Resolve, now if never before, to approve\nthyself to thyself; resolve to show thyself fair in God\u2019s sight; long\nto be pure with thine own pure self and God!\n\nLXXVII\n\nThat is the true athlete, that trains himself to resist such outward\nimpressions as these.\n\n\u201cStay, wretched man! suffer not thyself to be carried away!\u201d Great is\nthe combat, divine the task! you are fighting for Kingship, for\nLiberty, for Happiness, for Tranquillity. Remember God: call upon Him\nto aid thee, like a comrade that stands beside thee in the fight.\n\nLXXVIII\n\nWho then is a Stoic\u2014in the sense that we call a statue of Phidias which\nis modelled after that master\u2019s art? Show me a man in this sense\nmodelled after the doctrines that are ever upon his lips. Show me a man\nthat is sick\u2014and happy; an exile\u2014and happy; in evil report\u2014and happy!\nShow me him, I ask again. So help me Heaven, I long to see _one_ Stoic!\nNay, if you cannot show me one fully modelled, let me at least see one\nin whom the process is at work\u2014one whose bent is in that direction. Do\nme that favour! Grudge it not to an old man, to behold a sight he has\nnever yet beheld. Think you I wish to see the _Zeus_ or _Athena_ of\nPhidias, bedecked with gold and ivory?\u2014Nay, show me, one of you, a\nhuman soul, desiring to be of one mind with God, no more to lay blame\non God or man, to suffer nothing to disappoint, nothing to cross him,\nto yield neither to anger, envy, nor jealousy\u2014in a word, why disguise\nthe matter? one that from a man would fain become a God; one that while\nstill imprisoned in this dead body makes fellowship with God his aim.\nShow me him!\u2014Ah, you cannot! Then why mock yourselves and delude\nothers? why stalk about tricked out in other men\u2019s attire, thieves and\nrobbers that you are of names and things to which you can show no\ntitle!\n\nLXXIX\n\nIf you have assumed a character beyond your strength, you have both\nplayed a poor figure in that, and neglected one that is within your\npowers.\n\nLXXX\n\nFellow, you have come to blows at home with a slave: you have turned\nthe household upside down, and thrown the neighbourhood into confusion;\nand do you come to me then with airs of assumed modesty\u2014do you sit down\nlike a sage and criticise my explanation of the readings, and whatever\nidle babble you say has come into my head? Have you come full of envy,\nand dejected because nothing is sent you from home; and while the\ndiscussion is going on, do you sit brooding on nothing but how your\nfather or your brother are disposed towards you:\u2014\u201cWhat are they saying\nabout me there? at this moment they imagine I am making progress and\nsaying, He will return perfectly omniscient! I wish I could become\nomniscient before I return; but that would be very troublesome. No one\nsends me anything\u2014the baths at Nicopolis are dirty; things are wretched\nat home and wretched here.\u201d And then they say, \u201cNobody is any the\nbetter for the School.\u201d\u2014Who comes to the School with a sincere wish to\nlearn: to submit his principles to correction and himself to\n_treatment?_ Who, to gain a sense of his wants? Why then be surprised\nif you carry home from the School exactly what you bring into it?\n\nLXXXI\n\n\u201cEpictetus, I have often come desiring to hear you speak, and you have\nnever given me any answer; now if possible, I entreat you, say\nsomething to me.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs there, do you think,\u201d replied Epictetus, \u201can _art_ of speaking as\nof other things, if it is to be done skilfully and with profit to the\nhearer?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd are all profited by what they hear, or only some among them? So\nthat it seems there is an art of hearing as well as of speaking. . . .\nTo make a statue needs skill: to view a statue aright needs skill\nalso.\u201d\n\n\u201cAdmitted.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd I think all will allow that one who proposes to hear philosophers\nspeak needs a considerable training in hearing. Is that not so? The\ntell me on what subject your are able to _hear_ me.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, on good and evil.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe good and evil of what? a horse, an ox?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo; of a man.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo we know then what Man is? what his nature is? what is the idea we\nhave of him? And are our _ears_ practised in any degree on the subject?\nNay, do you understand what Nature is? can you follow me in any degree\nwhen I say that I shall have to use demonstration? Do you understand\nwhat Demonstration is? what True or False is? . . . must I _drive_ you\nto Philosophy? . . . Show me what good I am to do by discoursing with\nyou. Rouse my desire to do so. The sight of a pasture it loves stirs in\na sheep the desire to feed: show it a stone or a bit of bread and it\nremains unmoved. Thus we also have certain natural desires, aye, and\none that moves us to speak when we find a listener that is worth his\nsalt: one that himself stirs the spirit. But if he sits by like a stone\nor a tuft of grass, how can he rouse a man\u2019s desire?\u201d\n\n\u201cThen you will say nothing to me?\u201d\n\n\u201cI can only tell you this: that one who knows not who he is and to what\nend he was born; what kind of world this is and with whom he is\nassociated therein; one who cannot distinguish Good and Evil, Beauty\nand Foulness, . . . Truth and Falsehood, will never follow Reason in\nshaping his desires and impulses and repulsions, nor yet in assent,\ndenial, or suspension of judgement; but will in one word go about deaf\nand blind, thinking himself to be somewhat, when he is in truth of no\naccount. Is there anything new in all this? Is not this ignorance the\ncause of all the mistakes and mischances of men since the human race\nbegan? . . .\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is all I have to say to you, and even this against the grain.\nWhy? Because you have not stirred my spirit. For what can I see in you\nto stir me, as a spirited horse will stir a judge of horses? Your body?\nThat you maltreat. Your dress? That is luxurious. You behavior, your\nlook?\u2014Nothing whatever. When you want to hear a philosopher, do not\nsay, You say nothing to me\u2019; only show yourself worthy or fit to\n_hear_, and then you will see how you will move the speaker.\u201d\n\nLXXXII\n\nAnd now, when you see brothers apparently good friends and living in\naccord, do not immediately pronounce anything upon their friendship,\nthough they should affirm it with an oath, though they should declare,\n\u201cFor us to live apart in a thing impossible!\u201d For the heart of a bad\nman is faithless, unprincipled, inconstant: now overpowered by one\nimpression, now by another. Ask not the usual questions, Were they born\nof the same parents, reared together, and under the same tutor; but ask\nthis only, in what they place their real interest\u2014whether in outward\nthings or in the Will. If in outward things, call them not friends, any\nmore than faithful, constant, brave or free: call them not even human\nbeings, if you have any sense. . . . But should you hear that these men\nhold the Good to lie only in the _Will_, only in rightly dealing with\nthe things of sense, take no more trouble to inquire whether they are\nfather and son or brothers, or comrades of long standing; but, sure of\nthis one thing, pronounce as boldly that they are friends as that they\nare faithful and just: for where else can Friendship be found than\nwhere Modesty is, where there is an interchange of things fair and\nhonest, and of such only?\n\nLXXXIII\n\nNo man can rob us of our Will\u2014no man can lord it over that!\n\nLXXXIV\n\nWhen disease and death overtake me, I would fain be found engaged in\nthe task of liberating mine own Will from the assaults of passion, from\nhindrance, from resentment, from slavery.\n\nThus would I fain to be found employed, so that I may say to God, \u201cHave\nI in aught transgressed Thy commands? Have I in aught perverted the\nfaculties, the senses, the natural principles that Thou didst give me?\nHave I ever blamed Thee or found fault with Thine administration? When\nit was Thy good pleasure, I fell sick\u2014and so did other men: by _my_\nwill consented. Because it was Thy pleasure, I became poor: but _my_\nheart rejoiced. No power in the State was mine, because Thou wouldst\nnot: such power I never desired! Hast Thou ever seen me of more doleful\ncountenance on that account? Have I not ever drawn nigh unto Thee with\ncheerful look, waiting upon Thy commands, attentive to Thy signals?\nWilt Thou that I now depart from the great Assembly of men? I go: I\ngive Thee all thanks, that Thou hast deemed me worthy to take part with\nThee in this Assembly: to behold Thy works, to comprehend this Thine\nadministration.\u201d\n\nSuch I would were the subject of my thoughts, my pen, my study, when\ndeath overtakes me.\n\nLXXXV\n\nSeemeth it nothing to you, never to accuse, never to blame either God\nor Man? to wear ever the same countenance in going forth as in coming\nin? This was the secret of Socrates: yet he never said that he knew or\ntaught anything. . . . Who amongst you makes this his aim? Were it\nindeed so, you would gladly endure sickness, hunger, aye, death itself.\n\nLXXXVI\n\nHow are we constituted by Nature? To be free, to be noble, to be modest\n(for what other living thing is capable of blushing, or of feeling the\nimpression of shame?) and to subordinate pleasure to the ends for which\nNature designed us, as a handmaid and a minister, in order to call\nforth our activity; in order to keep us constant to the path prescribed\nby Nature.\n\nLXXXVII\n\nThe husbandman deals with land; physicians and trainers with the body;\nthe wise man with his own Mind.\n\nLXXXVIII\n\nWhich of us does not admire what Lycurgus the Spartan did? A young\ncitizen had put out his eye, and been handed over to him by the people\nto be punished at his own discretion. Lycurgus abstained from all\nvengeance, but on the contrary instructed and made a good man of him.\nProducing him in public in the theatre, he said to the astonished\nSpartans:\u2014\u201cI received this young man at your hands full of violence and\nwanton insolence; I restore him to you in his right mind and fit to\nserve his country.\u201d\n\nLXXXIX\n\nA money-changer may not reject C\u00e6sar\u2019s coin, nor may the seller of\nherbs, but must when once the coin is shown, deliver what is sold for\nit, whether he will or no. So is it also with the Soul. Once the Good\nappears, it attracts towards itself; evil repels. But a clear and\ncertain impression of the Good the Soul will never reject, any more\nthan men do C\u00e6sar\u2019s coin. On this hangs every impulse alike of Man and\nGod.\n\nXC\n\nAsked what Common Sense was, Epictetus replied:\u2014\n\nAs that may be called a Common Ear which distinguishes only sounds,\nwhile that which distinguishes musical notes is not common but produced\nby training; so there are certain things which men not entirely\nperverted see by the natural principles common to all. Such a\nconstitution of the Mind is called Common Sense.\n\nXCI\n\nCanst thou judge men? . . . then make us imitators of thyself, as\nSocrates did. _Do this, do not do that, else will I cast thee into\nprison:_ this is not governing men like reasonable creatures. Say\nrather, _As God hath ordained, so do; else thou wilt suffer\nchastisement and loss_. Askest thou what loss? None other than this: To\nhave left undone what thou shouldst have done: to have lost the\nfaithfulness, the reverence, the modesty that is in thee! Greater loss\nthan this seek not to find!\n\nXCII\n\n\u201cHis son is dead.\u201d\n\nWhat has happened?\n\n\u201cHis son is dead.\u201d\n\nNothing more?\n\n\u201cNothing.\u201d\n\n\u201cHis ship is lost.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe has been haled to prison.\u201d\n\nWhat has happened?\n\n\u201cHe has been haled to prison.\u201d\n\nBut that any of these things are _misfortunes_ to him, is an addition\nwhich every one makes of his own. But (you say) God is unjust is\nthis.\u2014Why? For having given thee endurance and greatness of soul? For\nhaving made such things to be no evils? For placing happiness within\nthy reach, even when enduring them? For open unto thee a door, when\nthings make not for thy good?\u2014Depart, my friend and find fault no more!\n\nXCIII\n\nYou are sailing to Rome (you tell me) to obtain the post of Governor of\nCnossus. You are not content to stay at home with the honours you had\nbefore; you want something on a larger scale, and more conspicuous. But\nwhen did you ever undertake a voyage for the purpose of reviewing your\nown principles and getting rid of any of them that proved unsound? Whom\ndid you ever visit for that object? What time did you ever set yourself\nfor that? What age? Run over the times of your life\u2014by yourself, if you\nare ashamed before me. Did you examine your principles when a boy? Did\nyou not do everything just as you do now? Or when you were a stripling,\nattending the school of oratory and practising the art yourself, what\ndid you ever imagine you lacked? And when you were a young man, entered\nupon public life, and were pleading causes and making a name, who any\nlonger seemed equal to you? And at what moment would you have endured\nanother examining your principles and proving that they were unsound?\nWhat then am I to say to you? \u201cHelp me in this matter!\u201d you cry. Ah,\nfor that I have no rule! And neither did you, if that was your object,\ncome to me as a philosopher, but as you might have gone to a\nherb-seller or a cobbler.\u2014\u201cWhat do philosophers have rules for,\nthen?\u201d\u2014Why, that whatever may betide, our ruling faculty may be as\nNature would have it, and so remain. Think you this a small matter? Not\nso! but the greatest thing there is. Well, does it need but a short\ntime? Can it be grasped by a passer-by?\u2014grasp it, if you can!\n\nThen you will say, \u201cYes, I met Epictetus!\u201d\n\nAye, just as you might a statue or a monument. You saw me! and that is\nall. But a man who meets a man is one who learns the other\u2019s mind, and\nlets him see his in turn. Learn my mind\u2014show me yours; and then go and\nsay that you met me. Let us try each other; if I have any wrong\nprinciple, rid me of it; if _you_ have, out with it. That is what\nmeeting a philosopher means. Not so, you think; this is only a flying\nvisit; while we are hiring the ship, we can see Epictetus too! Let us\nsee what he has to say. Then on leaving you cry, \u201cOut on Epictetus for\na worthless fellow, provincial and barbarous of speech!\u201d What else\nindeed did you come to judge of?\n\nXCIV\n\nWhether you will or no, you are poorer than I!\n\n\u201cWhat then do I lack?\u201d\n\nWhat you have not: Constancy of mind, such as Nature would have it be:\nTranquillity. Patron or no patron, what care I? but you do care. I am\nricher than you: I am not racked with anxiety as to what C\u00e6sar may\nthink of me; I flatter none on that account. This is what I have,\ninstead of vessels of gold and silver! your vessels may be of gold, but\nyour reason, your principles, your accepted views, your inclinations,\nyour desires are of earthenware.\n\nXCV\n\nTo you, all you have seems small: to me, all I have seems great. Your\ndesire is insatiable, mine is satisfied. See children thrusting their\nhands into a narrow-necked jar, and striving to pull out the nuts and\nfigs it contains: if they fill the hand, they cannot pull it out again,\nand then they fall to tears.\u2014\u201cLet go a few of them, and then you can\ndraw out the rest!\u201d\u2014You, too, let your desire go! covet not many\nthings, and you will obtain.\n\nXCVI\n\nPittacus wronged by one whom he had it in his power to punish, let him\ngo free, saying, _Forgiveness is better than revenge_. The one shows\nnative gentleness, the other savagery.\n\nXCVII\n\n\u201cMy brother ought not to have treated me thus.\u201d\n\nTrue: but _he_ must see to that. However he may treat me, I must deal\nrightly by him. This is what lies with me, what none can hinder.\n\nXCVIII\n\nNevertheless a man should also be prepared to be sufficient unto\nhimself\u2014to dwell with himself alone, even as God dwells with Himself\nalone, shares His repose with none, and considers the nature of His own\nadministration, intent upon such thoughts as are meet unto Himself. So\nshould we also be able to converse with ourselves, to need none else\nbeside, to sigh for no distraction, to bend our thoughts upon the\nDivine Administration, and how we stand related to all else; to observe\nhow human accidents touched us of old, and how they touch us now; what\nthings they are that still have power to hurt us, and how they may be\ncured or removed; to perfect what needs perfecting as Reason would\ndirect.\n\nXCIX\n\nIf a man has frequent intercourse with others, either in the way of\nconversation, entertainment, or simple familiarity, he must either\nbecome like them, or change them to his own fashion. A live coal placed\nnext a dead one will either kindle that or be quenched by it. Such\nbeing the risk, it is well to be cautious in admitting intimacies of\nthis sort, remembering that one cannot rub shoulders with a\nsoot-stained man without sharing the soot oneself. What will you do,\nsupposing the talk turns on gladiators, or horses, or prize-fighters,\nor (what is worse) on _persons_, condemning this and that, approving\nthe other? Or suppose a man sneers and jeers or shows a malignant\ntemper? Has any among us the skill of the lute-player, who knows at the\nfirst touch which strings are out of tune and sets the instrument\nright: has any of you such power as Socrates had, in all his\nintercourse with men, of winning them over to his own convictions? Nay,\nbut _you_ must needs be swayed hither and thither by the uninstructed.\nHow comes it then that they prove so much stronger than you? Because\nthey speak from the fulness of the heart\u2014their low, corrupt views are\ntheir real convictions: whereas your fine sentiments are but from the\nlips, outwards; that is why they are so nerveless and dead. It turns\none\u2019s stomach to listen to _your_ exhortations, and hear of your\nmiserable Virtue, that you prate of up and down. Thus it is that the\nVulgar prove too strong for you. Everywhere strength, everywhere\nvictory waits your conviction!\n\nC\n\nIn general, any methods of discipline applied to the body which tend to\nmodify its desires or repulsions, are good\u2014for ascetic ends. But if\ndone for display, they betray at once a man who keeps an eye on outward\nshow; who has an ulterior purpose, and is looking for spectators to\nshout, \u201cOh what a great man!\u201d This is why Apollonius so well said: \u201cIf\nyou are bent upon a little private discipline, wait till you are\nchoking with heat some day\u2014then take a mouthful of cold water, and spit\nit out again, and tell no man!\u201d\n\nCI\n\nStudy how to give as one that is sick: that thou mayest hereafter give\nas one that is whole. Fast; drink water only; abstain altogether from\ndesire, that thou mayest hereafter conform thy desire to Reason.\n\nCII\n\nThou wouldst do good unto men? then show them by thine own example what\nkind of men philosophy can make, and cease from foolish trifling.\nEating, do good to them that eat with thee; drinking, to them that\ndrink with thee; yield unto all, give way, and bear with them. Thus\nshalt thou do them good: but vent not upon them thine own evil humour!\n\nCIII\n\nEven as bad actors cannot sing alone, but only in chorus: so some\ncannot walk alone.\n\nMan, if thou art aught, strive to walk alone and hold converse with\nthyself, instead of skulking in the chorus! at length think; look\naround thee; bestir thyself, that thou mayest know who thou art!\n\nCIV\n\nYou would fain be victor at the Olympic games, you say. Yes, but weigh\nthe conditions, weigh the consequences; then and then only, lay to your\nhand\u2014if it be for your profit. You must live by rule, submit to diet,\nabstain from dainty meats, exercise your body perforce at stated hours,\nin heat or in cold; drink no cold water, nor, it may be, wine. In a\nword, you must surrender yourself wholly to your trainer, as though to\na physician.\n\nThen in the hour of contest, you will have to delve the ground, it may\nchance dislocate an arm, sprain an ankle, gulp down abundance of yellow\nsand, be scourge with the whip\u2014and with all this sometimes lose the\nvictory. Count the cost\u2014and then, if your desire still holds, try the\nwrestler\u2019s life. Else let me tell you that you will be behaving like a\npack of children playing now at wrestlers, now at gladiators; presently\nfalling to trumpeting and anon to stage-playing, when the fancy takes\nthem for what they have seen. And you are even the same: wrestler,\ngladiator, philosopher, orator all by turns and none of them with your\nwhole soul. Like an ape, you mimic what you see, to one thing constant\nnever; the thing that is familiar charms no more. This is because you\nnever undertook aught with due consideration, nor after strictly\ntesting and viewing it from every side; no, your choice was\nthoughtless; the glow of your desire had waxed cold . . . .\n\nFriend, bethink you first what it is you would do, and then what your\nown nature is able to bear. Would you be a wrestler, consider your\nshoulders, your thighs, your loins\u2014not all men are formed to the same\nend. Think you to be a philosopher while acting as you do? think you go\non thus eating, thus drinking, giving way in like manner to wrath and\nto displeasure? Nay, you must watch, you must labour; overcome certain\ndesires; quit your familiar friends, submit to be despised by your\nslave, to be held in derision by them that meet you, to take the lower\nplace in all things, in office, in positions of authority, in courts of\nlaw.\n\nWeigh these things fully, and then, if you will, lay to your hand; if\nas the price of these things you would gain Freedom, Tranquillity, and\npassionless Serenity.\n\nCV\n\nHe that hath no musical instruction is a child in Music; he that hath\nno letters is a child in Learning; he that is untaught is a child in\nLife.\n\nCVI\n\nCan any profit be derived from these men? Aye, from all.\n\n\u201cWhat, even from a reviler?\u201d\n\nWhy, tell me what profit a wrestler gains from him who exercises him\nbeforehand? The very greatest: he trains me in the practice of\nendurance, of controlling my temper, of gentle ways. You deny it. What,\nthe man who lays hold of my neck, and disciplines loins and shoulders,\ndoes me good, . . . while he that trains me to keep my temper does me\nnone? This is what it means, not knowing how to gain advantage from\nmen! Is my neighbour bad? Bad to himself, but good to me: he brings my\ngood temper, my gentleness into play. Is my father bad? Bad to himself,\nbut good to me. This is the rod of Hermes; _touch what you will with\nit_, they say, _and it becomes gold_. Nay, but bring what you will and\nI will transmute it into Good. Bring sickness, bring death, bring\npoverty and reproach, bring trial for life\u2014all these things through the\nrod of Hermes shall be turned to profit.\n\nCVII\n\nTill then these sound opinions have taken firm root in you, and you\nhave gained a measure of strength for your security, I counsel you to\nbe cautious in associating with the uninstructed. Else whatever\nimpressions you receive upon the tablets of your mind in the School\nwill day by day melt and disappear, like wax in the sun. Withdraw then\nsomewhere far from the sun, while you have these waxen sentiments.\n\nCVIII\n\nWe must approach this matter in a different way; it is great and\nmystical: it is no common thing; nor given to every man. Wisdom alone,\nit may be, will not suffice for the care of youth: a man needs also a\ncertain measure of readiness\u2014an aptitude for the office; aye, and\ncertain bodily qualities; and above all, to be counselled of God\nHimself to undertake this post; even as He counselled Socrates to fill\nthe post of one who confutes error, assigning to Diogenes the royal\noffice of high reproof, and to Zeno that of positive instruction.\nWhereas _you_ would fain set up for a physician provided with nothing\nbut drugs! Where and how they should be applied you neither know nor\ncare.\n\nCIX\n\nIf what charms you is nothing but abstract principles, sit down and\nturn them over quietly in your mind: but never dub yourself a\nPhilosopher, nor suffer others to call you so. Say rather: He is in\nerror; for my desires, my impulses are unaltered. I give in my adhesion\nto what I did before; nor has my mode of dealing with the things of\nsense undergone any change.\n\nCX\n\nWhen a friend inclined to Cynic views asked Epictetus, what sort of\nperson a true Cynic should be, requesting a general sketch of the\nsystem, he answered:\u2014\u201cWe will consider that at leisure. At present I\ncontent myself with saying this much: If a man put his hand to so\nweighty a matter without God, the wrath of God abides upon him. That\nwhich he covets will but bring upon him public shame. Not even on\nfinding himself in a well-ordered house does a man step forward and say\nto himself, I must be master here! Else the lord of that house takes\nnotice of it, and, seeing him insolently giving orders, drags him forth\nand chastises him. So it is also in this great City, the World. Here\nalso is there a Lord of the House, who orders all thing:\u2014\n\n\u201cThou are the Sun! in thine orbit thou hast power to make the year and\nthe seasons; to bid the fruits of the earth to grow and increase, the\nwinds arise and fall; thou canst in due measure cherish with thy warmth\nthe frames of men; go make thy circuit, and thus minister unto all from\nthe greatest to the least! . . .\u201d\n\u201cThou canst lead a host against Troy; be Agamemnon!\u201d\n\u201cThou canst meet Hector in single combat; be Achilles!\u201d\n\n\n\u201cBut had Thersites stepped forward and claimed the chief command, he\nhad been met with a refusal, or obtained it only to his own shame and\nconfusion of face, before a cloud of witnesses.\u201d\n\nCXI\n\nOthers may fence themselves with walls and houses, when they do such\ndeeds as these, and wrap themselves in darkness\u2014aye, they have many a\ndevice to hide themselves. Another may shut his door and station one\nbefore his chamber to say, if any comes, _He has gone forth! he is not\nat leisure!_ But the true Cynic will have none of these things; instead\nof them, he must wrap himself in Modesty: else he will but bring\nhimself to shame, naked and under the open sky. _That_ is his house;\nthat is his door; that is the slave that guards his chamber; that is\nhis darkness!\n\nCXII\n\nDeath? let it come when it will, whether it smite but a part of the\nwhole: Fly, you tell me\u2014fly! But whither shall I fly? Can any man cast\nme beyond the limits of the World? It may not be! And whithersoever I\ngo, there shall I still find Sun, Moon, and Stars; there I shall find\ndreams, and omens, and converse with the Gods!\n\nCXIII\n\nFurthermore the true Cynic must know that he is sent as a Messenger\nfrom God to men, to show unto them that as touching good and evil they\nare in error; looking for these where they are not to be found, nor\never bethinking themselves where they are. And like Diogenes when\nbrought before Philip after the battle of Chaeronea, the Cynic must\nremember that he is a Spy. For a Spy he really is\u2014to bring back word\nwhat things are on Man\u2019s side, and what against him. And when he had\ndiligently observed all, he must come back with a true report, not\nterrified into announcing them to be foes that are no foes, nor\notherwise perturbed or confounded by the things of sense.\n\nCXIV\n\nHow can it be that one who hath nothing, neither raiment, nor house,\nnor home, nor bodily tendance, nor servant, nor city, should yet live\ntranquil and contented? Behold God hath sent you a man to show you in\nact and deed that it may be so. Behold me! I have neither house nor\npossessions nor servants: the ground is my couch; I have no wife, no\nchildren, no shelter\u2014nothing but earth and sky, and one poor cloak. And\nwhat lack I yet? am I not untouched by sorrow, by fear? am I not free?\n. . . when have I laid anything to the charge of God or Man? when have\nI accused any? hath any of you seen me with a sorrowful countenance?\nAnd in what wise treat I those of whom you stand in fear and awe? Is it\nnot as slaves? Who when he seeth me doth not think that he beholdeth\nhis Master and his King?\n\nCXV\n\nGive thyself more diligently to reflection: know thyself: take counsel\nwith the Godhead: without God put thine hand unto nothing!\n\nCXVI\n\n\u201cBut to marry and to rear offspring,\u201d said the young man, \u201cwill the\nCynic hold himself bound to undertake this as a chief duty?\u201d\n\nGrant me a republic of wise men, answered Epictetus, and perhaps none\nwill lightly take the Cynic life upon him. For on whose account should\nhe embrace that method of life? Suppose however that he does, there\nwill then be nothing to hinder his marrying and rearing offspring. For\nhis wife will be even such another as himself, and likewise her father;\nand in like manner will his children be brought up.\n\nBut in the present condition of things, which resembles an Army in\nbattle array, ought not the Cynic to be free from all distraction and\ngiven wholly to the service of God, so that he can go in and out among\nmen, neither fettered by the duties nor entangled by the relations of\ncommon life? For if he transgress them, he will forfeit the character\nof a good man and true; whereas if he observe them, there is an end to\nhim as the Messenger, the Spy, the Herald of the Gods!\n\nCXVII\n\nAsk me if you choose if a Cynic shall engage in the administration of\nthe State. O fool, seek you a nobler administration that that in which\nhe is engaged? Ask you if a man shall come forward in the Athenian\nassembly and talk about revenue and supplies, when his business is to\nconverse with all men, Athenians, Corinthians, and Romans alike, not\nabout supplies, not about revenue, nor yet peace and war, but about\nHappiness and Misery, Prosperity and Adversity, Slavery and Freedom?\n\nAsk you whether a man shall engage in the administration of the State\nwho has engaged in such an Administration as this? Ask me too if he\nshall govern; and again I will answer, Fool, what greater government\nshall he hold than he holds already?\n\nCXVIII\n\nSuch a man needs also to have a certain habit of body. If he appears\nconsumptive, thin and pale, his testimony has no longer the same\nauthority. He must not only prove to the unlearned by showing them what\nhis Soul is that it is possible to be a good man apart from all that\n_they_ admire; but he must also show them, by his body, that a plain\nand simple manner of life under the open sky does no harm to the body\neither. \u201cSee, I am proof of this! and my body also.\u201d As Diogenes used\nto do, who went about fresh of look and by the very appearance of his\nbody drew men\u2019s eyes. But if a Cynic is an object of pity, he seems a\nmere beggar; all turn away, all are offended at him. Nor should he be\nslovenly of look, so as not to scare men from him in this way either;\non the contrary, his very roughness should be clean and attractive.\n\nCXIX\n\nKings and tyrants have armed guards wherewith to chastise certain\npersons, though they themselves be evil. But to the Cynic conscience\ngives this power\u2014not arms and guards. When he knows that he has watched\nand laboured on behalf of mankind: that sleep hath found him pure, and\nleft him purer still: that his thoughts have been the thought of a\nFriend of the Gods\u2014of a servant, yet one that hath a part in the\ngovernment of the Supreme God: that the words are ever on his lips:\u2014\n\nLead me, O God, and thou, O Destiny!\n\n\nas well as these:\u2014\n\nIf this be God\u2019s will, so let it be!\n\n\nWhy should he not speak boldly unto his own brethren, unto his\nchildren\u2014in a word, unto all that are akin to him!\n\nCXX\n\nDoes a Philosopher _apply_ to people to come and hear him? does he not\nrather, of his own nature, _attract_ those that will be benefited by\nhim\u2014like the sun that warms, the food that sustains them? What\nPhysician _applies_ to men to come and be healed? (Though indeed I hear\nthat the Physicians at Rome do nowadays apply for patients\u2014in my time\nthey were applied to.) I apply to you to come and hear that you are in\nevil case; that what deserves your attention most is the last thing to\ngain it; that you know not good from evil, and are in short a hapless\nwretch; a fine way to apply! though unless the words of the Philosopher\naffect you thus, speaker and speech are alike dead.\n\nCXXI\n\nA Philosopher\u2019s school is a Surgery: pain, not pleasure, you should\nhave felt therein. For on entering none of you is whole. One has a\nshoulder out of joint, another an abscess: a third suffers from an\nissue, a fourth from pains in the head. And am I then to sit down and\ntreat you to pretty sentiments and empty flourishes, so that you may\napplaud me and depart, with neither shoulder, nor head, nor issue, nor\nabscess a whit the better for your visit? Is it then for this that\nyoung men are to quit their homes, and leave parents, friends, kinsmen\nand substance to mouth out _Bravo_ to your empty phrases!\n\nCXXII\n\nIf any be unhappy, let him remember that he is unhappy by reason of\nhimself alone. For God hath made all men to enjoy felicity and\nconstancy of good.\n\nCXXIII\n\nShall we never wean ourselves\u2014shall we never heed the teachings of\nPhilosophy (unless perchance they have been sounding in our ears like\nan enchanter\u2019s drone):\u2014\n\nThis World is one great City, and one is the substance whereof it is\nfashioned: a certain period indeed there needs must be, while these\ngive place to those; some must perish for others to succeed; some move\nand some abide: yet all is full of _friends_\u2014first God, then Men, whom\nNature hath bound by ties of kindred each to each.\n\nCXXIV\n\nNor did the hero weep and lament at leaving his children orphans. For\nhe knew that no man is an orphan, but it is the Father that careth for\nall continually and for evermore. Not by mere report had he heard that\nthe Supreme God is the Father of men: seeing that he called Him\n_Father_ believing Him so to be, and in all that he did had ever his\neyes fixed upon Him. Wherefore in whatsoever place he was, there is was\ngiven him to live happily.\n\nCXXV\n\nKnow you not that the thing is a warfare? one man\u2019s duty is to mount\nguard, another must go out to reconnoitre, a third to battle; all\ncannot be in one place, nor would it even be expedient. But you,\ninstead of executing you Commander\u2019s orders, complain if aught harsher\nthan usual is enjoined; not understanding to what condition you are\nbringing the army, so far as in you lies. If all were to follow your\nexample, none would dig a trench, none would cast a rampart around the\ncamp, none would keep watch, or expose himself to danger; but all turn\nout useless for the service of war. . . . Thus it is here also. Every\nlife is a warfare, and that long and various. You must fulfil a\nsoldier\u2019s duty, and obey each order at your commander\u2019s nod: aye, if it\nbe possible, divine what he would have done; for between that Command\nand this, there is no comparison, either in might or in excellence.\n\nCXXVI\n\nHave you again forgotten? Know you not that a good man does nothing for\nappearance\u2019 sake, but for the sake of having done right? . . .\n\n\u201cIs there no reward then?\u201d\n\nReward! do you seek any greater reward for a good man than doing what\nis right and just? Yet at the Great Games you look for nothing else;\nthere the victor\u2019s crown you deem enough. Seems it to you so small a\nthing and worthless, to be a good man, and happy therein?\n\nCXXVII\n\nIt befits thee not to be unhappy by reason of any, but rather to be\nhappy by reason of all men, and especially by reason of God, who formed\nus to this end.\n\nCXXVIII\n\nWhat, did Diogenes love no man, he that was so gentle, so true a friend\nto men as cheerfully to endure such bodily hardships for the common\nweal of all mankind? But how loved he them? As behoved a minister of\nthe Supreme God, alike caring for men and subject unto God.\n\nCXXIX\n\nI am by Nature made for my own good; not for my own evil.\n\nCXXX\n\nRemind thyself that he whom thou lovest is mortal\u2014that what thou lovest\nis not thine own; it is given thee for the present, not irrevocably nor\nfor ever, but even as a fig or a bunch of grapes at the appointed\nseason of the year. . . .\n\n\u201cBut these are words of evil omen.\u201d. . .\n\nWhat, callest thou aught _of evil omen_ save that which signifies some\nevil thing? _Cowardice_ is a word of evil omen, if thou wilt, and\nmeanness of spirit, and lamentation and mourning, and shamelessness. .\n. .\n\nBut do not, I pray thee, call of evil omen a word that is significant\nof any natural thing:\u2014as well call of evil omen the reaping of the\ncorn; for that means the destruction of the ears, though not of the\nWorld!\u2014as well say that the fall of the leaf is of evil omen; that the\ndried fig should take the place of the green; that raisins should be\nmade from grapes. All these are changes from a former state into\nanother; not destruction, but an ordered economy, a fixed\nadministration. Such is leaving home, a change of small account; such\nis Death, a greater change, from what now is, not to what is not, but\nto what is not _now_.\n\n\u201cShall I then no longer be?\u201d\n\nNot so; thou wilt be; but something different, of which the World now\nhath need. For thou too wert born not when thou chosest, but when the\nWorld had need of thee.\n\nCXXXI\n\nWherefore a good man and true, bearing in mind who he is and whence he\ncame and from whom he sprang, cares only how he may fill his post with\ndue discipline and obedience to God.\n\nWilt thou that I continue to live? Then will I live, as one that is\nfree and noble, as Thou wouldst have me. For Thou hast made me free\nfrom hindrance in what appertaineth unto me. But hast Thou no further\nneed of me? I thank Thee! Up to this hour have I stayed for Thy sake\nand none other\u2019s: and now in obedience to Thee I depart.\n\n\u201cHow dost thou depart?\u201d\n\nAgain I say, as Thou wouldst have me; as one that is free, as Thy\nservant, as one whose ear is open unto what Thou dost enjoin, what Thou\ndost forbid.\n\nCXXXII\n\nWhatsoever place or post Thou assignest me, _sooner will I die a\nthousand deaths_, as Socrates said, _than desert it_. And where wilt\nThou have me to be? At Rome or Athens? At Thebes or on a desert island?\nOnly remember me there! Shouldst Thou send me where man cannot live as\nNature would have him, I will depart, not in disobedience to Thee, but\nas though Thou wert sounding the signal for my retreat: I am not\ndeserting Thee\u2014far be that from me! I only perceive that thou needest\nme no longer.\n\nCXXXIII\n\nIf you are in Gyaros, do not let your mind dwell upon life at Rome, and\nall the pleasures it offered to you when living there, and all that\nwould attend your return. Rather be intent on this\u2014how he that lives in\nGyaros may live in Gyaros like a man of spirit. And if you are at Rome,\ndo not let your mind dwell upon the life at Athens, but study only how\nto live at Rome.\n\nFinally, in the room of all other pleasures put this\u2014the pleasure which\nsprings from conscious obedience to God.\n\nCXXXIV\n\nTo a good man there is no evil, either in life or death. And if God\nsupply not food, has He not, as a wise Commander, sounded the signal\nfor retreat and nothing more? I obey, I follow\u2014speaking good of my\nCommander, and praising His acts. For at His good pleasure I came; and\nI depart when it pleases Him; and while I was yet alive that was my\nwork, to sing praises unto God!\n\nCXXXV\n\nReflect that the chief source of all evils to Man, and of baseness and\ncowardice, is not death, but the fear of death.\n\nAgainst this fear then, I pray you, harden yourself; to this let all\nyour reasonings, your exercises, your reading tend. Then shall you know\nthat thus alone are men set free.\n\nCXXXVI\n\nHe is free who lives as he wishes to live; to whom none can do\nviolence, none hinder or compel; whose impulses are unimpeded, whose\ndesires are attain their purpose, who falls not into what he would\navoid. Who then would live in error?\u2014None. Who would live deceived and\nprone to fall, unjust, intemperate, in abject whining at his lot?\u2014None.\nThen doth no wicked man live as he would, and therefore neither is he\nfree.\n\nCXXXVII\n\nThus do the more cautious of travellers act. The road is said to be\nbeset by robbers. The traveller will not venture alone, but awaits the\ncompanionship on the road of an ambassador, a quaestor or a proconsul.\nTo him he attaches himself and thus passes by in safety. So doth the\nwise man in the world. Many are the companies of robbers and tyrants,\nmany the storms, the straits, the losses of all a man holds dearest.\nWhither shall he fall for refuge\u2014how shall he pass by unassailed? What\ncompanion on the road shall he await for protection? Such and such a\nwealthy man, of consular rank? And how shall I be profited, if he is\nstripped and falls to lamentation and weeping? And how if my\nfellow-traveller himself turns upon me and robs me? What am I to do? I\nwill become a friend of C\u00e6sar\u2019s! in his train none will do me wrong! In\nthe first place\u2014O the indignities I must endure to win distinction! O\nthe multitude of hands there will be to rob me! And if I succeed, C\u00e6sar\ntoo is but a mortal. While should it come to pass that I offend him,\nwhither shall I flee from his presence? To the wilderness? And may not\nfever await me there? What then is to be done? Cannot a\nfellow-traveller be found that is honest and loyal, strong and secure\nagainst surprise? Thus doth the wise man reason, considering that if he\nwould pass through in safety, he must attach himself unto God.\n\nCXXXVIII\n\n\u201cHow understandest thou _attach himself to God?_\u201d\n\nThat what God wills, he should will also; that what God wills not,\nneither should he will.\n\n\u201cHow then may this come to pass?\u201d\n\nBy considering the movements of God, and His administration.\n\nCXXXIX\n\nAnd dost thou that hast received all from another\u2019s hands, repine and\nblame the Giver, if He takes anything from thee? Why, who art thou, and\nto what end comest thou here? was it not He that made the Light\nmanifest unto thee, that gave thee fellow-workers, and senses, and the\npower to reason? And how brought He thee into the world? Was it not as\none born to die; as one bound to live out his earthly life in some\nsmall tabernacle of flesh; to behold His administration, and for a\nlittle while share with Him in the mighty march of this great Festival\nProcession? Now therefore that thou hast beheld, while it was permitted\nthee, the Solemn Feast and Assembly, wilt thou not cheerfully depart,\nwhen He summons thee forth, with adoration and thanksgiving for what\nthou hast seen and heard?\u2014\u201cNay, but I would fain have stayed longer at\nthe Festival.\u201d\u2014Ah, so would the mystics fain have the rites prolonged;\nso perchance would the crowd at the Great Games fain behold more\nwrestlers still. But the Solemn Assembly is over! Come forth, depart\nwith thanksgiving and modesty\u2014give place to others that must come into\nbeing even as thyself.\n\nCXL\n\nWhy art thou thus insatiable? why thus unreasonable? why encumber the\nworld?\u2014\u201cAye, but I fain would have my wife and children with me\ntoo.\u201d\u2014What, are they then _thine_, and not His that gave them\u2014His that\nmade thee? Give up then that which is not thine own: yield it to One\nwho is better than thou. \u201cNay, but why did He bring one into the world\non these conditions?\u201d\u2014If it suits thee not, depart! He hath no need of\na spectator who finds fault with his lot! Them that will take part in\nthe Feast he needeth\u2014that will lift their voices with the rest that men\nmay applaud the more, and exalt the Great Assembly in hymns and songs\nof praise. But the wretched and the fearful He will not be displeased\nto see absent from it: for when they were present, they did not behave\nas at a Feast, nor fulfil their proper office; but moaned as though in\npain, and found fault with their fate, their fortune and their\ncompanions; insensible to what had fallen to their lot, insensible to\nthe powers they had received for a very different purpose\u2014the powers of\nMagnanimity, Nobility of Heart, of Fortitude, or Freedom!\n\nCXLI\n\nArt _thou_ then free? a man may say. So help me heaven, I long and pray\nfor freedom! But I cannot look my masters boldly in the face; I still\nvalue the poor body; I still set much store on its preservation whole\nand sound.\n\nBut I can point thee out a free man, that thou mayest be no more in\nsearch of an example. Diogenes was free. How so? Not because he was of\nfree parentage (for that, indeed, was not the case), but because he was\nhimself free. He had cast away every handle whereby slavery might lay\nhold of him to enslave him, nor was it possible for any to approach and\ntake hold of him to enslave him. All things sat loose upon him\u2014all\nthings were to him attached by but slender ties. Hadst thou seized upon\nhis possessions, he would rather have let them go than have followed\nthee for them\u2014aye, had it been even a limb, or mayhap his whole body;\nand in like manner, relatives, friends, and country. For he knew whence\nthey came\u2014from whose hands and on what terms he had received them. His\ntrue forefathers, the Gods, his true Country, he never would have\nabandoned; nor would he have yielded to any man in obedience and\nsubmission to the one nor in cheerfully dying for the other. For he was\never mindful that everything that comes to pass has its source and\norigin _there;_ being indeed brought about for the weal of that his\ntrue Country, and directed by Him in whose governance it is.\n\nCXLII\n\nPonder on this\u2014on these convictions, on these words: fix thine eyes on\nthese examples, if thou wouldst be free, if thou hast thine heart set\nupon the matter according to its worth. And what marvel if thou\npurchase so great a thing at so great and high a price? For the sake of\nthis that men deem liberty, some hang themselves, others cast\nthemselves down from the rock; aye, time has been when whole cities\ncame utterly to an end: while for the sake of Freedom that is true, and\nsure, and unassailable, dost thou grudge to God what He gave, when He\nclaims it? Wilt thou not study, as Plato saith, to endure, not death\nalone, but torture, exile, stripes\u2014in a word, to render up all that is\nnot thine own? Else thou wilt be a slave amid slaves, wert thou ten\nthousand times a consul; aye, not a whit the less, though thou climb\nthe Palace steps. And thou shalt know how true the saying of Cleanthes,\nthat though the words of philosophers may run counter to the opinions\nof the world, yet have they reason on their side.\n\nCXLIII\n\nAsked how a man should best grieve his enemy, Epictetus replied, \u201cBy\nsetting himself to live the noblest life himself.\u201d\n\nCXLIV\n\nI am free, I am a friend of God, ready to render Him willing obedience.\nOf all else I may set store by nothing\u2014neither by mine own body, nor\npossessions, nor office, nor good report, nor, in a word, aught else\nbeside. For it is not His Will, that I should so set store by these\nthings. Had it been His pleasure, He would have placed my Good therein.\nBut now He hath not done so: therefore I cannot transgress one jot of\nHis commands. In everything hold fast to that which is thy Good\u2014but to\nall else (as far as is given thee) within the measure of Reason only,\ncontented with this alone. Else thou wilt meet with failure, ill\nsuccess, let and hindrance. These are the Laws ordained of God\u2014these\nare His Edicts; these a man should expound and interpret; to these\nsubmit himself, not to the laws of Masurius and Cassius.\n\nCXLV\n\nRemember that not the love of power and wealth sets us under the heel\nof others, but even the love of tranquillity, of leisure, of change of\nscene\u2014of learning in general, it matters not what the outward thing may\nbe\u2014to set store by it is to place thyself in subjection to another.\nWhere is the difference then between desiring to be a Senator, and\ndesiring not to be one: between thirsting for office and thirsting to\nbe quit of it? Where is the difference between crying, _Woe is me, I\nknow not what to do, bound hand and foot as I am to my books so that I\ncannot stir!_ and crying, _Woe is me, I have not time to read!_ As\nthough a book were not as much an outward thing and independent of the\nwill, as office and power and the receptions of the great.\n\nOr what reason hast thou (tell me) for desiring to read? For if thou\naim at nothing beyond the mere delight of it, or gaining some scrap of\nknowledge, thou art but a poor, spiritless knave. But if thou desirest\nto study to its proper end, what else is this than a life that flows on\ntranquil and serene? And if thy reading secures thee not serenity, what\nprofits it?\u2014\u201cNay, but it doth secure it,\u201d quoth he, \u201cand that is why I\nrepine at being deprived of it.\u201d\u2014And what serenity is this that lies at\nthe mercy of every passer-by? I say not at the mercy of the Emperor or\nEmperor\u2019s favorite, but such as trembles at a raven\u2019s croak and piper\u2019s\ndin, a fever\u2019s touch or a thousand things of like sort! Whereas the\nlife serene has no more certain mark than this, that it ever moves with\nconstant unimpeded flow.\n\nCXLVI\n\nIf thou hast put malice and evil speaking from thee, altogether, or in\nsome degree: if thou hast put away from thee rashness, foulness of\ntongue, intemperance, sluggishness: if thou art not moved by what once\nmoved thee, or in like manner as thou once wert moved\u2014then thou mayest\ncelebrate a daily festival, to-day because thou hast done well in this\nmanner, to-morrow in that. How much greater cause is here for offering\nsacrifice, than if a man should become Consul or Prefect?\n\nCXLVII\n\nThese things hast thou from thyself and from the Gods: only remember\nwho it is that giveth them\u2014to whom and for what purpose they were\ngiven. Feeding thy soul on thoughts like these, dost thou debate in\nwhat place happiness awaits thee? in what place thou shalt do God\u2019s\npleasure? Are not the Gods nigh unto all places alike; see they not\nalike what everywhere comes to pass?\n\nCXLVIII\n\nTo each man God hath granted this inward freedom. These are the\nprinciples that in a house create love, in a city concord, among\nnations peace, teaching a man gratitude towards God and cheerful\nconfidence, wherever he may be, in dealing with outward things that he\nknows are neither his nor worth striving after.\n\nCXLIX\n\nIf you seek Truth, you will not seek to gain a victory by every\npossible means; and when you have found Truth, you need not fear being\ndefeated.\n\nCL\n\nWhat foolish talk is this? how can I any longer lay claim to right\nprinciples, if I am not content with being what I am, but am all\naflutter about what I am supposed to be?\n\nCLI\n\nGod hath made all things in the world, nay, the world itself, free from\nhindrance and perfect, and its parts for the use of the whole. No other\ncreature is capable of comprehending His administration thereof; but\nthe reasonable being Man possesses faculties for the consideration of\nall these things\u2014not only that he is himself a part, but what part he\nis, and how it is meet that the parts should give place to the whole.\nNor is this all. Being naturally constituted noble, magnanimous, and\nfree, he sees that the things which surround him are of two kinds. Some\nare free from hindrance and in the power of the will. Other are subject\nto hindrance, and depend on the will of other men. If then he place his\nown good, his own best interest, only in that which is free from\nhindrance and in his power, he will be free, tranquil, happy, unharmed,\nnoble-hearted, and pious; giving thanks to all things unto God, finding\nfault with nothing that comes to pass, laying no charge against\nanything. Whereas if he place his good in outward things, depending not\non the will, he must perforce be subject to hindrance and restraint,\nthe slave of those that have power over the things he desires and\nfears; he must perforce be impious, as deeming himself injured at the\nhands of God; he must be unjust, as ever prone to claim more than his\ndue; he must perforce be of a mean and abject spirit.\n\nCLII\n\nWhom then shall I fear? the lords of the Bedchamber, lest they should\nshut me out? If they find me desirous of entering in, let them shut me\nout, if they will.\n\n\u201cThen why comest thou to the door?\u201d\n\nBecause I think it meet and right, so long as the Play lasts, to take\npart therein.\n\n\u201cIn what sense art thou then shut out?\u201d\n\nBecause, unless I am admitted, it is not my _will_ to enter: on the\ncontrary, my will is simply that which comes to pass. For I esteem what\nGod wills better than what I will. To Him will I cleave as His minister\nand attendant; having the same movements, the same desires, in a word\nthe same Will as He. There is no such thing as being shut out for me,\nbut only for them that would force their way in.\n\nCLIII\n\nBut what says Socrates?\u2014\u201cOne man finds pleasure in improving his land,\nanother his horses. My pleasure lies in seeing that I myself grow\nbetter day by day.\u201d\n\nCLIV\n\nThe dress is suited to the craft; the craftsman takes his name from the\ncraft, not from the dress. For this reason Euphrates was right in\nsaying, \u201cI long endeavoured to conceal my following the philosophic\nlife; and this profited me much. In the first place, I knew that what I\ndid aright, I did not for the sake of lookers-on, but for my own. I ate\naright\u2014unto myself; I kept the even tenor of my walk, my glance\ncomposed and serene\u2014all unto myself and unto God. Then as I fought\nalone, I was alone in peril. If I did anything amiss or shameful, the\ncause of Philosophy was not in me endangered; nor did I wrong the\nmultitude by transgressing as a professed philosopher. Wherefore those\nthat knew not my purpose marvelled how it came about, that whilst all\nmy life and conversation was passed with philosophers without\nexception, I was yet none myself. And what harm that the philosopher\nshould be known by his acts, instead of mere outward signs and\nsymbols?\u201d\n\nCLV\n\nFirst study to conceal what thou art; seek wisdom a little while unto\nthyself. Thus grows the fruit; first, the seed must be buried in the\nearth for a little space; there it must be hid and slowly grow, that it\nmay reach maturity. But if it produce the ear before the jointed stalk,\nit is imperfect\u2014a thing from the garden of Adonis. Such a sorry growth\nart thou; thou hast blossomed too soon: the winter cold will wither\nthee away!\n\nCLVI\n\nFirst of all, condemn the life thou art now leading: but when thou hast\ncondemned it, do not despair of thyself\u2014be not like them of mean\nspirit, who once they have yielded, abandon themselves entirely and as\nit were allow the torrent to sweep them away. No; learn what the\nwrestling masters do. Has the boy fallen? \u201cRise,\u201d they say, \u201cwrestle\nagain, till thy strength come to thee.\u201d Even thus should it be with\nthee. For know that there is nothing more tractable than the human\nsoul. It needs but to _will_, and the thing is done; the soul is set\nupon the right path: as on the contrary it needs but to nod over the\ntask, and all is lost. For ruin and recovery alike are from within.\n\nCLVII\n\nIt is the critical moment that shows the man. So when the crisis is\nupon you, remember that God, like a trainer of wrestlers, has matched\nyou with a rough and stalwart antagonist.\u2014\u201cTo what end?\u201d you ask. That\nyou may prove the victor at the Great Games. Yet without toil and sweat\nthis may not be!\n\nCLVIII\n\nIf thou wouldst make progress, be content to seem foolish and void of\nunderstanding with respect to outward things. Care not to be thought to\nknow anything. If any should make account of thee, distrust thyself.\n\nCLIX\n\nRemember that in life thou shouldst order thy conduct as at a banquet.\nHas any dish that is being served reached thee? Stretch forth thy hand\nand help thyself modestly. Doth it pass thee by? Seek not to detain it.\nHas it not yet come? Send not forth thy desire to meet it, but wait\nuntil it reaches thee. Deal thus with children, thus with wife; thus\nwith office, thus with wealth\u2014and one day thou wilt be meet to share\nthe Banquets of the Gods. But if thou dost not so much as touch that\nwhich is placed before thee, but despisest it, then shalt thou not only\nshare the Banquets of the Gods, but their Empire also.\n\nCLX\n\nRemember that thou art an actor in a play, and of such sort as the\nAuthor chooses, whether long or short. If it be his good pleasure to\nassign thee the part of a beggar, a ruler, or a simple citizen, thine\nit is to play it fitly. For thy business is to act the part assigned\nthee, well: to choose it, is another\u2019s.\n\nCLXI\n\nKeep death and exile daily before thine eyes, with all else that men\ndeem terrible, but more especially Death. Then wilt thou never think a\nmean though, nor covet anything beyond measure.\n\nCLXII\n\nAs a mark is not set up in order to be missed, so neither is such a\nthing as natural evil produced in the World.\n\nCLXIII\n\nPiety toward the Gods, to be sure, consists chiefly in thinking rightly\nconcerning them\u2014that they _are_, and that they govern the Universe with\ngoodness and justice; and that thou thyself art appointed to obey them,\nand to submit under all circumstances that arise; acquiescing\ncheerfully in whatever may happen, sure it is brought to pass and\naccomplished by the most Perfect Understanding. Thus thou wilt never\nfind fault with the Gods, nor charge them with neglecting thee.\n\nCLXIV\n\nLose no time in setting before you a certain stamp of character and\nbehaviour both when by yourself and in company with others. Let silence\nbe your general rule; or say only what is necessary and in few words.\nWe shall, however, when occasion demands, enter into discourse\nsparingly. avoiding common topics as gladiators, horse-races, athletes;\nand the perpetual talk about food and drink. Above all avoid speaking\nof _persons_, either in way of praise or blame, or comparison.\n\nIf you can, win over the conversation of your company to what it should\nbe by your own. But if you find yourself cut off without escape among\nstrangers and aliens, be silent.\n\nCLXV\n\nLaughter should not be much, nor frequent, nor unrestrained.\n\nCLXVI\n\nRefuse altogether to take an oath if you can, if not, as far as may be.\n\nCLXVII\n\nBanquets of the unlearned and of them that are without, avoid. But if\nyou have occasion to take part in them, let not your attention be\nrelaxed for a moment, lest you slip after all into evil ways. For you\nmay rest assured that be a man ever so pure himself, he cannot escape\ndefilement if his associates are impure.\n\nCLXVIII\n\nTake what relates to the body as far as the bare use warrants\u2014as meat,\ndrink, raiment, house and servants. But all that makes for show and\nluxury reject.\n\nCLXIX\n\nIf you are told that such an one speaks ill of you, make no defence\nagainst what was said, but answer, He surely knew not my other faults,\nelse he would not have mentioned these only!\n\nCLXX\n\nWhen you visit any of those in power, bethink yourself that you will\nnot find him in: that you may not be admitted: that the door may be\nshut in your face: that he may not concern himself about you. If with\nall this, it is your duty to go, bear what happens, and never say to\nyourself, It was not worth the trouble! For that would smack of the\nfoolish and unlearned who suffer outward things to touch them.\n\nCLXXI\n\nIn company avoid frequent and undue talk about your own actions and\ndangers. However pleasant it may be to you to enlarge upon the risks\nyou have run, others may not find such pleasure in listening to your\nadventures. Avoid provoking laughter also: it is a habit from which one\neasily slides into the ways of the foolish, and apt to diminish the\nrespect which your neighbors feel for you. To border on coarse talk is\nalso dangerous. On such occasions, if a convenient opportunity offer,\nrebuke the speaker. If not, at least by relapsing into silence,\ncolouring, and looking annoyed, show that you are displeased with the\nsubject.\n\nCLXXII\n\nWhen you have decided that a thing ought to be done, and are doing it,\nnever shun being _seen_ doing it, even though the multitude should be\nlikely to judge the matter amiss. For if you are not acting rightly,\nshun the act itself; if rightly, however, why fear misplaced censure?\n\nCLXXIII\n\nIt stamps a man of mean capacity to spend much time on the things of\nthe body, as to be long over bodily exercises, long over eating, long\nover drinking, long over other bodily functions. Rather should these\nthings take the second place, while all your care is directed to the\nunderstanding.\n\nCLXXIV\n\nEverything has two handles, one by which it may be borne, the other by\nwhich it may not. If your brother sin against you lay not hold of it by\nthe handle of injustice, for by that it may not be borne: but rather by\nthis, that he is your brother, the comrade of your youth; and thus you\nwill lay hold on it so that it may be borne.\n\nCLXXV\n\nNever call yourself a Philosopher nor talk much among the unlearned\nabout Principles, but do that which follows from them. Thus at a\nbanquet, do not discuss how people ought to eat; but eat as you ought.\nRemember that Socrates thus entirely avoided ostentation. Men would\ncome to him desiring to be recommended to philosophers, and he would\nconduct them thither himself\u2014so well did he bear being overlooked.\nAccordingly if any talk concerning principles should arise among the\nunlearned, be you for the most part silent. For you run great risk of\nspewing up what you have ill digested. And when a man tells you that\nyou know nothing and you are not nettled at it, then you may be sure\nthat you have begun the work.\n\nCLXXVI\n\nWhen you have brought yourself to supply the needs of the body at small\ncost, do not pique yourself on that, nor if you drink only water, keep\nsaying on each occasion, _I drink water!_ And if you ever want to\npractise endurance and toil, do so unto yourself and not unto others\u2014do\nnot embrace statues!\n\nCLXXVII\n\nWhen a man prides himself on being able to understand and interpret the\nwritings of Chrysippus, say to yourself:\u2014\n\nIf Chrysippus had not written obscurely, this fellow would have had\nnothing to be proud of. But what is it that _I_ desire? To understand\nNature, and to follow her! Accordingly I ask who is the Interpreter. On\nhearing that it is Chrysippus, I go to him. But it seems I do not\nunderstand what he wrote. So I seek one to interpret that. So far there\nis nothing to pride myself on. But when I have found my interpreter,\nwhat remains is to put in practice his instructions. This itself is the\nonly thing to be proud of. But if I admire the interpretation and that\nalone, what else have I turned out but a mere commentator instead of a\nlover of wisdom?\u2014except indeed that I happen to be interpreting\nChrysippus instead of Homer. So when any one says to me, _Prithee, read\nme Chrysippus_, I am more inclined to blush, when I cannot show my\ndeeds to be in harmony and accordance with his sayings.\n\nCLXXVIII\n\nAt feasts, remember that you are entertaining two guests, body and\nsoul. What you give to the body, you presently lose; what you give to\nthe soul, you keep for ever.\n\nCLXXIX\n\nAt meals, see to it that those who serve be not more in number than\nthose who are served. It is absurd for a crowd of persons to be dancing\nattendance on half a dozen chairs.\n\nCLXXX\n\nIt is best to share with your attendants what is going forward, both in\nthe labour of preparation and in the enjoyment of the feast itself. If\nsuch a thing be difficult at the time, recollect that you who are not\nweary are being served by those that are; you who are eating and\ndrinking by those who do neither; you who are talking by those who are\nsilent; you who are at ease by those who are under constraint. Thus no\nsudden wrath will betray you into unreasonable conduct, nor will you\nbehave harshly by irritating another.\n\nCLXXXI\n\nWhen Xanthippe was chiding Socrates for making scanty preparation for\nentertaining his friends, he answered:\u2014\u201cIf they are friends of ours\nthey will not care for that; if they are not, we shall care nothing for\nthem!\u201d\n\nCLXXXII\n\nAsked, _Who is the rich man?_ Epictetus replied, \u201c_He who is content_.\u201d\n\nCLXXXIII\n\nFavorinus tells us how Epictetus would also say that there were two\nfaults far graver and fouler than any others\u2014inability to bear, and\ninability to forbear, when we neither patiently bear the blows that\nmust be borne, nor abstain from the things and the pleasures we ought\nto abstain from. \u201cSo,\u201d he went on, \u201cif a man will only have these two\nwords at heart, and heed them carefully by ruling and watching over\nhimself, he will for the most part fall into no sin, and his life will\nbe tranquil and serene.\u201d He meant the words [Greek: Anechou kai\napechou]\u2014\u201cBear and Forbear.\u201d\n\nCLXXXIV\n\nOn all occasions these thoughts should be at hand:\u2014\n\nLead me, O God, and Thou, O Destiny\nBe what it may the goal appointed me,\nBravely I\u2019ll follow; nay, and if I would not,\nI\u2019d prove a coward, yet must follow still!\n\n\nAgain:\n\nWho to Necessity doth bow aright,\nIs learn\u2019d in wisdom and the things of God.\n\n\nOnce more:\u2014\n\nCrito, if this be God\u2019s will, so let it be. As for me, Anytus and\nMeletus can indeed put me to death, but injure me, never!\n\n\nCLXXXV\n\nWe shall then be like Socrates, when we can indite hymns of praise to\nthe Gods in prison.\n\nCLXXXVI\n\nIt is hard to combine and unite these two qualities, the carefulness of\none who is affected by circumstances, and the intrepidity of one who\nheeds them not. But it is not impossible: else were happiness also\nimpossible. We should act as we do in seafaring.\n\n\u201cWhat can I do?\u201d\u2014Choose the master, the crew, the day, the opportunity.\nThen comes a sudden storm. What matters it to me? my part has been\nfully done. The matter is in the hands of another\u2014the Master of the\nship. The ship is foundering. What then have I to do? I do the only\nthing that remains to me\u2014to be drowned without fear, without a cry,\nwithout upbraiding God, but knowing that what has been born must\nlikewise perish. For I am not Eternity, but a human being\u2014a part of the\nwhole, as an hour is part of the day. I must come like the hour, and\nlike the hour must pass!\n\nCLXXXVII\n\nAnd now we are sending you to Rome to spy out the land; but none send a\ncoward as such a spy, that, if he hear but a noise and see a shadow\nmoving anywhere, loses his wits and comes flying to say, _The enemy are\nupon us!_\n\nSo if _you_ go now, and come and tell us: \u201cEverything at Rome is\nterrible: Death is terrible, Exile is terrible, Slander is terrible,\nWant is terrible; fly, comrades! the enemy are upon us!\u201d we shall\nreply, Get you gone, and prophesy to yourself! we have but erred in\nsending such a spy as you. Diogenes, who was sent as a spy long before\nyou, brought us back another report than this. He says that Death is no\nevil; for it need not even bring shame with it. He says that Fame is\nbut the empty noise of madmen. And what report did this spy bring us of\nPain, what of Pleasure, what of Want? That to be clothed in sackcloth\nis better than any purple robe; that sleeping on the bare ground is the\nsoftest couch; and in proof of each assertion he points to his own\ncourage, constancy, and freedom; to his own healthy and muscular frame.\n\u201cThere is no enemy near,\u201d he cries, \u201call is perfect peace!\u201d\n\nCLXXXVIII\n\nIf a man has this peace\u2014not the peace proclaimed by C\u00e6sar (how indeed\nshould _he_ have it to proclaim?), nay, but the peace proclaimed by God\nthrough reason, will not that suffice him when alone, when he beholds\nand reflects:\u2014Now can no evil happen unto me; for me there is no\nrobber, for me no earthquake; all things are full of peace, full of\ntranquillity; neither highway nor city nor gathering of men, neither\nneighbor nor comrade can do me hurt. Another supplies my food, whose\ncare it is; another my raiment; another hath given me perceptions of\nsense and primary conceptions. And when He supplies my necessities no\nmore, it is that He is sounding the retreat, that He hath opened the\ndoor, and is saying to thee, Come!\u2014Wither? To nought that thou needest\nfear, but to the friendly kindred elements whence thou didst spring.\nWhatsoever of fire is in thee, unto fire shall return; whatsoever of\nearth, unto earth; of spirit, unto spirit; of water, unto water. There\nis no Hades, no fabled rivers of Sighs, of Lamentation, or of Fire: but\nall things are full of Beings spiritual and divine. With thoughts like\nthese, beholding the Sun, Moon, and Stars, enjoying earth and sea, a\nman is neither helpless nor alone!\n\nCLXXXIX\n\nWhat wouldst thou be found doing when overtaken by Death? If I might\nchoose, I would be found doing some deed of true humanity, of wide\nimport, beneficent and noble. But if I may not be found engaged in\naught so lofty, let me hope at least for this\u2014what none may hinder,\nwhat is surely in my power\u2014that I may be found raising up in myself\nthat which had fallen; learning to deal more wisely with the things of\nsense; working out my own tranquillity, and thus rendering that which\nis its due to every relation of life. . . .\n\nIf death surprise me thus employed, it is enough if I can stretch forth\nmy hands to God and say, \u201cThe faculties which I received at Thy hands\nfor apprehending this thine Administration, I have not neglected. As\nfar as in me lay, I have done Thee no dishonour. Behold how I have used\nthe senses, the primary conceptions which Thous gavest me. Have I ever\nlaid anything to Thy charge? Have I ever murmured at aught that came to\npass, or wished it otherwise? Have I in anything transgressed the\nrelations of life? For that Thou didst beget me, I thank Thee for that\nThou hast given: for the time during which I have used the things that\nwere Thine, it suffices me. Take them back and place them wherever Thou\nwilt! They were all Thine, and Thou gavest them me.\u201d\u2014If a man depart\nthus minded, is it not enough? What life is fairer and more noble, what\nend happier than his?\n\n(APPENDIX A)\n\nFragments Attributed to Epictetus\n\nI\n\nA life entangled with Fortune is like a torrent. It is turbulent and\nmuddy; hard to pass and masterful of mood: noisy and of brief\ncontinuance.\n\nII\n\nThe soul that companies with Virtue is like an ever-flowing source. It\nis a pure, clear, and wholesome draught; sweet, rich, and generous of\nits store; that injures not, neither destroys.\n\nIII\n\nIt is a shame that one who sweetens his drink with the gifts of the\nbee, should embitter God\u2019s gift Reason with vice.\n\nIV\n\nCrows pick out the eyes of the dead, when the dead have no longer need\nof them; but flatterers mar the soul of the living, and _her_ eyes they\nblind.\n\nV\n\nKeep neither a blunt knife nor an ill-disciplined looseness of tongue.\n\nVI\n\nNature hath given men one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from\nothers twice as much as we speak.\n\nVII\n\nDo not give sentence in another tribunal till you have been yourself\njudged in the tribunal of Justice.\n\nVIII\n\nIf is shameful for a Judge to be judged by others.\n\nIX\n\nGive me by all means the shorter and nobler life, instead of one that\nis longer but of less account!\n\nX\n\nFreedom is the name of virtue: Slavery, of vice. . . . None is a slave\nwhose acts are free.\n\nXI\n\nOf pleasures, those which occur most rarely give the most delight.\n\nXII\n\nExceed due measure, and the most delightful things become the least\ndelightful.\n\nXIII\n\nThe anger of an ape\u2014the threat of a flatterer:\u2014these deserve equal\nregard.\n\nXIV\n\nChastise thy passions that they avenge not themselves upon thee.\n\nXV\n\nNo man is free who is not master of himself.\n\nXVI\n\nA ship should not ride on a single anchor, nor life on a single hope.\n\nXVII\n\nFortify thyself with contentment: that is an impregnable stronghold.\n\nXVIII\n\nNo man who is a lover of money, of pleasure, of glory, is likewise a\nlover of Men; but only he that is a lover of whatsoever things are fair\nand good.\n\nXIX\n\nThink of God more often than thou breathest.\n\nXX\n\nChoose the life that is noblest, for custom can make it sweet to thee.\n\nXXI\n\nLet thy speech of God be renewed day by day, aye, rather than thy meat\nand drink.\n\nXXII\n\nEven as the Sun doth not wait for prayers and incantations to rise, but\nshines forth and is welcomed by all: so thou also wait not for clapping\nof hands and shouts and praise to do thy duty; nay, do good of thine\nown accord, and thou wilt be loved like the Sun.\n\nXXIII\n\nLet no man think that he is loved by any who loveth none.\n\nXXIV\n\nIf thou rememberest that God standeth by to behold and visit all that\nthou doest; whether in the body or in the soul, thou surely wilt not\nerr in any prayer or deed; and thou shalt have God to dwell with thee.\n\nNote.\u2014Schweigh\u00e6user\u2019s great edition collects 181 fragments attributed\nto Epictetus, of which but a few are certainly genuine. Some (as xxi.,\nxxiv., above) bear the stamp of Pythagorean origin; others, though\nchanged in form, may well be based upon Epictetean sayings. Most have\nbeen preserved in the Anthology of John of Stobi (Stob\u00e6us), a Byzantine\ncollector, of whom scarcely anything is known but that he probably\nwrote towards the end of the fifth century, and made his vast body of\nextracts from more than five hundred authors for his son\u2019s use. The\nbest examination of the authenticity of the Fragments is _Quaestiones\nEpictete\u00e6_, by R. Asmus, 1888. The above selection includes some of\ndoubtful origin but intrinsic interest.\u2014Crossley.\n\n(APPENDIX B)\n\nThe Hymn of Cleanthes\n\nChiefest glory of deathless Gods, Almighty for ever,\nSovereign of Nature that rulest by law, what Name shall we give Thee?\u2014\nBlessed be Thou! for on Thee should call all things that are mortal.\nFor that we are Thine offspring; nay, all that in myriad motion\nLives for its day on the earth bears one impress\u2014Thy likeness\u2014upon it.\nWherefore my song is of Thee, and I hymn thy power for ever.\n\nLo, the vast orb of the Worlds, round the Earth evermore as it rolleth,\nFeels Thee its Ruler and Guide, and owns Thy lordship rejoicing.\nAye, for Thy conquering hands have a servant of living fire\u2014\nSharp is the bolt!\u2014where it falls, Nature shrinks at the shock and doth shudder.\nThus Thou directest the Word universal that pulses through all things,\nMingling its life with Lights that are great and Lights that are lesser,\nE\u2019en as beseemeth its birth, High King through ages unending.\n\nNought is done that is done without Thee in the earth or the waters\nOr in the heights of heaven, save the deed of the fool and the sinner.\nThou canst make rough things smooth; at Thy voice, lo, jarring disorder\nMoveth to music, and Love is born where hatred abounded.\nThus hast Thou fitted alike things good and things evil together,\nThat over all might reign one Reason, supreme and eternal;\nThough thereunto the hearts of the wicked be hardened and heedless\u2014\nWoe unto them!\u2014for while ever their hands are grasping at good things,\nBlind are their eyes, yea, stopped are their ears to God\u2019s Law universal,\nCalling through wise disobedience to live the life that is noble.\nThis they mark not, but heedless of right, turn each to his own way,\nHere, a heart fired with ambition, in strife and straining unhallowed;\nThere, thrusting honour aside, fast set upon getting and gaining;\nOthers again given over to lusts and dissolute softness,\nWorking never God\u2019s Law, but that which wareth upon it.\n\nNay, but, O Giver of all things good, whose home is the dark cloud,\nThou that wields Heaven\u2019s bolt, save men from their ignorance grievous;\nScatter its night from their souls, and grant them to come to that Wisdom\nWherewithal, sistered with Justice, Thou rulest and governest all things;\nThat we, honoured by Thee, may requite Thee with worship and honour,\nEvermore praising thy works, as is meet for men that shall perish;\nSeeing that none, be he mortal or God, hath privilege nobler\nThan without stint, without stay, to extol Thy Law universal.","title":"The Golden Sayings of Epictetus, with the Hymn of Cleanthes","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":23741}