Discourses and Selected Writings

by Epictetus

  [24] 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. [25] But a few people in the crowd are capable of reflection; what is this world, they want to know, and who runs it? [26] 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?

  [27] OK, then, 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?

  [28] 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. [29] 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!

  II 15 To people who cling hard to certain of

  their decisions

  [1] 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. [2] No – the decision first must be well founded. I mean, I like a body to be strong, but strong with the energy that comes of good health and training, not the kind that comes of some manic disorder. [3] If you are taking pride in having the energy of a lunatic, I have to say, ‘Friend, you need a therapist. This is not strength, but a kind of infirmity.’

  [4] In a different sense, this ailment affects the minds of people who misconstrue our philosophy. A friend of mine, for instance, arbitrarily decided that he was going to starve himself to death. [5] When I heard that he was already three days into his fast, I went and asked him to explain.

  ‘I made my decision,’ he said.

  [6] ‘Yes, but what drove you to it? Look, if it is the right decision, we are ready to sit by your side and help you make the passage.38 But if it was a reckless decision, it should be open to change.’

  [7] ‘But we must stick with a decision.’

  ‘For heaven’s sake, man, that rule only applies to sound decisions. I suppose next you will decide that it is night now, and refuse to change your mind because you don’t want to. You will repeat, “We must stick with a decision.” [8] 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. [9] 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.

  [10] ‘With no good reason, you are taking the life of an old friend of mine, one who shares both cities with me, the big one and the small.39 [11] And while busy killing and doing away with an innocent man, you keep saying, “We must stick with a decision.” [12] If the idea of killing me should ever occur to you, would the same principle apply, I wonder?’

  [13] Well, with great difficulty the man was finally prevailed on to relent. But there are some people today whom there is just no persuading. I have come to understand that saying which I did not fully appreciate until now: ‘A fool cannot be convinced or even compelled to renounce his folly.’ [14] God save me from fools with a little philosophy – no one is more difficult to reach.

  ‘I’ve made a decision.’

  Yes, so have lunatics. But the more fixed their delusions, the more medication they require. [15] 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.’ [16] 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.’ [17] What else am I supposed to talk to you about? Nothing is more important than that I cure you of the conviction that ‘We must stick with a decision, and never back down’ is too crude a law. This is deranged, not healthy, resolution.

  [18] ‘I want to die, even though I don’t have to.’∗

  Why? What has happened?

  ‘I made that decision.’

  [19] Good thing it wasn’t me you decided needed to go.

  ‘I don’t take money for my services.’

  Why not?

  ‘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.’ [20] 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.

  II 16 We do not regularly put our beliefs about good and bad into practice

  [1] Where does the good lie?

  ‘In the will.’

  And evil?

  ‘Also in the will.’

  And things neither good nor bad -

  ‘… lie in whatever is external to the will.’

  [2] Very good! But how many of you remember this outside class? Do any of you, on your own, practise formulating answers to common impressions the way you provide answers in a logical drill: ‘Is it day?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Is it night then?’ ‘No.’ ‘Then are the stars odd or even in number?’ ‘I cannot say.’ [3] When confronted with money, are you trained to give the right response – ‘Money is not a good’? Have you practised giving answers like this, or is your training confined to sophisms?

  [4] Well, it should come as no surprise to you that you surpass yourself where you are trained, but get nowhere in areas you’ve ignored. [5] Take the example of a public speaker. He is confident that he has written a good speech, he has committed the thing to memory, and can deliver it smoothly. Still he agonizes, [6] because it’s not enough for him to be competent, he also hungers for the crowd’s approval. This means that, however well trained he is in the art of public speaking, he has no training in the business of praise and blame. [7] When was he ever questioned as to what praise and blame are, and what is the nature of each; or whether all praise should be welcomed, and all criticism shunned? Did he ever submit to training based on the answers to those questions?

  [8] It’s no wonder now that, having applied himself to oratory, he’s better than his contemporaries in that field; but no better than the mass of men in the areas he’s overlooked. [9] He is like a musician who knows how to play, who sings well, dresses nicely – and still experiences nerves before taking the stage. Music, he knows; but he does not know what an audience is, or what good and bad reviews amount to. [10] He doesn’t even understand his own anxiety, whether it’s our concern or another’s, and whether it can be managed. The result is that, if he wins applause, he returns home full of himself; but if he is booed, he shrivels as if the air has been let out of him and sinks down, deflated.

  [11] Our case is much the same. What do we value? Externals. What do we look after? Externals. [12] So of course, we are going to experience fear and nervousness. Faced with external circumstances that we judge to be bad, we cannot help but be frightened and apprehensive. [13] ‘Please, God,’ we say, ‘relieve me of my anxiety.’ Listen, stupid, you have hands, God gave them to you himself. You might as well get on your knees and pray that your nose won’t run. A better idea would be to wipe your nose and forgo the prayer. The point is, isn’t there anything God gave you for your present problem? [14] You have the gifts of courage, fortitude and endurance. With ‘hands’ like these, do you still need somebody to help wipe your nose?

  [15] The trouble is, w
e don’t exercise these virtues because we don’t appreciate them. Show me one person who cares how they act, someone for whom success is less important than the manner in which it is achieved. While out walking, who gives any thought to the act of walking itself? Who pays attention to the process of planning, not just the outcome? [16] If the plan works, of course, a person is overjoyed and says, ‘How well we planned it! Didn’t I tell you, with brains like ours it couldn’t possibly fail?’ But a different result leaves the person devastated, incapable of even finding words to explain what happened.

  [17] No one ever consults a seer, or spends the night in a temple, out of concern for the means, rather than the ends, of their actions. Find me one such person, I want to see him. This is the person I have looked for a long time, the true genius and aristocrat – I don’t care if they be young or old, just find me one.

  [18] So how can we possibly wonder, if, having squandered our attention on material things, we act in a way that is mean, shameless, worthless, cowardly, meek – a complete nightmare? We didn’t practise, or care about, that. [19] Rather than death or exile, if we feared fear itself, we would practise avoiding the things we believe to be bad. [20] As it is, in the classroom we’re fierce and fluent, quick to answer any little question on these topics, and adept at drawing the right conclusion. But force us to put the principles into practice and we’re as good as lost. Let any danger loom and you will discover what we really practised and trained for. [21] Then, because of our negligence, we forever compound our problems and make our situations out to be worse than they actually are. [22] So, for instance, whenever I’m on board ship and gaze into the deep, or look around me and see nothing but ocean, I’m gripped by terror, imagining that if we wreck I will have to swallow all this sea. It doesn’t occur to me that around three pints will about do me in. So is it the sea that terrifies me? No, it is my imagination. [23] Again, in an earthquake, I am prone to picture the whole city coming down on top of me, whereas, in fact, a single brick is enough to dash my brains out.

  [24] So what oppresses and scares us? It is our own thoughts, obviously. What overwhelms people when they are about to leave friends, family, old haunts and their accustomed way of life? Thoughts. [25] I mean, look at children: their nanny leaves them and they begin to cry; but give them a cake and they’ve forgotten all about their nanny.

  [26] ‘Are you saying that we should model ourselves on children?’

  No – because I don’t think you need a cake, you need correct thoughts.

  ‘What are they?’

  [27] Every day you should put the ideas in action that protect against attachment to externals such as individual people, places or institutions – even your own body. Remember the law of God and keep it constantly in view: [28] look to your own means, leave everything that isn’t yours alone. Make use of what material advantages you have, don’t regret the ones you were not allowed. If any of them are recalled, let go of them willingly, grateful for the time you had to enjoy them – unless you want to be like a child crying for her nurse or mother. [29] After all, what difference does it make what a person is book ii enslaved to, and cannot live without? You’re no different from a teenager mooning over a girl when you ache for your familiar haunts, your club, your old gang of friends and former way of life.

  [30] Here is someone distraught because he will no longer drink of the water of Dirce.40 Is our water here in Rome inferior somehow?

  ‘No, but I had grown used to Dirce’s.’

  [31] Well, you will get used to ours in time. And once you become used to it, the day may come when you pine for it in turn. You may even try your hand at poetry in imitation of that line in Euripides:

  ‘Ah, for Nero’s baths, and the water of Marcia!’41

  Behold the birth of tragedy: when idiots come face to face with the vicissitudes of life.

  [32] ‘Will I ever see Athens and the Acropolis again?’

  Poor fellow, you’re not satisfied with what you see every day? Can you hope for any better vision than the sun, the moon, the stars, all the land and sea? [33] And if you appreciate how God governs them, and carry him around inside you, what attraction can mere marble or fine masonry still have for you? When it is time to leave the sun and moon behind, how will you react? [34] Will you sit down and cry, like an infant? Did nothing that you heard and studied in school get through to you? Why did you advertise yourself as a philosopher when you might have told the truth: ‘I made it through a couple of primers, then read a little Chrysippus – but I hardly crossed the threshold of philosophy.’ [35] How can you associate yourself with Socrates, who lived and died as he did, or with Diogenes?42 [36] You cannot imagine either of them reduced to tears or tantrums because they weren’t going to see this man, or that woman, or because they had to be in Susa, say, or Ecbatana, rather than Athens or Corinth. [37] Whoever can exit the party at will when the fun begins to fade is not likely to stick around and be bored; he will stay only as long as he is entertained -like a child involved in playing a game. [38] He is hardly the kind to endure permanent exile, or a sentence of exile until death.43 [39] Like a child, it’s high time you were weaned off milk and started taking solid food – or, put another way, it’s time you stopped crying for your nurse and mother.∗

  [40] ‘But by leaving them I make them unhappy.’

  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.

  [41] Listen, as the saying goes, it’s crisis time: make a last desperate effort to gain freedom and tranquillity – to be Stoic. [42] Lift up your head, like a person finally released from slavery. Dare to face God and say, ‘From now on, use me as you like. I am of one mind with you, I am your peer.’† Whatever you decide, I will not shrink from it. You may put me where you like, in any role regardless: officer or citizen, rich man or pauper, here or overseas. [43] They are all just so many opportunities to justify your ways to man, by showing just how little circumstances amount to.

  [44] No, instead you keep safe indoors, waiting for mother to come and feed you. What would Heracles have been had he just hung around the house? He would have been Eurystheus44 – not Heracles at all. Think about how many friends and companions Heracles made in consequence of travelling the world. None, however, was closer to him than Zeus, which is why he was rightly believed to be his son. It was in obedience to him that he went around wiping out crime and injustice.

  [45] Well, you are no Heracles, with power to clear away the ills of other people; no, you are not even Theseus, otherwise you might at least relieve Attica of its troubles.45 Therefore, set your own house in order. Cast out of your mind – not Procrustes or Sciron46 – but sorrow, fear, lust, envy, spite, greed, petulance and over-indulgence. [46] Getting rid of these, too, requires looking to God for help, trusting him alone, and submitting to his direction. [47] Then if you’re not willing to do this – all tears and agitation – you will serve someone physically more powerful than you, and continue to look outside yourself for happiness, fated never to find it. And that is because you look for it in the wrong place, forgetting to look where it really lies.

  II 17 How to adapt preconceptions to everyday instances

  [1] 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] We come to the study of philosophy rattling off what should and should not be done, what’s good, what’s bad, and what’s disgraceful. On this basis, we are quite prepared to pass out praise, blame, censure, or condemnation, subtly distinguishing good habits from bad.

  [3] So what do we need philosophers for, if we know it all already? We want to learn what we don’t presume to know – namely, problems of logic. We want to learn what those philosophers teach because it is supposed to be keen and clever.∗ [5] Well, it is r
idiculous to imagine that you will learn anything but what you want to learn; in other words, you can’t hope to make progress in areas where you have made no application.

  Many people, however, make the same mistake as the orator Theopompus. He criticized Plato for wanting to define every little thing.47 [6] ‘Did no one before you,’ he says, ‘use the words “good” and “just”? Or if we did, were we ignorant of what each of them meant – were we making empty sounds bereft of sense?’ [7] Look, Theopompus, no one denies that we had an inborn idea and preconception of these terms. What we lacked was the ability to apply them correctly. We had not yet organized them with a view to determining the class of things each of them belongs to.

  [8] You might as well put the same challenge to doctors: ‘Didn’t we use the words “sick” and “healthy” before Hippocrates came along, or were we talking nonsense?’ [9] Well, we had a concept of what ‘healthy’ means, yes, but even now we can’t agree on how to adapt it. There’s one doctor who says, ‘Withhold his food,’ while another says, ‘Make him eat.’ One says, ‘Bleed her,’ another says, ‘She needs a transfusion.’ And the cause of this chaos is none other than our still-unrealized ability to apply the concept of ‘healthy’ to particular cases.

  [10] The same problem occurs in the conduct of life. ‘Good’, ‘bad’, ‘useful’, ‘harmful’ – these words are part of everyone’s vocabulary, we all have a preconception of what they signify. But is it developed and complete? [11] Prove it – apply it correctly to particular things. Now Plato, for his part, associates definitions with his preconception of what is ‘useful’; you, however, categorize them as useless. [12] Both of you cannot be right. Some people associate the idea of the good with wealth, or pleasure, or health; others plainly do not. [13] Because if all of us who use these words are not just blowing smoke, and we don’t need help clarifying their preconceptions, why is there any misunderstanding, conflict or blame on either side?