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

expected that even women and children should be philosophers, and that the husband in his philosophy should calmly contemplate the death of wife and children by starvation. This is an example of the absurdity to which even a wise man carried his philosophy; and it is unworthy of the teacher’s general good sense. ↩

We see many old beggars who endure what others could not endure; but they all die at last, and would have died earlier if their beggar life had begun sooner. The living in the open air and wandering about help them to last longer; but the exposure to cold and wet and to the want of food hastens their end. The life of a poor old beggar is neither so long nor so comfortable as that of a man, who has a good home and sufficient food, and lives with moderation. ↩

See book III chapter II. ↩

Plato using the same simile “teaches that last of all disciplines dialectic ought to be learned.” (Johann Schweighäuser.) ↩

ἀποσαλεύεσθαι. Paul, 2 Thessalonians 2:2, has εἰς τὸ μὴ ταχέως σαλευθῆναι ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ νοός. (John Upton.) ↩

This is good advice. When you propose to measure, to estimate things, you should first tell us what the things are before you attempt to fix their value; and what is the measure or scales that you use. ↩

Cleanthes, the successor of Zeno in his school, was a great example of the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties: during the night he used to draw water from the wells for the use of the gardens: during the day he employed himself in his studies. He was the author of a noble hymn to Zeus, which is extant. ↩

It seems strange that Epictetus should make such assertions when we know that they are not true. Shortly after he himself speaks even of the good man not being supplied with food by God. ↩

See book I chapter XXIX at 29. ↩

The word is ἐπευφημῶν. Compare ἐπευφήμησαν, Homer, Iliad i 22. ↩

See book I chapter XVI at 15. ↩

“Compare Hebrews 11 and 12, in which the Apostle and Philosopher reason in nearly the same manner and even use the same terms; but how superior is the example urged by the Apostle to Hercules and Ulysses!” —⁠Elizabeth Carter ↩

The story of Ulysses asking Nausicaa and her maids for help when he was cast naked on the land is in the Odyssey vi 127. ↩

Manes is a slave’s name. Diogenes had a slave named Manes, his only slave, who ran away, and though Diogenes was informed where the slave was, he did not think it worthwhile to have him brought back. He said, it would be a shame if Manes could live without Diogenes, and Diogenes could not live without Manes ↩

Cicero, Paradoxa Stoicorum v: “Quid est enim libertas? Potestas vivendi ut velis. Quis igitur vivit ut vult, nisi qui recta sequitur,” etc. ↩

προπίπτωνn. Compare book II chapter I at 10: ἐξαπατηθῆναι οὖν ἢ προπεσεῖν. ↩

“Whoever committeth sin, is the servant of sin” John 8:31. (Elizabeth Carter.) ↩

A usual form of oath. See book II chapter XX at 29. John Upton compares the Roman expression “Per Genium,” as in Horace Epistles i 7, 94:

Quod te per Genium, dextramque, Deosque Penates
Obsecro et obtestor.

↩

A lover’s exclusion by his mistress was a common topic, and a serious cause of complaint (Lucretius, De Rerum Natura iv 1172):

At lacrimans exclusus amator limina saepe
Floribus et sertis operit.

See also Horace, Odes, i 25. ↩

Thrasonides was a character in one of Menander’s plays, titled Μισούμενος or the Hated. ↩

It must have been rather difficult to manage a tame lion; but we read of such things among the Romans. Seneca, Epistles 41. ↩

The keeping of birds in cages, parrots and others, was also common among the Romans. Ovid (Amores ii 6) has written a beautiful elegy on the death of a favorite parrot. ↩

See book II chapter I at 26. The εἰκοστώναι were the Publicani, men who farmed this and other taxes. A tax of a twentieth of the value of a slave when manumitted was established at an early time (Livy History of Rome vii 16). It appears from this passage that the manumitted slave paid the tax out of his savings (peculium). See note 222. ↩

The reader may guess the meaning. ↩

A gold ring was worn by the Equites; and accordingly to desire the gold ring is the same as to desire to be raised to the Equestrian class. ↩

The colophon. See note 315. After the words “most splendid slavery” it is probable that some words have accidentally been omitted in the manuscripts. ↩

Compare book I chapter II at 6. ↩

Compare book I chapter XXII. ↩

“Sic praetextatos referunt Artaxata mores.” —⁠Juvenal, Satires ii 170. See note 20. ↩

Saturnalia. See note 159.

At this season the slaves had liberty to enjoy