Discourses and Selected Writings by Epictetus

Summary

The Enchiridion is great, the Discourses are really good and the Fragments are meh. I prefer Seneca and Marcus Aurelius over Epictetus but Discourses is a book with practical, timeless wisdom that I’ll reread, nonetheless.

Key Takeaways

Don’t put your purpose in one place and expect to see progress made somewhere else.
Use is one thing, understanding another.
Freedom, you see, is having events go in accordance with our will, never contrary to it.
- Freedom is not achieved by satisfying desire, but by eliminating it.
- Don’t get attached to them and they won’t be. Don’t tell yourself that they’re indispensable and they aren’t. Those are the reflections you should recur to morning and night.
We get angry because we put too high a premium on things that they can steal.
We should discipline ourselves in small things, and from there progress to things of greater value.
It is a measure of the effort we are prepared to expend to guard against deception when accuracy is at a premium. When it comes to our poor mind, however, we can’t be bothered; we are satisfied accepting any and all impressions, because here the loss we suffer is not obvious.
- If you want to know just how little concerned you are about things good and bad, and how serious about things indifferent, compare your attitude to going blind with your attitude about being mentally in the dark.
It is for you to arrange your priorities; but whatever you decide to do, don’t do it resentfully, as if you were being imposed on.
If you don’t want to be crowded, don’t attend the theatre.
What aid can we find to combat habit? The opposed habit.
That’s what we need: the star athlete’s concentration, together with his coolness.
- First, tell yourself what you want to be, then act your part accordingly. This, after all, is what we find to be the rule in just about every other field. Athletes decide first what they want to be, then proceed to do what is necessary.
- if you won’t pay the bill and still want the benefits, you are not only greedy but a fool.
People who come to philosophy the right way – by the front door, as it were – begin by acknowledging their own faults and limitations in areas of most urgency.
Whenever I see a person suffering from nervousness, I think, well, what can he expect? If he had not set his sights on things outside man’s control, his nervousness would end at once. No expert needs validation from an amateur.
‘A fool cannot be convinced or even compelled to renounce his folly.’
The first thing a pretender to philosophy must do is get rid of their presuppositions; a person is not going to undertake to learn anything that they think they already know.
You might almost say that nothing proves the validity of a statement more than finding someone forced to use it while at the same time denying that it is sound.
Everyone would read with greater ease and pleasure a book written in a legible hand. And so it is with a speech: everyone would listen with greater ease to one composed in well-wrought and well-organized prose.
But out in public don’t ask for too much by hoping to gain a monopoly on a privilege shared by all – otherwise get used to being vilified. Because when you engage in the same things as the masses, you lower yourself to their level.
Inevitably you are going to adopt the common person’s mentality instead. So why are they stronger than you? Because they talk such garbage from conviction, whereas your fine talk is no more than lip service.
- Keep well out of the sun, then, so long as your principles are as pliant as wax.
- Adopt new habits yourself: consolidate your principles by putting them into practice.
The school of a philosopher is a hospital. When you leave, you should have suffered, not enjoyed yourself. Because you enter, not in a state of health, but with a dislocated shoulder, it may be, or an abscess, a fistula, or head pain.
It isn’t possible to change your behaviour and still be the same person you were before.
We should realize that an opinion is not easily formed unless a person says and hears the same things every day and practises them in real life.
“Persist and resist.”
Under no circumstances ever say ‘I have lost something,’ only ‘I returned it.’
You will never have to experience defeat if you avoid contests whose outcome is outside your control.
If you undertake a role beyond your means, you will not only embarrass yourself in that, you miss the chance of a role that you might have filled successfully.

What I got out of it

How to look at adversity.
Emphasize what lies within your control and outside your control. Take responsibility for the former and never lament the latter. “You will never have to experience defeat if you avoid contests whose outcome is outside your control.”
Impressions dominate.
To alter habits, do the opposite.
Circle of competence: know what you don’t know, so you can stick to what you do know.
Between the environment changing you or you changing the environment, the former is more likely.
“Persist and resist.”

Summary Notes

Introduction

Biography

Logic and physics feature in the Discourses, to be sure, but typically in an ancillary or illustrative role. And neither one gets caught up in ethical theorizing; they always treat ethics with a view to applying it in real life. Reading books and becoming fluent in the doctrines of philosophers are deprecated as ends in themselves. Even more than Musonius, Epictetus has a plain and practical agenda: he wants his students to make a clean break with received patterns of thinking and behaving, to reject popular morality and put conventional notions of good and bad behind them; in short, he aims to inspire in his readers something like a religious conversion, only not by appeal to any articles of faith or the promise of life in the hereafter (Stoics did not believe in the afterlife), but by appeal to reason alone.

Epictetus as an Exponent of Stoicism

Stoicism was founded in the third century BC by Zeno of Citium; Cleanthes succeeded him as head of the school. But it was Cleanthes’ successor, Chrysippus (d. 208 BC), who contributed most to the development of Stoic doctrine and deserves most of the credit for what Stoicism eventually became – the dominant philosophy of the post-classical era.

Tacitus furnishes a neat summary of the core principles of Stoic ethics as they were taught in Rome at the time: Whether human affairs are directed by Fate’s unalterable necessity, or by chance, is a question.

The wisest of philosophers disagree on this point.

[Epicureans] insist that heaven is unconcerned with our birth and death – is unconcerned, in fact, with human beings generally – with the result that good people often suffer while wicked people thrive.
[The Stoics] disagree, maintaining that although things happen according to fate, this depends not on the movement of the planets but on the principles and logic of natural causality. This school concedes to us the freedom to choose our own lives. Once the choice is made, however, the Stoics warn that the subsequent sequence of events cannot be altered. With regard to practical matters they maintain that popular ideas of good and bad are wrong: many people who appear to be in dire circumstances are actually happy provided they deal with their situation bravely; others, regardless of how many possessions they have, are miserable, because they do not know how to use the gifts of fortune wisely.

Drawing on this orthodox Stoic account of human psychology, Epictetus makes two points with an emphasis distinctly his own:

That rational animals can hold off acting on impressions until they are scrutinized and assessed; and
If they are judged unreasonable – i.e. irrational or merely impractical – we can and should withhold our assent from them.

These functions of mind define the sphere of ‘choice’ (prohairesis), the upshot being that it is ‘up to us’ how we act, and that we are responsible for determining the character and content of our lives.

Epictetus’ Stoicism is distinctive in other ways too. Because his interest is in ethics primarily, he does not engage with certain theoretical issues that were debated by the original Stoics and their rivals.

Epictetus’ Influence

Of decisive importance for his currency during the Middle Ages is that he was among a handful of pagan authors approved for reading in the early Church. Epictetus himself was esteemed an anima naturaliter Christiana, by reason of the supposed consistency between his principles and practice.

Pascal shrewdly identifies and correctly describes a central tenet of Epictetus’ teaching. Stoicism purported to be an internally consistent system the doctrines of which were mutually self-entailing across all three branches – logic, physics and ethics.

Over long stretches Descartes’ Discourse on Method, the first classic of modern philosophy, reads like nothing so much as a paraphrase of Epictetus.

The Discourses

Book 1

1.1 Concerning what is in our power and what is not

I have given you a portion of myself instead, the power of positive and negative impulse, of desire and aversion – the power, in other words, of making good use of impressions. If you take care of it and identify with it, you will never be blocked or frustrated; you won’t have to complain, and never will need to blame or flatter anyone.

‘What’s that you say, friend? It’s only my leg you will chain, not even God can conquer my will.’

1.2 How a person can preserve their proper character in any situation

Reflection will show that people are put off by nothing so much as what they think is unreasonable, and attracted to nothing more than what to them seems reasonable. But standards of reasonableness and unreasonableness vary from one person to the next – just as we consider different things good or bad, harmful or beneficial. Which is why education has no goal more important than bringing our preconception of what is reasonable and unreasonable in alignment with nature.

How do we know what is in keeping with our character? Well, how does the bull realize its own strength, rushing out to protect the whole herd when a lion attacks? The possession of a particular talent is instinctively sensed by its owner; so if any of you are so blessed you will be the first to know it. It is true, however, that no bull reaches maturity in an instant, nor do men become heroes overnight. We must endure a winter training, and can’t be dashing into situations for which we aren’t yet prepared.

1.4 On progress

Don’t put your purpose in one place and expect to see progress made somewhere else.

1.6 On providence

Use is one thing, understanding another.

1.7 On the utility of changing arguments, hypothetical arguments and the rest

For what does reason purport to do? ‘Establish what is true, eliminate what is false and suspend judgement in doubtful cases.’

To use one’s impressions recklessly, carelessly and at random, to fail to analyse an argument as either valid proof or fallacy, and, in a word, to fail to see in the act of question and answer what agrees with your position and what conflicts – is nothing wrong in all of that?

1.8 That talents are treacherous for the uneducated

Proof and persuasion are great talents, when they are trained, and especially when they’re complemented by a certain amount of verbal elegance. In general every talent when it gets into the hands of the morally weak comes with the risk of making them conceited and full of themselves. I mean, what’s to stop a promising young student from becoming a slave to – rather than a master of – these topics?

Can’t you tell the difference between what makes people philosophers and the qualities that are only found in them by chance?

Ask me what the real good in man’s case is, and I can only say that it is the right kind of moral character.

If what philosophers say about the kinship of God and man is true, then the only logical step is to do as Socrates did, never replying to the question of where he was from with, ‘I am Athenian,’ or ‘I am from Corinth,’ but always, ‘I am a citizen of the world.’

It is silly and pointless to try to get from another person what one can get for oneself.

1.11 Concerning family affection

Ignorance in discriminating between colours, smells or flavours probably does no great harm. But not to know about right and wrong, about what is natural in man’s case and what is not – is that a minor shortcoming, do you think?’ ‘No, a very great one, I admit.’ ‘Consider now – is everything that people judge to be good and appropriate rightly judged so? Can Jews, Syrians, Egyptians and Romans all be right in the opinions they have about food, for example?’ ‘How could they?’ ‘Instead, if the opinions of the Egyptians are right, I suppose that the others are wrong. Or if the Jews are right, then the others can’t be.’ ‘No, they cannot.’ ‘And where there is ignorance, there is also want of learning and instruction in essentials.’ The man agreed. ‘Once you’ve realized this, you will occupy your mind and devote all your attention toward finding that standard that discriminates between what is natural and what is not; and then apply it to particular cases as they arise.

As the cause is, so is the result.

You see, you are going to have to become a student again – that universal figure of fun – if you really mean to subject your opinions to honest examination.

1.12 On satisfaction

Freedom, you see, is having events go in accordance with our will, never contrary to it.

Freedom is something good and valuable; to arbitrarily wish for things to happen that arbitrarily seem to you best is not good, it’s disgraceful.

Getting an education means learning to bring our will in line with the way things happen – which is to say, as the ruler of the universe arranged.

It is with this arrangement in mind that we should approach instruction, not to alter the facts – since this is neither allowed, nor is it better that it should be – but in order to learn the nature of what concerns us, and keep our will in line with events.

Can we avoid people? How is that possible? And if we associate with them, can we change them? Who gives us that power? What is the alternative – what means can be found for dealing with them? One that ensures that we remain true to our nature, however other people see fit to behave. That’s not what you do, though. No, you gripe and protest against circumstance. If you’re alone, you call it desolation, if you’re in company you describe them all as swindlers and backstabbers; you curse your own parents, your children, your siblings and neighbours. When you are by yourself you should call it peace and liberty, and consider yourself the gods’ equal. When you’re with a large group you shouldn’t say you’re in a mob or crowd, but a guest at a feast or festival – and in that spirit learn to enjoy it.

You should thank the gods for making you strong enough to survive what you cannot control, and only responsible for what you can. The gods have released you from accountability for your parents, your siblings, your body, your possessions – for death and for life itself. They made you responsible only for what is in your power – the proper use of impressions.

1.15 What philosophy professes

How can I stay true to nature even if my brother won’t reconcile with me? ‘Nothing important comes into being overnight; even grapes or figs need time to ripen. If you say that you want a fig now, I will tell you to be patient.

First, you must allow the tree to flower, then put forth fruit; then you have to wait until the fruit is ripe. So if the fruit of a fig tree is not brought to maturity instantly or in an hour, how do you expect the human mind to come to fruition, so quickly and easily? Don’t expect it, even if I were personally to tell you it was possible.’

1.17 Concerning the necessity of logic

Which, I suppose, is why Stoics put logic at the head of our curriculum – for the same reason that, before a quantity of grain can be measured, we must settle on a standard of measurement. If we don’t begin by establishing standards of weight and volume, how are we going to measure or weigh anything?

Antisthenes? It was he who wrote, ‘The beginning of education is the examination of terms.’

1.18 Don’t be angry with wrongdoers

Philosophers say that people are all guided by a single standard. When they assent to a thing, it is because they feel it must be true, when they dissent, it is because they feel something isn’t true, and when they suspend judgement, it is because they feel that the thing is unclear. Similarly, they say that in the case of impulse people feel that its object must be to their advantage, and that it is impossible to consider any one thing advantageous and desire something different, or consider one thing right and have an impulse to do something else.

If all this is true, then what grounds do we have for being angry with anyone?

We use labels like ‘thief’ and ‘robber’ in connection with them, but what do these words mean? They merely signify that people are confused about what is good and what is bad. So should we be angry with them, or should we pity them instead? Show them where they go wrong and you will find that they’ll reform. But unless they see it, they are stuck with nothing better than their usual opinion as their practical guide.

‘Shouldn’t we rid ourselves of people deceived about what’s most important, people who are blind – not in their faculty of vision, their ability to distinguish white from black – but in the moral capacity to distinguish good from bad?’ Put it that way, and you’ll realize how inhumane your position is. It is as if you were to say, ‘Shouldn’t this blind man, and this deaf man, be executed?’

If you must be affected by other people’s misfortunes, show them pity instead of contempt. Drop this readiness to hate and take offence.

We get angry because we put too high a premium on things that they can steal.

Realize that the thief and the adulterer cannot touch what’s yours, only what is common property everywhere and not under your control. If you make light of those things and ignore them, who is left to be angry with? As long as you honour material things, direct your anger at yourself rather than the thief or adulterer.

When starving people see you gobbling down food all by yourself, you know one of them will make a grab at it. So don’t provoke them – don’t air your clothes at the window!

Loss and sorrow are only possible with respect to things we own.

We should discipline ourselves in small things, and from there progress to things of greater value.

1.19 How we should act towards the powerful

A person who enjoys some advantage, or just believes they do, will invariably grow to be arrogant, especially if they are uneducated.

Everything we do is done for our own ends.

1.20 Concerning reason, and how it studies itself

The first and most important duty of the philosopher is to test impressions, choosing between them and only deploying those that have passed the test.

It is a measure of the effort we are prepared to expend to guard against deception when accuracy is at a premium. When it comes to our poor mind, however, we can’t be bothered; we are satisfied accepting any and all impressions, because here the loss we suffer is not obvious.

If you want to know just how little concerned you are about things good and bad, and how serious about things indifferent, compare your attitude to going blind with your attitude about being mentally in the dark. You will realize, I think, how inappropriate your values really are.

1.21 To people who want to be admired

When someone is properly grounded in life, they shouldn’t have to look outside themselves for approval.

1.22 On preconceptions

What does it mean to be getting an education? It means learning to apply natural preconceptions to particular cases as nature prescribes, and distinguishing what is in our power from what is not. The operations of the will are in our power; not in our power are the body, the body’s parts, property, parents, siblings, children, country or friends.

1.24 How we should struggle with circumstance

The true man is revealed in difficult times. So when trouble comes, think of yourself as a wrestler whom God, like a trainer, has paired with a tough young buck. For what purpose? To turn you into Olympic-class material. But this is going to take some sweat to accomplish.

Death, he said, was not evil because it was not dishonourable. Reputation was the empty noise of fools.

1.25 More on the same theme

Some dour, inflexible types will say, ‘I can’t eat at this man’s table if it means listening to his war stories again: “I told you, friend, how I scrambled up the hill; now we came under renewed bombardment…”’ But another person in the same situation might say, ‘The meal is what matters; let him rattle on to his heart’s content.’ It is for you to arrange your priorities; but whatever you decide to do, don’t do it resentfully, as if you were being imposed on. And don’t believe your situation is genuinely bad – no one can make you do that.

Is there smoke in the house? If it’s not suffocating, I will stay indoors; if it proves too much, I’ll leave. Always remember – the door is open.

If you don’t want to be crowded, don’t attend the theatre.

Remember that it is we who torment, we who make difficulties for ourselves – that is, our opinions do.

What, for instance, does it mean to be insulted? Stand by a rock and insult it, and what have you accomplished? If someone responds to insult like a rock, what has the abuser gained with his invective? If, however, he has his victim’s weakness to exploit, then his efforts are worth his while.

1.26 What is the law of life?

Philosophers start us out with logic, since it’s easier, reserving more problematic subjects for later. In the study of logic, there is nothing to distract us; whereas in practical matters our attention is constantly pulled in other directions.

I hope you don’t suppose that if I’m doing the wrong thing it’s by choice. So what else could explain my error but ignorance?

1.27 In how many ways impressions arise, and what aids we should provide against them

Impressions come to us in four ways:

Things are and appear to be;
or they are not, and do not appear to be;
or they are, but do not appear to be;
or they are not, and yet appear to be.
The duty of an educated man in all these cases is to judge correctly. And whatever disturbs our judgement, for that we need to find a solution.

What aid can we find to combat habit? The opposed habit.

Maybe I am not Sarpedon, the son of Zeus, so that I can say in the same grand manner, ‘I will go, and either win the prize for valour myself, or give another the opportunity to gain it.’ The former may be beyond us, but at least the latter is within our reach.

1.28 That we should not be angry with people; and what people account great and small

We take pity on the blind and lame, why don’t we pity people who are blind and lame in respect of what matters most?

Whoever keeps in mind that our actions are all determined by our impressions, which can either be right or wrong – now, if the impression is correct, we are innocent, but if it is incorrect we pay for it ourselves, since it is impossible that someone else should be penalized for our error – whoever keeps this in mind will not be angry or upset with anyone, won’t curse, blame, resent or malign anyone either.

1.29 On steadfastness

The essence of good and evil consists in the condition of our character. And externals are the means by which our character finds its particular good and evil. It finds its good by not attaching value to the means. Correct judgements about externals make our character good, as perverse or distorted ones make it bad.

One person with right judgements is superior to ten without.

Produce a person who can get the better of someone whose judgements are superior. You can’t, though, try as you might. This is God’s law and nature’s: ‘Let the best man win.’ But ‘best’ in his area of expertise.

One body is stronger than another body, many bodies are stronger than one; a thief has the advantage here over one who is not a thief. This is how I came to lose my lamp: the thief was better than I am in staying awake. But he acquired the lamp at a price: he became a thief for its sake, for its sake, he lost his ability to be trusted, for a lamp he became a brute. And he imagined he came out ahead!

You have been given that particular body, these particular parents and brothers, this particular social position and place to live. You come to me hoping that I can somehow change these circumstances for you, not even conscious of the assets that are already yours that make it possible to cope with any situation you face.

If, however, I liberate myself from my master – which is to say, from the emotions that make my master frightening – what troubles can I have? No man is my master any longer.

We need to make allowances for people without the benefit of education, and say to ourselves, ‘He is telling me to do this because he imagines it’s good for himself as well; so I can’t blame him.’

Book II

2.1 That confidence does not conflict with caution

‘Be confident in everything outside the will, and cautious in everything under the will’s control.’

For if evil is a matter of the will, then caution is needed there; and if everything beyond the will and not in our control is immaterial to us, then those things can be approached with confidence. And so, you see, that’s how we can be cautious and confident at the same time – and, in fact, confident owing to our caution. For, being on our guard against evils, we approach things whose nature is not evil in a spirit of assurance.

Instead, however, we act like deer. When deer are frightened by the feathers, they seek safety in the hunters’ nets. Confusing ruin with refuge, they come to an ill-timed death. Similarly, fear afflicts us in matters outside the will’s control, while we act confidently and casually in matters dependent on the will as if they were of no importance.

Just as masks scare and frighten children since they haven’t seen them before, we react to events in much the same way and for much the same reason.

Pain too is just a scary mask: look under it and you will see. The body sometimes suffers, but relief is never far behind. And if that isn’t good enough for you, the door stands open; otherwise put up with it.

2.2 On tranquility

If you are headed to court, consider carefully what it is you want to keep and in what area you want to win. If you want to keep your character in line with nature, you have every hope of success, all the means you need, and not a worry in the world. Because if you want to keep what is yours by right and is by nature free – and these are the only things you want – you have nothing to worry about. No one else controls them or can take them away from you.

If, however, you want to keep hold of externals – your body, belongings and reputation – then my advice to you is that your preparations better begin early and will have to be long. You will need to research the character of the judge, of course, and make a study of your opponent too. If grovelling is called for, then be prepared to grovel – to weep and holler too. Whenever externals are more important to you than your own integrity, then be prepared to serve them the remainder of your life. Don’t hedge and agree to be their slave, then change your mind later; commit to one or the other position at once and without reserve. Choose to be either free or a slave, enlightened or a fool, a thoroughbred or a nag. Either resign yourself to a life of abuse till you die, or escape it immediately.

Make my mind adaptable to any circumstance.

It was a shrewd reply that Diogenes gave the person who asked him for a letter of reference: ‘The person whose favour you seek will know that you’re human as soon as he sees you; as to whether you’re a good or a bad one – well, either he’s a competent judge of character or he isn’t. If he is, he can decide that on his own too, and if he’s not, a thousand letters from me aren’t going to make him one. A coin might as well ask for a recommendation to get someone to declare it genuine. If that someone is trained in distinguishing authentic coins from counterfeit, it will speak for itself.’

2.5 How confidence and carefulness are compatible

Material things per se are indifferent, but the use we make of them is not indifferent.

In life our first job is this, to divide and distinguish things into two categories: externals I cannot control, but the choices I make with regard to them I do control.

That’s what we need: the star athlete’s concentration, together with his coolness, as if it were just another ball we were playing with too. To be sure, external things of whatever kind require skill in their use, but we must not grow attached to them; whatever they are, they should only serve for us to show how skilled we are in our handling of them.

It’s like weaving: the weaver does not make the wool, he makes the best use of whatever wool he’s given. God gives you food and property, and can take them back – your body too. Work with the material you are given.

2.6 On ‘indifference’

It is good to be clear about the level of your talent and training. That way, when unfamiliar topics arise, you will know enough to keep still, and not be put out if there are students more advanced than you. You will show your own superiority in logic; and if others are disconcerted over that, mollify them by saying, ‘Well, I had a good teacher.’ The same applies to subjects that require some practical training; don’t pretend you have a particular skill if you don’t yet; yield to whoever has the requisite experience; and for your own part take satisfaction in an awareness that your persistence is helping you become expert in the subject yourself.

2.8 What is the substance of the good?

I have the strength – of a philosopher. ‘And what strength would that be?’ A will that never fails to get what it wants, a faculty of aversion that always avoids what it dislikes, proper impulse, careful purpose and disciplined assent.

Philosophers rightly say, ‘If a good person knew that sickness, death or disability lay in his future, he would actually invite them, because he realizes that this is part of the universal plan and that the universe has precedence over a constituent, and the city over any one citizen. But since we don’t know the future, we’re justified in sticking to things that are preferable by nature, because this, after all, is our instinct from birth.

Never get into family fights over material things; give them up willingly, and your moral standing will increase in proportion.

If you lost the capacity to read, or play music, you would think it was a disaster, but you think nothing of losing the capacity to be honest, decent and civilized.

‘Well, does that mean that if someone wrongs me I shouldn’t hurt them in return?’ First of all, look at what wrongdoing is and remember what you have heard about it from philosophers. Because if ‘good’ as well as ‘bad’ really relate to our choices, then consider whether your position does not amount to saying something like, ‘Well, since that guy hurt himself with the injustice he did me, shouldn’t I wrong him in order to hurt myself in retaliation?’ So why don’t we actually picture it to ourselves this way? Instead, we see injury only where physical or financial loss is incurred, whereas if the loss stems from our own choices, then we don’t suspect any harm has been done. After all, we don’t get a headache after an error in judgement or an act of injustice; we don’t get eye trouble or stomach ache, we don’t lose property. And for us those are the only things that matter. As to whether our character will remain loyal and honest, or become false and depraved, we don’t care about that in the least – except insofar as it comes up for examination in school; the result being that our debating skills improve at the cost of our character.

2.11 Starting philosophy

People who come to philosophy the right way – by the front door, as it were – begin by acknowledging their own faults and limitations in areas of most urgency.

This is where opinions become an issue. Starting with the ideas we take for granted, we get into arguments whenever we apply them incorrectly. If, along with the innate ideas, we came into the world with knowledge of how they should be applied, we would be perfect wise men from the moment we were born.

Here you have philosophy’s starting point: we find that people cannot agree among themselves, and we go in search of the source of their disagreement. In time, we come to scorn and dismiss simple opinion, and look for a way to determine if an opinion is right or wrong. At last, we focus on finding a standard that we can invoke, just as the scale was invented to measure weights, and the carpenter’s rule devised to distinguish straight from crooked.

The fact that someone holds this or that opinion will not suffice to make it true, any more than we are inclined to trust a person’s word in dealing with weights and measures. In both cases, we have developed an objective standard instead.

That is the way things are weighed and disagreements settled – when standards are established. Philosophy aims to test and set such standards. And the wise man is advised to make use of their findings right away.

2.12 On the art of argumentation

The philosophers of our school have told us precisely what we need to learn in order to know how to practise logical argument. But when it comes to practising it correctly in a book iike particular situation – there we have no experience at all. Just give us a random person to engage in dialogue and we won’t know what to do with him. After asking the person a few questions, if we don’t get the kinds of answer we expect, we throw up our hands and resort to ridicule or verbal abuse, saying, ‘He’s not a philosopher, it just isn’t possible to engage him in dialogue.’ Well, when a guide meets up with someone who is lost, ordinarily his reaction is to direct him on the right path, not mock or malign him, then turn on his heel and walk away. As for you, lead someone to the truth and you will find that he can follow. But as long as you don’t point it out to him, don’t make fun of him; be aware of what you need to work on instead.

That is what Socrates would do: he would quit only after he had fleshed out an idea and explored its implications.

The first thing Socrates was known for – never turning dialogue into dispute, never introducing rudeness or invective, although he would put up with the insults of others in order to avoid a fight.

One of the highest forms of compliment is conveyed in the line: He could cut short a quarrel, however great, with his diplomacy.

2.13 On nerves

Whenever I see a person suffering from nervousness, I think, well, what can he expect? If he had not set his sights on things outside man’s control, his nervousness would end at once.

Take a lyre player: he’s relaxed when he performs alone, but put him in front of an audience, and it’s a different story, no matter how beautiful his voice or how well he plays the instrument. Why? Because he not only wants to perform well, he wants to be well received – and the latter lies outside his control.

He is confident as far as his knowledge of music is concerned – the views of the public carry no weight with him there. His anxiety stems from lack of knowledge and lack of practice in other areas. Which are what? He doesn’t know what an audience is, or what approval from an audience amounts to.

We agonize over our body, our money, or what the emperor is going to decree – never about anything inside us. I mean, do we worry whether we are going to make an error in judgement? No, because it is under our control.

No expert needs validation from an amateur. So what do I need your approval for? You don’t know the measure of a man, you haven’t studied to learn what a good or a bad person is, and how each one gets that way. No wonder you’re not a good person yourself.

You cannot suffer for another person’s fault. So don’t worry about the behaviour of others.

When you are about to spell the name ‘Dion’, are you afraid that you will slip up?

‘No.’ And why not? It’s because you have practice in writing the name.

‘True.’ And you would have the same confidence reading it.

‘Yes.’ The reason is that any discipline brings with it a measure of strength and confidence in the corresponding arts.

Don’t put on airs and call yourself a philosopher. Face up to who your betters are. As long as you have this attachment to the body, be ready to submit to anyone or anything of superior physical force.

2.14 To Naso

The learning process is boring to anyone completely new to, and unfamiliar with, a skill. Now, the skill’s finished product leaves no doubt as to its utility, most are even pleasing or attractive. It is not exciting, for instance, to follow the progress of a shoemaker in his art, but shoes are not only useful, they are usually aesthetically pleasing to a degree. Or the training of a carpenter – it is very tedious for people who are not carpenters to watch, but the finished cabinetry justifies the effort. Music makes my point most obviously: attend a music lesson, and you will think it involves the most monotonous training of all. But the results please and entertain everyone.

In our school, we picture the philosopher’s goal more or less as follows: bring the will in line with events, so that nothing happens contrary to our wishes and, conversely, nothing fails to happen that we want to happen. Pursue it, and the reward is that neither desire nor aversion will fail in their aims; and we will fill all our roles in society – as son, father, brother, citizen, man, woman, neighbour, fellow voyager, ruler or ruled – without conflict, fear or rancour. That is how we picture the philosopher’s goal. The next step is finding how to make it reality.

Philosophers say that the first thing to learn is that God exists, that he governs the world, and that we cannot keep our actions secret, that even our thoughts and inclinations are known to him. The next thing to learn about is the divine nature, because we will have to imitate the gods if we intend to obey them and win their favour. If the divine nature is trustworthy, then we should be trustworthy; if it is free, then we should be free; likewise if it is benevolent and forgiving. All our thoughts and behaviour should be shaped on the divine model.

So where to begin? If you are prepared for it, I would say that you need to begin by understanding the meaning of words.

Our condition can be compared to a festival. Cattle are brought in to be sold, and most of the people attend to either buy or sell; but there a few who come simply to see how and why the festival is organized, who put it on, and for what purpose.

It’s just the same in this festival here: some people are like the cattle that care only for their feed; those of you focused on wealth, property, a large household, public status – all this is nothing more than cattle fodder. But a few people in the crowd are capable of reflection; what is this world, they want to know, and who runs it? Someone must – for no country or estate can function for any length of time without its governor or steward. And this design, so big, so beautiful and so well planned – can it run on its own, haphazardly?

There is a ruler. But who is he, and how does he exercise control? What are we like, who are his descendants, and for what purpose were we born? Shouldn’t there be some link between us, some connection? That’s what occupies a few, who spend all their spare time seeing and learning as much as they can about the festival before the time comes to get up and leave. Naturally, they are laughed at by the majority; much the way those who make money at the games laugh at those who are only there to watch. And I suppose if cattle had opinions, they would make fun of anyone interested in anything besides the grass!

2.15 To people who cling hard to certain of their decisions

Some people suppose that the virtue of resolution, when considered in connection with the fact that nature made the will free and untrammelled, and everything else blocked, checked, slavish and external, entails that our decisions should all be discourses honoured to the extent of never backing off from one an inch. No – the decision first must be well founded.

Begin with a firm foundation; evaluate your decision to see if it is valid – then there will be a basis for this rigid resolve of yours. If your foundation is rotten or crumbling, not a thing should be built on it,∗ and the bigger and grander you make it, the sooner it will collapse.

‘A fool cannot be convinced or even compelled to renounce his folly.’

‘I’ve made a decision.’ Yes, so have lunatics. But the more fixed their delusions, the more medication they require. Do what sick people do, call on the doctor and say to him, ‘Doctor, I’m sick and need your help. I promise to follow whatever you prescribe.’

Similarly, I expect to hear from you, ‘I am lost and don’t know what I should do. I’ve come to you to find out.’ Instead, I get, ‘Talk to me about anything else; in this matter my mind’s made up.’

‘That was my decision.’ Realize that this irrationality means one day you might well switch to accepting money, and with the same degree of passion announce, ‘This is my decision.’ You’re like someone afflicted with certain illnesses, which manifest in different parts of the body at different times. It’s the same with the unhealthy mind; what view it will incline to no one can ever guess. And when this arbitrariness is reinforced by strength of purpose, the illness becomes past help or healing.

2.16 We do not regularly put our beliefs about good and bad into practice

You think you are the cause of their unhappiness? No; the cause of their disturbance is the same as yours: judgements. Overhaul your judgements and, if they’re smart, they will overhaul theirs. Otherwise, their unhappiness will be of their own making.

2.17 How to adapt preconceptions to everyday instances

The first thing a pretender to philosophy must do is get rid of their presuppositions; a person is not going to undertake to learn anything that they think they already know.

2.18 How to fight against impressions

Every habit and faculty is formed or strengthened by the corresponding act – walking makes you walk better, running makes you a better runner. If you want to be literate, read, if you want to be a painter, paint. Go a month without reading, occupied with something else, and you’ll see what the result is.

So if you like doing something, do it regularly; if you don’t like doing something, make a habit of doing something different.

The same goes for moral inclinations. When you get angry, you should know that you aren’t guilty of an isolated lapse, you’ve encouraged a trend and thrown fuel on the fire. When you can’t resist sex with someone, don’t think of it as a temporary setback; you’ve fed your weakness and made it harder to uproot. It is inevitable that continuous behaviour of any one kind is going to instil new habits and tendencies, while steadily confirming old ones.

So if you don’t want to be cantankerous, don’t feed your temper, or multiply incidents of anger. Suppress the first impulse to be angry, then begin to count the days on which you don’t get mad.

How does one get there? Start by wanting to please yourself, for a change, and appear worthy in the eyes of God. Desire to become pure, and, once pure, you will be at ease with yourself, and comfortable in the company of God. Then, as Plato said, when a dangerous impression confronts you, go and expiate the gods with sacrifice, go to the temples to supplicate the gods for protection. It will even do to socialize with men of good character, in order to model your life on theirs, whether you choose someone living or someone from the past.

If you lose the struggle once, but insist that next time it will be different, then repeat the same routine – be sure that in the end you will be in so sad and weakened a condition that you won’t even realize your mistakes, you’ll begin to rationalize your misbehaviour. You will be living testimony to Hesiod’s verse: ‘Make a bad beginning and you’ll contend with troubles ever after.’

2.20 Against the Epicureans and Academics

You might almost say that nothing proves the validity of a statement more than finding someone forced to use it while at the same time denying that it is sound.

2.21 On inconsistency

People are ready to acknowledge some of their faults, but will admit to others only with reluctance. No one, at any rate, will admit to being stupid or obtuse. On the contrary, you hear people on every side saying, ‘If only I had as much luck as I have sense.’

People will admit to practically nothing that they regard as dishonourable. Nor are they quick to confess to selfish or asocial behaviour.

In general, where people are led to acknowledge a fault it is because they imagine there is something involuntary about it. So it is with shyness and pity.

Even if they confess to a lack of self-control, love is usually blamed, to gain sympathy for something supposedly beyond our control. Injustice, on the other hand, they don’t consider involuntary in any sense. But jealousy, in their view, has an instinctive air about it, so they will own up to that too.

2.22 Of love and friendship

Whatever you show consideration for, you are naturally inclined to love.

It is a universal law – have no illusions – that every creature alive is attached to nothing so much as to its own self-interest.

The upshot is that if you identify self-interest with piety, honesty, country, parents and friends, then they are all secure. But separate them, and friends, family, country and morality itself all come to nothing, outweighed by self-interest.

Wherever ‘me’ and ‘mine’ are, that’s where every creature necessarily tends. If we locate them in the body, then the body will be the dominant force in our lives. If it’s in our faculty of will, then that will dominate. Likewise with externals.

Remember Plato’s dictum: ‘Every soul is deprived of the truth against its will.’

2.23 On the art of expression

Everyone would read with greater ease and pleasure a book written in a legible hand. And so it is with a speech: everyone would listen with greater ease to one composed in well-wrought and well-organized prose

If some things are of greater value, however, that does not mean we should slight the contribution of the others.

Book III

3.3 What is the material proper to the good person and what is the goal they should strive to achieve

Just as it is not in the power of a banker or retailer to reject Caesar’s money – they are forced to make a proportional exchange whether they want to or not – so it is with the soul: when presented with something good it gravitates toward it immediately, as it recoils from anything bad. The soul will never reject a clear impression of good, any more than Caesar’s coin can be refused. The actions of gods as well as men are entirely based on this principle.

Here is the primary means of training yourself:

As soon as you leave in the morning, subject whatever you see or hear to close study.
Then formulate answers as if they were posing questions. Today what did you see – some beautiful woman or handsome man?
Test them by your rule – does their beauty have any bearing on your character? If not, forget them.
What else did you see? Someone in mourning for the death of a child? Apply your rule. Death too is indifferent, so dismiss it from your mind.
A consul crossed your path; apply your rule.
What category of thing is a consulship – a good of the mind or one of matter? If it’s the latter, then out with it, it failed our test. If it is nothing to you, reject it.
Now, if we continued to practise this discipline every day from morning to night, we would see some results, by God.

3.4 To someone who became a little too excited in the theatre

But out in public don’t ask for too much by hoping to gain a monopoly on a privilege shared by all – otherwise get used to being vilified. Because when you engage in the same things as the masses, you lower yourself to their level.

3.5 To students who leave school for reasons of ill health

What does Socrates say? ‘One person likes tending to his farm, another to his horse; I like to daily monitor my self-improvement.’

It’s no small thing – can we agree? – never to accuse anyone, God or man, never to blame anyone, and to have the same countenance going in or out. These are the things that Socrates knew, and yet he never said that he knew or taught anything; and if anyone came looking for phrases or theories he would escort them to either Protagoras or Hippias. He would have escorted someone looking for vegetables to a greengrocer in exactly the same way. Which of you has the same attitude? If you did, you would gladly put up with illness, hunger and death. Any of you who have been in love with some girl or other knows I speak the truth.

3.8 Why training for impressions is necessary

Just as we practise answering sophistic questions, so should we train for impressions every day, as they implicitly pose their own questions.

‘So-and-so’s son died.’ (‘The question’). Answer: ‘Since it’s nothing he can control, it isn’t bad.’
‘So and so’s father left his son nothing when he died.’ ‘Not something the son can control, so not bad.’
‘Caesar condemned him.’ ‘Outside his control – not bad.’
‘He lamented these events.’ ‘That is in his control – and bad.’
‘He withstood it like a man.’ ‘That is in his control – and good.’
If we make a habit of such analysis, we will make progress, because we will never assent to anything unless it involves a cognitive impression.

It is inevitable if you enter into relations with people on a regular basis, either for conversation, dining or simple friendship, that you will grow to be like them, unless you can get them to emulate you.

Inevitably you are going to adopt the common person’s mentality instead. So why are they stronger than you? Because they talk such garbage from conviction, whereas your fine talk is no more than lip service.

Keep well out of the sun, then, so long as your principles are as pliant as wax.

This is why philosophers say that we should even leave our native land, since old habits pull us back and make it hard to embark on a new routine; also, we can’t stand running into people who say, ‘Look at him, this so-and-so, trying to become a philosopher.’ Similarly, doctors, for good reason, send their most chronic patients away to a different environment and a different climate. Adopt new habits yourself: consolidate your principles by putting them into practice.

‘How do I handle chance impressions, naturally or unnaturally? Do I respond to them as I should, or don’t I? Do I tell externals that they are nothing to me?’ Unless this describes you, forsake your old habits, and your non-philosophical friends, if you hope to amount to anything.

3.20 Every circumstance represents an opportunity

You do not know how to be helped by your fellow man. I have a bad neighbour – bad, that is, for himself. For me, though, he is good: he exercises my powers of fairness and sociability. A bad father, likewise, is bad for himself, but for me represents a blessing.

Everything, you see, that you throw at me I will transform into a blessing, a boon – something dignified, even enviable.

3.22 On Cynicism

The Cynic, in contrast, only has his honour to protect him. Without it he will be exposed to shame – naked, and out of doors. Honour is his house, his gate, his guards, his cloak of darkness.

To begin with, then, you must purify your intellect by training your thoughts: ‘My mind represents for me my medium – like wood to a carpenter, or leather to a shoemaker. The goal in my case is the correct use of impressions.

Whatever is inferior, in that respect in which it is inferior, must yield to what is superior.

3.23 On rhetorical display

First, tell yourself what you want to be, then act your part accordingly. This, after all, is what we find to be the rule in just about every other field. Athletes decide first what they want to be, then proceed to do what is necessary.

If they decide to be a distance runner, it means one particular diet, racecourse, workout and mode of physical therapy. If they want to be sprinters, those factors are different. And if it’s a pentathlete they want to be, they vary again. You will find the same thing true of the crafts. If you want to be a carpenter, you will have one kind of training, if you want to be a sculptor, quite another. All our efforts must be directed towards an end, or we will act in vain. If it is not the right end, we will fail utterly.

Now, there are two standards of reference, one general and one particular. To begin with, then, we must act like a human being, which means, not like a sheep, however gentle, nor violently like a wild beast. The particular standard relates to the skill and the end to which it is put. The musician should act like a musician, the carpenter like a carpenter, the philosopher like a philosopher, the orator like an orator. Therefore, when you say, ‘Come and hear me lecture,’ be sure you have a purpose in lecturing. When you find your direction, check to make sure that it is the right one. Is your goal to educate or be praised?

Can anyone educate others, though, if they have not first been educated themselves? No – any more than a person who is not a carpenter can give lessons in carpentry, or someone who is not a cobbler can give lessons in making shoes.

Rufus used to say, ‘If you have nothing better to do than praise me for it, then my speech was a failure.’

The school of a philosopher is a hospital. When you leave, you should have suffered, not enjoyed yourself. Because you enter, not in a state of health, but with a dislocated shoulder, it may be, or an abscess, a fistula, or head pain.

Isn’t there the protreptic style of discourse?’ Naturally – as there are the elenctic and didactic styles. But whoever included the epideictic style in the curriculum as a fourth subject? The hortatory style purports to expose to all the conflict in which they are embroiled, and how they are interested in everything except what they want.

What people want is what conduces to happiness; but they look for it in the wrong place.

Book IV

4.1 On freedom

Free is the person who lives as he wishes and cannot be coerced, impeded or compelled, whose impulses cannot be thwarted, who always gets what he desires and never has to experience what he would rather avoid.

The easier its life, the more slavish it is.

Diogenes says somewhere that one way to guarantee freedom is to be ready to die.

Whenever you see someone grovel before another, or flatter them insincerely, you can safely assume that that person is not free.

What is it then that renders a person free and independent? Money is not the answer, nor is a governorship, a consulship, or even a kingdom. Something else needs to be found. Well, what makes for freedom and fluency in the practice of writing? Knowledge of how to write. The same goes for the practice of playing an instrument. It follows that, in the conduct of life, there must be a science to living well.

How is a fortress demolished? Not with weapons or fire – with judgements. We can capture the physical fortress, the one in the city, but our judgements about illness, or about attractive women, remain to be dislodged from the fortress inside us, together with the tyrants whom we host every day, though their identities change over time.

By a process of logical elimination, the conclusion emerges that we will come through safely only by allying ourselves with God. ‘What do you mean, “allying ourselves”?’ Acting in such a way that, whatever God wants, we want too; and by inversion whatever he does not want, this we do not want either. How can we do this? By paying attention to the pattern of God’s purpose and design.
To start with, then, what has he given me as mine outright, and what has hereserved to himself? He has conferred on me the functions of the will, made them mine and made them proof against resistance or obstruction. But the body, which is made of clay – how could he make that unconstrained? So he assigned it its place in the cosmic cycle – the same as other material things like my furniture, my house, my wife and children.

So don’t go up against God by hoping for what is unattainable, namely to keep forever what doesn’t really belong to you. Keep them in the spirit they were given, for as long as possible. If he gives he also takes away. So why try and resist him? It would be stupid to oppose one who is stronger than I, but more importantly, it would be wrong.

Don’t get attached to them and they won’t be. Don’t tell yourself that they’re indispensable and they aren’t. Those are the reflections you should recur to morning and night. Start with things that are least valuable and most liable to be lost – things such as a jug or a glass – and proceed to apply the same ideas to clothes, pets, livestock, property; then to yourself, your body, the body’s parts, your children, your siblings and your wife. Look on every side and mentally discard them.

Purify your thoughts, in case of an attachment or devotion to something that doesn’t belong to you and will hurt to have wrenched away. And as you exercise daily, as you do at the gym, do not say that you are philosophizing (admittedly a pretentious claim), but that you are a slave presenting your emancipator; because this is genuine freedom that you cultivate.

A good actor preserves his reputation not by speaking lines out of turn but by knowing when to talk – and when to keep quiet.

For true, inviolable, unassailable freedom, yield to God when he asks for something back that he earlier gave you. Prepare yourself, as Plato says, not just for death, but for torture, exile, flogging – and the loss of everything not belonging to you. You will be a slave among slaves otherwise; even if you are a consul ten thousand times over, even if you make your residence on the Palatine, you will be a slave none the less.

Freedom is not achieved by satisfying desire, but by eliminating it.

Work day and night to attain a liberated frame of mind.

You should be especially careful when associating with one of your former friends or acquaintances not to sink to their level; otherwise you will lose yourself. If you are troubled by the idea that ‘He’ll think I’m boring and won’t treat me the way he used to,’ remember that everything comes at a price. It isn’t possible to change your behaviour and still be the same person you were before.

So choose: either regain the love of your old friends by reverting to your former self or remain better than you once were and forfeit their affection. And if you choose the latter, stick to it from here on out. Don’t give in to second thoughts, because no one who wavers will make progress. And if you are committed to making progress and ready to devote yourself to the effort, then give up everything else. Otherwise your ambivalence will only ensure that you don’t make progress, and you won’t even get to revisit the pleasures of the past.

4.3 What to aim for in exchange for what

If you forfeit an external possession, make sure to notice what you get in return. If it is something more valuable, never say, ‘I have suffered a loss.’

Very little is needed for everything to be upset and ruined, only a slight lapse in reason.

4.4 To those intent on living quietly

Reading should serve the goal of attaining peace; if it doesn’t make you peaceful, what good is it?

‘Isn’t reading a kind of preparation for life?’ But life is composed of things other than books. It is as if an athlete, on entering the stadium, were to complain that he’s not outside exercising. This was the goal of your exercise, of your weights, your practice ring and your training partners. You want them now that the time to exploit them has arrived?

The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.

Never praise or blame people on common grounds; look to their judgements exclusively. Because that is the determining factor, which makes everyone’s actions either good or bad.

Be happy when you find that doctrines you have learned and analysed are being tested by real events.

Fragments

Whoever chafes at the conditions dealt by fate is unskilled in the art of life; whoever bears with them nobly and makes wise use of the results is a man who deserves to be considered good.

Epictetus would also say that there were two vices much blacker and more serious than the rest:

Lack of persistence and
Lack of self-control.
The former means we cannot bear or endure hardships that we have to endure, the latter means that we cannot resist pleasures or other things we ought to resist.
‘Two words,’ he says, ‘should be committed to memory and obeyed by alternately exhorting and restraining ourselves, words that will ensure we lead a mainly blameless and untroubled life.’ These two words, he used to say, were ‘persist and resist’.

We should realize that an opinion is not easily formed unless a person says and hears the same things every day and practises them in real life.

People with a strong physical constitution can tolerate extremes of hot and cold; people of strong mental health can handle anger, grief, joy and the other emotions.

Remember from now on whenever something tends to make you unhappy, draw on this principle: ‘This is no misfortune; but bearing with it bravely is a blessing.’

Enchiridion

Chapter 1

So make a practice at once of saying to every strong impression: ‘An impression is all you are, not the source of the impression.’ Then test and assess it with your criteria, but one primarily: ask, ‘Is this something that is, or is not, in my control?’ And if it’s not one of the things that you control, be ready with the reaction, ‘Then it’s none of my concern.’

Chapter 2

Remove it from anything not in our power to control, and direct it instead toward things contrary to our nature that we do control. As for desire, suspend it completely for now. Because if you desire something outside your control, you are bound to be disappointed; and even things we do control, which under other circumstances would be deserving of our desire, are not yet within our power to attain. Restrict yourself to choice and refusal; and exercise them carefully, with discipline and detachment

Chapter 5

It is not events that disturb people, it is their judgements concerning them.

An ignorant person is inclined to blame others for his own misfortune. To blame oneself is proof of progress. But the wise man never has to blame another or himself.

Chapter 8

Don’t hope that events will turn out the way you want, welcome events in whichever way they happen: this is the path to peace.

Chapter 9

Sickness is a problem for the body, not the mind – unless the mind decides that it is a problem.

Chapter 10

For every challenge, remember the resources you have within you to cope with it.

Chapter 11

Under no circumstances ever say ‘I have lost something,’ only ‘I returned it.’

Chapter 13

If you want to make progress, put up with being perceived as ignorant or naive in worldly matters, don’t aspire to a reputation for sagacity. If you do impress others as somebody, don’t altogether believe it. You have to realize, it isn’t easy to keep your will in agreement with nature, as well as externals. Caring about the one inevitably means you are going to shortchange the other.

Chapter 15

Remember to act always as if you were at a symposium. When the food or drink comes around, reach out and take some politely; if it passes you by don’t try pulling it back. And if it has not reached you yet, don’t let your desire run ahead of you, be patient until your turn comes. Adopt a similar attitude with regard to children, wife, wealth and status, and in time, you will be entitled to dine with the gods. Go further and decline these goods even when they are on offer and you will have a share in the gods’ power as well as their company.

Chapter 19

You will never have to experience defeat if you avoid contests whose outcome is outside your control.

Chapter 21

Keep the prospect of death, exile and all such apparent tragedies before you every day – especially death – and you will never have an abject thought, or desire anything to excess.

Chapter 25

One who dances attendance on a superior is rewarded differently from someone who sits out. Refuse to praise someone and you cannot expect the same compensation as a flatterer. It would be unfair and greedy on your part, then, to decline to pay the price that these privileges entail and hope to get them free.

if you won’t pay the bill and still want the benefits, you are not only greedy but a fool.

Chapter 26

When a friend breaks a glass, we are quick to say, ‘Oh, bad luck.’ It’s only reasonable, then, that when a glass of your own breaks, you accept it in the same patient spirit. Moving on to graver things: when somebody’s wife or child dies, to a man we all routinely say, ‘Well, that’s part of life.’ But if one of our own family is involved, then right away it’s ‘Poor, poor me!’ We would do better to remember how we react when a similar loss afflicts others.

Chapter 27

Just as a target is not set up in order to be missed, so evil is no natural part of the world’s design.

Chapter 29

We are not all cut out for the same thing.

Ponder whether you’re prepared to pay this price for serenity, freedom and calm. If not, then don’t go near it – don’t, like children, be a philosopher now, a tax officer later, then an orator or politician. These roles don’t mix; you have to be one person, good or bad. You have to care either for your mind or for material things; specialize in what is within you or without – which is to say, you have to stick to the role of philosopher or layman.

Chapter 31

Piety cannot exist apart from self-interest. The upshot is, when you practise using desire and aversion correctly, you practise being pious.

Chapter 33

Settle on the type of person you want to be and stick to it, whether alone or in company.

Let silence be your goal for the most part; say only what is necessary, and be brief about it. Above all don’t gossip about people, praising, blaming or comparing them.

Try to influence your friends to speak appropriately by your example. If you find yourself in unfamiliar company, however, keep quiet.

Keep laughter to a minimum.

If possible, refuse altogether to take an oath.

Avoid fraternizing with non-philosophers.

Where the body is concerned, take only what is strictly necessary in the way of food, drink, clothing, shelter and household slaves. Cut out luxury and ostentation altogether.

Concerning sex, stay as chaste as you can before marriage. If you do indulge, engage only in licit liaisons.

If you learn that someone is speaking ill of you, don’t try to defend yourself against the rumours; respond instead with, ‘Yes, and he doesn’t know the half of it, because he could have said more.

There is no call to be a regular at the public games. But if the occasion should arise and you go, don’t be seen siding with anyone except yourself; which is to say, hope only for what happens to happen, and for the actual winner to win; then you won’t be unhappy.

Don’t too soon, or too lightly, attend other people’s lectures; when you do go remain serious and reserved, without being disagreeable.

When you are going to meet someone, especially someone deemed important, imagine to yourself what Socrates or Zeno would have done in the situation and you won’t fail to get on, whatever happens.

In your conversation, don’t dwell at excessive length on your own deeds or adventures.

And avoid trying to be funny.

It is also not a good idea to venture on profanity.

Chapter 34

As with impressions generally, if you get an impression of something pleasurable, watch yourself so that you are not carried away by it. Take a minute and let the matter wait on you. Then reflect on both intervals of time: the time you will have to experience the pleasure, and the time after its enjoyment that you will beat yourself up over it. Contrast that with how happy and pleased you’ll be if you abstain. If the chance to do the deed presents itself, take extra care that you are not overcome by its seductiveness, pleasure and allure. Counter temptation by remembering how much better will be the knowledge that you resisted.

Chapter 35

If you decide to do something, don’t shrink from being seen doing it, even if the majority of people disapprove. If you’re wrong to do it, then you should shrink from doing it altogether; but if you’re right, then why worry how people will judge you?

Chapter 37

If you undertake a role beyond your means, you will not only embarrass yourself in that, you miss the chance of a role that you might have filled successfully.

Chapter 38

As you are careful when you walk not to step on a nail or turn your ankle, so you should take care not to do any injury to your character at the same time. Exercise such caution whenever we act, and we will perform the act with less risk of injury.

Chapter 41

It shows a lack of refinement to spend a lot of time exercising, eating, drinking, defecating or copulating. Tending to the body’s needs should be done incidentally, as it were; the mind and its functions require the bulk of our attention.

Chapter 42

Treat your critic with more compassion. Say to yourself each time, ‘He did what he believed was right.’

Chapter 45

Someone bathes in haste; don’t say he bathes badly, but in haste. Someone drinks a lot of wine; don’t say he drinks badly, but a lot. Until you know their reasons, how do you know that their actions are vicious? This will save you from perceiving one thing clearly, but then assenting to something different.

Chapter 46

Never identify yourself as a philosopher or speak much to non-philosophers about your principles; act in line with those principles. At a dinner party, for instance, don’t tell people the right way to eat, just eat the right way.

Sheep don’t bring their owners grass to prove to them how much they’ve eaten, they digest it inwardly and outwardly bring forth milk and wool. So don’t make a show of your philosophical learning to the uninitiated, show them by your actions what you have absorbed.

Chapter 48

The mark and attitude of the ordinary man: never look for help or harm from yourself, only from outsiders. The mark and attitude of the philosopher: look for help and harm exclusively from yourself.

And the signs of a person making progress: he never criticizes, praises, blames or points the finger, or represents himself as knowing or amounting to anything. If he experiences frustration or disappointment, he points the finger at himself. If he’s praised, he’s more amused than elated. And if he’s criticized, he won’t bother to respond.

Chapter 50

Whatever your mission, stick by it as if it were a law and you would be committing sacrilege to betray it. Pay no attention to whatever people might say; this no longer should influence you.

Chapter 51

How long will you wait before you demand the best of yourself, and trust reason to determine what is best?

Decide that you are an adult who is going to devote the rest of your life to making progress. Abide by what seems best as if it were an inviolable law. When faced with anything painful or pleasurable, anything bringing glory or disrepute, realize that the crisis is now, that the Olympics have started, and waiting is no longer an option; that the chance for progress, to keep or lose, turns on the events of a single day.

Chapter 52

The first and most important field of philosophy is the application of principles such as ‘Do not lie.’
Next come the proofs, such as why we should not lie.
The third field supports and articulates the proofs, by asking, for example, ‘How does this prove it? What exactly is a proof, what is logical inference, what is contradiction, what is truth, what is falsehood?’
Thus, the third field is necessary because of the second, and the second because of the first.
The most important, though, the one that should occupy most of our time, is the first.
But we do just the opposite. We are preoccupied with the third field and give that all our attention, passing the first by altogether.
The result is that we lie – but have no difficulty proving why we shouldn’t.