Thus
Socrates
was not in prison, since he was there with his
own consent.
own consent.
Epictetus
"
"And how many more of the sort there may be; only to pass through
upon thy way! Thy purpose was to return to thy country; to relieve thy
kinsmen's fears for thee; thyself to discharge the duties of a citizen;
to marry a wife, to beget offspring, and to fill the appointed round of
office. Thou didst not come to choose out what places are most pleasant;
but rather to return to that wherein thou wast born and where wert
appointed to be a citizen. "
III
Try to enjoy the great festival of life with other men.
IV
But I have one whom I must please, to whom I must be subject, whom I
must obey:--God, and those who come next to Him. He hath entrusted me
with myself: He hath made my will subject to myself alone and given me
rules for the right use thereof.
V
Rufus used to say, If you have leisure to praise me, what I say is
naught. In truth he spoke in such wise, that each of us who sat there,
though that some one had accused him to Rufus:--so surely did he lay his
finger on the very deeds we did: so surely display the faults of each
before his very eyes.
VI
But what saith God? --"Had it been possible, Epictetus, I would have made
both that body of thine and thy possessions free and unimpeded, but as
it is, be not deceived:--it is not thine own; it is but finely tempered
clay. Since then this I could not do, I have given thee a portion of
Myself, in the power of desiring and declining and of pursuing and
avoiding, and in a word the power of dealing with the things of sense.
And if thou neglect not this, but place all that thou hast therein, thou
shalt never be let or hindered; thou shalt never lament; thou shalt
not blame or flatter any. What then? Seemth this to thee a little
thing? "--God forbid! --"Be content then therewith! "
And so I pray the Gods.
VII
What saith Antisthenes? Hast thou never heard? --
It is a kingly thing, O Cyrus, to do well and to be evil spoken of.
VIII
"Aye, but to debase myself thus were unworthy of me. "
"That," said Epictetus, "is for you to consider, not for me. You know
yourself what you are worth in your own eyes; and at what price you will
sell yourself. For men sell themselves at various prices. This was why,
when Florus was deliberating whether he should appear at Nero's shows,
taking part in the performance himself, Agrippinus replied, 'But why
do not you appear? ' he answered, 'Because I do not even consider the
question. ' For the man who has once stooped to consider such questions,
and to reckon up the value of external things, is not far from
forgetting what manner of man he is. Why, what is it that you ask me?
Is death preferable, or life? I reply, Life. Pain or pleasure? I reply,
Pleasure. "
"Well, but if I do not act, I shall lose my head. "
"Then go and act! But for my part I will not act. "
"Why? "
"Because you think yourself but one among the many threads which make
up the texture of the doublet. You should aim at being like men in
general--just as your thread has no ambition either to be anything
distinguished compared with the other threads. But I desire to be the
purple--that small and shining part which makes the rest seem fair and
beautiful. Why then do you bid me become even as the multitude? Then
were I no longer the purple. "
IX
If a man could be throughly penetrated, as he ought, with this thought,
that we are all in an especial manner sprung from God, and that God
is the Father of men as well as of Gods, full surely he would never
conceive aught ignoble or base of himself. Whereas if Caesar were to
adopt you, your haughty looks would be intolerable; will you not be
elated at knowing that you are the son of God? Now however it is not
so with us: but seeing that in our birth these two things are
commingled--the body which we share with the animals, and the Reason and
Thought which we share with the Gods, many decline towards this unhappy
kinship with the dead, few rise to the blessed kinship with the Divine.
Since then every one must deal with each thing according to the view
which he forms about it, those few who hold that they are born for
fidelity, modesty, and unerring sureness in dealing with the things
of sense, never conceive aught base or ignoble of themselves: but the
multitude the contrary. Why, what am I? --A wretched human creature; with
this miserable flesh of mine. Miserable indeed! but you have something
better than that paltry flesh of yours. Why then cling to the one, and
neglect the other?
X
Thou art but a poor soul laden with a lifeless body.
XI
The other day I had an iron lamp placed beside my household gods. I
heard a noise at the door and on hastening down found my lamp carried
off. I reflected that the culprit was in no very strange case.
"Tomorrow, my friend," I said, "you will find an earthenware lamp; for a
man can only lose what he has. "
XII
The reason why I lost my lamp was that the thief was superior to me in
vigilance. He paid however this price for the lamp, that in exchange
for it he consented to become a thief: in exchange for it, to become
faithless.
XIII
But God hath introduced Man to be a spectator of Himself and of His
works; and not a spectator only, but also an interpreter of them.
Wherefore it is a shame for man to begin and to leave off where the
brutes do. Rather he should begin there, and leave off where Nature
leaves off in us: and that is at contemplation, and understanding, and a
manner of life that is in harmony with herself.
See then that ye die not without being spectators of these things.
XIV
You journey to Olympia to see the work of Phidias; and each of you holds
it a misfortune not to have beheld these things before you die. Whereas
when there is no need even to take a journey, but you are on the spot,
with the works before you, have you no care to contemplate and study
these?
Will you not then perceive either who you are or unto what end you were
born: or for what purpose the power of contemplation has been bestowed
on you?
"Well, but in life there are some things disagreeable and hard to bear. "
And are there none at Olympia? Are you not scorched by the heat? Are you
not cramped for room? Have you not to bathe with discomfort? Are you not
drenched when it rains? Have you not to endure the clamor and shouting
and such annoyances as these? Well, I suppose you set all this over
against the splendour of the spectacle and bear it patiently. What then?
have you not received greatness of heart, received courage, received
fortitude? What care I, if I am great of heart, for aught that can come
to pass? What shall cast me down or disturb me? What shall seem painful?
Shall I not use the power to the end for which I received it, instead of
moaning and wailing over what comes to pass?
XV
If what philosophers say of the kinship of God and Man be true, what
remains for men to do but as Socrates did:--never, when asked one's
country, to answer, "I am an Athenian or a Corinthian," but "I am a
citizen of the world. "
XVI
He that hath grasped the administration of the World, who hath learned
that this Community, which consists of God and men, is the foremost and
mightiest and most comprehensive of all:--that from God have descended
the germs of life, not to my father only and father's father, but to all
things that are born and grow upon the earth, and in an especial manner
to those endowed with Reason (for those only are by their nature fitted
to hold communion with God, being by means of Reason conjoined with
Him)--why should not such an one call himself a citizen of the world?
Why not a son of God? Why should he fear aught that comes to pass among
men? Shall kinship with Caesar, or any other of the great at Rome, be
enough to hedge men around with safety and consideration, without a
thought of apprehension: while to have God for our Maker, and Father,
and Kinsman, shall not this set us free from sorrows and fears?
XVII
I do not think that an old fellow like me need have been sitting here
to try and prevent your entertaining abject notions of yourselves, and
talking of yourselves in an abject and ignoble way: but to prevent there
being by chance among you any such young men as, after recognising their
kindred to the Gods, and their bondage in these chains of the body and
its manifold necessities, should desire to cast them off as burdens
too grievous to be borne, and depart their true kindred. This is the
struggle in which your Master and Teacher, were he worthy of the name,
should be engaged. You would come to me and say: "Epictetus, we can no
longer endure being chained to this wretched body, giving food and
drink and rest and purification: aye, and for its sake forced to be
subservient to this man and that. Are these not things indifferent and
nothing to us? Is it not true that death is no evil? Are we not in
a manner kinsmen of the Gods, and have we not come from them? Let us
depart thither, whence we came: let us be freed from these chains that
confine and press us down. Here are thieves and robbers and tribunals:
and they that are called tyrants, who deem that they have after a
fashion power over us, because of the miserable body and what appertains
to it. Let us show them that they have power over none. "
XVIII
And to this I reply:--
"Friends, wait for God. When He gives the signal, and releases you from
this service, then depart to Him. But for the present, endure to dwell
in the place wherein He hath assigned you your post. Short indeed is the
time of your habitation therein, and easy to those that are minded. What
tyrant, what robber, what tribunals have any terrors for those who thus
esteem the body and all that belong to it as of no account? Stay; depart
not rashly hence! "
XIX
Something like that is what should pass between a teacher and ingenuous
youths. As it is, what does pass? The teacher is a lifeless body, and
you are lifeless bodies yourselves. When you have had enough to eat
today, you sit down and weep about tomorrow's food. Slave! if you
have it, well and good; if not, you will depart: the door is open--why
lament? What further room is there for tears? What further occasion for
flattery? Why should one envy another? Why should you stand in awe of
them that have much or are placed in power, especially if they be also
strong and passionate? Why, what should they do to us? What they can do,
we will not regard: what does concern us, that they cannot do. Who then
shall rule one that is thus minded?
XX
Seeing this then, and noting well the faculties which you have, you
should say,--"Send now, O God, any trial that Thou wilt; lo, I have
means and powers given me by Thee to acquit myself with honour through
whatever comes to pass! "--No; but there you sit, trembling for fear
certain things should come to pass, and moaning and groaning and
lamenting over what does come to pass. And then you upbraid the Gods.
Such meanness of spirit can have but one result--impiety.
Yet God has not only given us these faculties by means of which we may
bear everything that comes to pass without being crushed or depressed
thereby; but like a good King and Father, He has given us this without
let or hindrance, placed wholly at our own disposition, without
reserving to Himself any power of impediment or restraint. Though
possessing all these things free and all you own, you do not use them!
you do not perceive what it is you have received nor whence it comes,
but sit moaning and groaning; some of you blind to the Giver, making no
acknowledgment to your Benefactor; others basely giving themselves to
complaints and accusations against God.
Yet what faculties and powers you possess for attaining courage and
greatness of heart, I can easily show you; what you have for upbraiding
and accusation, it is for you to show me!
XXI
How did Socrates bear himself in this regard? How else than as became
one who was fully assured that he was the kinsman of Gods?
XXII
If God had made that part of His own nature which He severed from
Himself and gave to us, liable to be hindered or constrained either by
Himself or any other, He would not have been God, nor would He have been
taking care of us as He ought . . . . If you choose, you are free; if
you choose, you need blame no man--accuse no man. All things will be at
once according to your mind and according to the Mind of God.
XXIII
Petrifaction is of two sorts. There is petrifaction of the
understanding; and also of the sense of shame. This happens when a
man obstinately refuses to acknowledge plain truths, and persists in
maintaining what is self-contradictory. Most of us dread mortification
of the body, and would spare no pains to escape anything of that kind.
But of mortification of the soul we are utterly heedless. With regard,
indeed, to the soul, if a man is in such a state as to be incapable of
following or understanding anything, I grant you we do think him in a
bad way. But mortification of the sense of shame and modesty we go so
far as to dub strength of mind!
XXIV
If we were as intent upon our business as the old fellows at Rome are
upon what interests them, we too might perhaps accomplish something.
I know a man older than I am, now Superintendent of the Corn-market at
Rome, and I remember when he passed through this place on his way back
from exile, what an account he gave me of his former life, declaring
that for the future, once home again, his only care should be to pass
his remaining years in quiet and tranquility. "For how few years have
I left! " he cried. "That," I said, "you will not do; but the moment the
scent of Rome is in your nostrils, you will forget it all; and if you
can but gain admission to Court, you will be glad enough to elbow your
way in, and thank God for it. " "Epictetus," he replied, "if ever you
find me setting as much as one foot within the Court, think what you
will of me. "
Well, as it was, what did he do? Ere ever he entered the city, he was
met by a despatch from the Emperor. He took it, and forgot the whole
of his resolutions. From that moment, he has been piling one thing upon
another. I should like to be beside him to remind him of what he said
when passing this way, and to add, How much better a prophet I am than
you!
What then? do I say man is not made for an active life? Far from it!
. . . But there is a great difference between other men's occupations and
ours. . . . A glance at theirs will make it clear to you. All day long
they do nothing but calculate, contrive, consult how to wring their
profit out of food-stuffs, farm-plots and the like. . . . Whereas, I
entreat you to learn what the administration of the World is, and what
place a Being endowed with reason holds therein: to consider what you
are yourself, and wherein your Good and Evil consists.
XXV
A man asked me to write to Rome on his behalf who, as most people
thought, had met with misfortune; for having been before wealthy and
distinguished, he had afterwards lost all and was living here. So I
wrote about him in a humble style. He however on reading the letter
returned it to me, with the words: "I asked for your help, not for your
pity. No evil has happened unto me. "
XXVI
True instruction is this:--to learn to wish that each thing should come
to pass as it does. And how does it come to pass? As the Disposer has
disposed it. Now He has disposed that there should be summer and winter,
and plenty and dearth, and vice and virtue, and all such opposites, for
the harmony of the whole.
XXVII
Have this thought ever present with thee, when thou losest any outward
thing, what thou gainest in its stead; and if this be the more precious,
say not, I have suffered loss.
XXVIII
Concerning the Gods, there are who deny the very existence of the
Godhead; others say that it exists, but neither bestirs nor concerns
itself nor has forethought for anything. A third party attribute to it
existence and forethought, but only for great and heavenly matters, not
for anything that is on earth. A fourth party admit things on earth as
well as in heaven, but only in general, and not with respect to each
individual. A fifth, of whom were Ulysses and Socrates are those that
cry:--
I move not without Thy knowledge!
XXIX
Considering all these things, the good and true man submits his
judgement to Him that administers the Universe, even as good citizens to
the law of the State. And he that is being instructed should come thus
minded:--How may I in all things follow the Gods; and, How may I rest
satisfied with the Divine Administration; and, How may I become free?
For he is free for whom all things come to pass according to his will,
and whom none can hinder. What then, is freedom madness? God forbid. For
madness and freedom exist not together.
"But I wish all that I desire to come to pass and in the manner that I
desire. "
--You are mad, you are beside yourself. Know you not that Freedom is a
glorious thing and of great worth? But that what I desired at random I
should wish at random to come to pass, so far from being noble, may well
be exceeding base.
XXX
You must know that it is no easy thing for a principle to become a man's
own, unless each day he maintain it and hear it maintained, as well as
work it out in life.
XXXI
You are impatient and hard to please. If alone, you call it solitude: if
in the company of men, you dub them conspirators and thieves, and find
fault with your very parents, children, brothers, and neighbours.
Whereas when by yourself you should have called it Tranquillity and
Freedom: and herein deemed yourself like unto the Gods. And when in the
company of many, you should not have called it a wearisome crowd and
tumult, but an assembly and a tribunal; and thus accepted all with
contentment.
XXXII
What then is the chastisement of those who accept it not? To be as they
are. Is any discontented with being alone? let him be in solitude. Is
any discontented with his parents? let him be a bad son, and lament. Is
any discontented with his children? let him be a bad father. --"Throw
him into prison! "--What prison? --Where he is already: for he is there
against his will; and wherever a man is against his will, that to him is
a prison.
Thus Socrates was not in prison, since he was there with his
own consent.
XXXIII
Knowest thou what a speck thou art in comparison with the
Universe? ---That is, with respect to the body; since with respect to
Reason, thou art not inferior to the Gods, nor less than they. For the
greatness of Reason is not measured by length or height, but by the
resolves of the mind. Place then thy happiness in that wherein thou art
equal to the Gods.
XXXIV
Asked how a man might eat acceptably to the Gods, Epictetus replied:--If
when he eats, he can be just, cheerful, equable, temperate, and orderly,
can he not thus eat acceptably to the Gods? But when you call for warm
water, and your slave does not answer, or when he answers brings it
lukewarm, or is not even found to be in the house at all, then not to be
vexed nor burst with anger, is not that acceptable to the Gods?
"But how can one endure such people? "
Slave, will you not endure your own brother, that has God to his
forefather, even as a son sprung from the same stock, and of the same
high descent as yourself? And if you are stationed in a high position,
are you therefor forthwith set up for a tyrant? Remember who you are,
and whom you rule, that they are by nature your kinsmen, your brothers,
the offspring of God.
"But I paid a price for them, not they for me. "
Do you see whither you are looking--down to the earth, to the pit, to
those despicable laws of the dead? But to the laws of the Gods you do
not look.
XXXV
When we are invited to a banquet, we take what is set before us; and
were one to call upon his host to set fish upon the table or sweet
things, he would be deemed absurd. Yet in a word, we ask the Gods for
what they do not give; and that, although they have given us so many
things!
XXXVI
Asked how a man might convince himself that every single act of his was
under the eye of God, Epictetus answered:--
"Do you not hold that things on earth and things in heaven are
continuous and in unison with each other? "
"I do," was the reply.
"Else how should the trees so regularly, as though by God's command,
at His bidding flower; at His bidding send forth shoots, bear fruit and
ripen it; at His bidding let it fall and shed their leaves, and folded
up upon themselves lie in quietness and rest? How else, as the Moon
waxes and wanes, as the Sun approaches and recedes, can it be that such
vicissitude and alternation is seen in earthly things?
"If then all things that grow, nay, our own bodies, are thus bound up
with the whole, is not this still truer of our souls? And if our souls
are bound up and in contact with God, as being very parts and fragments
plucked from Himself, shall He not feel every movement of theirs as
though it were His own, and belonging to His own nature? "
XXXVII
"But," you say, "I cannot comprehend all this at once. "
"Why, who told you that your powers were equal to God's? "
Yet God hath placed by the side of each a man's own Guardian Spirit, who
is charged to watch over him--a Guardian who sleeps not nor is deceived.
For to what better or more watchful Guardian could He have committed
which of us? So when you have shut the doors and made a darkness within,
remember never to say that you are alone; for you are not alone, but
God is within, and your Guardian Spirit, and what light do they need to
behold what you do? To this God you also should have sworn allegiance,
even as soldiers unto Caesar. They, when their service is hired, swear
to hold the life of Caesar dearer than all else: and will you not swear
your oath, that are deemed worthy of so many and great gifts? And will
you not keep your oath when you have sworn it? And what oath will you
swear? Never to disobey, never to arraign or murmur at aught that comes
to you from His hand: never unwillingly to do or suffer aught that
necessity lays upon you.
"Is this oath like theirs? "
They swear to hold no other dearer than Caesar: you, to hold our true
selves dearer than all else beside.
XXXVIII
"How shall my brother cease to be wroth with me? "
Bring him to me, and I will tell him. But to thee I have nothing to say
about his anger.
XXXIX
When one took counsel of Epictetus, saying, "What I seek is this, how
even though my brother be not reconciled to me, I may still remain as
Nature would have me to be," he replied: "All great things are slow of
growth; nay, this is true even of a grape or of a fig. If then you say
to me now, I desire a fig, I shall answer, It needs time: wait till it
first flower, then cast its blossom, then ripen. Whereas then the fruit
of the fig-tree reaches not maturity suddenly nor yet in a single hour,
do you nevertheless desire so quickly, and easily to reap the fruit of
the mind of man? --Nay, expect it not, even though I bade you! "
XL
Epaphroditus had a shoemaker whom he sold as being good-for-nothing.
This fellow, by some accident, was afterwards purchased by one of
Caesar's men, and became a shoemaker to Caesar. You should have seen
what respect Epaphroditus paid him then. "How does the good Felicion?
Kindly let me know! " And if any of us inquired, "What is Epaphroditus
doing? " the answer was, "He is consulting about so and so with
Felicion. "--Had he not sold him as good-for-nothing? Who had in a trice
converted him into a wiseacre?
This is what comes of holding of importance anything but the things that
depend on the Will.
XLI
What you shun enduring yourself, attempt not to impose on others. You
shun slavery--beware of enslaving others! If you can endure to do that,
one would think you had been once upon a time a slave yourself. For Vice
has nothing in common with virtue, nor Freedom with slavery.
XLII
Has a man been raised to tribuneship? Every one that he meets
congratulates him. One kisses him on the eyes, another on the neck,
while the slaves kiss his hands. He goes home to find torches burning;
he ascends to the Capitol to sacrifice. --Who ever sacrificed for having
had right desires; for having conceived such inclinations as Nature
would have him? In truth we thank the Gods for that wherein we place our
happiness.
XLIII
A man was talking to me to-day about the priesthood of Augustus. I said
to him, "Let the thing go, my good Sir; you will spend a good deal to no
purpose. "
"Well, but my name will be inserted in all documents and contracts. "
"Will you be standing there to tell those that read them, That is my
name written there? And even if you could now be there in every case,
what will you do when you are dead? "
"At all events my name will remain. "
"Inscribe it on a stone and it will remain just as well. And think,
beyond Nicopolis what memory of you will there be? "
"But I shall have a golden wreath to wear. "
"If you must have a wreath, get a wreath of roses and put it on; you
will look more elegant! "
XLIV
Above all, remember that the door stands open. Be not more fearful than
children; but as they, when they weary of the game, cry, "I will play
no more," even so, when thou art in the like case, cry, "I will play no
more" and depart. But if thou stayest, make no lamentation.
XLV
Is there smoke in the room? If it be slight, I remain; if grievous,
I quit it. For you must remember this and hold it fast, that the door
stands open.
"You shall not dwell at Nicopolis! "
Well and good.
"Nor at Athens. "
Then I will not dwell at Athens either.
"Nor at Rome. "
Nor at Rome either.
"You shall dwell in Gyara! "
Well: but to dwell in Gyara seems to me like a grievous smoke; I depart
to a place where none can forbid me to dwell: that habitation is open
unto all! As for the last garment of all, that is the poor body; beyond
that, none can do aught unto me. This why Demetrius said to Nero: "You
threaten me with death; it is Nature who threatens you! "
XLVI
The beginning of philosophy is to know the condition of one's own mind.
If a man recognises that this is in a weakly state, he will not then
want to apply it to questions of the greatest moment. As it is, men who
are not fit to swallow even a morsel, buy whole treatises and try to
devour them. Accordingly they either vomit them up again, or suffer from
indigestion, whence come gripings, fluxions, and fevers. Whereas they
should have stopped to consider their capacity.
XLVII
In theory it is easy to convince an ignorant person: in actual life, men
not only object to offer themselves to be convinced, but hate the man
who has convinced them. Whereas Socrates used to say that we should
never lead a life not subjected to examination.
XLVIII
This is the reason why Socrates, when reminded that he should prepare
for his trial, answered: "Thinkest thou not that I have been preparing
for it all my life? "
"In what way? "
"I have maintained that which in me lay! "
"How so? "
"I have never, secretly or openly, done a wrong unto any. "
XLIX
In what character dost thou now come forward?
As a witness summoned by God. "Come thou," saith God, "and testify for
me, for thou art worthy of being brought forward as a witness by Me. Is
aught that is outside thy will either good or bad? Do I hurt any man?
Have I placed the good of each in the power of any other than himself?
What witness dost thou bear to God? "
"I am in evil state, Master, I am undone! None careth for me, none
giveth me aught: all men blame, all speak evil of me. "
Is this the witness thou wilt bear, and do dishonour to the calling
wherewith He hath called thee, because He hath done thee so great
honour, and deemed thee worthy of being summoned to bear witness in so
great a cause?
L
Wouldst thou have men speak good of thee? speak good of them. And when
thou hast learned to speak good of them, try to do good unto them, and
thus thou wilt reap in return their speaking good of thee.
LI
When thou goest in to any of the great, remember that Another from above
sees what is passing, and that thou shouldst please Him rather than man.
He therefore asks thee:--
"In the Schools, what didst thou call exile, imprisonment, bonds, death
and shame? "
"I called them things indifferent. "
"What then dost thou call them now? Are they at all changed? "
"No. "
"Is it then thou that art changed? "
"No. "
"Say then, what are things indifferent? "
"Things that are not in our power. "
"Say then, what follows? "
"That things which are not in our power are nothing to me. "
"Say also what things you hold to be good. "
"A will such as it ought to be, and a right use of the things of sense. "
"And what is the end? "
"To follow Thee! "
LII
"That Socrates should ever have been so treated by the Athenians! "
Slave! why say "Socrates"? Speak of the thing as it is: That ever then
the poor body of Socrates should have been dragged away and haled by
main force to prison! That ever hemlock should have been given to the
body of Socrates; that that should have breathed its life away! --Do you
marvel at this? Do you hold this unjust? Is it for this that you accuse
God? Had Socrates no compensation for this? Where then for him was the
ideal Good? Whom shall we hearken to, you or him? And what says he?
"Anytus and Melitus may put me to death: to injure me is beyond their
power. "
And again:--
"If such be the will of God, so let it be. "
LIII
Nay, young man, for heaven's sake; but once thou hast heard these words,
go home and say to thyself:--"It is not Epictetus that has told me these
things: how indeed should he? No, it is some gracious God through him.
Else it would never have entered his head to tell me them--he that is
not used to speak to any one thus. Well, then, let us not lie under the
wrath of God, but be obedient unto Him. "---Nay, indeed; but if a raven
by its croaking bears thee any sign, it is not the raven but God that
sends the sign through the raven; and if He signifies anything to thee
through human voice, will He not cause the man to say these words to
thee, that thou mayest know the power of the Divine--how He sends a sign
to some in one way and to others in another, and on the greatest and
highest matters of all signifies His will through the noblest messenger?
What else does the poet mean:--
I spake unto him erst Myself, and sent
Hermes the shining One, to check and warn him,
The husband not to slay, nor woo the wife!
LIV
In the same way my friend Heraclitus, who had a trifling suit about a
petty farm at Rhodes, first showed the judges that his cause was just,
and then at the finish cried, "I will not entreat you: nor do I care
what sentence you pass. It is you who are on your trial, not I! "--And so
he ended the case.
LV
As for us, we behave like a herd of deer. When they flee from the
huntsman's feathers in affright, which way do they turn? What haven of
safety do they make for? Why, they rush upon the nets! And thus they
perish by confounding what they should fear with that wherein no danger
lies. . . . Not death or pain is to be feared, but the fear of death or
pain. Well said the poet therefore:--
Death has no terror; only a Death of shame!
LVI
How is it then that certain external things are said to be natural, and
other contrary to Nature?
Why, just as it might be said if we stood alone and apart from others.
A foot, for instance, I will allow it is natural should be clean. But if
you take it as a foot, and as a thing which does not stand by itself, it
will beseem it (if need be) to walk in the mud, to tread on thorns, and
sometimes even to be cut off, for the benefit of the whole body; else
it is no longer a foot. In some such way we should conceive of ourselves
also. What art thou? --A man. --Looked at as standing by thyself and
separate, it is natural for thee in health and wealth long to live.
But looked at as a Man, and only as a part of a Whole, it is for that
Whole's sake that thou shouldest at one time fall sick, at another brave
the perils of the sea, again, know the meaning of want and perhaps die
an early death. Why then repine? Knowest thou not that as the foot is
no more a foot if detached from the body, so thou in like case art no
longer a Man? For what is a Man? A part of a City:--first of the City
of Gods and Men; next, of that which ranks nearest it, a miniature of
the universal City. . . . In such a body, in such a world enveloping us,
among lives like these, such things must happen to one or another. Thy
part, then, being here, is to speak of these things as is meet, and to
order them as befits the matter.
LVII
That was a good reply which Diogenes made to a man who asked him for
letters of recommendation. --"That you are a man, he will know when he
sees you;--whether a good or bad one, he will know if he has any skill
in discerning the good or bad. But if he has none, he will never know,
though I write him a thousand times. "--It is as though a piece of silver
money desired to be recommended to some one to be tested. If the man be
a good judge of silver, he will know: the coin will tell its own tale.
LVIII
Even as the traveller asks his way of him that he meets, inclined in no
wise to bear to the right rather than to the left (for he desires only
the way leading whither he would go), so should we come unto God as to a
guide; even as we use our eyes without admonishing them to show us some
things rather than others, but content to receive the images of such
things as they present to us. But as it is we stand anxiously
watching the victim, and with the voice of supplication call upon the
augur:--"Master, have mercy on me: vouchsafe unto me a way of escape! "
Slave, would you then have aught else then what is best? is there
anything better than what is God's good pleasure? Why, as far as in you
lies, would you corrupt your Judge, and lead your Counsellor astray?
LIX
God is beneficent. But the Good also is beneficent. It should seem then
that where the real nature of God is, there too is to be found the real
nature of the Good. What then is the real nature of God? --Intelligence,
Knowledge, Right Reason. Here then without more ado seek the real nature
of the Good. For surely thou dost not seek it in a plant or in an animal
that reasoneth not.
LX
Seek then the real nature of the Good in that without whose presence
thou wilt not admit the Good to exist in aught else. --What then? Are not
these other things also works of God? --They are; but not preferred to
honour, nor are they portions of God. But thou art a thing preferred to
honour: thou art thyself a fragment torn from God:--thou hast a portion
of Him within thyself.
"And how many more of the sort there may be; only to pass through
upon thy way! Thy purpose was to return to thy country; to relieve thy
kinsmen's fears for thee; thyself to discharge the duties of a citizen;
to marry a wife, to beget offspring, and to fill the appointed round of
office. Thou didst not come to choose out what places are most pleasant;
but rather to return to that wherein thou wast born and where wert
appointed to be a citizen. "
III
Try to enjoy the great festival of life with other men.
IV
But I have one whom I must please, to whom I must be subject, whom I
must obey:--God, and those who come next to Him. He hath entrusted me
with myself: He hath made my will subject to myself alone and given me
rules for the right use thereof.
V
Rufus used to say, If you have leisure to praise me, what I say is
naught. In truth he spoke in such wise, that each of us who sat there,
though that some one had accused him to Rufus:--so surely did he lay his
finger on the very deeds we did: so surely display the faults of each
before his very eyes.
VI
But what saith God? --"Had it been possible, Epictetus, I would have made
both that body of thine and thy possessions free and unimpeded, but as
it is, be not deceived:--it is not thine own; it is but finely tempered
clay. Since then this I could not do, I have given thee a portion of
Myself, in the power of desiring and declining and of pursuing and
avoiding, and in a word the power of dealing with the things of sense.
And if thou neglect not this, but place all that thou hast therein, thou
shalt never be let or hindered; thou shalt never lament; thou shalt
not blame or flatter any. What then? Seemth this to thee a little
thing? "--God forbid! --"Be content then therewith! "
And so I pray the Gods.
VII
What saith Antisthenes? Hast thou never heard? --
It is a kingly thing, O Cyrus, to do well and to be evil spoken of.
VIII
"Aye, but to debase myself thus were unworthy of me. "
"That," said Epictetus, "is for you to consider, not for me. You know
yourself what you are worth in your own eyes; and at what price you will
sell yourself. For men sell themselves at various prices. This was why,
when Florus was deliberating whether he should appear at Nero's shows,
taking part in the performance himself, Agrippinus replied, 'But why
do not you appear? ' he answered, 'Because I do not even consider the
question. ' For the man who has once stooped to consider such questions,
and to reckon up the value of external things, is not far from
forgetting what manner of man he is. Why, what is it that you ask me?
Is death preferable, or life? I reply, Life. Pain or pleasure? I reply,
Pleasure. "
"Well, but if I do not act, I shall lose my head. "
"Then go and act! But for my part I will not act. "
"Why? "
"Because you think yourself but one among the many threads which make
up the texture of the doublet. You should aim at being like men in
general--just as your thread has no ambition either to be anything
distinguished compared with the other threads. But I desire to be the
purple--that small and shining part which makes the rest seem fair and
beautiful. Why then do you bid me become even as the multitude? Then
were I no longer the purple. "
IX
If a man could be throughly penetrated, as he ought, with this thought,
that we are all in an especial manner sprung from God, and that God
is the Father of men as well as of Gods, full surely he would never
conceive aught ignoble or base of himself. Whereas if Caesar were to
adopt you, your haughty looks would be intolerable; will you not be
elated at knowing that you are the son of God? Now however it is not
so with us: but seeing that in our birth these two things are
commingled--the body which we share with the animals, and the Reason and
Thought which we share with the Gods, many decline towards this unhappy
kinship with the dead, few rise to the blessed kinship with the Divine.
Since then every one must deal with each thing according to the view
which he forms about it, those few who hold that they are born for
fidelity, modesty, and unerring sureness in dealing with the things
of sense, never conceive aught base or ignoble of themselves: but the
multitude the contrary. Why, what am I? --A wretched human creature; with
this miserable flesh of mine. Miserable indeed! but you have something
better than that paltry flesh of yours. Why then cling to the one, and
neglect the other?
X
Thou art but a poor soul laden with a lifeless body.
XI
The other day I had an iron lamp placed beside my household gods. I
heard a noise at the door and on hastening down found my lamp carried
off. I reflected that the culprit was in no very strange case.
"Tomorrow, my friend," I said, "you will find an earthenware lamp; for a
man can only lose what he has. "
XII
The reason why I lost my lamp was that the thief was superior to me in
vigilance. He paid however this price for the lamp, that in exchange
for it he consented to become a thief: in exchange for it, to become
faithless.
XIII
But God hath introduced Man to be a spectator of Himself and of His
works; and not a spectator only, but also an interpreter of them.
Wherefore it is a shame for man to begin and to leave off where the
brutes do. Rather he should begin there, and leave off where Nature
leaves off in us: and that is at contemplation, and understanding, and a
manner of life that is in harmony with herself.
See then that ye die not without being spectators of these things.
XIV
You journey to Olympia to see the work of Phidias; and each of you holds
it a misfortune not to have beheld these things before you die. Whereas
when there is no need even to take a journey, but you are on the spot,
with the works before you, have you no care to contemplate and study
these?
Will you not then perceive either who you are or unto what end you were
born: or for what purpose the power of contemplation has been bestowed
on you?
"Well, but in life there are some things disagreeable and hard to bear. "
And are there none at Olympia? Are you not scorched by the heat? Are you
not cramped for room? Have you not to bathe with discomfort? Are you not
drenched when it rains? Have you not to endure the clamor and shouting
and such annoyances as these? Well, I suppose you set all this over
against the splendour of the spectacle and bear it patiently. What then?
have you not received greatness of heart, received courage, received
fortitude? What care I, if I am great of heart, for aught that can come
to pass? What shall cast me down or disturb me? What shall seem painful?
Shall I not use the power to the end for which I received it, instead of
moaning and wailing over what comes to pass?
XV
If what philosophers say of the kinship of God and Man be true, what
remains for men to do but as Socrates did:--never, when asked one's
country, to answer, "I am an Athenian or a Corinthian," but "I am a
citizen of the world. "
XVI
He that hath grasped the administration of the World, who hath learned
that this Community, which consists of God and men, is the foremost and
mightiest and most comprehensive of all:--that from God have descended
the germs of life, not to my father only and father's father, but to all
things that are born and grow upon the earth, and in an especial manner
to those endowed with Reason (for those only are by their nature fitted
to hold communion with God, being by means of Reason conjoined with
Him)--why should not such an one call himself a citizen of the world?
Why not a son of God? Why should he fear aught that comes to pass among
men? Shall kinship with Caesar, or any other of the great at Rome, be
enough to hedge men around with safety and consideration, without a
thought of apprehension: while to have God for our Maker, and Father,
and Kinsman, shall not this set us free from sorrows and fears?
XVII
I do not think that an old fellow like me need have been sitting here
to try and prevent your entertaining abject notions of yourselves, and
talking of yourselves in an abject and ignoble way: but to prevent there
being by chance among you any such young men as, after recognising their
kindred to the Gods, and their bondage in these chains of the body and
its manifold necessities, should desire to cast them off as burdens
too grievous to be borne, and depart their true kindred. This is the
struggle in which your Master and Teacher, were he worthy of the name,
should be engaged. You would come to me and say: "Epictetus, we can no
longer endure being chained to this wretched body, giving food and
drink and rest and purification: aye, and for its sake forced to be
subservient to this man and that. Are these not things indifferent and
nothing to us? Is it not true that death is no evil? Are we not in
a manner kinsmen of the Gods, and have we not come from them? Let us
depart thither, whence we came: let us be freed from these chains that
confine and press us down. Here are thieves and robbers and tribunals:
and they that are called tyrants, who deem that they have after a
fashion power over us, because of the miserable body and what appertains
to it. Let us show them that they have power over none. "
XVIII
And to this I reply:--
"Friends, wait for God. When He gives the signal, and releases you from
this service, then depart to Him. But for the present, endure to dwell
in the place wherein He hath assigned you your post. Short indeed is the
time of your habitation therein, and easy to those that are minded. What
tyrant, what robber, what tribunals have any terrors for those who thus
esteem the body and all that belong to it as of no account? Stay; depart
not rashly hence! "
XIX
Something like that is what should pass between a teacher and ingenuous
youths. As it is, what does pass? The teacher is a lifeless body, and
you are lifeless bodies yourselves. When you have had enough to eat
today, you sit down and weep about tomorrow's food. Slave! if you
have it, well and good; if not, you will depart: the door is open--why
lament? What further room is there for tears? What further occasion for
flattery? Why should one envy another? Why should you stand in awe of
them that have much or are placed in power, especially if they be also
strong and passionate? Why, what should they do to us? What they can do,
we will not regard: what does concern us, that they cannot do. Who then
shall rule one that is thus minded?
XX
Seeing this then, and noting well the faculties which you have, you
should say,--"Send now, O God, any trial that Thou wilt; lo, I have
means and powers given me by Thee to acquit myself with honour through
whatever comes to pass! "--No; but there you sit, trembling for fear
certain things should come to pass, and moaning and groaning and
lamenting over what does come to pass. And then you upbraid the Gods.
Such meanness of spirit can have but one result--impiety.
Yet God has not only given us these faculties by means of which we may
bear everything that comes to pass without being crushed or depressed
thereby; but like a good King and Father, He has given us this without
let or hindrance, placed wholly at our own disposition, without
reserving to Himself any power of impediment or restraint. Though
possessing all these things free and all you own, you do not use them!
you do not perceive what it is you have received nor whence it comes,
but sit moaning and groaning; some of you blind to the Giver, making no
acknowledgment to your Benefactor; others basely giving themselves to
complaints and accusations against God.
Yet what faculties and powers you possess for attaining courage and
greatness of heart, I can easily show you; what you have for upbraiding
and accusation, it is for you to show me!
XXI
How did Socrates bear himself in this regard? How else than as became
one who was fully assured that he was the kinsman of Gods?
XXII
If God had made that part of His own nature which He severed from
Himself and gave to us, liable to be hindered or constrained either by
Himself or any other, He would not have been God, nor would He have been
taking care of us as He ought . . . . If you choose, you are free; if
you choose, you need blame no man--accuse no man. All things will be at
once according to your mind and according to the Mind of God.
XXIII
Petrifaction is of two sorts. There is petrifaction of the
understanding; and also of the sense of shame. This happens when a
man obstinately refuses to acknowledge plain truths, and persists in
maintaining what is self-contradictory. Most of us dread mortification
of the body, and would spare no pains to escape anything of that kind.
But of mortification of the soul we are utterly heedless. With regard,
indeed, to the soul, if a man is in such a state as to be incapable of
following or understanding anything, I grant you we do think him in a
bad way. But mortification of the sense of shame and modesty we go so
far as to dub strength of mind!
XXIV
If we were as intent upon our business as the old fellows at Rome are
upon what interests them, we too might perhaps accomplish something.
I know a man older than I am, now Superintendent of the Corn-market at
Rome, and I remember when he passed through this place on his way back
from exile, what an account he gave me of his former life, declaring
that for the future, once home again, his only care should be to pass
his remaining years in quiet and tranquility. "For how few years have
I left! " he cried. "That," I said, "you will not do; but the moment the
scent of Rome is in your nostrils, you will forget it all; and if you
can but gain admission to Court, you will be glad enough to elbow your
way in, and thank God for it. " "Epictetus," he replied, "if ever you
find me setting as much as one foot within the Court, think what you
will of me. "
Well, as it was, what did he do? Ere ever he entered the city, he was
met by a despatch from the Emperor. He took it, and forgot the whole
of his resolutions. From that moment, he has been piling one thing upon
another. I should like to be beside him to remind him of what he said
when passing this way, and to add, How much better a prophet I am than
you!
What then? do I say man is not made for an active life? Far from it!
. . . But there is a great difference between other men's occupations and
ours. . . . A glance at theirs will make it clear to you. All day long
they do nothing but calculate, contrive, consult how to wring their
profit out of food-stuffs, farm-plots and the like. . . . Whereas, I
entreat you to learn what the administration of the World is, and what
place a Being endowed with reason holds therein: to consider what you
are yourself, and wherein your Good and Evil consists.
XXV
A man asked me to write to Rome on his behalf who, as most people
thought, had met with misfortune; for having been before wealthy and
distinguished, he had afterwards lost all and was living here. So I
wrote about him in a humble style. He however on reading the letter
returned it to me, with the words: "I asked for your help, not for your
pity. No evil has happened unto me. "
XXVI
True instruction is this:--to learn to wish that each thing should come
to pass as it does. And how does it come to pass? As the Disposer has
disposed it. Now He has disposed that there should be summer and winter,
and plenty and dearth, and vice and virtue, and all such opposites, for
the harmony of the whole.
XXVII
Have this thought ever present with thee, when thou losest any outward
thing, what thou gainest in its stead; and if this be the more precious,
say not, I have suffered loss.
XXVIII
Concerning the Gods, there are who deny the very existence of the
Godhead; others say that it exists, but neither bestirs nor concerns
itself nor has forethought for anything. A third party attribute to it
existence and forethought, but only for great and heavenly matters, not
for anything that is on earth. A fourth party admit things on earth as
well as in heaven, but only in general, and not with respect to each
individual. A fifth, of whom were Ulysses and Socrates are those that
cry:--
I move not without Thy knowledge!
XXIX
Considering all these things, the good and true man submits his
judgement to Him that administers the Universe, even as good citizens to
the law of the State. And he that is being instructed should come thus
minded:--How may I in all things follow the Gods; and, How may I rest
satisfied with the Divine Administration; and, How may I become free?
For he is free for whom all things come to pass according to his will,
and whom none can hinder. What then, is freedom madness? God forbid. For
madness and freedom exist not together.
"But I wish all that I desire to come to pass and in the manner that I
desire. "
--You are mad, you are beside yourself. Know you not that Freedom is a
glorious thing and of great worth? But that what I desired at random I
should wish at random to come to pass, so far from being noble, may well
be exceeding base.
XXX
You must know that it is no easy thing for a principle to become a man's
own, unless each day he maintain it and hear it maintained, as well as
work it out in life.
XXXI
You are impatient and hard to please. If alone, you call it solitude: if
in the company of men, you dub them conspirators and thieves, and find
fault with your very parents, children, brothers, and neighbours.
Whereas when by yourself you should have called it Tranquillity and
Freedom: and herein deemed yourself like unto the Gods. And when in the
company of many, you should not have called it a wearisome crowd and
tumult, but an assembly and a tribunal; and thus accepted all with
contentment.
XXXII
What then is the chastisement of those who accept it not? To be as they
are. Is any discontented with being alone? let him be in solitude. Is
any discontented with his parents? let him be a bad son, and lament. Is
any discontented with his children? let him be a bad father. --"Throw
him into prison! "--What prison? --Where he is already: for he is there
against his will; and wherever a man is against his will, that to him is
a prison.
Thus Socrates was not in prison, since he was there with his
own consent.
XXXIII
Knowest thou what a speck thou art in comparison with the
Universe? ---That is, with respect to the body; since with respect to
Reason, thou art not inferior to the Gods, nor less than they. For the
greatness of Reason is not measured by length or height, but by the
resolves of the mind. Place then thy happiness in that wherein thou art
equal to the Gods.
XXXIV
Asked how a man might eat acceptably to the Gods, Epictetus replied:--If
when he eats, he can be just, cheerful, equable, temperate, and orderly,
can he not thus eat acceptably to the Gods? But when you call for warm
water, and your slave does not answer, or when he answers brings it
lukewarm, or is not even found to be in the house at all, then not to be
vexed nor burst with anger, is not that acceptable to the Gods?
"But how can one endure such people? "
Slave, will you not endure your own brother, that has God to his
forefather, even as a son sprung from the same stock, and of the same
high descent as yourself? And if you are stationed in a high position,
are you therefor forthwith set up for a tyrant? Remember who you are,
and whom you rule, that they are by nature your kinsmen, your brothers,
the offspring of God.
"But I paid a price for them, not they for me. "
Do you see whither you are looking--down to the earth, to the pit, to
those despicable laws of the dead? But to the laws of the Gods you do
not look.
XXXV
When we are invited to a banquet, we take what is set before us; and
were one to call upon his host to set fish upon the table or sweet
things, he would be deemed absurd. Yet in a word, we ask the Gods for
what they do not give; and that, although they have given us so many
things!
XXXVI
Asked how a man might convince himself that every single act of his was
under the eye of God, Epictetus answered:--
"Do you not hold that things on earth and things in heaven are
continuous and in unison with each other? "
"I do," was the reply.
"Else how should the trees so regularly, as though by God's command,
at His bidding flower; at His bidding send forth shoots, bear fruit and
ripen it; at His bidding let it fall and shed their leaves, and folded
up upon themselves lie in quietness and rest? How else, as the Moon
waxes and wanes, as the Sun approaches and recedes, can it be that such
vicissitude and alternation is seen in earthly things?
"If then all things that grow, nay, our own bodies, are thus bound up
with the whole, is not this still truer of our souls? And if our souls
are bound up and in contact with God, as being very parts and fragments
plucked from Himself, shall He not feel every movement of theirs as
though it were His own, and belonging to His own nature? "
XXXVII
"But," you say, "I cannot comprehend all this at once. "
"Why, who told you that your powers were equal to God's? "
Yet God hath placed by the side of each a man's own Guardian Spirit, who
is charged to watch over him--a Guardian who sleeps not nor is deceived.
For to what better or more watchful Guardian could He have committed
which of us? So when you have shut the doors and made a darkness within,
remember never to say that you are alone; for you are not alone, but
God is within, and your Guardian Spirit, and what light do they need to
behold what you do? To this God you also should have sworn allegiance,
even as soldiers unto Caesar. They, when their service is hired, swear
to hold the life of Caesar dearer than all else: and will you not swear
your oath, that are deemed worthy of so many and great gifts? And will
you not keep your oath when you have sworn it? And what oath will you
swear? Never to disobey, never to arraign or murmur at aught that comes
to you from His hand: never unwillingly to do or suffer aught that
necessity lays upon you.
"Is this oath like theirs? "
They swear to hold no other dearer than Caesar: you, to hold our true
selves dearer than all else beside.
XXXVIII
"How shall my brother cease to be wroth with me? "
Bring him to me, and I will tell him. But to thee I have nothing to say
about his anger.
XXXIX
When one took counsel of Epictetus, saying, "What I seek is this, how
even though my brother be not reconciled to me, I may still remain as
Nature would have me to be," he replied: "All great things are slow of
growth; nay, this is true even of a grape or of a fig. If then you say
to me now, I desire a fig, I shall answer, It needs time: wait till it
first flower, then cast its blossom, then ripen. Whereas then the fruit
of the fig-tree reaches not maturity suddenly nor yet in a single hour,
do you nevertheless desire so quickly, and easily to reap the fruit of
the mind of man? --Nay, expect it not, even though I bade you! "
XL
Epaphroditus had a shoemaker whom he sold as being good-for-nothing.
This fellow, by some accident, was afterwards purchased by one of
Caesar's men, and became a shoemaker to Caesar. You should have seen
what respect Epaphroditus paid him then. "How does the good Felicion?
Kindly let me know! " And if any of us inquired, "What is Epaphroditus
doing? " the answer was, "He is consulting about so and so with
Felicion. "--Had he not sold him as good-for-nothing? Who had in a trice
converted him into a wiseacre?
This is what comes of holding of importance anything but the things that
depend on the Will.
XLI
What you shun enduring yourself, attempt not to impose on others. You
shun slavery--beware of enslaving others! If you can endure to do that,
one would think you had been once upon a time a slave yourself. For Vice
has nothing in common with virtue, nor Freedom with slavery.
XLII
Has a man been raised to tribuneship? Every one that he meets
congratulates him. One kisses him on the eyes, another on the neck,
while the slaves kiss his hands. He goes home to find torches burning;
he ascends to the Capitol to sacrifice. --Who ever sacrificed for having
had right desires; for having conceived such inclinations as Nature
would have him? In truth we thank the Gods for that wherein we place our
happiness.
XLIII
A man was talking to me to-day about the priesthood of Augustus. I said
to him, "Let the thing go, my good Sir; you will spend a good deal to no
purpose. "
"Well, but my name will be inserted in all documents and contracts. "
"Will you be standing there to tell those that read them, That is my
name written there? And even if you could now be there in every case,
what will you do when you are dead? "
"At all events my name will remain. "
"Inscribe it on a stone and it will remain just as well. And think,
beyond Nicopolis what memory of you will there be? "
"But I shall have a golden wreath to wear. "
"If you must have a wreath, get a wreath of roses and put it on; you
will look more elegant! "
XLIV
Above all, remember that the door stands open. Be not more fearful than
children; but as they, when they weary of the game, cry, "I will play
no more," even so, when thou art in the like case, cry, "I will play no
more" and depart. But if thou stayest, make no lamentation.
XLV
Is there smoke in the room? If it be slight, I remain; if grievous,
I quit it. For you must remember this and hold it fast, that the door
stands open.
"You shall not dwell at Nicopolis! "
Well and good.
"Nor at Athens. "
Then I will not dwell at Athens either.
"Nor at Rome. "
Nor at Rome either.
"You shall dwell in Gyara! "
Well: but to dwell in Gyara seems to me like a grievous smoke; I depart
to a place where none can forbid me to dwell: that habitation is open
unto all! As for the last garment of all, that is the poor body; beyond
that, none can do aught unto me. This why Demetrius said to Nero: "You
threaten me with death; it is Nature who threatens you! "
XLVI
The beginning of philosophy is to know the condition of one's own mind.
If a man recognises that this is in a weakly state, he will not then
want to apply it to questions of the greatest moment. As it is, men who
are not fit to swallow even a morsel, buy whole treatises and try to
devour them. Accordingly they either vomit them up again, or suffer from
indigestion, whence come gripings, fluxions, and fevers. Whereas they
should have stopped to consider their capacity.
XLVII
In theory it is easy to convince an ignorant person: in actual life, men
not only object to offer themselves to be convinced, but hate the man
who has convinced them. Whereas Socrates used to say that we should
never lead a life not subjected to examination.
XLVIII
This is the reason why Socrates, when reminded that he should prepare
for his trial, answered: "Thinkest thou not that I have been preparing
for it all my life? "
"In what way? "
"I have maintained that which in me lay! "
"How so? "
"I have never, secretly or openly, done a wrong unto any. "
XLIX
In what character dost thou now come forward?
As a witness summoned by God. "Come thou," saith God, "and testify for
me, for thou art worthy of being brought forward as a witness by Me. Is
aught that is outside thy will either good or bad? Do I hurt any man?
Have I placed the good of each in the power of any other than himself?
What witness dost thou bear to God? "
"I am in evil state, Master, I am undone! None careth for me, none
giveth me aught: all men blame, all speak evil of me. "
Is this the witness thou wilt bear, and do dishonour to the calling
wherewith He hath called thee, because He hath done thee so great
honour, and deemed thee worthy of being summoned to bear witness in so
great a cause?
L
Wouldst thou have men speak good of thee? speak good of them. And when
thou hast learned to speak good of them, try to do good unto them, and
thus thou wilt reap in return their speaking good of thee.
LI
When thou goest in to any of the great, remember that Another from above
sees what is passing, and that thou shouldst please Him rather than man.
He therefore asks thee:--
"In the Schools, what didst thou call exile, imprisonment, bonds, death
and shame? "
"I called them things indifferent. "
"What then dost thou call them now? Are they at all changed? "
"No. "
"Is it then thou that art changed? "
"No. "
"Say then, what are things indifferent? "
"Things that are not in our power. "
"Say then, what follows? "
"That things which are not in our power are nothing to me. "
"Say also what things you hold to be good. "
"A will such as it ought to be, and a right use of the things of sense. "
"And what is the end? "
"To follow Thee! "
LII
"That Socrates should ever have been so treated by the Athenians! "
Slave! why say "Socrates"? Speak of the thing as it is: That ever then
the poor body of Socrates should have been dragged away and haled by
main force to prison! That ever hemlock should have been given to the
body of Socrates; that that should have breathed its life away! --Do you
marvel at this? Do you hold this unjust? Is it for this that you accuse
God? Had Socrates no compensation for this? Where then for him was the
ideal Good? Whom shall we hearken to, you or him? And what says he?
"Anytus and Melitus may put me to death: to injure me is beyond their
power. "
And again:--
"If such be the will of God, so let it be. "
LIII
Nay, young man, for heaven's sake; but once thou hast heard these words,
go home and say to thyself:--"It is not Epictetus that has told me these
things: how indeed should he? No, it is some gracious God through him.
Else it would never have entered his head to tell me them--he that is
not used to speak to any one thus. Well, then, let us not lie under the
wrath of God, but be obedient unto Him. "---Nay, indeed; but if a raven
by its croaking bears thee any sign, it is not the raven but God that
sends the sign through the raven; and if He signifies anything to thee
through human voice, will He not cause the man to say these words to
thee, that thou mayest know the power of the Divine--how He sends a sign
to some in one way and to others in another, and on the greatest and
highest matters of all signifies His will through the noblest messenger?
What else does the poet mean:--
I spake unto him erst Myself, and sent
Hermes the shining One, to check and warn him,
The husband not to slay, nor woo the wife!
LIV
In the same way my friend Heraclitus, who had a trifling suit about a
petty farm at Rhodes, first showed the judges that his cause was just,
and then at the finish cried, "I will not entreat you: nor do I care
what sentence you pass. It is you who are on your trial, not I! "--And so
he ended the case.
LV
As for us, we behave like a herd of deer. When they flee from the
huntsman's feathers in affright, which way do they turn? What haven of
safety do they make for? Why, they rush upon the nets! And thus they
perish by confounding what they should fear with that wherein no danger
lies. . . . Not death or pain is to be feared, but the fear of death or
pain. Well said the poet therefore:--
Death has no terror; only a Death of shame!
LVI
How is it then that certain external things are said to be natural, and
other contrary to Nature?
Why, just as it might be said if we stood alone and apart from others.
A foot, for instance, I will allow it is natural should be clean. But if
you take it as a foot, and as a thing which does not stand by itself, it
will beseem it (if need be) to walk in the mud, to tread on thorns, and
sometimes even to be cut off, for the benefit of the whole body; else
it is no longer a foot. In some such way we should conceive of ourselves
also. What art thou? --A man. --Looked at as standing by thyself and
separate, it is natural for thee in health and wealth long to live.
But looked at as a Man, and only as a part of a Whole, it is for that
Whole's sake that thou shouldest at one time fall sick, at another brave
the perils of the sea, again, know the meaning of want and perhaps die
an early death. Why then repine? Knowest thou not that as the foot is
no more a foot if detached from the body, so thou in like case art no
longer a Man? For what is a Man? A part of a City:--first of the City
of Gods and Men; next, of that which ranks nearest it, a miniature of
the universal City. . . . In such a body, in such a world enveloping us,
among lives like these, such things must happen to one or another. Thy
part, then, being here, is to speak of these things as is meet, and to
order them as befits the matter.
LVII
That was a good reply which Diogenes made to a man who asked him for
letters of recommendation. --"That you are a man, he will know when he
sees you;--whether a good or bad one, he will know if he has any skill
in discerning the good or bad. But if he has none, he will never know,
though I write him a thousand times. "--It is as though a piece of silver
money desired to be recommended to some one to be tested. If the man be
a good judge of silver, he will know: the coin will tell its own tale.
LVIII
Even as the traveller asks his way of him that he meets, inclined in no
wise to bear to the right rather than to the left (for he desires only
the way leading whither he would go), so should we come unto God as to a
guide; even as we use our eyes without admonishing them to show us some
things rather than others, but content to receive the images of such
things as they present to us. But as it is we stand anxiously
watching the victim, and with the voice of supplication call upon the
augur:--"Master, have mercy on me: vouchsafe unto me a way of escape! "
Slave, would you then have aught else then what is best? is there
anything better than what is God's good pleasure? Why, as far as in you
lies, would you corrupt your Judge, and lead your Counsellor astray?
LIX
God is beneficent. But the Good also is beneficent. It should seem then
that where the real nature of God is, there too is to be found the real
nature of the Good. What then is the real nature of God? --Intelligence,
Knowledge, Right Reason. Here then without more ado seek the real nature
of the Good. For surely thou dost not seek it in a plant or in an animal
that reasoneth not.
LX
Seek then the real nature of the Good in that without whose presence
thou wilt not admit the Good to exist in aught else. --What then? Are not
these other things also works of God? --They are; but not preferred to
honour, nor are they portions of God. But thou art a thing preferred to
honour: thou art thyself a fragment torn from God:--thou hast a portion
of Him within thyself.
