Discourses and Selected Writings

Epictetus declares that anyone who fails to deal with adversity with “nobility” (210) and does not manage to acquire something good from it “is unskilled in the art of life” (210).

Everything, even the human body, the seas, and the stars, follows a natural order. Since this order is omnipresent and inescapable, it is pointless for a person to defy it with their will.

Epictetus argues that “God has put some under our control, some not” (211). Proper use of what is outside our control leads to happiness for the individual and justice and peace for society. Likewise, if someone loses anything, even their “children” or “homeland,” they should “resign it gracefully” (211).

Epictetus expresses his admiration for Lycurgus, the legendary Spartan lawmaker. When a young man blinded him in one eye, he refused to have him punished and instead had him educated.

Nature itself encourages people to use their will toward “what’s right and useful” (211).

Epictetus argues that “worthless people” should not be characterized by “their inability to do harm,” but by “their inability to do anyone good” (211).

The natural order is unchanging and unchangeable. This is why the best way to live life is to accept changes without sorrow or complaints.

Impressions are concepts that enter someone’s mind through the senses in a process that is “not voluntary” (212). An example of how involuntary impressions can be is when someone is startled by the loud sound of thunder, which can affect even a “wise man” (212). Such a wise man, however, will still consciously reject any impressions that cause unnecessary fear through reason.

Epictetus believes that philosophers have to not just speak or write their ideas out, but have to live them. He is especially appalled by people who are skilled communicators but who are “concerned with everything to the exclusion of his soul” (213).

There are two character flaws that Epictetus considers the worst of all: “[L]ack of persistence and lack of self-control” (213). His reasoning is that lack of persistence leads to an inability to handle adversity while lack of self-control means not being able to resist pleasure.

Arrian is said to have quoted Epictetus as saying “irrational measures are justified” if “the health of our soul and our self-respect is at stake” (213).

Epictetus draws on the examples of Socrates and the mythological characters of Oedipus and Odysseus as examples of characters who were honorable and moral whether they were living in material comfort or in poverty.

For Epictetus, it is bad whether an individual expresses their anger through unthinking rage or through a calculated coldness. In fact, the latter is worse, because they “hold on to their anger like patients with a low-grade fever” (214).

Someone debates with Epictetus, arguing that “it’s demeaning to depend on others for one’s living” (214). Epictetus replies that only “the universe itself” is truly “self-sufficient” (214). He also makes the point that, while the poor do suffer, morality is more important than wealth.

Epictetus is quoted as pointing out that the soul takes enjoyment from bodily pleasures, despite arguments that the soul is superior to the flesh. However, people also possess a “sense of shame” which is seen as proof that pleasure is not “the goal of life” (215).

Epictetus argues that people often quote from an authoritative source to justify their bad habits. He gives the example of women citing Plato’s Republic in order to “introduce a different kind” (215) of marriage other than the type where a man and a woman live together.

Epictetus says that it is difficult to uphold an opinion unless someone is exposed to that opinion every day and acts upon it in their daily life.

It is “rude” (215) to demand anything other than the food being offered at a banquet. Epictetus compares this to how people treat the gods, praying for things that the gods have not offered them even “though they have provided us with plenty” (215).

Epictetus mocks those who brag about their physical characteristics or wealth, attributes that are outside their control.

Epictetus compares a philosopher who stops telling people uncomfortable truths to a medical doctor who no longer gives their patients advice.

Just as people with strong bodies can deal with extremes of cold and hot, “people of strong mental health” (216) can endure strong emotions like anger and joy.

Epictetus praises a man named Agrippinus, who was “inclined to praise every difficulty he faced” (216). When he was exiled from Rome by Nero, he joked, “‘Then why don’t we move our lunch to Aricia’” (216).

When he was a provincial governor, Agrippinus would say he only sentenced people to be punished to try to improve their character and moral behavior, not out of “malice” (216).

As evidence of how nature is “amazing” (216), Epictetus points out that we still love our bodies even though they are “the nastiest and least pleasing things of all” (216). This is also why Epictetus argues we should not fear death, because death is simply when nature “asks for” your body “back” (217).

Epictetus is quoted as discussing how young people are deeply mourned when they die, but old people are also upset when they have to live through various infirmities. Even then, when they feel they are dying, most old people will beg for the help of a doctor. Epictetus concludes, “People are strange […] they neither wish to live or die” (217).

If someone wants to threaten another, Epictetus advises the aggressor to give “fair warning, because you are not a savage animal” (217). Avoiding such “savage” behavior will protect a person from remorse in the future.

Marcus Aurelius quotes Epictetus as saying, “You are a bit of soul carrying around a dead body” (217).

People must be careful when they agree to something. When they agree, it should be “with restraint and in the service of society” (217).

Epictetus sees the subjects he discusses as “a question of sanity or insanity” (218).

Epictetus debates with a student who insists that human beings are rational and healthy animals. He disputes that humans are healthy animals because humans still constantly fight with each other.

Epictetus suggests that when something unfortunate happens, a person should consider themselves fortunate that they managed to face adversity without fear and misery instead of the same problem befalling someone who was not prepared. Being able to overcome adversity is not a “misfortunate,” but a “blessing” (218).