Epictetus

“ And with the attainment of his personal freedom there must have come such an upwelling of gratitude to God as that which finds expression in the beautiful hymn of praise concluding the sixteenth chapter of the first book, so that, while most Stoics assumed or at least recognized the possibility of a kind of immortality, he could wholly dispense with that desire for the survival of personality after death which even Marcus Aurelius felt to be almost necessary for his own austere ideal of happiness. ”

“ Many of the good things of life which others enjoyed as a matter of course he had grown accustomed never to demand for himself; and the social obligations for the maintenance and advancement of order and civilization, towards which men of higher station were sensitive, clearly did not weigh heavily upon his conscience. His whole teaching was to make men free and happy by a severe restriction of effort to the realm of the moral nature. ”

“ The man who reconciles his will to the will of God, and so recognizes that every event is necessary and reasonable for the best interest of the whole, feels no discontent with anything outside the control of his free will. His happiness he finds in filling the role which God has assigned him, becoming thereby a voluntary co-worker with God, and in filling this role no man can hinder him. ”

“ For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. ”

“ The result is for our modern thinking an almost incredible mixture of Theism, Pantheism, and Polytheism, and it is impossible, out of detached expressions, to construct a consistent system. As a matter of fact, with a naïve faith in God as a kind of personification of the soul's desire, he seems to have cherished simultaneously all of these mutually exclusive views of his nature. ”

“ Corresponding to assent or dissent in the realm of the intellectual are desire or aversion in the realm of good and evil, which is the most important thing for man, since from failing to attain one's desire, and from encountering what one would avoid, come all the passions and sorrows of mankind. In every desire or aversion there is implicit a value-judgement concerning the good or evil of the particular thing involved, and these in turn rest upon general judgements (δόγματα) regarding things of value. ”

“ He was of an age when the search for happiness by the process of consulting merely the instincts of the heart was leading rapidly to an alienation from scientific truth and a prodigious decline in richness of cultural experience. ”

“ The religious possibilities of Stoicism are developed further by Epictetus than by any other representative of the school. The conviction that the universe is wholly governed by an all-wise, divine Providence is for him one of the principal supports of the doctrine of values. All things, even apparent evils, are the will of God, comprehended in his universal plan, and therefore good from the point of view of the whole. ”

“ Now the correct judgement is, that nothing outside the realm of our moral purpose is either good or evil. Nothing, therefore, of that kind can rightly be the object of desire or aversion, hence we should restrict the will to the field in which alone it is free, and cannot, therefore, come to grief. But herein we need not merely the correct theoretical conviction, but also continual practice in application (ἄσκησις) , and it is this which Epictetus attempts to impart to his pupils, for it is the foundation of his whole system of education. ”

“ He never calls himself a "philosopher," he speaks frankly of his own failings, blames himself quite as much as his pupils for the failure of his instruction ofttimes to produce its perfect work, and quotes freely the disrespectful remarks of others about him. ”

“ A novice or one unacquainted with true philosophy he will hardly stir or affect, but when a man has made some progress or is already far advanced, it is amazing how Epictetus stirs him up, and though he is always touching some tender spot, yet he gives delight also. ”

“ In origin low and servile, in body lame and feeble, in mind most exalted, and brilliant among the lights of every age. . . .
"But few of his works remain: the Encheiridion, assuredly a noble piece, and as it were the soul of Stoic moral philosophy; besides that, the Discourses, which he delivered on the streets, in his house, and in the school, collected and arranged by Arrian. Nor are these all extant. . . . But, so help me God, what a keen and lofty spirit in them! a soul aflame, and burning with love of the honourable! There is nothing in Greek their like, unless I am mistaken ”

“ No wonder, then, he cared little for logic as such and not at all for science. [31] "The moralist assumes that what lies upon his heart as an essential need, must also be the essence and heart of reality. . . . In looking at everything from the point of view of happiness men bound the arteries of scientific research." Though spoken of the Socratic schools in general, this word of Nietzsche's [32] seems especially apt of Epictetus. ”

“ We ought to have the sense of fellowship and partnership (κοινωνικοί) , that is, in thought and in action we ought to remember the social organization in which we have been placed by the divine order. The shortcomings of our fellow-men are to be met with patience and charity, and we should not allow ourselves to grow indignant over them, for they too are a necessary element in the universal plan. ”

“ From the nature of the comments, which presuppose a fair elementary training in literature, we can feel sure that only young men and not boys were admitted to the school, and there are some remarks which sound very much like introductions to the general subject of study, while others are pretty clearly addressed to those who were about to leave—constituting, in fact, an early and somewhat rudimentary variety of Commencement Address. ”

“ Externals, which are neither good nor evil, and so indifferent (ἀδιάφορα) , because not subject to our control, play a certain role, none the less, as matters with which we have to deal, indeed, but should regard no more seriously than players treat the actual ball with which they play, in comparison with the game itself. ”

“ Towards God he is always devout, grateful, humble, and there is a little trace in him of that exaltation of self which in some of the Stoics tended to accord to the ideal man a moral elevation that made him sometimes the equal if not in certain aspects almost the superior of God. ”

“ He is severe in the condemnation of the unrepentant sinner, but charitable towards the naïve wrongdoer, going so far, in fact, in this direction as to advocate principles which would lead to the abolition of all capital punishment. [20] He is much more an angel of mercy than a messenger of vengeance. ”

“ It is characteristic of Epictetus that, although he recognizes this part of Stoic doctrine in which the theoretical indifference of externals is in practice largely abandoned, he manifests but slight interest in it.
Among duties he is concerned principally with those of a social character. Nature places us in certain relations to other persons, and these determine our obligations to parents, brothers, children, kinsmen, friends, fellow-citizens, and mankind in general. ”

“ For Epictetus was without doubt, as the great wit and cynic Lucian calls him, "a marvellous old man."
It may not be amiss to dwell a few moments upon the outstanding features of his personality, before saying a few words upon his doctrines, for his doctrines, or at all events the varying emphasis laid on his doctrines, were to a marked degree influenced by the kind of man that he was. ”

“ Schenkl himself had photographs of the complete MS. to work with, while T. W. Allen furnished an expert's transcription of the Scholia, with the result that, although the first edition by Schenkl left something to be desired in the accuracy and fullness of its MS. readings, one can approach the apparatus criticus of the second edition with all reasonable confidence. Schenkl's own contributions to the constitution of the text by way of emendation are considerable, the number of emendations, however, wisely somewhat reduced in the latest printing. ”

“ The regular class exercises were clearly reading and interpretation of characteristic portions of Stoic philosophical works, somewhat as in an oral examination; problems in formal logic, these apparently conducted by assistants, or advanced pupils; and the preparation of themes or essays on a large scale which required much writing and allowed an ambitious pupil to imitate the style of celebrated authors. ”

“ There is, of course, a sense in which Pascal's stricture of Stoic pride applies to Epictetus, for the Stoic virtues were somewhat self-consciously erected upon the basis of self-respect and self-reliance; but a more humble and charitable Stoic it would have been impossible to find, and what pride there is belongs to the system and not to the man. ”

“ It would go hard with many to have their personal traits deduced from the evidence supplied by the grammars, indices, or even confessions of faith that they have written; especially hard if the compendium were drawn up somewhat mechanically by another's hand. ”

“ His work and the essays of Montaigne were the principal secular readings of Pascal, and it was with Epictetus and his disciple Marcus Aurelius that the Earl of Shaftesbury "was most thoroughly conversant." [39] Men as different as Touissant L'Ouverture and Landor, Frederick the Great and Leopardi, have been among his admirers. The number of editions and new printings of his works, or of portions or translations of the same, averages considerably more than one for each year since the invention of printing. ”

“ And again, in youth he must have been almost consumed by a passion for freedom. I know no man upon whose lips the idea more frequently occurs. The words "free" (adjective and verb) and "freedom" appear some 130 times in Epictetus, that is, with a relative frequency about six times that of their occurrence in the New Testament and twice that of their occurrence in Marcus Aurelius, to take contemporary works of somewhat the same general content. ”

“ That Epictetus was influenced by the writings of the New Testament has often been suggested. There were those in late antiquity who asserted it, [34] and it was natural enough in an age when Tertullian and Jerome believed that Seneca had conversed with Paul, and in Musonius Rufus, the teacher of Epictetus, Justin (II. 8) recognizes a kindred spirit. But despite the recrudescence of the idea from time to time, and the existence of a few scholars in our own generation who seem yet to believe it, this question can be regarded as definitely settled by the elaborate researches of Bonhöffer (1911) . ”

“ They constitute a remarkable self-revelation of a character of extraordinary strength, elevation, and sweetness, and despite their frequent repetitions and occasional obscurity must ever rank high in the literature of personal portrayal, even were one inclined to disregard their moral elevation. ”

“ Renner's interesting study. ↑ Pascal's judgment (to say nothing of the grotesque misconceptions of J. B. Rousseau) was undoubtedly influenced by his preoccupation with the Encheiridion, which, as necessarily in such a compendium of doctrine, is more Stoic than Epictetean, and suppresses many of the more amiable traits of personality. The actual man of the Discourses is a very much more attractive figure than the imaginary reconstruction of the man from the abstracted principles of the Manual; there he is a man, here a statue (Martha, 162 f.) ”

“ And this aspect of his character comes out most clearly perhaps in his attitude towards children, for with them a man can be more nearly himself than with his sophisticated associates. No ancient author speaks as frequently of them, or as sympathetically. ”

“ Kinship with gods, 63 ff., 97
Kore, 381
Lacedaemonians, 16, 399 440
Lamp, 125, 127, 191, 349
Lateranus, 13
Laticlave, 199. See also Toga praetexta; Red stripe.
Lawgivers, 221, 237
Law or laws of the gods, or God, 101, 187, 189, 191, 329; law of nature, 191
Lawyer, 299
Legislators, 379
Liar, The, a work by Chrysippus, 346, 347; a sophism, 355, 389
Life, 247
Lion, 23, 27, 269
Listening, art or skill or practice in, 423
Logic, need of, 51 ff., 59 ff., 113, 115, 117, 173, 431
Love, 385, 391, 393
Lycurgus, 379 ”

“ Difficulties, 151 ff., 157 ff., 205 ff.
Dio, the name, 93, 231, 303
Diodorus, 359, 361
Diogenes, the Babylonian, 363
Diogenes, the Cynic, 153, 231, 233 305, 333
Dioscuri, 357
Dirce, 331
Discrete thing, a, 269
Display of philosophy, 167 f., 361, 363
Divination, 119, 121, 255 ff.
Divine, the, 89, 91, 261, 377. See also Deity, the; God; Gods; Zeus. ”

“ God, 11, 25, 37, 41, 45, 65, 103, 111, 121, 141, 151, 187, 191, 195, 199, 205, 221, 241, 249, 257, 259, 261, 263, 265, 309, 313, 335, 337, 343, 355, 357, 367, 369, 405, 407, 413; as father, 25; kinship to, 63 ff., 99; law of, 187, 189. See also Another.
Gods, 11, 25, 89, 91, 93, 97, 141, 345. 397
Good, the, 141, 143, 145, 149, 157, 175, 187, 205, 213, 229, 239, 259, 261, 281, 321, 363; the good man. ”

“ Uneducated, the, 61 ff.
Universe, 103, 315; revolution of, 219
Unnatural lust, 279
Vespasian, 19, 21
Vice, 365
Vine, 425
Vinegar, 291
Virtue and Virtues, 29, 31, 271
Vision, faculty of, 81, 97, 405, 407
Voice-trainer, 33
Voyage, 239
Wars, 181
Wasps, 235
Weaver, 243
Wheel (= rack) , 251
Wild beasts, 269, 279
Will, 92, 95, 121, 147, 307
Witness for God, 199; to arguments by acts, 201
Wolf, 27, 151, 237
Wool, 243
Women common property, 235, 237
Wrestling school, 23
Xenophon, 117, 295, 347
Zeno, 31, 117, 139, 141, 301
Zephyrus, 11 ”

“ Hypothetical arguments or syllogisms, 51 ff., 161, 165, 169, 197, 199, 201
Ignorance, 425, 427
Iliad, The, 181
Ilium, 399
Impressions, external, 9, 137, 171, 179, 181, 349 ff., 355, 357, 361, 381, 391; use of, 9, 11, 27, 99, 137, 141, 205, 213, 269, 261, 311, 369, 407, 417, 419
Incompatible, the, 83
Inconsistency, 383 ff., 393
Incontinence, 385
Incubation, 327
Indifference in things, 247
Indifferent, things, 205, 271, 301, 363
Injury, 281
Inn, 155, 417, 419, 421
Innate concept, 283, 285
Insanity, 91
Interest, a man's. See Self-interest. ”

“ Confidence, 213 ff., 229, 266, 267, 297
Conflict of opinions, 287
Consideration, 205
Contemplation, 203
Contentment, 89 ff.
Contradictions, 371, 373, 433
Control, things under our control, and not under our control, 7-13, 33, 49, 97, 99, 125, 145, 147, 157, 189, 217, 227, 239, 297, 299, 301, 369
Corinth, 333, 343
Corinthian, 63 f.
Councillor, 277
Craftsman (= God) , 265
Criterion, 17, 81, 83, 115, 287. See also Balance; Measure; Standard. ”

“ Philosopher, 9, 13, 23-5, 45, 49, 55-7, 63, 67-9, 73-7, 81, 91, 103-7, 115, 125, 171-83, 187, 191, 195, 229, 239, 271, 289-93, 305, 319, 349, 359, 369, 373-5 ff., 441, 453, 459, 465, 499, 509, 515, 529-33
Philosophic vein, 303
Philosophy, 75, 85, 95, 99, 103, 211, 231, 283, 379, 383, 387-9, 417-9, 453, 461, 499, 611, 517, 637 ”