The Golden Sayings of Epictetus, with the Hymn of Cleanthes
continuous and in unison with each other?”
“I do,” was the reply.
“Else how should the trees so regularly, as though by God’s command, at
His bidding flower; at His bidding send forth shoots, bear fruit and
ripen it; at His bidding let it fall and shed their leaves, and folded
up upon themselves lie in quietness and rest? How else, as the Moon
waxes and wanes, as the Sun approaches and recedes, can it be that such
vicissitude and alternation is seen in earthly things?
“If then all things that grow, nay, our own bodies, are thus bound up
with the whole, is not this still truer of our souls? And if our souls
are bound up and in contact with God, as being very parts and fragments
plucked from Himself, shall He not feel every movement of theirs as
though it were His own, and belonging to His own nature?”
XXXVII
“But,” you say, “I cannot comprehend all this at once.”
“Why, who told you that your powers were equal to God’s?”
Yet God hath placed by the side of each a man’s own Guardian Spirit,
who is charged to watch over him—a Guardian who sleeps not nor is
deceived. For to what better or more watchful Guardian could He have
committed which of us? So when you have shut the doors and made a
darkness within, remember never to say that you are alone; for you are
not alone, but God is within, and your Guardian Spirit, and what light
do they need to behold what you do? To this God you also should have
sworn allegiance, even as soldiers unto Cæsar. They, when their service
is hired, swear to hold the life of Cæsar dearer than all else: and
will you not swear your oath, that are deemed worthy of so many and
great gifts? And will you not keep your oath when you have sworn it?
And what oath will you swear? Never to disobey, never to arraign or
murmur at aught that comes to you from His hand: never unwillingly to
do or suffer aught that necessity lays upon you.
“Is this oath like theirs?”
They swear to hold no other dearer than Cæsar: you, to hold our true
selves dearer than all else beside.
XXXVIII
“How shall my brother cease to be wroth with me?”
Bring him to me, and I will tell him. But to _thee_ I have nothing to
say about _his_ anger.
XXXIX
When one took counsel of Epictetus, saying, “What I seek is this, how
even though my brother be not reconciled to me, I may still remain as
Nature would have me to be,” he replied: “All great things are slow of
growth; nay, this is true even of a grape or of a fig. If then you say
to me now, I desire a fig, I shall answer, It needs time: wait till it
first flower, then cast its blossom, then ripen. Whereas then the fruit
of the fig-tree reaches not maturity suddenly nor yet in a single hour,
do you nevertheless desire so quickly, and easily to reap the fruit of
the mind of man?—Nay, expect it not, even though I bade you!”
XL
Epaphroditus had a shoemaker whom he sold as being good-for-nothing.
This fellow, by some accident, was afterwards purchased by one of
Cæsar’s men, and became a shoemaker to Cæsar. You should have seen what
respect Epaphroditus paid him then. “How does the good Felicion? Kindly
let me know!” And if any of us inquired, “What is Epaphroditus doing?”
the answer was, “He is consulting about so and so with Felicion.”—Had
he not sold him as good-for-nothing? Who had in a trice converted him
into a wiseacre?
This is what comes of holding of importance anything but the things
that depend on the Will.
XLI
What you shun enduring yourself, attempt not to impose on others. You
shun slavery—beware of enslaving others! If you can endure to do that,
one would think you had been once upon a time a slave yourself. For
Vice has nothing in common with virtue, nor Freedom with slavery.
XLII
Has a man been raised to tribuneship? Every one that he meets
congratulates him. One kisses him on the eyes, another on the neck,
while the slaves kiss his hands. He goes home to find torches burning;
he ascends to the Capitol to sacrifice.—Who ever sacrificed for having
had right desires; for having conceived such inclinations as Nature
would have him? In truth we thank the Gods for that wherein we place
our happiness.
XLIII
A man was talking to me to-day about the priesthood of Augustus. I said
to him, “Let the thing go, my good Sir; you will spend a good deal to
no purpose.”
“Well, but my name will be inserted in all documents and contracts.”
“Will _you_ be standing there to tell those that read them, That is my
name written there? And even if you could now be there in every case,
what will you do when you are dead?”
“At all events my name will remain.”
“Inscribe it on a stone and it will remain just as well. And think,
beyond Nicopolis what memory of you will there be?”
“But I shall have a golden wreath to wear.”
“If you must have a wreath, get a wreath of roses and put it on; you
will look more elegant!”
XLIV
Above all, remember that the door stands open. Be not more fearful than
children; but as they, when they weary of the game, cry, “I will play
no more,” even so, when thou art in the like case, cry, “I will play no
more” and depart. But if thou stayest, make no lamentation.
XLV
Is there smoke in the room? If it be slight, I remain; if grievous, I
quit it. For you must remember this and hold it fast, that the door
stands open.
“You shall not dwell at Nicopolis!”
Well and good.
“Nor at Athens.”
Then I will not dwell at Athens either.
“Nor at Rome.”
Nor at Rome either.
“You shall dwell in Gyara!”
Well: but to dwell in Gyara seems to me like a grievous smoke; I depart
to a place where none can forbid me to dwell: _that_ habitation is open
unto all! As for the last garment of all, that is the poor body; beyond
that, none can do aught unto me. This why Demetrius said to Nero: “You
threaten me with death; it is Nature who threatens _you!_”
XLVI
The beginning of philosophy is to know the condition of one’s own mind.
If a man recognises that this is in a weakly state, he will not then
want to apply it to questions of the greatest moment. As it is, men who
are not fit to swallow even a morsel, buy whole treatises and try to
devour them. Accordingly they either vomit them up again, or suffer
from indigestion, whence come gripings, fluxions, and fevers. Whereas
they should have stopped to consider their capacity.
XLVII
In theory it is easy to convince an ignorant person: in actual life,
men not only object to offer themselves to be convinced, but hate the
man who has convinced them. Whereas Socrates used to say that we should
never lead a life not subjected to examination.
XLVIII
This is the reason why Socrates, when reminded that he should prepare
for his trial, answered: “Thinkest thou not that I have been preparing
for it all my life?”
“In what way?”
“I have maintained that which in me lay!”
“How so?”
“I have never, secretly or openly, done a wrong unto any.”
XLIX
In what character dost thou now come forward?
As a witness summoned by God. “Come thou,” saith God, “and testify for
me, for thou art worthy of being brought forward as a witness by Me. Is
aught that is outside thy will either good or bad? Do I hurt any man?
Have I placed the good of each in the power of any other than himself?
What witness dost thou bear to God?”
“I am in evil state, Master, I am undone! None careth for me, none
giveth me aught: all men blame, all speak evil of me.”
Is this the witness thou wilt bear, and do dishonour to the calling
wherewith He hath called thee, because He hath done thee so great
honour, and deemed thee worthy of being summoned to bear witness in so
great a cause?
L
Wouldst thou have men speak good of thee? speak good of them. And when
thou hast learned to speak good of them, try to do good unto them, and
thus thou wilt reap in return their speaking good of thee.
LI
When thou goest in to any of the great, remember that Another from
above sees what is passing, and that thou shouldst please Him rather
than man. He therefore asks thee:—
“In the Schools, what didst thou call exile, imprisonment, bonds, death
and shame?”
“I called them things indifferent.”
“What then dost thou call them now? Are they at all changed?”
“No.”
“Is it then thou that art changed?”
“No.”
“Say then, what are things indifferent?”
“Things that are not in our power.”
“Say then, what follows?”
“That things which are not in our power are nothing to me.”
“Say also what things you hold to be good.”
“A will such as it ought to be, and a right use of the things of
sense.”
“And what is the end?”
“To follow Thee!”
LII
“That Socrates should ever have been so treated by the Athenians!”
Slave! why say “Socrates”? Speak of the thing as it is: That ever then
the poor _body_ of Socrates should have been dragged away and haled by
main force to prison! That ever hemlock should have been given to the
_body_ of Socrates; that _that_ should have breathed its life away!—Do
you marvel at this? Do you hold this unjust? Is it for this that you
accuse God? Had Socrates no compensation for this? Where then for him
was the ideal Good? Whom shall we hearken to, you or him? And what says
he?
“Anytus and Melitus may put me to death: to injure me is beyond their
power.”
And again:—
“If such be the will of God, so let it be.”
LIII
Nay, young man, for heaven’s sake; but once thou hast heard these
words, go home and say to thyself:—“It is not Epictetus that has told
me these things: how indeed should he? No, it is some gracious God
through him. Else it would never have entered his head to tell me
them—he that is not used to speak to any one thus. Well, then, let us
not lie under the wrath of God, but be obedient unto Him.”—-Nay,
indeed; but if a raven by its croaking bears thee any sign, it is not
the raven but God that sends the sign through the raven; and if He
signifies anything to thee through human voice, will _He_ not cause the
man to say these words to thee, that thou mayest know the power of the
Divine—how He sends a sign to some in one way and to others in another,
and on the greatest and highest matters of all signifies His will
through the noblest messenger?
What else does the poet mean:—
I spake unto him erst Myself, and sent
Hermes the shining One, to check and warn him,
The husband not to slay, nor woo the wife!
LIV
In the same way my friend Heraclitus, who had a trifling suit about a
petty farm at Rhodes, first showed the judges that his cause was just,
and then at the finish cried, “I will not entreat you: nor do I care
what sentence you pass. It is you who are on your trial, not I!”—And so
he ended the case.
LV
As for us, we behave like a herd of deer. When they flee from the
huntsman’s feathers in affright, which way do they turn? What haven of
safety do they make for? Why, they rush upon the nets! And thus they
perish by confounding what they should fear with that wherein no danger
lies. . . . Not death or pain is to be feared, but the _fear_ of death
or pain. Well said the poet therefore:—
Death has no terror; only a Death of shame!
LVI
How is it then that certain external things are said to be natural, and
other contrary to Nature?
Why, just as it might be said if we stood alone and apart from others.
A foot, for instance, I will allow it is natural should be clean. But
if you take it as a foot, and as a thing which does not stand by
itself, it will beseem it (if need be) to walk in the mud, to tread on
thorns, and sometimes even to be cut off, for the benefit of the whole
body; else it is no longer a foot. In some such way we should conceive
of ourselves also. What art thou?—A man.—Looked at as standing by
thyself and separate, it is natural for thee in health and wealth long