LXXXVI
How are we constituted by Nature?
How are we constituted by Nature?
Epictetus
You instantly turn away in wrath.
Yet what
harm have I done to you? Unless indeed the mirror harms the ill-favoured
man by showing him to himself just as he is; unless the physician can
be thought to insult his patient, when he tells him:--"Friend, do you
suppose there is nothing wrong with you? why, you have a fever. Eat
nothing to-day, and drink only water. " Yet no one says, "What an
insufferable insult! " Whereas if you say to a man, "Your desires are
inflamed, your instincts of rejection are weak and low, your aims
are inconsistent, your impulses are not in harmony with Nature, your
opinions are rash and false," he forthwith goes away and complains that
you have insulted him.
LXVIII
Our way of life resembles a fair. The flocks and herds are passing along
to be sold, and the greater part of the crowd to buy and sell. But there
are some few who come only to look at the fair, to inquire how and why
it is being held, upon what authority and with what object. So too, in
this great Fair of life, some, like the cattle, trouble themselves about
nothing but the fodder. Know all of you, who are busied about land,
slaves and public posts, that these are nothing but fodder! Some few
there are attending the Fair, who love to contemplate what the world
is, what He that administers it. Can there be no Administrator? is it
possible, that while neither city nor household could endure even a
moment without one to administer and see to its welfare, this Fabric, so
fair, so vast, should be administered in order so harmonious, without a
purpose and by blind chance? There is therefore an Administrator. What
is His nature and how does He administer? And who are we that are
His children and what work were we born to perform? Have we any close
connection or relation with Him or not?
Such are the impressions of the few of whom I speak. And further, they
apply themselves solely to considering and examining the great assembly
before they depart. Well, they are derided by the multitude. So are the
lookers-on by the traders: aye, and if the beasts had any sense, they
would deride those who thought much of anything but fodder!
LXIX
I think I know now what I never knew before--the meaning of the common
saying, A fool you can neither bend nor break. Pray heaven I may never
have a wise fool for my friend! There is nothing more intractable. --"My
resolve is fixed! "--Why so madman say too; but the more firmly they
believe in their delusions, the more they stand in need of treatment.
LXX
--"O! when shall I see Athens and its Acropolis again? "--Miserable man!
art thou not contented with the daily sights that meet thine eyes? canst
thou behold aught greater or nobler than the Sun, Moon, and Stars;
than the outspread Earth and Sea? If indeed thou apprehendest Him who
administers the universe, if thou bearest Him about within thee, canst
thou still hanker after mere fragments of stone and fine rock? When thou
art about to bid farewell to the Sun and Moon itself, wilt thou sit down
and cry like a child? Why, what didst thou hear, what didst thou learn?
why didst thou write thyself down a philosopher, when thou mightest have
written what was the fact, namely, "I have made one or two Compendiums,
I have read some works of Chrysippus, and I have not even touched the
hem of Philosophy's robe! "
LXXI
Friend, lay hold with a desperate grasp, ere it is too late, on Freedom,
on Tranquility, on Greatness of soul! Lift up thy head, as one escaped
from slavery; dare to look up to God, and say:--"Deal with me henceforth
as Thou wilt; Thou and I are of one mind. I am Thine: I refuse nothing
that seeeth good to Thee; lead on whither Thou wilt; clothe me in what
garb Thou pleasest; wilt Thou have me a ruler or a subject--at home or
in exile--poor or rich? All these things will I justify unto men for
Thee. I will show the true nature of each. . . . "
Who would Hercules have been had he loitered at home? no Hercules, but
Eurystheus. And in his wanderings through the world how many friends and
comrades did he find? but nothing dearer to him than God. Wherefore he
was believed to be God's son, as indeed he was. So then in obedience to
Him, he went about delivering the earth from injustice and lawlessness.
But thou art not Hercules, thou sayest, and canst not deliver others
from their iniquity--not even Theseus, to deliver the soil of Attica
from its monsters? Purge away thine own, cast forth thence--from thine
own mind, not robbers and monsters, but Fear, Desire, Envy, Malignity,
Avarice, Effeminacy, Intemperance. And these may not be cast out, except
by looking to God alone, by fixing thy affections on Him only, and by
consecrating thyself to His commands. If thou choosest aught else, with
sighs and groans thou wilt be forced to follow a Might greater than
thine own, ever seeking Tranquillity without, and never able to attain
unto her. For thou seekest her where she is not to be found; and where
she is, there thou seekest her not!
LXXII
If a man would pursue Philosophy, his first task is to throw away
conceit. For it is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he has a
conceit that he already knows.
LXXIII
Give me but one young man, that has come to the School with this
intention, who stands forth a champion of this cause, and says, "All
else I renounce, content if I am but able to pass my life free from
hindrance and trouble; to raise my head aloft and face all things as a
free man; to look up to heaven as a friend of God, fearing nothing that
may come to pass! " Point out such a one to me, that I may say, "Enter,
young man, into possession of that which is thine own. For thy lot is to
adorn Philosophy. Thine are these possessions; thine these books, these
discourses! "
And when our champion has duly exercised himself in this part of the
subject, I hope he will come back to me and say:--"What I desire is to
be free from passion and from perturbation; as one who grudges no pains
in the pursuit of piety and philosophy, what I desire is to know my duty
to the Gods, my duty to my parents, to my brothers, to my country, to
strangers. "
"Enter then on the second part of the subject; it is thine also. "
"But I have already mastered the second part; only I wished to stand
firm and unshaken--as firm when asleep as when awake, as firm when
elated with wine as in despondency and dejection. "
"Friend, you are verily a God! you cherish great designs. "
LXXIV
"The question at stake," said Epictetus, "is no common one; it is
this:--Are we in our senses, or are we not? "
LXXV
If you have given way to anger, be sure that over and above the evil
involved therein, you have strengthened the habit, and added fuel to
the fire. If overcome by a temptation of the flesh, do not reckon it
a single defeat, but that you have also strengthened your dissolute
habits. Habits and faculties are necessarily affected by the
corresponding acts. Those that were not there before, spring up: the
rest gain in strength and extent. This is the account which Philosophers
give of the origin of diseases of the mind:--Suppose you have once
lusted after money: if reason sufficient to produce a sense of evil
be applied, then the lust is checked, and the mind at once regains its
original authority; whereas if you have recourse to no remedy, you can
no longer look for this return--on the contrary, the next time it is
excited by the corresponding object, the flame of desire leaps up more
quickly than before. By frequent repetition, the mind in the long
run becomes callous; and thus this mental disease produces confirmed
Avarice.
One who has had fever, even when it has left him, is not in the same
condition of health as before, unless indeed his cure is complete.
Something of the same sort is true also of diseases of the mind. Behind,
there remains a legacy of traces and blisters: and unless these are
effectually erased, subsequent blows on the same spot will produce
no longer mere blisters, but sores. If you do not wish to be prone
to anger, do not feed the habit; give it nothing which may tend its
increase. At first, keep quiet and count the days when you were not
angry: "I used to be angry every day, then every other day: next every
two, next every three days! " and if you succeed in passing thirty days,
sacrifice to the Gods in thanksgiving.
LXXVI
How then may this be attained? --Resolve, now if never before, to approve
thyself to thyself; resolve to show thyself fair in God's sight; long to
be pure with thine own pure self and God!
LXXVII
That is the true athlete, that trains himself to resist such outward
impressions as these.
"Stay, wretched man! suffer not thyself to be carried away! " Great is
the combat, divine the task! you are fighting for Kingship, for Liberty,
for Happiness, for Tranquillity. Remember God: call upon Him to aid
thee, like a comrade that stands beside thee in the fight.
LXXVIII
Who then is a Stoic--in the sense that we call a statue of Phidias
which is modelled after that master's art? Show me a man in this sense
modelled after the doctrines that are ever upon his lips. Show me a man
that is sick--and happy; an exile--and happy; in evil report--and happy!
Show me him, I ask again. So help me Heaven, I long to see one Stoic!
Nay, if you cannot show me one fully modelled, let me at least see one
in whom the process is at work--one whose bent is in that direction. Do
me that favour! Grudge it not to an old man, to behold a sight he has
never yet beheld. Think you I wish to see the Zeus or Athena of Phidias,
bedecked with gold and ivory? --Nay, show me, one of you, a human soul,
desiring to be of one mind with God, no more to lay blame on God or man,
to suffer nothing to disappoint, nothing to cross him, to yield neither
to anger, envy, nor jealousy--in a word, why disguise the matter? one
that from a man would fain become a God; one that while still imprisoned
in this dead body makes fellowship with God his aim. Show me him! --Ah,
you cannot! Then why mock yourselves and delude others? why stalk about
tricked out in other men's attire, thieves and robbers that you are of
names and things to which you can show no title!
LXXIX
If you have assumed a character beyond your strength, you have both
played a poor figure in that, and neglected one that is within your
powers.
LXXX
Fellow, you have come to blows at home with a slave: you have turned the
household upside down, and thrown the neighbourhood into confusion; and
do you come to me then with airs of assumed modesty--do you sit down
like a sage and criticise my explanation of the readings, and whatever
idle babble you say has come into my head? Have you come full of envy,
and dejected because nothing is sent you from home; and while the
discussion is going on, do you sit brooding on nothing but how your
father or your brother are disposed towards you:--"What are they saying
about me there? at this moment they imagine I am making progress and
saying, He will return perfectly omniscient! I wish I could become
omniscient before I return; but that would be very troublesome. No one
sends me anything--the baths at Nicopolis are dirty; things are wretched
at home and wretched here. " And then they say, "Nobody is any the better
for the School. "--Who comes to the School with a sincere wish to learn:
to submit his principles to correction and himself to treatment? Who, to
gain a sense of his wants? Why then be surprised if you carry home from
the School exactly what you bring into it?
LXXXI
"Epictetus, I have often come desiring to hear you speak, and you have
never given me any answer; now if possible, I entreat you, say something
to me. "
"Is there, do you think," replied Epictetus, "an art of speaking as
of other things, if it is to be done skilfully and with profit to the
hearer? "
"Yes. "
"And are all profited by what they hear, or only some among them? So
that it seems there is an art of hearing as well as of speaking. . . .
To make a statue needs skill: to view a statue aright needs skill also. "
"Admitted. "
"And I think all will allow that one who proposes to hear philosophers
speak needs a considerable training in hearing. Is that not so? The tell
me on what subject your are able to hear me. "
"Why, on good and evil. "
"The good and evil of what? a horse, an ox? "
"No; of a man. "
"Do we know then what Man is? what his nature is? what is the idea we
have of him? And are our ears practised in any degree on the subject?
Nay, do you understand what Nature is? can you follow me in any degree
when I say that I shall have to use demonstration? Do you understand
what Demonstration is? what True or False is? . . . must I drive you to
Philosophy? . . . Show me what good I am to do by discoursing with you.
Rouse my desire to do so. The sight of a pasture it loves stirs in
a sheep the desire to feed: show it a stone or a bit of bread and it
remains unmoved. Thus we also have certain natural desires, aye, and one
that moves us to speak when we find a listener that is worth his salt:
one that himself stirs the spirit. But if he sits by like a stone or a
tuft of grass, how can he rouse a man's desire? "
"Then you will say nothing to me? "
"I can only tell you this: that one who knows not who he is and to
what end he was born; what kind of world this is and with whom he is
associated therein; one who cannot distinguish Good and Evil, Beauty and
Foulness, . . . Truth and Falsehood, will never follow Reason in shaping
his desires and impulses and repulsions, nor yet in assent, denial, or
suspension of judgement; but will in one word go about deaf and blind,
thinking himself to be somewhat, when he is in truth of no account. Is
there anything new in all this? Is not this ignorance the cause of all
the mistakes and mischances of men since the human race began? . . . "
"This is all I have to say to you, and even this against the grain. Why?
Because you have not stirred my spirit. For what can I see in you to
stir me, as a spirited horse will stir a judge of horses? Your body?
That you maltreat. Your dress? That is luxurious. You behavior, your
look? --Nothing whatever. When you want to hear a philosopher, do not
say, You say nothing to me'; only show yourself worthy or fit to hear,
and then you will see how you will move the speaker. "
LXXXII
And now, when you see brothers apparently good friends and living in
accord, do not immediately pronounce anything upon their friendship,
though they should affirm it with an oath, though they should declare,
"For us to live apart in a thing impossible! " For the heart of a bad
man is faithless, unprincipled, inconstant: now overpowered by one
impression, now by another. Ask not the usual questions, Were they born
of the same parents, reared together, and under the same tutor; but ask
this only, in what they place their real interest--whether in outward
things or in the Will. If in outward things, call them not friends, any
more than faithful, constant, brave or free: call them not even human
beings, if you have any sense. . . . But should you hear that these men
hold the Good to lie only in the Will, only in rightly dealing with the
things of sense, take no more trouble to inquire whether they are father
and son or brothers, or comrades of long standing; but, sure of this
one thing, pronounce as boldly that they are friends as that they are
faithful and just: for where else can Friendship be found than where
Modesty is, where there is an interchange of things fair and honest, and
of such only?
LXXXIII
No man can rob us of our Will--no man can lord it over that!
LXXXIV
When disease and death overtake me, I would fain be found engaged in
the task of liberating mine own Will from the assaults of passion, from
hindrance, from resentment, from slavery.
Thus would I fain to be found employed, so that I may say to God, "Have
I in aught transgressed Thy commands? Have I in aught perverted the
faculties, the senses, the natural principles that Thou didst give me?
Have I ever blamed Thee or found fault with Thine administration? When
it was Thy good pleasure, I fell sick--and so did other men: by my will
consented. Because it was Thy pleasure, I became poor: but my heart
rejoiced. No power in the State was mine, because Thou wouldst not:
such power I never desired! Hast Thou ever seen me of more doleful
countenance on that account? Have I not ever drawn nigh unto Thee with
cheerful look, waiting upon Thy commands, attentive to Thy signals? Wilt
Thou that I now depart from the great Assembly of men? I go: I give Thee
all thanks, that Thou hast deemed me worthy to take part with Thee
in this Assembly: to behold Thy works, to comprehend this Thine
administration. "
Such I would were the subject of my thoughts, my pen, my study, when
death overtakes me.
LXXXV
Seemeth it nothing to you, never to accuse, never to blame either God or
Man? to wear ever the same countenance in going forth as in coming
in? This was the secret of Socrates: yet he never said that he knew
or taught anything. . . . Who amongst you makes this his aim? Were it
indeed so, you would gladly endure sickness, hunger, aye, death itself.
LXXXVI
How are we constituted by Nature? To be free, to be noble, to be modest
(for what other living thing is capable of blushing, or of feeling the
impression of shame? ) and to subordinate pleasure to the ends for which
Nature designed us, as a handmaid and a minister, in order to call forth
our activity; in order to keep us constant to the path prescribed by
Nature.
LXXXVII
The husbandman deals with land; physicians and trainers with the body;
the wise man with his own Mind.
LXXXVIII
Which of us does not admire what Lycurgus the Spartan did? A young
citizen had put out his eye, and been handed over to him by the people
to be punished at his own discretion. Lycurgus abstained from all
vengeance, but on the contrary instructed and made a good man of him.
Producing him in public in the theatre, he said to the astonished
Spartans:--"I received this young man at your hands full of violence
and wanton insolence; I restore him to you in his right mind and fit to
serve his country. "
LXXXIX
A money-changer may not reject Caesar's coin, nor may the seller of
herbs, but must when once the coin is shown, deliver what is sold for
it, whether he will or no. So is it also with the Soul. Once the Good
appears, it attracts towards itself; evil repels. But a clear and
certain impression of the Good the Soul will never reject, any more than
men do Caesar's coin. On this hangs every impulse alike of Man and God.
XC
Asked what Common Sense was, Epictetus replied:--
As that may be called a Common Ear which distinguishes only sounds,
while that which distinguishes musical notes is not common but produced
by training; so there are certain things which men not entirely
perverted see by the natural principles common to all. Such a
constitution of the Mind is called Common Sense.
XCI
Canst thou judge men? . . . then make us imitators of thyself, as
Socrates did. Do this, do not do that, else will I cast thee into
prison; this is not governing men like reasonable creatures. Say
rather, As God hath ordained, so do; else thou wilt suffer chastisement
and loss. Askest thou what loss? None other than this: To have left
undone what thou shouldst have done: to have lost the faithfulness, the
reverence, the modesty that is in thee! Greater loss than this seek not
to find!
XCII
"His son is dead. "
What has happened?
"His son is dead. "
Nothing more?
"Nothing. "
"His ship is lost. "
"He has been haled to prison. "
What has happened?
"He has been haled to prison. "
But that any of these things are misfortunes to him, is an addition
which every one makes of his own. But (you say) God is unjust is
this. --Why? For having given thee endurance and greatness of soul? For
having made such things to be no evils? For placing happiness within thy
reach, even when enduring them? For open unto thee a door, when things
make not for thy good? --Depart, my friend and find fault no more!
XCIII
You are sailing to Rome (you tell me) to obtain the post of Governor of
Cnossus. You are not content to stay at home with the honours you had
before; you want something on a larger scale, and more conspicuous. But
when did you ever undertake a voyage for the purpose of reviewing your
own principles and getting rid of any of them that proved unsound? Whom
did you ever visit for that object? What time did you ever set yourself
for that? What age? Run over the times of your life--by yourself, if you
are ashamed before me. Did you examine your principles when a boy? Did
you not do everything just as you do now? Or when you were a stripling,
attending the school of oratory and practising the art yourself, what
did you ever imagine you lacked? And when you were a young man, entered
upon public life, and were pleading causes and making a name, who any
longer seemed equal to you? And at what moment would you have endured
another examining your principles and proving that they were unsound?
What then am I to say to you? "Help me in this matter! " you cry. Ah, for
that I have no rule! And neither did you, if that was your object, come
to me as a philosopher, but as you might have gone to a herb-seller or
a cobbler. --"What do philosophers have rules for, then? "--Why, that
whatever may betide, our ruling faculty may be as Nature would have it,
and so remain. Think you this a small matter? Not so! but the greatest
thing there is. Well, does it need but a short time? Can it be grasped
by a passer-by? --grasp it, if you can!
Then you will say, "Yes, I met Epictetus! "
Aye, just as you might a statue or a monument. You saw me! and that is
all. But a man who meets a man is one who learns the other's mind, and
lets him see his in turn. Learn my mind--show me yours; and then go
and say that you met me. Let us try each other; if I have any wrong
principle, rid me of it; if you have, out with it. That is what meeting
a philosopher means. Not so, you think; this is only a flying visit;
while we are hiring the ship, we can see Epictetus too! Let us see
what he has to say. Then on leaving you cry, "Out on Epictetus for a
worthless fellow, provincial and barbarous of speech! " What else indeed
did you come to judge of?
XCIV
Whether you will or no, you are poorer than I!
"What then do I lack? "
What you have not: Constancy of mind, such as Nature would have it be:
Tranquillity. Patron or no patron, what care I? but you do care. I am
richer than you: I am not racked with anxiety as to what Caesar may
think of me; I flatter none on that account. This is what I have,
instead of vessels of gold and silver! your vessels may be of gold, but
your reason, your principles, your accepted views, your inclinations,
your desires are of earthenware.
XCV
To you, all you have seems small: to me, all I have seems great. Your
desire is insatiable, mine is satisfied. See children thrusting their
hands into a narrow-necked jar, and striving to pull out the nuts and
figs it contains: if they fill the hand, they cannot pull it out again,
and then they fall to tears. --"Let go a few of them, and then you
can draw out the rest! "--You, too, let your desire go! covet not many
things, and you will obtain.
XCVI
Pittacus wronged by one whom he had it in his power to punish, let
him go free, saying, Forgiveness is better than revenge. The one shows
native gentleness, the other savagery.
XCVII
"My brother ought not to have treated me thus. "
True: but he must see to that. However he may treat me, I must deal
rightly by him. This is what lies with me, what none can hinder.
XCVIII
Nevertheless a man should also be prepared to be sufficient unto
himself--to dwell with himself alone, even as God dwells with Himself
alone, shares His repose with none, and considers the nature of His own
administration, intent upon such thoughts as are meet unto Himself. So
should we also be able to converse with ourselves, to need none else
beside, to sigh for no distraction, to bend our thoughts upon the Divine
Administration, and how we stand related to all else; to observe how
human accidents touched us of old, and how they touch us now; what
things they are that still have power to hurt us, and how they may
be cured or removed; to perfect what needs perfecting as Reason would
direct.
XCIX
If a man has frequent intercourse with others, either in the way of
conversation, entertainment, or simple familiarity, he must either
become like them, or change them to his own fashion. A live coal placed
next a dead one will either kindle that or be quenched by it. Such being
the risk, it is well to be cautious in admitting intimacies of this
sort, remembering that one cannot rub shoulders with a soot-stained man
without sharing the soot oneself. What will you do, supposing the talk
turns on gladiators, or horses, or prize-fighters, or (what is worse) on
persons, condemning this and that, approving the other? Or suppose a man
sneers and jeers or shows a malignant temper? Has any among us the skill
of the lute-player, who knows at the first touch which strings are out
of tune and sets the instrument right: has any of you such power as
Socrates had, in all his intercourse with men, of winning them over
to his own convictions? Nay, but you must needs be swayed hither and
thither by the uninstructed. How comes it then that they prove so
much stronger than you? Because they speak from the fulness of the
heart--their low, corrupt views are their real convictions: whereas your
fine sentiments are but from the lips, outwards; that is why they are
so nerveless and dead. It turns one's stomach to listen to your
exhortations, and hear of your miserable Virtue, that you prate of
up and down. Thus it is that the Vulgar prove too strong for you.
Everywhere strength, everywhere victory waits your conviction!
C
In general, any methods of discipline applied to the body which tend
to modify its desires or repulsions, are good--for ascetic ends. But if
done for display, they betray at once a man who keeps an eye on outward
show; who has an ulterior purpose, and is looking for spectators to
shout, "Oh what a great man! " This is why Apollonius so well said: "If
you are bent upon a little private discipline, wait till you are choking
with heat some day--then take a mouthful of cold water, and spit it out
again, and tell no man! "
CI
Study how to give as one that is sick: that thou mayest hereafter give
as one that is whole. Fast; drink water only; abstain altogether from
desire, that thou mayest hereafter conform thy desire to Reason.
CII
Thou wouldst do good unto men? then show them by thine own example
what kind of men philosophy can make, and cease from foolish trifling.
Eating, do good to them that eat with thee; drinking, to them that drink
with thee; yield unto all, give way, and bear with them. Thus shalt thou
do them good: but vent not upon them thine own evil humour!
CIII
Even as bad actors cannot sing alone, but only in chorus: so some cannot
walk alone.
Man, if thou art aught, strive to walk alone and hold converse with
thyself, instead of skulking in the chorus! at length think; look around
thee; bestir thyself, that thou mayest know who thou art!
CIV
You would fain be victor at the Olympic games, you say. Yes, but weigh
the conditions, weigh the consequences; then and then only, lay to your
hand--if it be for your profit. You must live by rule, submit to diet,
abstain from dainty meats, exercise your body perforce at stated hours,
in heat or in cold; drink no cold water, nor, it may be, wine. In a
word, you must surrender yourself wholly to your trainer, as though to a
physician.
Then in the hour of contest, you will have to delve the ground, it may
chance dislocate an arm, sprain an ankle, gulp down abundance of yellow
sand, be scourge with the whip--and with all this sometimes lose the
victory. Count the cost--and then, if your desire still holds, try the
wrestler's life. Else let me tell you that you will be behaving like a
pack of children playing now at wrestlers, now at gladiators; presently
falling to trumpeting and anon to stage-playing, when the fancy takes
them for what they have seen. And you are even the same: wrestler,
gladiator, philosopher, orator all by turns and none of them with your
whole soul. Like an ape, you mimic what you see, to one thing constant
never; the thing that is familiar charms no more. This is because you
never undertook aught with due consideration, nor after strictly testing
and viewing it from every side; no, your choice was thoughtless; the
glow of your desire had waxed cold . . . .
Friend, bethink you first what it is you would do, and then what your
own nature is able to bear. Would you be a wrestler, consider your
shoulders, your thighs, your loins--not all men are formed to the same
end. Think you to be a philosopher while acting as you do? think you go
on thus eating, thus drinking, giving way in like manner to wrath and
to displeasure? Nay, you must watch, you must labour; overcome certain
desires; quit your familiar friends, submit to be despised by your
slave, to be held in derision by them that meet you, to take the lower
place in all things, in office, in positions of authority, in courts of
law.
Weigh these things fully, and then, if you will, lay to your hand; if
as the price of these things you would gain Freedom, Tranquillity, and
passionless Serenity.
CV
He that hath no musical instruction is a child in Music; he that hath no
letters is a child in Learning; he that is untaught is a child in Life.
CVI
Can any profit be derived from these men? Aye, from all.
"What, even from a reviler? "
Why, tell me what profit a wrestler gains from him who exercises
him beforehand? The very greatest: he trains me in the practice of
endurance, of controlling my temper, of gentle ways. You deny it. What,
the man who lays hold of my neck, and disciplines loins and shoulders,
does me good, . . . while he that trains me to keep my temper does me
none? This is what it means, not knowing how to gain advantage from men!
Is my neighbour bad? Bad to himself, but good to me: he brings my good
temper, my gentleness into play. Is my father bad? Bad to himself, but
good to me. This is the rod of Hermes; touch what you will with it,
they say, and it becomes gold. Nay, but bring what you will and I will
transmute it into Good. Bring sickness, bring death, bring poverty and
reproach, bring trial for life--all these things through the rod of
Hermes shall be turned to profit.
CVII
Till then these sound opinions have taken firm root in you, and you
have gained a measure of strength for your security, I counsel you to be
cautious in associating with the uninstructed. Else whatever impressions
you receive upon the tablets of your mind in the School will day by day
melt and disappear, like wax in the sun. Withdraw then somewhere far
from the sun, while you have these waxen sentiments.
CVIII
We must approach this matter in a different way; it is great and
mystical: it is no common thing; nor given to every man. Wisdom alone,
it may be, will not suffice for the care of youth: a man needs also
a certain measure of readiness--an aptitude for the office; aye, and
certain bodily qualities; and above all, to be counselled of God Himself
to undertake this post; even as He counselled Socrates to fill the post
of one who confutes error, assigning to Diogenes the royal office of
high reproof, and to Zeno that of positive instruction. Whereas you
would fain set up for a physician provided with nothing but drugs! Where
and how they should be applied you neither know nor care.
CIX
If what charms you is nothing but abstract principles, sit down and turn
them over quietly in your mind: but never dub yourself a Philosopher,
nor suffer others to call you so. Say rather: He is in error; for my
desires, my impulses are unaltered. I give in my adhesion to what I did
before; nor has my mode of dealing with the things of sense undergone
any change.
CX
When a friend inclined to Cynic views asked Epictetus, what sort of
person a true Cynic should be, requesting a general sketch of the
system, he answered:--"We will consider that at leisure. At present
I content myself with saying this much: If a man put his hand to so
weighty a matter without God, the wrath of God abides upon him. That
which he covets will but bring upon him public shame. Not even on
finding himself in a well-ordered house does a man step forward and say
to himself, I must be master here! Else the lord of that house takes
notice of it, and, seeing him insolently giving orders, drags him forth
and chastises him. So it is also in this great City, the World. Here
also is there a Lord of the House, who orders all thing:--
"Thou are the Sun! in thine orbit thou hast
power to make the year and the seasons;
to bid the fruits of the earth to grow
and increase, the winds arise and fall;
thou canst in due measure cherish with
thy warmth the frames of men; go make
thy circuit, and thus minister unto all
from the greatest to the least! . . . "
"Thou canst lead a host against Troy; be Agamemnon! "
"Thou canst meet Hector in single combat; be Achilles! "
"But had Thersites stepped forward and claimed the chief command, he
had been met with a refusal, or obtained it only to his own shame and
confusion of face, before a cloud of witnesses. "
CXI
Others may fence themselves with walls and houses, when they do such
deeds as these, and wrap themselves in darkness--aye, they have many
a device to hide themselves. Another may shut his door and station one
before his chamber to say, if any comes, He has gone forth! he is not at
leisure! But the true Cynic will have none of these things; instead of
them, he must wrap himself in Modesty: else he will but bring himself
to shame, naked and under the open sky. That is his house; that is his
door; that is the slave that guards his chamber; that is his darkness!
CXII
Death? let it come when it will, whether it smite but a part of the
whole: Fly, you tell me--fly! But whither shall I fly? Can any man cast
me beyond the limits of the World? It may not be! And whithersoever I
go, there shall I still find Sun, Moon, and Stars; there I shall find
dreams, and omens, and converse with the Gods!
CXIII
Furthermore the true Cynic must know that he is sent as a Messenger from
God to men, to show unto them that as touching good and evil they are
in error; looking for these where they are not to be found, nor ever
bethinking themselves where they are. And like Diogenes when brought
before Philip after the battle of Chaeronea, the Cynic must remember
that he is a Spy. For a Spy he really is--to bring back word what things
are on Man's side, and what against him.
harm have I done to you? Unless indeed the mirror harms the ill-favoured
man by showing him to himself just as he is; unless the physician can
be thought to insult his patient, when he tells him:--"Friend, do you
suppose there is nothing wrong with you? why, you have a fever. Eat
nothing to-day, and drink only water. " Yet no one says, "What an
insufferable insult! " Whereas if you say to a man, "Your desires are
inflamed, your instincts of rejection are weak and low, your aims
are inconsistent, your impulses are not in harmony with Nature, your
opinions are rash and false," he forthwith goes away and complains that
you have insulted him.
LXVIII
Our way of life resembles a fair. The flocks and herds are passing along
to be sold, and the greater part of the crowd to buy and sell. But there
are some few who come only to look at the fair, to inquire how and why
it is being held, upon what authority and with what object. So too, in
this great Fair of life, some, like the cattle, trouble themselves about
nothing but the fodder. Know all of you, who are busied about land,
slaves and public posts, that these are nothing but fodder! Some few
there are attending the Fair, who love to contemplate what the world
is, what He that administers it. Can there be no Administrator? is it
possible, that while neither city nor household could endure even a
moment without one to administer and see to its welfare, this Fabric, so
fair, so vast, should be administered in order so harmonious, without a
purpose and by blind chance? There is therefore an Administrator. What
is His nature and how does He administer? And who are we that are
His children and what work were we born to perform? Have we any close
connection or relation with Him or not?
Such are the impressions of the few of whom I speak. And further, they
apply themselves solely to considering and examining the great assembly
before they depart. Well, they are derided by the multitude. So are the
lookers-on by the traders: aye, and if the beasts had any sense, they
would deride those who thought much of anything but fodder!
LXIX
I think I know now what I never knew before--the meaning of the common
saying, A fool you can neither bend nor break. Pray heaven I may never
have a wise fool for my friend! There is nothing more intractable. --"My
resolve is fixed! "--Why so madman say too; but the more firmly they
believe in their delusions, the more they stand in need of treatment.
LXX
--"O! when shall I see Athens and its Acropolis again? "--Miserable man!
art thou not contented with the daily sights that meet thine eyes? canst
thou behold aught greater or nobler than the Sun, Moon, and Stars;
than the outspread Earth and Sea? If indeed thou apprehendest Him who
administers the universe, if thou bearest Him about within thee, canst
thou still hanker after mere fragments of stone and fine rock? When thou
art about to bid farewell to the Sun and Moon itself, wilt thou sit down
and cry like a child? Why, what didst thou hear, what didst thou learn?
why didst thou write thyself down a philosopher, when thou mightest have
written what was the fact, namely, "I have made one or two Compendiums,
I have read some works of Chrysippus, and I have not even touched the
hem of Philosophy's robe! "
LXXI
Friend, lay hold with a desperate grasp, ere it is too late, on Freedom,
on Tranquility, on Greatness of soul! Lift up thy head, as one escaped
from slavery; dare to look up to God, and say:--"Deal with me henceforth
as Thou wilt; Thou and I are of one mind. I am Thine: I refuse nothing
that seeeth good to Thee; lead on whither Thou wilt; clothe me in what
garb Thou pleasest; wilt Thou have me a ruler or a subject--at home or
in exile--poor or rich? All these things will I justify unto men for
Thee. I will show the true nature of each. . . . "
Who would Hercules have been had he loitered at home? no Hercules, but
Eurystheus. And in his wanderings through the world how many friends and
comrades did he find? but nothing dearer to him than God. Wherefore he
was believed to be God's son, as indeed he was. So then in obedience to
Him, he went about delivering the earth from injustice and lawlessness.
But thou art not Hercules, thou sayest, and canst not deliver others
from their iniquity--not even Theseus, to deliver the soil of Attica
from its monsters? Purge away thine own, cast forth thence--from thine
own mind, not robbers and monsters, but Fear, Desire, Envy, Malignity,
Avarice, Effeminacy, Intemperance. And these may not be cast out, except
by looking to God alone, by fixing thy affections on Him only, and by
consecrating thyself to His commands. If thou choosest aught else, with
sighs and groans thou wilt be forced to follow a Might greater than
thine own, ever seeking Tranquillity without, and never able to attain
unto her. For thou seekest her where she is not to be found; and where
she is, there thou seekest her not!
LXXII
If a man would pursue Philosophy, his first task is to throw away
conceit. For it is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he has a
conceit that he already knows.
LXXIII
Give me but one young man, that has come to the School with this
intention, who stands forth a champion of this cause, and says, "All
else I renounce, content if I am but able to pass my life free from
hindrance and trouble; to raise my head aloft and face all things as a
free man; to look up to heaven as a friend of God, fearing nothing that
may come to pass! " Point out such a one to me, that I may say, "Enter,
young man, into possession of that which is thine own. For thy lot is to
adorn Philosophy. Thine are these possessions; thine these books, these
discourses! "
And when our champion has duly exercised himself in this part of the
subject, I hope he will come back to me and say:--"What I desire is to
be free from passion and from perturbation; as one who grudges no pains
in the pursuit of piety and philosophy, what I desire is to know my duty
to the Gods, my duty to my parents, to my brothers, to my country, to
strangers. "
"Enter then on the second part of the subject; it is thine also. "
"But I have already mastered the second part; only I wished to stand
firm and unshaken--as firm when asleep as when awake, as firm when
elated with wine as in despondency and dejection. "
"Friend, you are verily a God! you cherish great designs. "
LXXIV
"The question at stake," said Epictetus, "is no common one; it is
this:--Are we in our senses, or are we not? "
LXXV
If you have given way to anger, be sure that over and above the evil
involved therein, you have strengthened the habit, and added fuel to
the fire. If overcome by a temptation of the flesh, do not reckon it
a single defeat, but that you have also strengthened your dissolute
habits. Habits and faculties are necessarily affected by the
corresponding acts. Those that were not there before, spring up: the
rest gain in strength and extent. This is the account which Philosophers
give of the origin of diseases of the mind:--Suppose you have once
lusted after money: if reason sufficient to produce a sense of evil
be applied, then the lust is checked, and the mind at once regains its
original authority; whereas if you have recourse to no remedy, you can
no longer look for this return--on the contrary, the next time it is
excited by the corresponding object, the flame of desire leaps up more
quickly than before. By frequent repetition, the mind in the long
run becomes callous; and thus this mental disease produces confirmed
Avarice.
One who has had fever, even when it has left him, is not in the same
condition of health as before, unless indeed his cure is complete.
Something of the same sort is true also of diseases of the mind. Behind,
there remains a legacy of traces and blisters: and unless these are
effectually erased, subsequent blows on the same spot will produce
no longer mere blisters, but sores. If you do not wish to be prone
to anger, do not feed the habit; give it nothing which may tend its
increase. At first, keep quiet and count the days when you were not
angry: "I used to be angry every day, then every other day: next every
two, next every three days! " and if you succeed in passing thirty days,
sacrifice to the Gods in thanksgiving.
LXXVI
How then may this be attained? --Resolve, now if never before, to approve
thyself to thyself; resolve to show thyself fair in God's sight; long to
be pure with thine own pure self and God!
LXXVII
That is the true athlete, that trains himself to resist such outward
impressions as these.
"Stay, wretched man! suffer not thyself to be carried away! " Great is
the combat, divine the task! you are fighting for Kingship, for Liberty,
for Happiness, for Tranquillity. Remember God: call upon Him to aid
thee, like a comrade that stands beside thee in the fight.
LXXVIII
Who then is a Stoic--in the sense that we call a statue of Phidias
which is modelled after that master's art? Show me a man in this sense
modelled after the doctrines that are ever upon his lips. Show me a man
that is sick--and happy; an exile--and happy; in evil report--and happy!
Show me him, I ask again. So help me Heaven, I long to see one Stoic!
Nay, if you cannot show me one fully modelled, let me at least see one
in whom the process is at work--one whose bent is in that direction. Do
me that favour! Grudge it not to an old man, to behold a sight he has
never yet beheld. Think you I wish to see the Zeus or Athena of Phidias,
bedecked with gold and ivory? --Nay, show me, one of you, a human soul,
desiring to be of one mind with God, no more to lay blame on God or man,
to suffer nothing to disappoint, nothing to cross him, to yield neither
to anger, envy, nor jealousy--in a word, why disguise the matter? one
that from a man would fain become a God; one that while still imprisoned
in this dead body makes fellowship with God his aim. Show me him! --Ah,
you cannot! Then why mock yourselves and delude others? why stalk about
tricked out in other men's attire, thieves and robbers that you are of
names and things to which you can show no title!
LXXIX
If you have assumed a character beyond your strength, you have both
played a poor figure in that, and neglected one that is within your
powers.
LXXX
Fellow, you have come to blows at home with a slave: you have turned the
household upside down, and thrown the neighbourhood into confusion; and
do you come to me then with airs of assumed modesty--do you sit down
like a sage and criticise my explanation of the readings, and whatever
idle babble you say has come into my head? Have you come full of envy,
and dejected because nothing is sent you from home; and while the
discussion is going on, do you sit brooding on nothing but how your
father or your brother are disposed towards you:--"What are they saying
about me there? at this moment they imagine I am making progress and
saying, He will return perfectly omniscient! I wish I could become
omniscient before I return; but that would be very troublesome. No one
sends me anything--the baths at Nicopolis are dirty; things are wretched
at home and wretched here. " And then they say, "Nobody is any the better
for the School. "--Who comes to the School with a sincere wish to learn:
to submit his principles to correction and himself to treatment? Who, to
gain a sense of his wants? Why then be surprised if you carry home from
the School exactly what you bring into it?
LXXXI
"Epictetus, I have often come desiring to hear you speak, and you have
never given me any answer; now if possible, I entreat you, say something
to me. "
"Is there, do you think," replied Epictetus, "an art of speaking as
of other things, if it is to be done skilfully and with profit to the
hearer? "
"Yes. "
"And are all profited by what they hear, or only some among them? So
that it seems there is an art of hearing as well as of speaking. . . .
To make a statue needs skill: to view a statue aright needs skill also. "
"Admitted. "
"And I think all will allow that one who proposes to hear philosophers
speak needs a considerable training in hearing. Is that not so? The tell
me on what subject your are able to hear me. "
"Why, on good and evil. "
"The good and evil of what? a horse, an ox? "
"No; of a man. "
"Do we know then what Man is? what his nature is? what is the idea we
have of him? And are our ears practised in any degree on the subject?
Nay, do you understand what Nature is? can you follow me in any degree
when I say that I shall have to use demonstration? Do you understand
what Demonstration is? what True or False is? . . . must I drive you to
Philosophy? . . . Show me what good I am to do by discoursing with you.
Rouse my desire to do so. The sight of a pasture it loves stirs in
a sheep the desire to feed: show it a stone or a bit of bread and it
remains unmoved. Thus we also have certain natural desires, aye, and one
that moves us to speak when we find a listener that is worth his salt:
one that himself stirs the spirit. But if he sits by like a stone or a
tuft of grass, how can he rouse a man's desire? "
"Then you will say nothing to me? "
"I can only tell you this: that one who knows not who he is and to
what end he was born; what kind of world this is and with whom he is
associated therein; one who cannot distinguish Good and Evil, Beauty and
Foulness, . . . Truth and Falsehood, will never follow Reason in shaping
his desires and impulses and repulsions, nor yet in assent, denial, or
suspension of judgement; but will in one word go about deaf and blind,
thinking himself to be somewhat, when he is in truth of no account. Is
there anything new in all this? Is not this ignorance the cause of all
the mistakes and mischances of men since the human race began? . . . "
"This is all I have to say to you, and even this against the grain. Why?
Because you have not stirred my spirit. For what can I see in you to
stir me, as a spirited horse will stir a judge of horses? Your body?
That you maltreat. Your dress? That is luxurious. You behavior, your
look? --Nothing whatever. When you want to hear a philosopher, do not
say, You say nothing to me'; only show yourself worthy or fit to hear,
and then you will see how you will move the speaker. "
LXXXII
And now, when you see brothers apparently good friends and living in
accord, do not immediately pronounce anything upon their friendship,
though they should affirm it with an oath, though they should declare,
"For us to live apart in a thing impossible! " For the heart of a bad
man is faithless, unprincipled, inconstant: now overpowered by one
impression, now by another. Ask not the usual questions, Were they born
of the same parents, reared together, and under the same tutor; but ask
this only, in what they place their real interest--whether in outward
things or in the Will. If in outward things, call them not friends, any
more than faithful, constant, brave or free: call them not even human
beings, if you have any sense. . . . But should you hear that these men
hold the Good to lie only in the Will, only in rightly dealing with the
things of sense, take no more trouble to inquire whether they are father
and son or brothers, or comrades of long standing; but, sure of this
one thing, pronounce as boldly that they are friends as that they are
faithful and just: for where else can Friendship be found than where
Modesty is, where there is an interchange of things fair and honest, and
of such only?
LXXXIII
No man can rob us of our Will--no man can lord it over that!
LXXXIV
When disease and death overtake me, I would fain be found engaged in
the task of liberating mine own Will from the assaults of passion, from
hindrance, from resentment, from slavery.
Thus would I fain to be found employed, so that I may say to God, "Have
I in aught transgressed Thy commands? Have I in aught perverted the
faculties, the senses, the natural principles that Thou didst give me?
Have I ever blamed Thee or found fault with Thine administration? When
it was Thy good pleasure, I fell sick--and so did other men: by my will
consented. Because it was Thy pleasure, I became poor: but my heart
rejoiced. No power in the State was mine, because Thou wouldst not:
such power I never desired! Hast Thou ever seen me of more doleful
countenance on that account? Have I not ever drawn nigh unto Thee with
cheerful look, waiting upon Thy commands, attentive to Thy signals? Wilt
Thou that I now depart from the great Assembly of men? I go: I give Thee
all thanks, that Thou hast deemed me worthy to take part with Thee
in this Assembly: to behold Thy works, to comprehend this Thine
administration. "
Such I would were the subject of my thoughts, my pen, my study, when
death overtakes me.
LXXXV
Seemeth it nothing to you, never to accuse, never to blame either God or
Man? to wear ever the same countenance in going forth as in coming
in? This was the secret of Socrates: yet he never said that he knew
or taught anything. . . . Who amongst you makes this his aim? Were it
indeed so, you would gladly endure sickness, hunger, aye, death itself.
LXXXVI
How are we constituted by Nature? To be free, to be noble, to be modest
(for what other living thing is capable of blushing, or of feeling the
impression of shame? ) and to subordinate pleasure to the ends for which
Nature designed us, as a handmaid and a minister, in order to call forth
our activity; in order to keep us constant to the path prescribed by
Nature.
LXXXVII
The husbandman deals with land; physicians and trainers with the body;
the wise man with his own Mind.
LXXXVIII
Which of us does not admire what Lycurgus the Spartan did? A young
citizen had put out his eye, and been handed over to him by the people
to be punished at his own discretion. Lycurgus abstained from all
vengeance, but on the contrary instructed and made a good man of him.
Producing him in public in the theatre, he said to the astonished
Spartans:--"I received this young man at your hands full of violence
and wanton insolence; I restore him to you in his right mind and fit to
serve his country. "
LXXXIX
A money-changer may not reject Caesar's coin, nor may the seller of
herbs, but must when once the coin is shown, deliver what is sold for
it, whether he will or no. So is it also with the Soul. Once the Good
appears, it attracts towards itself; evil repels. But a clear and
certain impression of the Good the Soul will never reject, any more than
men do Caesar's coin. On this hangs every impulse alike of Man and God.
XC
Asked what Common Sense was, Epictetus replied:--
As that may be called a Common Ear which distinguishes only sounds,
while that which distinguishes musical notes is not common but produced
by training; so there are certain things which men not entirely
perverted see by the natural principles common to all. Such a
constitution of the Mind is called Common Sense.
XCI
Canst thou judge men? . . . then make us imitators of thyself, as
Socrates did. Do this, do not do that, else will I cast thee into
prison; this is not governing men like reasonable creatures. Say
rather, As God hath ordained, so do; else thou wilt suffer chastisement
and loss. Askest thou what loss? None other than this: To have left
undone what thou shouldst have done: to have lost the faithfulness, the
reverence, the modesty that is in thee! Greater loss than this seek not
to find!
XCII
"His son is dead. "
What has happened?
"His son is dead. "
Nothing more?
"Nothing. "
"His ship is lost. "
"He has been haled to prison. "
What has happened?
"He has been haled to prison. "
But that any of these things are misfortunes to him, is an addition
which every one makes of his own. But (you say) God is unjust is
this. --Why? For having given thee endurance and greatness of soul? For
having made such things to be no evils? For placing happiness within thy
reach, even when enduring them? For open unto thee a door, when things
make not for thy good? --Depart, my friend and find fault no more!
XCIII
You are sailing to Rome (you tell me) to obtain the post of Governor of
Cnossus. You are not content to stay at home with the honours you had
before; you want something on a larger scale, and more conspicuous. But
when did you ever undertake a voyage for the purpose of reviewing your
own principles and getting rid of any of them that proved unsound? Whom
did you ever visit for that object? What time did you ever set yourself
for that? What age? Run over the times of your life--by yourself, if you
are ashamed before me. Did you examine your principles when a boy? Did
you not do everything just as you do now? Or when you were a stripling,
attending the school of oratory and practising the art yourself, what
did you ever imagine you lacked? And when you were a young man, entered
upon public life, and were pleading causes and making a name, who any
longer seemed equal to you? And at what moment would you have endured
another examining your principles and proving that they were unsound?
What then am I to say to you? "Help me in this matter! " you cry. Ah, for
that I have no rule! And neither did you, if that was your object, come
to me as a philosopher, but as you might have gone to a herb-seller or
a cobbler. --"What do philosophers have rules for, then? "--Why, that
whatever may betide, our ruling faculty may be as Nature would have it,
and so remain. Think you this a small matter? Not so! but the greatest
thing there is. Well, does it need but a short time? Can it be grasped
by a passer-by? --grasp it, if you can!
Then you will say, "Yes, I met Epictetus! "
Aye, just as you might a statue or a monument. You saw me! and that is
all. But a man who meets a man is one who learns the other's mind, and
lets him see his in turn. Learn my mind--show me yours; and then go
and say that you met me. Let us try each other; if I have any wrong
principle, rid me of it; if you have, out with it. That is what meeting
a philosopher means. Not so, you think; this is only a flying visit;
while we are hiring the ship, we can see Epictetus too! Let us see
what he has to say. Then on leaving you cry, "Out on Epictetus for a
worthless fellow, provincial and barbarous of speech! " What else indeed
did you come to judge of?
XCIV
Whether you will or no, you are poorer than I!
"What then do I lack? "
What you have not: Constancy of mind, such as Nature would have it be:
Tranquillity. Patron or no patron, what care I? but you do care. I am
richer than you: I am not racked with anxiety as to what Caesar may
think of me; I flatter none on that account. This is what I have,
instead of vessels of gold and silver! your vessels may be of gold, but
your reason, your principles, your accepted views, your inclinations,
your desires are of earthenware.
XCV
To you, all you have seems small: to me, all I have seems great. Your
desire is insatiable, mine is satisfied. See children thrusting their
hands into a narrow-necked jar, and striving to pull out the nuts and
figs it contains: if they fill the hand, they cannot pull it out again,
and then they fall to tears. --"Let go a few of them, and then you
can draw out the rest! "--You, too, let your desire go! covet not many
things, and you will obtain.
XCVI
Pittacus wronged by one whom he had it in his power to punish, let
him go free, saying, Forgiveness is better than revenge. The one shows
native gentleness, the other savagery.
XCVII
"My brother ought not to have treated me thus. "
True: but he must see to that. However he may treat me, I must deal
rightly by him. This is what lies with me, what none can hinder.
XCVIII
Nevertheless a man should also be prepared to be sufficient unto
himself--to dwell with himself alone, even as God dwells with Himself
alone, shares His repose with none, and considers the nature of His own
administration, intent upon such thoughts as are meet unto Himself. So
should we also be able to converse with ourselves, to need none else
beside, to sigh for no distraction, to bend our thoughts upon the Divine
Administration, and how we stand related to all else; to observe how
human accidents touched us of old, and how they touch us now; what
things they are that still have power to hurt us, and how they may
be cured or removed; to perfect what needs perfecting as Reason would
direct.
XCIX
If a man has frequent intercourse with others, either in the way of
conversation, entertainment, or simple familiarity, he must either
become like them, or change them to his own fashion. A live coal placed
next a dead one will either kindle that or be quenched by it. Such being
the risk, it is well to be cautious in admitting intimacies of this
sort, remembering that one cannot rub shoulders with a soot-stained man
without sharing the soot oneself. What will you do, supposing the talk
turns on gladiators, or horses, or prize-fighters, or (what is worse) on
persons, condemning this and that, approving the other? Or suppose a man
sneers and jeers or shows a malignant temper? Has any among us the skill
of the lute-player, who knows at the first touch which strings are out
of tune and sets the instrument right: has any of you such power as
Socrates had, in all his intercourse with men, of winning them over
to his own convictions? Nay, but you must needs be swayed hither and
thither by the uninstructed. How comes it then that they prove so
much stronger than you? Because they speak from the fulness of the
heart--their low, corrupt views are their real convictions: whereas your
fine sentiments are but from the lips, outwards; that is why they are
so nerveless and dead. It turns one's stomach to listen to your
exhortations, and hear of your miserable Virtue, that you prate of
up and down. Thus it is that the Vulgar prove too strong for you.
Everywhere strength, everywhere victory waits your conviction!
C
In general, any methods of discipline applied to the body which tend
to modify its desires or repulsions, are good--for ascetic ends. But if
done for display, they betray at once a man who keeps an eye on outward
show; who has an ulterior purpose, and is looking for spectators to
shout, "Oh what a great man! " This is why Apollonius so well said: "If
you are bent upon a little private discipline, wait till you are choking
with heat some day--then take a mouthful of cold water, and spit it out
again, and tell no man! "
CI
Study how to give as one that is sick: that thou mayest hereafter give
as one that is whole. Fast; drink water only; abstain altogether from
desire, that thou mayest hereafter conform thy desire to Reason.
CII
Thou wouldst do good unto men? then show them by thine own example
what kind of men philosophy can make, and cease from foolish trifling.
Eating, do good to them that eat with thee; drinking, to them that drink
with thee; yield unto all, give way, and bear with them. Thus shalt thou
do them good: but vent not upon them thine own evil humour!
CIII
Even as bad actors cannot sing alone, but only in chorus: so some cannot
walk alone.
Man, if thou art aught, strive to walk alone and hold converse with
thyself, instead of skulking in the chorus! at length think; look around
thee; bestir thyself, that thou mayest know who thou art!
CIV
You would fain be victor at the Olympic games, you say. Yes, but weigh
the conditions, weigh the consequences; then and then only, lay to your
hand--if it be for your profit. You must live by rule, submit to diet,
abstain from dainty meats, exercise your body perforce at stated hours,
in heat or in cold; drink no cold water, nor, it may be, wine. In a
word, you must surrender yourself wholly to your trainer, as though to a
physician.
Then in the hour of contest, you will have to delve the ground, it may
chance dislocate an arm, sprain an ankle, gulp down abundance of yellow
sand, be scourge with the whip--and with all this sometimes lose the
victory. Count the cost--and then, if your desire still holds, try the
wrestler's life. Else let me tell you that you will be behaving like a
pack of children playing now at wrestlers, now at gladiators; presently
falling to trumpeting and anon to stage-playing, when the fancy takes
them for what they have seen. And you are even the same: wrestler,
gladiator, philosopher, orator all by turns and none of them with your
whole soul. Like an ape, you mimic what you see, to one thing constant
never; the thing that is familiar charms no more. This is because you
never undertook aught with due consideration, nor after strictly testing
and viewing it from every side; no, your choice was thoughtless; the
glow of your desire had waxed cold . . . .
Friend, bethink you first what it is you would do, and then what your
own nature is able to bear. Would you be a wrestler, consider your
shoulders, your thighs, your loins--not all men are formed to the same
end. Think you to be a philosopher while acting as you do? think you go
on thus eating, thus drinking, giving way in like manner to wrath and
to displeasure? Nay, you must watch, you must labour; overcome certain
desires; quit your familiar friends, submit to be despised by your
slave, to be held in derision by them that meet you, to take the lower
place in all things, in office, in positions of authority, in courts of
law.
Weigh these things fully, and then, if you will, lay to your hand; if
as the price of these things you would gain Freedom, Tranquillity, and
passionless Serenity.
CV
He that hath no musical instruction is a child in Music; he that hath no
letters is a child in Learning; he that is untaught is a child in Life.
CVI
Can any profit be derived from these men? Aye, from all.
"What, even from a reviler? "
Why, tell me what profit a wrestler gains from him who exercises
him beforehand? The very greatest: he trains me in the practice of
endurance, of controlling my temper, of gentle ways. You deny it. What,
the man who lays hold of my neck, and disciplines loins and shoulders,
does me good, . . . while he that trains me to keep my temper does me
none? This is what it means, not knowing how to gain advantage from men!
Is my neighbour bad? Bad to himself, but good to me: he brings my good
temper, my gentleness into play. Is my father bad? Bad to himself, but
good to me. This is the rod of Hermes; touch what you will with it,
they say, and it becomes gold. Nay, but bring what you will and I will
transmute it into Good. Bring sickness, bring death, bring poverty and
reproach, bring trial for life--all these things through the rod of
Hermes shall be turned to profit.
CVII
Till then these sound opinions have taken firm root in you, and you
have gained a measure of strength for your security, I counsel you to be
cautious in associating with the uninstructed. Else whatever impressions
you receive upon the tablets of your mind in the School will day by day
melt and disappear, like wax in the sun. Withdraw then somewhere far
from the sun, while you have these waxen sentiments.
CVIII
We must approach this matter in a different way; it is great and
mystical: it is no common thing; nor given to every man. Wisdom alone,
it may be, will not suffice for the care of youth: a man needs also
a certain measure of readiness--an aptitude for the office; aye, and
certain bodily qualities; and above all, to be counselled of God Himself
to undertake this post; even as He counselled Socrates to fill the post
of one who confutes error, assigning to Diogenes the royal office of
high reproof, and to Zeno that of positive instruction. Whereas you
would fain set up for a physician provided with nothing but drugs! Where
and how they should be applied you neither know nor care.
CIX
If what charms you is nothing but abstract principles, sit down and turn
them over quietly in your mind: but never dub yourself a Philosopher,
nor suffer others to call you so. Say rather: He is in error; for my
desires, my impulses are unaltered. I give in my adhesion to what I did
before; nor has my mode of dealing with the things of sense undergone
any change.
CX
When a friend inclined to Cynic views asked Epictetus, what sort of
person a true Cynic should be, requesting a general sketch of the
system, he answered:--"We will consider that at leisure. At present
I content myself with saying this much: If a man put his hand to so
weighty a matter without God, the wrath of God abides upon him. That
which he covets will but bring upon him public shame. Not even on
finding himself in a well-ordered house does a man step forward and say
to himself, I must be master here! Else the lord of that house takes
notice of it, and, seeing him insolently giving orders, drags him forth
and chastises him. So it is also in this great City, the World. Here
also is there a Lord of the House, who orders all thing:--
"Thou are the Sun! in thine orbit thou hast
power to make the year and the seasons;
to bid the fruits of the earth to grow
and increase, the winds arise and fall;
thou canst in due measure cherish with
thy warmth the frames of men; go make
thy circuit, and thus minister unto all
from the greatest to the least! . . . "
"Thou canst lead a host against Troy; be Agamemnon! "
"Thou canst meet Hector in single combat; be Achilles! "
"But had Thersites stepped forward and claimed the chief command, he
had been met with a refusal, or obtained it only to his own shame and
confusion of face, before a cloud of witnesses. "
CXI
Others may fence themselves with walls and houses, when they do such
deeds as these, and wrap themselves in darkness--aye, they have many
a device to hide themselves. Another may shut his door and station one
before his chamber to say, if any comes, He has gone forth! he is not at
leisure! But the true Cynic will have none of these things; instead of
them, he must wrap himself in Modesty: else he will but bring himself
to shame, naked and under the open sky. That is his house; that is his
door; that is the slave that guards his chamber; that is his darkness!
CXII
Death? let it come when it will, whether it smite but a part of the
whole: Fly, you tell me--fly! But whither shall I fly? Can any man cast
me beyond the limits of the World? It may not be! And whithersoever I
go, there shall I still find Sun, Moon, and Stars; there I shall find
dreams, and omens, and converse with the Gods!
CXIII
Furthermore the true Cynic must know that he is sent as a Messenger from
God to men, to show unto them that as touching good and evil they are
in error; looking for these where they are not to be found, nor ever
bethinking themselves where they are. And like Diogenes when brought
before Philip after the battle of Chaeronea, the Cynic must remember
that he is a Spy. For a Spy he really is--to bring back word what things
are on Man's side, and what against him.
