Discourses and Selected Writings
Page 31
34. Dio: Possibly Dio Chrysostom, a contemporary of Epictetus whose writings represent some of the most successful blends in Greek literature of rhetoric and philosophy.
35. Since this man is constant… does the constant man have?: A typically Socratic move to define a particular virtue, in this case, constancy.
36. Lysias or Isocrates: Leading rhetoricians in classical Athens.
37. I often wondered by what sort of arguments: The opening words of the Memorabilia, Xenophon’s account of Socrates’ life and teaching.
38. ‘Anytus and Meletus… cannot harm me’: Socrates is quoted from Plato’s Apology 30c; G. Vlastos (Socrates: Ironist and Moral Philosopher, Cambridge University Press, 1991, p. 219) rightly calls this Epictetus’ ‘favourite text’; cf. I 29, 18; II 2, 15, etc.
39. I’ve always been the sort… my own affairs: The quote is from Plato’s Crito 46b; Socrates is the speaker.
40. ‘I know something and I teach it’: I.e. Socrates was unlike the Sophists in declining to teach and take money, one proof of his contempt for his personal affairs. It also reflects his ‘irony’, i.e. his denial of any knowledge, hence having anything to teach.
41. ‘It would not suit me… callow youth’: Plato, Apology 17c.
42. As the sun… need of help: On the sun in Stoic physics, cf. I 19, 11.
43. Rufus: Musonius Rufus, Epictetus’ teacher.
44. the epideictic style… as a fourth subject: The epideictic, or display, style of rhetoric, is one of the three genres of oratory recognized by Aristotle in his Rhetoric, along with forensic and deliberative, though he limits its application to praise or denigration, as this was how it was actually applied in his day, when it was still a new form of rhetoric; a surviving example from around Aristotle’s day is Isocrates’ Helen. The protreptic style was developed as a means to encourage devotion to philosophy; Aristotle himself composed an influential early example, as did Stoics including Cleanthes. The elenctic style is not classified separately by Aristotle, although he does discuss refutational arguments (Rhetoric 1396b25). The didactic style was presumably adapted for teaching; we know no more of it per se. By implying that the protreptic style should not be classified alongside the others, Epictetus presumably means that it is out of place in a philosophical curriculum.
BOOK IV
1. ‘By the grace of Caesar, we are free’: I.e. the form of the expression makes it self-contradictory. ‘Free’ in this context means politically autonomous and exempt from Roman taxation.
2. Thrasonides, who fought more campaigns, perhaps, than you: Thrasonides is the soldier-protagonist of the Misoumenos, a play by the fourth-century BC Greek comic playwright Menander; his pet slave was Geta. ‘Campaigns’ here puns on a secondary meaning of the word, to refer to love affairs, a usage derived from the language of Roman elegy.
3. the five per cent tax: In Rome the five per cent tax was levied on holders of high public office, the assumption being that the slave aspires to be free so that he will qualify to hold such office.
4. a ring on my finger… blissful and complete: Wearing a gold ring was the sign and privilege of the Roman equestrian (or ‘upper-middle’) class.
5. he joins the army… third tour of duty: Cf. II 14, 17: By a law of Julius Caesar, service in at least three campaigns was required for eligibility to become a municipal senator.
6. the inability to apply common preconceptions to particulars: On this topic, cf. esp. II 17.
7. Caesar’s friend: On the semi-official status of being ‘Caesar’s friend’, see F. Millar, The Emperor in the Roman World (Duckworth, 1977), pp. 110-22.
8. buying, selling and other such mundane transactions: I.e. buying and selling slaves, which has been declared irrelevant to the question of what true freedom consists in.
9. twelve bodyguards: Literally, ‘twelve fasces,’ a bundle of rods bound together around an axe with the blade projecting, carried before Roman magistrates as an emblem of their authority, by lictors, a magistrate’s usual escort.
10. a slave on holiday at the Saturnalia: At Saturnalia restrictions were relaxed and slaves were treated as equals. Thus ‘a slave on holiday at the Saturnalia’ means someone enjoying mock, provisional freedom; cf. I 25, 8.
11. we even honour them as gods… false as well: The argument runs: whatever can confer the most benefit is a god. But this man (i.e. the emperor) has the power to confer the most benefit. Therefore the emperor is a god. The second (minor) premise is erroneous, resulting in a false conclusion. The emperors were honoured as deities after their death; the cult of Augustus Caesar was prominent in Epictetus’ hometown of Nicopolis.
12. How is a fortress demolished?: The ‘fortress’ (Greek: acropolis) is a metaphor for the mind or, in Stoic parlance, for the ‘ruling principle’ (hegemonikon). The use of ‘fortress’ to represent the mind (or soul) goes back to Plato (Republic 560b, Timaeus 70a); it is also used by Marcus Aurelius in this connection (Meditations 48).
13. quaestor: A Roman official in charge of overseeing provincial finances.
14. a slave presenting your emancipator: A slave had to present his emancipator before a judge as part of the rite of manumission.
15. Which explains his behaviour… captive: An allusion to a famous incident in the life of Diogenes the Cynic, illustrative of how freedom is not a physical condition but a virtue of character and a state of mind. In his old age, sailing to Aegina, he was taken by pirates and carried to Crete, where he was put on the slave market. When the auctioneer asked him what he could do, he said, ‘I can govern men; so sell me to someone who needs a master.’
16. I continue to value… healthy at all: Epictetus alludes to his lameness.
17. Diogenes: Diogenes the Cynic (again) as in §114 above; he is presented here as a citizen of the world; the entire world is his ‘country’.
18. the Persian king… Archidamus, king of the Spartans: Personages representing the acme of power from the Greek and barbarian worlds, respectively, together suggestive of Diogenes’ ‘cosmopolitan’ outlook.
19. the law: The universal or divine law.
20. Socrates… obey it: The events in Socrates’ life rehearsed in this section are taken from the account given in Plato’s Apology.
21. In his own words… injustice: A paraphrase of Plato, Crito 47d; the ‘element’ is the soul.
22. resisted the Athenians’ call… vote: The motion to execute the generals who commanded at the Battle of Arginusae in 406 BC, an episode in the Peloponnesian War.
23. as Plato says: Phaedo 64a, 67d-e.
24. the Palatine: The hill in Rome where the emperors had their palaces.
25. Cassius and Masurius: Noted jurists active in the first half of the first century ad.
26. the same man… prison walls: Cf. Plato, Phaedo 6od, where Socrates is reported to have composed a hymn to Apollo while awaiting execution in jail.
27. A soldier in civilian dress… chains: This probably refers to methods employed during the emperor Domitian’s reign of terror in the early 90s ad, when Epictetus was still in Rome.
FRAGMENTS
1. the universe: ‘The universe’ is equivalent to God in the Stoics’ pantheistic scheme; the general idea is paralleled at I 14, 1-5.
2. Lycurgus the Spartan: Lycurgus was the semi-legendary author of the Spartan constitution.
3. the four basic elements… above downwards: The Greek word translated here as ‘fire’ is aitheˆ r, recognized as a fifth element by Aristotle and other ancient writers. But Epictetus only mentions four elements, and in Stoic physics aitheˆ r was identified with fire. The sequence of change – earth to water to air to fire – was supposed to correspond to the order of the elements in the physical universe, one positioned above the other – fire, on top, being the substance of the sun and other stars. Thus Epictetus speaks of change ‘up’ and ‘down’, or (in the latter case) ‘from above downwards’.
4. Attic Nights: The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius (c.130–80 AD) is an an
thology of learning that, fortunately for us, includes the following passage featuring Epictetus. Besides developing one of his best-known themes, it incidentally tells us that there were originally at least five (not four) books of Discourses.
5. our wise man… any fear: The ‘wise man’ is the Stoic sage who, by definition, believes that only vice is to be feared because it alone is bad (as virtue alone is good); second-order evils such as natural disasters are indifferent for him.
6. Favorinus: A Greek writer and orator of the second century AD.
7. Against the Pagans: Arnobius (died c.330 AD) was a Church Father who argues in his sole surviving work, Against the Pagans, that Christianity is consistent with the best of Greek philosophy.
8. Archelaus: King of Macedon c.413–399 BC.
9. Polus performed Oedipus… wanderer: Polus was a fourth-century BC Athenian actor; the reference in all probability is to the lead roles in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus.
10. Odysseus… robe: Odysseus goes disguised in rags in the central books of the Odyssey.
11. it’s demeaning… one’s living: The implication being that only the rich are of independent means.
12. those gloomy philosophers: A wry reference to the Stoics themselves.
13. Women in Rome… without good reason: I.e. it is hypocritical to try to enlist philosophers indefence of the most egregious vice (like adultery) when they actually advise against the least unconsidered act. Epictetus is in general right that Plato in his Republic eliminates traditional marriage, at least for the ruling class.
14. Once, when he was preparing for lunch… Aricia: The same anecdote, in a slightly different form, appears at I 1, 28-30; the town of Aricia, where Agrippinus had an estate, lay on his way to exile.
15. as Xenophon says: Xenophon, Memorabilia I 4, 7.
16. The Meditations: A work grounded in Stoicism and much indebted to Epictetus in particular, by the philosopher who also happened to be emperor of Rome (ruled 161-80 AD).
ENCHIRIDION
1. Restrict yourself… detachment: To exercise choice and (its opposite) refusal with ‘detachment’ means with an awareness that success in either case is not ours to guarantee.
2. It is equally naive… something different: I.e. because vice, like virtue, depends on the free choice of the agent (the slave), not on the will of his master.
3. Diogenes, Heraclitus: Diogenes is Diogenes the Cynic, whom Epictetus often cites with approval. Heraclitus was a Greek philosopher of the fifth century BC for whom Stoics had a special regard; cf. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations VIII 3: ‘Alexander and Caesar and Pompey, what are they compared with Diogenes and Heraclitus and Socrates?’
4. But the assignment of roles belongs to another: Cf. I 25, 13.
5. If you hear a raven croak inauspiciously: An allusion to the ancient belief in bird augury, a form of divination.
6. Make use of divination… should be used: One version of Socrates’ views on divination is recorded in Xenophon’s Memorabilia, I 1, 6 sq.
7. Just as the propositions… conjunctive ones: I.e. the disjunctive proposition ‘Either it is day or it is night’ is always true at any one time, whereas the conjunctive proposition ‘Both it is day and it is night’ is false at any moment.
8. As you are careful… at the same time: E.g. by ‘strutting’ or otherwise walking in an inappropriate manner, or engaging in undignified thoughts or daydreams.
9. Don’t embrace marble statues: Outdoors, naked, in cold weather: a bizarre and showy kind of austerity practised by Diogenes and other Cynics.
10. And I will follow… God’s ways: The quotation is from an unknown play by Euripides.
∗ The alterations of to and to have been assumed in the translation, the latter ascertained by comparing (‘attention’) in §11 above.
∗ The translation depends on the emended text printed in von Arnim’s Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta III 144: .
∗ The translation assumes the alteration of to by comparing Sextus Empiricus Against the Mathematicians VIII. 60.
∗ Reading for .
∗ The translation assumes the change of to .
∗ §18 is added to the text exempli gratia to eke out the argument and emend an evident lacuna.
∗ The translation assumes that the phrase ‘good and natural’ is repeated, which the argument seems to require.
∗ The translation assumes the deletion of δ’ after τà.
∗ The translation assumes the reading ‘plants’ (φύτα) transmitted in the text of Stobaeus to ‘leaves’ (φύλα) in the MSS.
∗ The translation assumes the emendation of to .
∗ The translation assumes that is not part of the quotation but a remark on it. In Epictetus’ milieu it was probably not uncommon for someone to ask another for help in understanding a bit of Latin, whether as part of an inscription, for example, or letter.
∗ The translation of §8 assumes Schenkl’s supplement to the text: …
† The following reading is assumed in the translation of §§10–11 (conjectural supplements in brackets): .
∗ The translation assumes that , the last word in §4, should be emended to the dative (‘comes crying to him’).
∗ The change of the aorist to the future has been assumed in the translation, based on comparison with the discussion of Epicurus’ ethical views transmitted in Diogenes Laertius, The Lives of the Philosophers X 119.
∗ The addition of ‘decency and a sense of shame’ to the text has been adopted on the basis of many parallel passages in the Discourses.
∗ The translation in § 18 assumes the change of to .
∗ The translation assumes the addition of after .
† Emending the text to read: .
∗ Reading for .
∗ The remainder of §14 is probably an intrusion and has been omitted from the translation; it does not suit the context, and does not even make sense on its own: ‘Where truth is also. Where truth and nature are, there is caution. Where truth is, there is confidence, where nature is.’
† Reading for .
∗ reading for .
∗ The following sentence has been omitted as an intrusive gloss: ‘He made his interlocutor switch his position.’
∗ There is a lacuna in the text at this point; a sentence fragment (§25) has been omitted from the translation.
∗ Reading for .
∗ .
∗ Deleting .
† Retaining , the reading of the MSS.
∗ Omitting from the translation.
∗ Adopting the addition of before .
∗ Emending to and to .
∗ Reading yoũv for oũv.
∗ Emending to .
∗ Reading .
† Reading and with some manuscripts.
∗ Omitting … with most editors.
∗ Reading for .
∗ Reading for .
∗ Reading with some MSS. for .
∗ The translation follows Blass in deleting before .
∗ Reading ooi for the oou after .
∗ Reading for .
∗ Reading .
∗ Reading for .
∗ The text of this sentence is corrupt, the translation partly conjectural.
∗ The text here is doubtful.
∗ Comparing I 20, 16, the last sentence has been translated as a (rhetorical) question; and ‘knowable’ has been added exempli gratia to supply the evident loss of an adjective from the text, which would otherwise read ‘… whether [nature] exists or not’.
∗ The words in italics have been supplied exempli gratia to mend an evident lacuna in the text.
∗ Reading for .
∗ Adopting the emendation for .
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