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Part I
Part I
I
Are these the only works of Providence in us? What words suffice to
praise or set them forth? Had we but understanding, should we ever cease
hymning and blessing the Divine Power, both openly and in secret, and telling
of His gracious gifts? Whether digging or ploughing or eating, should we not
sing the hymn to God: -
Great is God, for that He hath given us such instruments to till the ground
withal:
Great is God, for that He hath given us hands, and the power of swallowing and
digesting; of unconsciously growing and breathing while we sleep!
Thus should we ever have sung: yea and this, the grandest and divinest
hymn of all: -
Great is God, for that He hath given us a mind to apprehend these things, and
duly to use them!
What then! seeing that most of you are blinded, should there not be some
on to fill this place, and sing the hymn to God on behalf of all men? What
else can I that am old and lame do but sing to God? Were I a nightingale, I
should do after the manner of a nightingale. Were I a swan, I should do after
the manner of a swan. But now, since I am a reasonable being, I must sing to
God: that is my work: I do it, nor will I desert this my post, as long as it
is granted me to hold it; and upon you too I call to join in this self - same
hymn.
II
How then do men act? As though one returning to his country who had
sojourned for the night in a fair inn, should be so captivated thereby as to
take up his abode there.
"Friend, thou hast forgotten thine intention! This was not thy
destination, but only lay on the way thither."
"Nay, but it is a proper place."
"And how many more of the sort there 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 thou 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.^1 He hath entrusted me with
myself: He hath made my will subject to myself alone and given me rules for
the right use thereof.
[Footnote 1: I.e., "good and just men."]
V
Rufus^2 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, thought
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.
[Footnote 2: C. Musonius Rufus, a Stoic philosopher, whose lectures Epictetus
had attended.]
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? Seemeth
this to thee a little thing?" - God forbid! - "Be content then therewith!"
And so I pray the Gods.
VII
What saith Antisthenes?^3 Hast thou never heard? -
[Footnote 3: The founder of the Cynic school of philosophy.]
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, `Appear by all means.` And when
Florus inquired, `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 thoroughly 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. "To - morrow, 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 upon
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 clamour 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 powers wherewith to endure all that comes to pass? 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 Men 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
to 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 it food and drink and rest and purification; aye, and for its sake
forced to be subservient to this man and that. Are not these 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 thus 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 to - day, you sit
down and weep about to - morrow`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 still 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 your 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 the 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 own 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
tranquillity. "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 judgment
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 the 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.
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