Works

Works
By Epictetus
Edited by: George Long

London George Bell and Sons 1890

Perseus Documents Collection Table of Contents

Arrian's Discourses of Epictetus
   Arrian to Lucius Gellius, with wishes for his happiness.
   Of the things which are in our power, and not in our power.
   How a man on every occasion can maintain his proper character.
   How a man should proceed from the principle of god being the father of all men to the rest.
   Of progress or improvement.
   Against the academics.
   Of Providence.
   Of the use of sophistical arguments and hypothetical and the like.
   That the faculties⁵⁷ are not safe to the uninstructed
   How from the fact that we are akin to God a man may proceed to the consequences.
   Against those who eagerly seek preferment at Rome.
   Of natural affection.
   Of contentment.
   How everything may be done acceptably to the gods.
   That the deity oversees all things.
   What philosophy promises.
   Of Providence.
   That the logical art is necessary.
   That we ought not to be angry with the errors (faults) of others.
   How we should behave to tyrants.
   About reason, how it contemplates itself.
   Against those who wish to be admired.
   On praecognitions.
   Against Epicurus.
   How we should struggle with circumstances.
   On the same.
   What is the law of life.
   In how many ways appearances exist, and what aids we should provide against them.
   That we ought not to be angry with men; and what are the small and the great things among men.
   On constancy (or firmness).
   What we ought to have ready in difficult circumstances.
   That confidence (courage) is not inconsistent with caution.
   Of tranquillity (freedom from perturbation).
   To those who recommend persons to philosophers.
   Against a person who had once been detected in adultery.
   How magnanimity is consistent with care.
   Of indifference.
   How we ought to use divination.
   What is the nature (ἡ οὐσία) of the Good
   That when we cannot fulfil that which the character of a man promises, we assume the character of a philosopher.
   How we may discover the duties of life from names.
   What the beginning of philosophy is.
   Of disputation or discussion.
   On anxiety (solicitude).
   To Naso.
   To or against those who obstinately persist in what they have determined.
   That we do not strive to use our opinions about good and evil.
   How we must adapt preconceptions to particular cases.
   How we should struggle against appearances.
   Against those who embrace philosophical opinions only in words.
   Against the Epicureans and Academics.
   Of inconsistency.
   On friendship.
   On the power of speaking.
   To (or against) a person who was one of those who were not valued (esteemed) by him.
   That logic is necessary.
   What is the property of error.
   Of finery in dress.
   In what a man ought to be exercised who has made proficiency;⁴⁴¹ and that we neglect the chief things.
   What is the matter on which a good man should be employed, and in what we ought chiefly to practise ourselves.
   Against a person who showed his partizanship in an unseemly way in a theatre.
   Against those who on account of sickness go away home.
   Miscellaneous.
   To the administrator of the free cities who was an Epicurean.
   How we must exercise ourselves against appearances (φαντασίας).
   To a certain rhetorician who was going up to Rome on a suit.
   In what manner we ought to bear sickness.
   Certain miscellaneous matters
   About exercise.
   What solitude is, and what kind of person a solitary man is.
   Certain miscellaneous matters.
   That we ought to proceed with circumspection to every thing.
   That we ought with caution to enter into familiar intercourse with men.
   On Providence.
   That we ought not to be disturbed by any news.
   What is the condition of a common kind of man and of a philosopher.
   That we can derive advantage from all external things.
   Against those who readily come to the profession of sophists.
   About Cynism.
   To those who read and discuss for the sake of ostentation.
   That we ought not to be moved by a desire of those things which are not in our power.
   To those who fall off (desist) from their purpose.
   To those who fear want.
   About freedom.
   On familiar intimacy.
   What things we should exchange for other things.
   To those who are desirous of passing life in tranquillity.
   Against the quarrelsome and ferocious.
   Against those who lament over being pitied.
   On freedom from fear.
   Against those who hastily rush into the use of the philosophic dress.
   To a person who had been changed to a character of shamelessness.
   What things we ought to despise, and what things we ought to value.
   About purity (cleanliness).
   On attention
   Against or to those who readily tell their own affairs.

The Encheiridion, or Manual.

Fragments of Epictetus

Some fragments of Epictetus omitted by Upton and by Meibomius.

Advertisements
   WORKS BY GEORGE LONG, M. A.
   THE THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROR M. AURELIUS ANTONINUS. Translated. Revised Edition, Post 8vo., 3s. 6d.
   CATALOGUE OF BOHN'S LIBRARIES.
   BOHN'S LIBRARIES.
   STANDARD LIBRARY.
   HISTORICAL LIBRARY.
   PHILOSOPHICAL LIBRARY.
   THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY.
   ANTIQUARIAN LIBRARY.
   ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY.
   CLASSICAL LIBRARY.
   TRANSLATIONS FROM THE GREEK AND LATIN.
   COLLEGIATE SERIES.
   SCIENTIFIC LIBRARY.
   ECONOMICS AND FINANCE.
   REFERENCE LIBRARY.
   NOVELISTS' LIBRARY.
   ARTISTS' LIBRARY.
   LIBRARY OF SPORTS AND GAMES.
   BOHN'S CHEAP SERIES.
   Bohn's Select Library of Standard Works.

Arrian's Discourses of Epictetus
   Arrian to Lucius Gellius, with wishes for his happiness.
   Of the things which are in our power, and not in our power.
   How a man on every occasion can maintain his proper character.
   How a man should proceed from the principle of god being the father of all men to the rest.
   Of progress or improvement.
   Against the academics.
   Of Providence.
   Of the use of sophistical arguments and hypothetical and the like.
   That the faculties⁵⁷ are not safe to the uninstructed
   How from the fact that we are akin to God a man may proceed to the consequences.
   Against those who eagerly seek preferment at Rome.
   Of natural affection.
   Of contentment.
   How everything may be done acceptably to the gods.
   That the deity oversees all things.
   What philosophy promises.
   Of Providence.
   That the logical art is necessary.
   That we ought not to be angry with the errors (faults) of others.
   How we should behave to tyrants.
   About reason, how it contemplates itself.
   Against those who wish to be admired.
   On praecognitions.
   Against Epicurus.
   How we should struggle with circumstances.
   On the same.
   What is the law of life.
   In how many ways appearances exist, and what aids we should provide against them.
   That we ought not to be angry with men; and what are the small and the great things among men.
   On constancy (or firmness).
   What we ought to have ready in difficult circumstances.
   That confidence (courage) is not inconsistent with caution.
   Of tranquillity (freedom from perturbation).
   To those who recommend persons to philosophers.
   Against a person who had once been detected in adultery.
   How magnanimity is consistent with care.
   Of indifference.
   How we ought to use divination.
   What is the nature (ἡ οὐσία) of the Good
   That when we cannot fulfil that which the character of a man promises, we assume the character of a philosopher.
   How we may discover the duties of life from names.
   What the beginning of philosophy is.
   Of disputation or discussion.
   On anxiety (solicitude).
   To Naso.
   To or against those who obstinately persist in what they have determined.
   That we do not strive to use our opinions about good and evil.
   How we must adapt preconceptions to particular cases.
   How we should struggle against appearances.
   Against those who embrace philosophical opinions only in words.
   Against the Epicureans and Academics.
   Of inconsistency.
   On friendship.
   On the power of speaking.
   To (or against) a person who was one of those who were not valued (esteemed) by him.
   That logic is necessary.
   What is the property of error.
   Of finery in dress.
   In what a man ought to be exercised who has made proficiency;⁴⁴¹ and that we neglect the chief things.
   What is the matter on which a good man should be employed, and in what we ought chiefly to practise ourselves.
   Against a person who showed his partizanship in an unseemly way in a theatre.
   Against those who on account of sickness go away home.
   Miscellaneous.
   To the administrator of the free cities who was an Epicurean.
   How we must exercise ourselves against appearances (φαντασίας).
   To a certain rhetorician who was going up to Rome on a suit.
   In what manner we ought to bear sickness.
   Certain miscellaneous matters
   About exercise.
   What solitude is, and what kind of person a solitary man is.
   Certain miscellaneous matters.
   That we ought to proceed with circumspection to every thing.
   That we ought with caution to enter into familiar intercourse with men.
   On Providence.
   That we ought not to be disturbed by any news.
   What is the condition of a common kind of man and of a philosopher.
   That we can derive advantage from all external things.
   Against those who readily come to the profession of sophists.
   About Cynism.
   To those who read and discuss for the sake of ostentation.
   That we ought not to be moved by a desire of those things which are not in our power.
   To those who fall off (desist) from their purpose.
   To those who fear want.
   About freedom.
   On familiar intimacy.
   What things we should exchange for other things.
   To those who are desirous of passing life in tranquillity.
   Against the quarrelsome and ferocious.
   Against those who lament over being pitied.
   On freedom from fear.
   Against those who hastily rush into the use of the philosophic dress.
   To a person who had been changed to a character of shamelessness.
   What things we ought to despise, and what things we ought to value.
   About purity (cleanliness).
   On attention
   Against or to those who readily tell their own affairs.

The Encheiridion, or Manual.

Fragments of Epictetus

Some fragments of Epictetus omitted by Upton and by Meibomius.

Advertisements
   WORKS BY GEORGE LONG, M. A.
   THE THOUGHTS OF THE EMPEROR M. AURELIUS ANTONINUS. Translated. Revised Edition, Post 8vo., 3s. 6d.
   CATALOGUE OF BOHN'S LIBRARIES.
   BOHN'S LIBRARIES.
   STANDARD LIBRARY.
   HISTORICAL LIBRARY.
   PHILOSOPHICAL LIBRARY.
   THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY.
   ANTIQUARIAN LIBRARY.
   ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY.
   CLASSICAL LIBRARY.
   TRANSLATIONS FROM THE GREEK AND LATIN.
   COLLEGIATE SERIES.
   SCIENTIFIC LIBRARY.
   ECONOMICS AND FINANCE.
   REFERENCE LIBRARY.
   NOVELISTS' LIBRARY.
   ARTISTS' LIBRARY.
   LIBRARY OF SPORTS AND GAMES.
   BOHN'S CHEAP SERIES.
   Bohn's Select Library of Standard Works.

Funded by The Annenberg CPB/Project

Arrian's Discourses of Epictetus

Ch. 6

Miscellaneous.

WHEN some person asked him how it happened that since reason has been more cultivated by the men of the present age, the progress made in former times was greater. In what respect, he answered, has it been more cultivated now, and in what respect was the progress greater then? For in that in which it has now been more cultivated, in that also the progress will now be found. At present it has been cultivated for the purpose of resolving syllogisms, and progress is made. But in former times it was culti- vated for the purpose of maintaining the governing faculty in a condition conformable to nature, and progress was made. Do not then mix things which are different, and do not expect, when you are labouring at one thing to make progress in another. But see if any man among us when he is intent upon this, the keeping himself in a state [p. 212] conformable to nature and living so always, does not make progress. For you will not find such a man.

The good man is invincible, for he does not enter the contest where he is not stronger. If you (his adversary) want to have his land and all that is on it, take the land; take his slaves, take his magisterial office, take his poor body. But you will not make his desire fail in that which it seeks, nor his aversion fall into that which he would avoid. The only contest into which he enters is that about things which are within the power of his will; how then will he not be invincible?

Some person having asked him what is Common sense, Epictetus replied, As that may be called a certain Common hearing which only distinguishes vocal sounds, and that which distinguishes musical sounds is not Common, but artificial; so there are certain things which men, who are not altogether perverted, see by the common notions which all possess. Such a constitution of the mind is named Common sense.⁴⁵⁶

It is not easy to exhort weak young men; for neither is it easy to hold (soft) cheese with a hook.⁴⁵⁷ But those who have a good natural disposition, even if you try to turn them aside, cling still more to reason. Wherefore Rufus⁴⁵⁸ generally attempted to discourage (his pupils), and he used this method as a test of those who had a good natural disposition and those who had not. For it was his habit to say, as a stone, if you cast it upwards, will be brought down to the earth by its own nature, so the man whose mind is naturally good, the more you repel him, the more he turns towards that to which he is naturally inclined. [p. 213]