Ch. 24
To (or against) a person who was one of those who were not valued (esteemed) by him.
A CERTAIN person said to him (Epictetus): Frequently I
desired to hear you and came to you, and you never gave
me any answer: and now, if it is possible, I intreat you
to say something to me. Do you think, said Epictetus,
that as there is an art in any thing else, so there is also
an art in speaking, and that he who has the art, will speak
skilfully, and he who has not, will speak unskilfully?
I do think so.He then who by speaking receives benefit
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himself, and is able to benefit others, will speak skilfully:
but he who is rather damaged by speaking and does damage
to others, will he be unskilled in this art of speaking?
And you may find that some are damaged and others benefited by speaking. And are all who hear benefited by
what they hear? Or will you find that among them also
some are benefited and some damaged?There are both
among these also, he said.In this case also then those
who hear skilfully are benefited, and those who hear
unskilfully are damaged? He admitted this. Is there
then a skill in hearing also, as there is in speaking?
It seems so.If you choose, consider the matter in this
way also. The practice of music, to whom does it belong?
To a musician. And the proper making of a statue, to
whom do you think that it belongs? To a statuary. And
the looking at a statue skilfully, does this appear to you
to require the aid of no art?This also requires the aid
of art.Then if speaking properly is the business of the
skilful man, do you see that to hear also with benefit is
the business of the skilful man.? Now as to speaking and
hearing perfectly, and usefully,425 let us for the present, if you
please, say no more, for both of us are a long way from
every thing of the kind. But I think that every man will
allow this, that he who is going to hear philosophers
requires some amount of practice in hearing. Is it not so?
Tell me then about what I should talk to you: about
what matter are you able to listen?About good and evil.
Good and evil in what? In a horse? No. Well, in an
ox? No. What then? In a man? Yes. Do we know then
what a man is, what the notion is which we have of him,
or have we our ears in any degree practised about this
matter? But do you understand what nature is? or can
you even in any degree understand me when I say, I shall
use demonstration to you? How? Do you understand
his very thing, what demonstration is, or how any thing
i, demonstrated, or by what means; or what things are
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like demonstration, but are not demonstration? Do you
know what is true or what is false? What is consequent
on a thing, what is repugnant to a thing, or not consistent, or in-
consistent?426 But must I excite you to philosophy, and how? Shall I show to you the repugnance in
the opinions of most men, through which they differ about
things good and evil, and about things which are profitable and unprofitable, when you know not this very thing,
what repugnance (contradiction) is? Show me then what
I shall accomplish by discoursing with you: excite my
inclination to do this. As the grass which is suitable,
when it is presented to a sheep, moves its inclination to
eat, but if you present to it a stone or bread, it will not
be moved to eat; so there are in us certain natural inclinations also to speak, when the hearer shall appear to be
somebody, when he himself shall excite us: but when he
shall sit by us like a stone or like grass, how can he excite
a man's desire (to speak)? Does the vine say to the husbandman, Take care of me? No, but the vine by showing
in itself that it will be profitable to the husbandman, if
he does take care of it, invites him to exercise care. When
children are attractive and lively, whom do they not invite
to play with them, and crawl with them, and lisp with
them? But who is eager to play with an ass or to bray
with it? for though it is small, it is still a little ass.
Why then do you say nothing to me? I can only say
this to you, that he who knows not who he is, and for
what purpose he exists, and what is this world, and with
whom he is associated, and what things are the good and
the bad, and the beautiful and the ugly, and who neither
understands discourse nor demonstration, nor what is true
nor what is false, and who is not able to distinguish them,
will neither desire according to nature nor turn away nor
move towards, nor intend (to act), nor assent, nor dissent
nor suspend his judgment: to say all in a few words, he
will go about dumb and blind, thinking that he is somebody, but being nobody. Is this so now for the first time?
Is it not the fact that ever since the human race existed,
all errors and misfortunes have arisen through this igno-
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rance? Why did Agamemnon and Achilles quarrel with
one another? Was it not through not knowing what
things are profitable and not profitable? Does not the
one say it is profitable to restore Chryseis to her father,
and does not the other say that it is not profitable? does
not the one say that he ought to take the prize of another,
and does not the other say that he ought not? Did they
not for these reasons forget, both who they were and for
what purpose they had come there? Oh, man, for what
purpose did you come? to gain mistresses or to fight? To
fight. With whom? the Trojans or the Hellenes? With the
Trojans. Do you then leave Hector alone and draw your
sword against your own king? And do you, most excellent Sir, neglect the duties of the king, you who are the
people's guardian and have such cares; and are you quarrelling about a little girl with the most warlike of your
allies, whom you ought by every means to take care of and
protect? and do you become worse than (inferior to) a
well behaved priest who treats you these fine gladiators
with all respect? Do you see what kind of things ignorance of what is profitable does?
But I also am rich. Are you then richer than Agamemnon? But I am also handsome. Are you then more
handsome than Achilles? But I have also beautiful hair.
But had not Achilles more beautiful hair and gold coloured? and he did not comb it elegantly nor dress it.
But I am also strong. Can you then lift so great a stone
as Hector or Ajax? But I am also of noble birth. Are
you the son of a goddess mother? are you the son of a
father sprung from Zeus? What good then do these things
do to him, when he sits and weeps for a girl? But I am an
orator. And was he not? Do you not see how he handled
the most skilful of the Hellenes in oratory, Odysseus and
Phoenix? how he stopped their mouths?427
This is all that I have to say to you; and I say even
this not willingly. Why? Because you have not roused
me. For what must I look to in order to be roused, as
men who are expert in riding are roused by generous
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horses? Must I look to your body? You treat it dis-
gracefully. To your dress? That is luxurious. To your
behaviour, to your look? That is the same as nothing.
When you would listen to a philosopher, do not say to him,
You tell me nothing; but only show yourself worthy of
hearing or fit for hearing; and you will see how you will
move the speaker.