Discourses by Epictetus (good books to read for beginners txt) 📕

The preconception πρόληψις is thus defined by the Stoics: ἐστι δὴ ἡ πρόληψις ἔννοια φυσικὴ τῶν καθ᾽ ὅλου (Diogenes Laërtius Lives vii). “We name Anticipation all knowledge, by which I can à priori know and determine that which belongs to empirical knowledge, and without doubt this is the sense in which Epicurus used his expression πρόληψις” (Kant, Kritik der reinen Vernunft, p. 152, 7th ed.). He adds: “But since there is something in appearances which never can be known à priori, and which consequently constitutes the difference between empirical knowledge and knowledge à priori, that is, sensation (as the material of observation), it follows that this sensation is specially that which cannot be anticipated (it cannot be a πρόληψις). On the other hand, we could name the pure determinations in space and time, both in respect to form and magnitude, anticipations of the appearances, because these determinations represent à priori whatever may be presented to us à posteriori in experience.” See also p. 8, etc. ↩

Nero was passionately fond of scenic representations, and used to induce the descendants of noble families, whose poverty made them consent to appear on the stage (Tacitus, Annals, xiv 14; Suetonius, Nero, chapter 21). ↩

The “purple” is the broad purple border on the toga named the toga praetexta, worn by certain Roman magistrates and some others, and by senators, it is said, on certain days (Cicero, Philippics ii 43). ↩

Helvidius Priscus, a Roman senator and a philosopher, is commended by Tacitus (The History iv 4, 5) as an honest man: “He followed the philosophers who considered those things only to be good which are virtuous, those only to be bad which are foul; and he reckoned power, rank, and all other things which are external to the mind as neither good nor bad.” Vespasian, probably in a fit of passion, being provoked by Helvidius, ordered him to be put to death, and then revoked the order when it was too late (Suetonius, Vespasianus, chapter 15). ↩

Baton was elected for two years gymnasiarch or superintendent of a gymnasium in or about the time of Marcus Aurelius. See Johann Schweighäuser’s note. ↩

This is supposed, as Casaubon says, to refer to Domitian’s order to the philosophers to go into exile; and some of them, in order to conceal their profession of philosophy, shaved their beards. Epictetus would not take off his beard. ↩

The text is: εἰ δὲ μὴ οὐ χείρων. The sense seems to be: Epictetus is not superior to Socrates, but if he is not worse, that is enough for me. On the different readings of the passage and on the sense, see the notes in Johann Schweighäuser’s edition. The difficulty, if there is any, is in the negative μή. ↩

Milo of Croton, a great athlete. The conclusion is the same as in Horace, Epistles i 1, 28, etc.: “Est quodam prodire tenus, si non datur ultra.” ↩

Epictetus speaks of God ὁ θεός and the gods. Also conformably to the practice of the people, he speaks of God under the name of Zeus. The gods of the people were many, but his God was perhaps one. “Father of men and gods,” says Homer of Zeus; and Virgil says of Jupiter, “Father of gods and king of men.” Claudius Salmasius proposed ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ. See Johann Schweighäuser’s note. ↩

ὁρᾶτε καὶ προσέχετε μή τι τούτων ἀποβῆτε τῶν ἀτυχημάτων. John Upton compares Matthew 16:6: ὁρᾶτε καὶ προσέχετε ἀπὸ τῆς ζύμης, etc. Upton remarks that many expressions in Epictetus are not unlike the style of the Gospels, which were written in the same period in which Epictetus was teaching. Johann Schweighäuser also refers to Johann Jakob Wettstein’s New Testament. ↩

τὸ εὔρουν or ἡ εὔροια is translated “happiness.” The notion is that of “flowing easily,” as Seneca (Epistles 120) explains it: “beata vita, secundo defluens cursu.” ↩

ὑπερτέθειται. The Latin translation is: “in futurum tempus rejicit.” Hieronymus Wolf says: “Significat id, quod in Enchiridio dictum est: philosophies tironem non nimium tribuere sibi, sed quasi addubitantem expectare dum confirmetur judicium.” ↩

Diogenes Laërtius (Lives: Chrysippus, book vii) states that Chrysippus wrote seven hundred and five books, or treatises, or whatever the word συγγράμματα means. He was born at Soli, in Cilicia, or at Tarsus, in 280 BC, as it is reckoned, and on going to Athens he became a pupil of the Stoic Cleanthes. ↩

Compare book III chapter II. The word is τόποι. ↩

Halteres are gymnastic instruments (Galenus i De Sanitate Tuenda; Martial, Epigrams xiv 49; Juvenal, Satires vi 420, and the Scholiast, John Upton). Halteres is a Greek word, literally “leapers.” They are said to have been masses of lead, used for exercise and in making jumps. The effect of such weights in taking a jump is well known to boys who have used them. A couple of bricks will serve the purpose, Martial says (Epigrams xiv 49):

Quid pereunt stulto fortes haltere lacerti?
Exercet melius vinea fossa viros.

Juvenal (Satires vi 421) writes of a woman who uses dumbbells till she sweats, and is then rubbed dry by a man,

Quum lassata gravi ceciderunt brachia massa.

As to the expression, Ὄψει