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Part IV
Part IV
XCIII
You are sailing to Rome (you tell me) to obtain the post of Governor of
Cnossus.^11 You are not content to stay at home with the honours you had
before; you want something on a larger scale, and more conspicuous. But when
did you ever undertake a voyage for the purpose of reviewing your own
principles and getting rid of any of them that proved unsound? Whom did you
ever visit for that object? What time did you ever set yourself for that? What
age? Run over the times of your life - by yourself, if you are ashamed before
me. Did you examine your principles when a boy? Did you not do everything just
as you do now? Or when you were a stripling, attending the school of oratory
and practising the art yourself, what did you ever imagine you lacked? And
when you were a young man, entered upon public life, and were pleading causes
and making a name, who any longer seemed equal to you? And at what moment
would you have endured another examining your principles and proving that they
were unsound? What then am I to say to you? "Help me in this matter!" you cry.
Ah, for that I have no rule! And neither did you, if that was your object,
come to me as a philosopher, but as you might have gone to a herb - seller or
a cobbler. - "What do philosophers have rules for, then?" - Why, that whatever
may betide, our ruling faculty may be as Nature would have it, and so remain.
Think you this a small matter? Not so! but the greatest thing there is. Well,
does it need but a short time? Can it be grasped by a passer - by? - grasp it,
if you can!
[Footnote 11: In Crete.]
Then you will say, "Yes, I met Epictetus!"
Aye, just as you might a statue or a monument. You saw me! and that is
all. But a man who meets a man is one who learns the other`s mind, and lets
him see his in turn. Learn my mind - show me yours; and then go and say that
you met me. Let us try each other; if I have any wrong principle, rid me of
it; if you have, out with it. That is what meeting a philosopher means. Not
so, you think; this is only a flying visit; while we are hiring the ship, we
can see Epictetus too! Let us see what he has to say. Then on leaving you cry,
"Out on Epictetus for a worthless fellow, provincial and barbarous of speech!"
What else indeed did you come to judge of?
XCIV
Whether you will or no, you are poorer than I!
"What then do I lack?"
What you have not: Constancy of mind, such as Nature would have it to be:
Tranquillity. Patron or no patron, what care I? but you do care. I am richer
than you: I am not racked with anxiety as to what Caesar may think of me; I
flatter none on that account. This is what I have, instead of vessels of gold
and silver! your vessels may be of gold, but your reason, your principles,
your accepted views, your inclinations, your desires are of earthenware.
XCV
To you, all you have seems small: to me, all I have seems great. Your
desire is insatiable, mine is satisfied. See children thrusting their hands
into a narrow - necked jar, and striving to pull out the nuts and figs it
contains: if they fill the hand, they cannot pull it out again, and then they
fall to tears. - "Let go a few of them, and then you can draw out the rest!" -
You, too, let your desire go! covet not many things, and you will obtain.
XCVI
Pittacus,^12 wronged by one whom he had it in his power to punish, let
him go free, saying, Forgiveness is better than revenge. The one shows native
gentleness, the other savagery.
[Footnote 12: One of the Seven Wise Men of Greece. He ruled Mytilene in Lesbos
in the seventh century B.C.]
XCVII
"My brother ought not to have treated me thus."
True: but he must see to that. However he may treat me, I must deal
rightly by him. This is what lies with me, what none can hinder.
XCVIII
Nevertheless a man should also be prepared to be sufficient unto himself
- to dwell with himself alone, even as God dwells with Himself alone, shares
His repose with none, and considers the nature of His own administration,
intent upon such thoughts as are meet unto Himself. So should we also be able
to converse with ourselves, to need none else beside, to sigh for no
distraction, to bend our thoughts upon the Divine Administration, and how we
stand related to all else; to observe how human accidents touched us of old,
and how they touch us now; what things they are that still have power to hurt
us, and how they may be cured or removed; to perfect what needs perfecting as
Reason would direct.
XCIX
If a man has frequent intercourse with others, either in the way of
conversation, entertainment, or simple familiarity, he must either become like
them, or change them to his own fashion. A live coal placed next a dead one
will either kindle that or be quenched by it. Such being the risk, it is well
to be cautious in admitting intimacies of this sort, remembering that one
cannot rub shoulders with a soot - stained man without sharing the soot
oneself. What will you do, supposing the talk turns on gladiators, or horses,
or prize - fighters, or (what is worse) on persons, condemning this and that,
approving the other? Or suppose a man sneers or jeers or shows a malignant
temper? Has any among us the skill of the lute - player, who knows at the
first touch which strings are out of tune and sets the instrument right: has
any of you such a power as Socrates had, in all his intercourse with men, of
winning them over to his own convictions? Nay, but you must needs be swayed
hither and thither by the uninstructed. How comes it then that they prove so
much stronger than you? Because they speak from the fullness of the heart -
their low, corrupt views are their real convictions: whereas your fine
sentiments are but from the lips, outwards; that is why they are so nerveless
and dead. It turns one`s stomach to listen to your exhortations, and hear of
your miserable Virtue, that you prate of up and down. Thus it is that the
Vulgar prove too strong for you. Everywhere strength, everywhere victory waits
your conviction!
C
In general, any methods of discipline applied to the body which tend to
modify its desires or repulsions, are good - for ascetic ends. But if done for
display, they betray at once a man who keeps an eye on outward show; who has
an ulterior purpose, and is looking for spectators to shout, "Oh what a great
man!" This is why Apollonius so well said: "If you are bent upon a little
private discipline, wait till you are choking with heat some day - then take a
mouthful of cold water, an spit it out again, and tell no man!"
CI
Study how to give as one that is sick: that thou mayest hereafter give as
one that is whole. Fast; drink water only; abstain altogether from desire,
that thou mayest hereafter conform thy desire to Reason.
CII
Thou wouldst do good unto men? then show them by thine own example what
kind of men philosophy can make, and cease from foolish trifling. Eating, do
good to them that eat with thee; drinking, to them that drink with thee; yield
unto all, give way, and bear with them. Thus shalt thou do them good: but vent
not upon them thine own evil humour!
CIII
Even as bad actors cannot sing alone, but only in chorus: so some cannot
walk alone.
Man, if thou art aught, strive to walk alone and hold converse with
thyself, instead of skulking in the chorus! at length think; look around thee;
bestir thyself, that thou mayest know who thou art!
CIV
You would fain be victor at the Olympic games, you say. Yes, but weigh
the conditions, weigh the consequences; then and then only, lay to your hand -
if it be for your profit. You must live by rule, submit to diet, abstain from
dainty meats, exercise your body perforce at stated hours, in heat or in cold;
drink no cold water, nor, it may be, wine. In a word, you must surrender
yourself wholly to your trainer, as though to a physician.
Then in the hour of contest, you will have to delve the ground, it may
chance dislocate an arm, sprain an ankle, gulp down abundance of yellow sand,
be scourged with the whip - and with all this sometimes lose the victory.
Count the cost - and then, if your desire still holds, try the wrestler`s
life. Else let me tell you that you will be behaving like a pack of children
playing now at wrestlers, now at gladiators; presently falling to trumpeting
and anon to stage playing, when the fancy takes them for what they have seen.
And you are even the same: wrestler, gladiator, philosopher, orator all by
turns and none of them with your whole soul. Like an ape, you mimic what you
see, to one thing constant never; the thing that is familiar charms no more.
This is because you never undertook aught with due consideration, nor after
strictly testing and viewing it from every side; no, your choice was
thoughtless; the glow of your desire had waxed cold. . . .
Friend, bethink you first what it is that you would do, and then what
your own nature is able to bear. Would you be a wrestler, consider your
shoulders, your thighs, your loins - not all men are formed to the same end.
Think you to be a philosopher while acting as you do? think you to go on thus
eating, thus drinking, giving way in like manner to wrath and to displeasure?
Nay, you must watch, you must labour; overcome certain desires; quit your
familiar friends, submit to be despised by your slave, to be held in derision
by them that meet you, to take the lower place in all things, in office, in
positions of authority, in courts of law.
Weigh these things fully, and then, if you will, lay to your hand; if as
the price of these things you would gain Freedom, Tranquillity, and
passionless Serenity.
CV
He that no musical instruction is a child in Music; he that hath no
letters is a child in Learning; he that is untaught is a child in Life.
CVI
Can any profit be derived from these men? Aye, from all.
"What, even from a reviler?"
Why, tell me what profit a wrestler gains from him who exercises him
beforehand? The very greatest: he trains me in the practice of endurance, of
controlling my temper, of gentle ways. You deny it. What, the man who lays
hold of my neck, and disciplines loins and shoulders, does me good, . . .
while he that trains me to keep my temper does me none? This is what it means,
not knowing how to gain advantage from men! Is my neighbour bad? Bad to
himself, but good to me: he brings my good temper, my gentleness into play. Is
my father bad? Bad to himself, but good to me. This is the rod of Hermes;
touch what you will with it, they say, and it becomes gold. Nay, but bring
what you will and I will transmute it into Good. Bring sickness, bring death,
bring poverty and reproach, bring trial for life - all these things through
the rod of Hermes shall be turned to profit.
CVII
Till then these sound opinions have taken firm root in you, and you have
gained a measure of strength for your security, I counsel you to be cautious
in associating with the uninstructed. Else whatever impressions you receive
upon the tablets of your mind in the School will day by day melt and
disappear, like wax in the sun. Withdraw then somewhere far from the sun,
while you have these waxen sentiments.
CVIII
We must approach this matter in a different way; it is great and
mystical: it is no common thing; nor given to every man. Wisdom, alone, it may
be, will not suffice for the care of youth: a man needs also a certain measure
of readiness - an aptitude for the office; aye, and certain bodily qualities;
and above all, to be counselled of God Himself to undertake this post; even as
He counselled Socrates to fill the post of one who confutes error, assigning
to Diogenes^13 royal office of high reproof, and to Zeno^14 that of positive
instruction. Whereas you would fain set up for a physician provided with
nothing but drugs! Where and how they should be applied you neither know nor
care.
[Footnote 13: The well-known Cynic philosopher.]
[Footnote 14: Founder of the Stoic school of philosophy.]
CIX
If what charms you is nothing but abstract principles, sit down and turn
them over quietly in your mind: but never dub yourself a Philosopher, nor
suffer others to call you so. Say rather: He is in error; for my desires, my
impulses are unaltered. I give in my adhesion to what I did before; nor has my
mode of dealing with the things of sense undergone any change.
CX
When a friend inclined to Cynic views asked Epictetus, what sort of
person a true Cynic should be, requesting a general sketch of the system, he
answered: - "We will consider that at leisure. At present I content myself
with saying this much: If a man put his hand to so weighty a matter without
God, the wrath of God abides upon him. That which he covets will but bring
upon him public shame. Not even on finding himself in a well - ordered house
does a man step forward and say to himself, I must be master here! Else the
lord of that house takes notice of it, and, seeing him insolently giving
orders, drags him forth and chastises him. So it is also in this great City,
the World. Here also is there a Lord of the House, who orders all things: -
"Thou art the Sun! in thine orbit thou hast power to make the year and the
seasons; to bid the fruits of the earth grow and increase, the winds arise and
fall; thou canst in due measure cherish with thy warmth the frames of men; go
make thy circuit, and thus minister unto all from the greatest to the least!
. . . "Thou canst lead a host against Troy; be Agamemnon! "Thou canst meet
Hector in single combat; be Achilles!
"But had Thersites stepped forward and claimed the chief command, he had
been met with a refusal, or obtained it only to his own shame and confusion of
face, before a cloud of witnesses."
CXI
Others may fence themselves with walls and houses, when they do such
deeds as these, and wrap themselves in darkness - aye, they have many a device
to hide themselves. Another may shut his door and station one before his
chamber to say, if any comes, He has gone forth! he is not at leisure! But the
true Cynic will have none of these things; instead of them, he must wrap
himself in Modesty: else he will but bring himself to shame, naked and under
the open sky. That is his house; that is his door; that is the slave that
guards his chamber; that is his darkness!
CXII
Death? let it come when it will, whether it smite but a part or the
whole: Fly, you tell me - fly! But whither shall I fly? Can any man cast me
beyond the limits of the World? It may not be! And whithersoever I go, there
shall I still find Sun, Moon, and Stars; there shall I find dreams, and omens,
and converse with the Gods!
CXIII
Furthermore the true Cynic must know that he is sent as a Messenger from
God to men, to show unto them that as touching good and evil they are in
error; looking for these where they are not to be found, nor ever bethinking
themselves where they are. And like Diogenes when brought before Philip after
the battle of Chaeronea, the Cynic must remember that he is a Spy. For a Spy
he really is - to bring back word what things are on Man`s side, and what
against him. And when he has diligently observed all, he must come back with a
true report, not terrified into announcing them to be foes that are no foes,
nor otherwise perturbed or confounded by the things of sense.
CXIV
How can it be that one who hath nothing, neither raiment, nor house, nor
home, nor bodily tendance, nor servant, nor city, should yet live tranquil and
contented? Behold God hath sent you a man to show you in act and deed that it
may be so. Behold me! I have neither city nor house nor possessions nor
servants: the ground is my couch; I have no wife, no children, no shelter -
nothing but earth and sky, and one poor cloak. And what lack I yet? am I not
untouched by sorrow, by fear? am I not free? . . . when have I laid anything
to the charge of God or Man? when have I accused any? hath any of you seen me
with a sorrowful countenance? And in what wise treat I those of whom you stand
in fear and awe? Is it not as slaves? Who when he seeth me doth not think that
he beholdeth his Master and his King?
CXV
Give thyself more diligently to reflection: know thyself: take counsel
with the Godhead: without God put thine hand unto nothing!
CXVI
"But to marry and to rear offspring," said the young man, "will the Cynic
hold himself bound to undertake this as a chief duty?"
Grant me a republic of wise men, answered Epictetus, and perhaps none
will lightly take the Cynic life upon him. For on whose account should he
embrace that method of life? Suppose however that he does, there will then be
nothing to hinder his marrying and rearing offspring. For his wife will be
even such another as himself, and likewise her father; and in like manner will
his children be brought up.
But in the present condition of things, which resembles an Army in battle
array, ought not the Cynic to be free from all distraction and given wholly to
the service of God, so that he can go in and out among men, neither fettered
by the duties nor entangled by the relations of common life? For if he
transgress them, he will forfeit the character of a good man and true; whereas
if he observe them, there is an end of him as the Messenger, the Spy, and
Herald of the Gods!
CXVII
Ask me if you choose if a Cynic shall engage in the administration of the
State. O fool, seek you a nobler administration than that in which he is
engaged? Ask you if a man shall come forward in the Athenian assembly and talk
about revenue and supplies, when his business is to converse with all men,
Athenians, Corinthians, and Romans alike, not about supplies, not about
revenue, nor yet peace and war, but about Happiness and Misery, Prosperity and
Adversity, Slavery and Freedom?
Ask you whether a man shall engage in the administration of the State who
has engaged in such an Administration as this? Ask me too if he shall govern;
and again I will answer, Fool, what greater government shall he hold than that
he holds already?
CXVIII
Such a man needs also to have a certain habit of body. If he appear
consumptive, thin and pale, his testimony has no longer the same authority. He
must not only prove to the unlearned by showing them what his Soul is that it
is possible to be a good man apart from all that they admire; but he must also
show them, by his body, that a plain and simple manner of life under the open
sky does no harm to the body either. "See, I am a proof of this! and my body
also." As Diogenes used to do, who went about fresh of look and by the very
appearance of his body drew men`s eyes. But if a Cynic is an object of pity,
he seems a mere beggar; all turn away, all are offended at him. Nor should he
be slovenly of look, so as not to scare men from him in this way either; on
the contrary, his very roughness should be clean and attractive.
CXIX
Kings and tyrants have armed guards wherewith to chastise certain
persons, though they be themselves evil. But to the Cynic conscience gives
this power - not arms and guards. When he knows that he has watched and
laboured on behalf of mankind: that sleep hath found him pure, and left him
purer still: that his thoughts have been the thought of a Friend of the Gods -
of a servant, yet of one that hath a part in the government of the Supreme
God: that the words are ever on his lips: -
Lead me, O God, and thou, O Destiny!
as well as these: -
If this be God`s will, so let it be!
why should he not speak boldly unto his own brethren, unto his children - in a
word, unto all that are akin to him!
CXX
Does a Philosopher apply to people to come and hear him? does he not
rather, of his own nature, attract those that will be benefited by him - like
the sun that warms, the food that sustains them? What Physician applies to men
to come and be healed? (Though indeed I hear that the Physicians at Rome do
nowadays apply for patients - in my time they were applied to.) I apply to you
to come and hear that you are in evil case; that what deserves your attention
most is the last thing to gain it; that you know not good from evil, and are
in short a hapless wretch; a fine way to apply! though unless the words of the
Philosopher affect you thus, speaker and speech are alike dead.
CXXI
A Philosopher`s school is a Surgery: pain, not pleasure, you should have
felt therein. For on entering none of you is whole. One has a shoulder out of
joint, another an abscess: a third suffers from an issue, a fourth from pains
in the head. And am I then to sit down and treat you to pretty sentiments and
empty flourishes, so that you may applaud me and depart, with neither
shoulder, nor head, nor issue, nor abscess a whit the better for your visit?
Is it then for this that young men are to quit their homes, and leave parents,
friends, kinsmen and substance to mouth out Bravo to your empty phrases!
CXXII
If any be unhappy, let him remember that he is unhappy by reason of
himself alone. For God hath made all men to enjoy felicity and constancy of
good.
CXXIII
Shall we never wean ourselves - shall we never heed the teachings of
Philosophy (unless perchance they have been sounding in our ears like an
enchanter`s drone): -
This World is one great City, and one is the substance whereof it is
fashioned: a certain period indeed there needs must be, while these give place
to those; some must perish for others to succeed; some move and some abide:
yet all is full of friends - first God, then Men, whom Nature hath bound by
ties of kindred each to each.
CXXIV
Nor did the hero^15 weep and lament at leaving his children orphans. For
he knew that no man is an orphan, but it is the Father that careth for all
continually and for evermore. Not by mere report had he heard that the Supreme
God is the Father of men: seeing that he called Him Father believing Him so to
be, and in all that he did had ever his eyes fixed upon Him. Wherefore in
whatsoever place he was, there it was given him to live happily.
[Footnote 15: Hercules.]
CXXV
Know you not that the thing is a warfare? one man`s duty is to mount
guard, another must go out to reconnoitre, a third to battle; all cannot be in
one place, nor would it even be expedient. But you, instead of executing your
Commander`s orders, complain if aught harsher than usual is enjoined; not
understanding to what condition you are bringing the army, so far as in you
lies. If all were to follow your example, none would dig a trench, none would
cast a rampart around the camp, none would keep watch, or expose himself to
danger; but all turn out useless for the service of war. . . . Thus it is here
also. Every life is a warfare, and that long and various. You must fulfil a
soldier`s duty, and obey each order at your commander`s nod: aye, if it be
possible, divine what he would have done; for between that Commander and this,
there is no comparison, either in might or in excellence.
CXXVI
Have you again forgotten? Know you not that a good man does nothing for
appearance` sake, but for the sake of having done right? . . .
"Is there no reward then?"
Reward! do you seek any greater reward for a good man than doing what is
right and just? Yet at the Great Games you look for nothing else; there the
victor`s crown you deem enough. Seems it to you so small a thing and
worthless, to be a good man, and happy therein?
CXXVII
It befits thee not to be unhappy by reason of any, but rather to be happy
by reason of all men, and especially by reason of God, who formed us to this
end.
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