by Epictetus
[13] ‘But this calls for a lot of preparation, and hard study.’
So what? Do you think the greatest art can be acquired easily, and overnight? [14] It’s true that the principal doctrine of the philosophers is briefly stated; you have only to read Zeno to see my meaning. [15] How long does it take to say, ‘The goal is to follow the gods,’ and ‘The essence of the good is the proper use of impressions’? [16] But, just because it is so brief, the formula prompts other questions: ‘What is God, and what is an impression? How does individual nature compare with the nature of the whole?’ Now the inquiry is beginning to drag out.
[17] Here we have Epicurus saying that goodness is none other than the flesh. But then there are lectures to sit through about man’s dominant principle – that is to say, about what his substance and essence are – and the explanation begins to grow long again. It’s not likely that the good of a snail lies in its shell, so is it likely that Epicurus is correct in identifying man’s good with his body?
[18] Take yourself, Epicurus. Even you have a faculty that is greater than the flesh – the faculty which, having examined and thought through the evidence, concluded that flesh was the principal thing. [19] And why are you so fond of burning the midnight oil, working hard to produce so many books on our behalf? Obviously, it must matter to you that we be put in possession of the truth. But who are we, and, more to the point, who are we to you?
Well, now the explanation of Epicurus’ views is growing lengthy too…
I 21 To people who want to be admired
[1] When someone is properly grounded in life, they shouldn’t have to look outside themselves for approval.
[2] ‘My friend, what is it you want?’
‘I am satisfied if my desires and aversions agree with nature, if I exercise impulse and refusal as I was born to do, and if I practise purpose, design and assent the same way.’
‘So why are you acting so stuck up?’
[3] ‘I want everyone I meet to admire me, to follow me around shouting, “What a great philosopher!” ’
[4] And who exactly are these people that you want to be admired by? Aren’t they the same people you are in the habit of calling crazy? And is this your life ambition, then – to win the approval of lunatics?
I 22 On preconceptions
[1] Everyone has preconceptions. And one preconception does not contradict another. I mean, who of us does not assume that what is good is beneficial and choice, in all cases to be desired and pursued? Who of us does not assume that justice is fair and appropriate? So where does conflict come in? [2] In the application of preconceptions to particular cases. [3] One person, for instance, will say, ‘Well done, there’s a brave man,’ while another says, ‘He isn’t brave, he’s just deranged.’
This is how conflict originates, [4] and it is the source of difference among Jews, Syrians, Egyptians and Romans. They don’t dispute that what is holy should be preferred above everything else and in every case pursued; but they argue, for example, over whether it is holy or unholy to eat pork. [5] This is also the basis of the conflict between Agamemnon and Achilles. Call them up before us.
‘What do you say, Agamemnon? Shouldn’t we do what is right and proper?’
‘Naturally.’
[6] ‘What about you, Achilles? Wouldn’t you, of all people, say that we ought to do what is appropriate?’
‘Of course.’
‘All right, then, apply your preconceptions.’
[7] It is just here that conflict starts. Because one says, ‘I shouldn’t have to return Chryseis to her father,’ and the other says, ‘Indeed you’d better.’ It’s obvious that one of them is misapplying his preconception of what is appropriate. [8] Then Agamemnon says, ‘Fine, if I have to give Chryseis back, then I should get one of the other men’s prizes in return.’ Achilles says, ‘It’s not mine you intend to take, I hope.’ ‘Yours, that’s right.’ ‘Why should I be penalized?’ ‘Because it’s not right that I be the only one to go without.’ And this is how conflicts originate.
[9] What does it mean to be getting an education? It means learning to apply natural preconceptions to particular cases as nature prescribes, and distinguishing what is in our power from what is not. [10] The operations of the will are in our power; not in our power are the body, the body’s parts, property, parents, siblings, children, country or friends.
[11] Where should we put the good, then – to which of the two classes of things are we going to assign it? To the class of things in our power. [12] It follows that neither health nor fitness are good, nor are our children, parents or country.
‘That view is not going to win you many friends or converts.’
[13] Well, let’s transfer the designation ‘good’ to health and other externals and see what happens. Suppose someone meets with misfortune and loses these ‘goods’; can they still be happy? ‘Impossible.’ You might ask, too, how they will remain on good terms with their neighbours, since we naturally incline to self-interest. [14] And if it is in my interest to own land, it is in my interest to rob them of it. If it is in my interest to own a coat, it is in my interest to pinch one from the baths. There you have the genesis of wars, factions and seditions.
[15] And how will I be able to stay right with God? Because if I’m harmed and meet with misfortune, I begin to doubt whether he is looking after me. And if he won’t help me, why should I give him my regard? I want nothing to do with a god who allows me to be in my present state. So I begin to hate him, [16] and wonder if the temples and statues we dedicate to him are not intended to placate a malignant force, like Fever. Honorary titles like ‘Saviour’, ‘Rain-bringer’ and ‘Fruit-bringer’ are no longer applicable to him – and all this comes of identifying ‘the good’ with externals.
[17] What should we do? That’s the topic of inquiry for the person who is truly out to philosophize and think deep. Now, if I am in the dark as to what is good and bad, I’m crazy. [18] But if I locate ‘the good’ in the realm of the will I risk being ridiculed. Some grey old man rattling his gold rings and shaking his head at me will come along and say, ‘Listen, my boy, philosophy’s all right up to a point, but don’t get carried away. This question is ridiculous. [19] Philosophers can teach you logic, but you know better than they do the right way to behave.’ [20] ‘Well, if I know what to do, as you say, don’t make an objection if what I choose to do is philosophize.’ I’m not going to try to engage this fatuous old fool in logic. But if I ignore him altogether, he’ll explode in indignation. [21] So I have no choice but to say to him, ‘Humour me as you would someone in love. I can’t help myself, you see, I’m mad.’
I 23 Against Epicurus
[1] Even Epicurus realizes that we are social creatures by nature, but once he has identified our good with the shell,32 he cannot say anything inconsistent with that. [2] For he further insists -rightly – that we must not respect or approve anything that does not share in the nature of what is good.
[3] So how is it that we are suspicious – we who supposedly have no natural affection for our children?33 Why is it, Epicurus, that you dissuade the wise man from bringing up children? Are you afraid that he may become emotionally involved and unhappy? [4] And is that because you have been anxious on behalf of your house-slave Mouse?34
Well, what’s it to Epicurus, anyway, if his little Mouse comes crying to him?∗
[5] No, he realizes that, once a child is born, it is no longer in our power not to love or care for it. [6] Which is why he says that a man of sense will not take part in politics either∗; he knows the kinds of personal connections that politics involves. So what’s to keep us from living as if we were as unsocial as flies?
[7] But as if he didn’t know this, he has the gall to suggest that we should abandon our children. Even a sheep does not desert its own offspring, or a wolf; should a human desert his? [8] Would you have us be as foolish as sheep or as savage as wolves – neither of which abandons its young? [9] Come on, whoever remembers your advice
when they see their little child fallen and crying on the ground?
[10] Personally, I imagine that your own mother and father, even had they predicted that you were going to say such things, would not have exposed35 you.
I 24 How we should struggle with circumstance
[1] The true man is revealed in difficult times. So when trouble comes, think of yourself as a wrestler whom God, like a trainer, has paired with a tough young buck. [2] For what purpose? To turn you into Olympic-class material. But this is going to take some sweat to accomplish. From my perspective, no one’s difficulties ever gave him a better test than yours, if you are prepared to make use of them the way a wrestler makes use of an opponent in peak condition.
[3] Now we are sending you to Rome as a spy. And we don’t want one who is easily frightened, or one who will turn back at the first sound of noise, or glimpse of shadow, announcing hysterically that the enemy is practically at the gates. [4] If you tell us on your return, ‘Conditions are terrible in Rome, everywhere death, exile, poverty, informants – everything a shambles. Fly, the enemy is upon us!’ [5] – we will respond by telling you in future to keep your forecasts to yourself. Our only mistake was in sending a spy like you in the first place.
[6] Diogenes36 went scouting before you did and came back with a very different report. Death, he said, was not evil because it was not dishonourable. Reputation was the empty noise of fools. [7] And he said other things that helped remove the element of fear from pain and poverty. In his manner of life he preferred the minimum of clothing to a purple gown, and the bare ground to a bed, however soft. [8] And as proof of such claims, he produced his assurance, his serenity, his freedom -as well as his tough, radiant physique.
[9] ‘There is no enemy near by,’ he said. ‘All is peace and tranquillity.’
‘Explain, Diogenes.’
‘Look for yourself: am I wounded, disabled or in flight from any enemy force?’
[10] That’s the kind of spy we honour. You bring us back a report full of a lot of random noise. Go off and make a better search, this time without the trepidation.
[11] ‘What should I do then?’
What do you do when you leave a ship? Do you walk off with the rudder and oars? No; you leave with your own gear, your oil-flask and wallet. So just remember what belongs to you, and you won’t lay claim to what doesn’t.
[12] The emperor says to you, ‘Remove your broad hem.’
‘Very well, I’ll wear the narrow hem.’
‘Remove that too.’
‘All right, I’ll wear the ordinary toga now.’37
‘Take your toga off.’
‘Fine, I’ll go naked.’
[13] ‘Now your very composure provokes me.’
‘Take my whole body, then.’
Is there any reason to fear someone to whom I stand ready to surrender my miserable corpse?
[14] But so-and-so will not leave his estate to me. Well? I forgot that none of it was mine. How then do we call it mine? As we call the bed in an inn mine. If the innkeeper dies and leaves you his bed, fine; but if he leaves it to someone else, then he will have it, and you will find a replacement. [15] And if you don’t, then you will have to sleep on the ground. Only rest easy there and snore away, because, remember, tragedies take place among the rich – among kings, and potentates. No poor man swells a tragedy except as a member of the chorus. [16] Kings start off well enough: ‘Deck the palace halls.’ But then around the third or fourth act, we get, ‘O Cithaeron, why did you receive me?’38 [17] Fool, where are your crowns, your diadem? Even your guards can’t help you now.
[18] So when you stand before one of those tyrants, just bear in mind that you are in the presence of a tragic figure – and not the actor, either, but Oedipus himself.
[19] ‘But he’s so lucky to be able to walk around with an entourage.’
Well, I too mingle with the masses and so am attended by an entourage. [20] The chief thing to remember is that the door is open.39 Don’t be a greater coward than children, who are ready to announce, ‘I won’t play any more.’ Say, ‘I won’t play any more,’ when you grow weary of the game, and be done with it. But if you stay, don’t carp.
I 25 More on the same theme
[1] If what we’ve been saying is true and we aren’t being ridiculous, or merely pretending to believe that what is good or bad for us lies in the will and that we are indifferent to everything else – then why do we continue to experience fear and anxiety? [2] No one has power over our principles, and what other peopledo control wedon’t care about. So what is your problem, still?
[3] ‘My problem is that I want specific instructions on how to act in line with these principles.’
What other orders do you need than those Zeus has given you already? He has given you what is your own unrestricted and unrestrained; what is not yours he has made restricted and restrained. [4] What commandment, then, did you arrive with when he sent you here? ‘Protect what belongs to you at all costs; don’t desire what belongs to another.’ Trustworthiness is your own, decency and a sense of shame;∗ no one can take them from you or prevent you from using these qualities except yourself – which you do the moment you begin to care about what isn’t yours, surrendering what is yours in the process.
[5] With such directions and commands from Zeus, what additional ones do you hope to get from me? Am I greater or more to be trusted? [6] Keep his commandments and you won’t need others. And as proof that he has delivered them to you, bring your preconceptions to bear. Bring the arguments of philosophers. Bring what you’ve often heard, and often said yourself; what you’ve read, and what you’ve practised.
[7] Just how long should we apply these precepts that we have from God, before breaking up the game? [8] Just so long as the game remains a pleasure. At the Saturnalia a king of the revels is chosen by chance, because this is the convention.40 Then our ‘king’ hands out orders: ‘Drink up! You there, mix the wine! You, sir, give us a song! You, join the party; while you there – get lost!’ And we play along with him, so that the game will not be spoiled on our account. [9] But if the ‘king’ says, ‘Imagine that you are unhappy,’ and I demur, who is going to force me? [10] If, on the other hand, the programme calls for the re-enactment of Achilles’ quarrel with Agamemnon, and the actor in the role of king says to me, ‘Go and get Briseis away from Achilles,’ [11] I’ll go. When he says, ‘Return,’ I’ll return.
The way we handle hypothetical arguments can also serve as a model for our behaviour.41 ‘Let’s assume that it is night.’
‘Fine.’
‘Then is it day?’
‘No, because I’ve accepted the hypothesis that it is night.’
[12] ‘Let’s assume, in the manner of a game or play, that you pretend to believe that it is night.’
‘OK.’
‘Now, believe that it really is night.’
[13] ‘That does not follow from the hypothesis.’
The same rules apply in life: ‘Let’s assume you’ve come upon hard times.’
‘Granted.’
‘Then you are unfortunate.’
‘Yes.’
‘And suffering.’
‘Yes.’
‘Now believe that what has happened to you is bad.’
‘That does not follow from the hypothesis. Besides, there is another who won’t let me.’42
[14] How long should we submit to the rules of the game? As long as it serves my turn, and I find the part congenial. [15] Some dour, inflexible types will say, ‘I can’t eat at this man’s table if it means listening to his war stories again: “I told you, friend, how I scrambled up the hill; now we came under renewed bombardment…”’ [16] But another person in the same situation might say, ‘The meal is what matters; let him rattle on to his heart’s content.’ [17] It is for you to arrange your priorities; but whatever you decide to do, don’t do it resentfully, as if you were being imposed on. And don’t believe your situation is genuinely bad – no one can make
you do that. [18] Is there smoke in the house? If it’s not suffocating, I will stay indoors; if it proves too much, I’ll leave. Always remember – the door is open.
[19] ‘Do not remain in Nicopolis,’ they say to me; so I don’t remain there.
‘Don’t stay in Athens either.’
So I quit Athens.
‘Not Rome either.’
So I abandon Rome.
[20] ‘Live on Gyara.’43
But for me living on Gyara amounts to more smoke in my house than I can stand. So I depart to the one place no one can stop me from going, where everyone is made welcome. [21] And when I remove my last piece of clothing – my skin – then no one can lay a hold of me any longer. [22] Which is why Demetrius was emboldened to say to Nero, ‘You threaten me with death, but nature threatens you.’
[23] If I cherish my body, I make a slave of myself, if I cherish my property, I make a slave of myself; [24] because I’ve disclosed the means to make me captive. When a snake pulls back its head, right away I think, ‘Hit it just there, on the part that it’s protecting.’ In the same way you may be sure that whatever you are seen to protect, that will become your enemy’s focus of attack. [25] Keep this in mind, then there will be no one you will need to fear or flatter.
[26] ‘But I want to sit in the senators’ gallery.’
Look, the crowd is of your own creation, you’re treading on your own toes.
[27] ‘But how else am I to get a clear view of the stage?’
If you don’t want to be crowded, don’t attend the theatre. What’s the difficulty? Or wait until the show is over, then seat and sun yourself at leisure in the senators’ seats. [28] In general, remember that it is we who torment, we who make difficulties for ourselves – that is, our opinions do. What, for instance, does it mean to be insulted? [29] Stand by a rock and insult it, and what have you accomplished? If someone responds to insult like a rock, what has the abuser gained with his invective? If, however, he has his victim’s weakness to exploit, then his efforts are worth his while.
