A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Selection or partial work
- Authorship:
- Recorded or compiled by others
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~58,500 words · 278 passages
Cite this work
- APAEpictetus. (n.d.). A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/epictetus/a-selection-from-the-discourses-of-epictetus-with-the-encheiridion
- MLAEpictetus. A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/epictetus/a-selection-from-the-discourses-of-epictetus-with-the-encheiridion.
- ChicagoEpictetus. A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus with the Encheiridion. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/epictetus/a-selection-from-the-discourses-of-epictetus-with-the-encheiridion.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
A selection from the Discourses with the Encheiridion.
Context and history
The Encheiridion is the pocket manual Arrian extracted from the Discourses so it could be carried about. Marcus Aurelius read it, and so did the early Christian monks, who copied it out with the names of the gods changed. **Warning: a selection, not the complete Discourses.**
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
not received greatness of soul? Have you not received manliness? Have you not received endurance? And why do I trouble myself about anything that can happen if I possess greatness of soul? What shall distract my mind, or disturb me, or appear painful? Shall I not use the power for the purposes for which I received it, and shall I grieve and lament over what happens? Come, then, do you also having observed these things look to the faculties which you have, and when you have looked at them, say: Bring now, O Zeus, any difficulty that thou pleasest, for I have means given to me by thee and powers for honoring myself through the things which happen. You do not so; but you sit still, trembling for fear that some things will happen, and weeping, and lamenting, and groaning for what does happen; and then you blame the gods. For what is the consequence of such meanness of spirit but impiety? And yet God has not only given us these faculties, by which we shall be able to bear everything that happens without being depressed or broken by it; but, like a good king and a true father, He has given us these faculties free from hindrance, subject to no compulsion, unimpeded, and has put them entirely in our own power, without even having reserved to Himself any power of hindering or impeding. You, who have received these powers free and as your own, use them not; you do not even see what you have received, and from whom; some of you being blinded to the giver, and not even acknowledging your benefactor, and others, through meanness of spirit, betaking yourselves to fault-finding and making charges against God. Yet I will show to you that you have powers and means for greatness of soul and manliness; but what powers you have for finding fault making accusations, do you show me. HOW FROM THE FACT THAT WE ARE AKIN TO GOD A MAN MAY PROCEED TO THE CONSEQUENCES.…
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