Encheiridion — Epictetus

Gbe Discourses of JEplctctus 69 orphan to you, would you thus neglect him ? He has delivered yourself to your own care, and says : " I had no one fitter to intrust him to than yourself ; keep him for me such as he is by nature, modest, faithful, erect, unterrified, free from passion and perturbation. And then you do not keep him such. But some will say, Whence has this fellow got the arrogance which he displays and these supercilious looks ?

I have not yet so much gravity as befits a philosopher ; for I do not yet feel confidence in what I have learned and in what I have assented to. I still fear my own weakness. Let me get confidence and then you shall see a countenance such as I ought to have and an attitude such as I ought to have ; then I will show to you the statue, when it is perfected, when it is polished. What do you expect ? a supercilious countenance ?

Does the Zeus at Olympia lift up his brow ? No, his look is fixed as becomes him who is ready to say : Irrevocable is my word and shall not fail. — Iliad, i., 526. Such will I show myself to you, faithful, modest, noble, free from perturbation. What, and immortal, too, except from old age, and from sickness ? No, but dying as becomes a god, sickening as becomes a god. This power I possess ; this I can do. But the rest I do not

70 Gbe Discourses of Bpictetus possess, nor can I do. T will show the nerves (strength) of a philosopher. What nerves are these ? A desire never disappointed, an aversion which never falls on that which it would avoid, a proper pursuit {op/ir/v), a diligent purpose, an assent which is not rash. These you shall see.

That when we cannot Fulfil that which the Character of a Man Promises, we Assume the Character of a Philosopher.— It is no common (easy) thing to do this only, to fulfil the promise of a man's nature. For what is a man ? The answer is, A rational and mortal being. Then by the rational faculty from whom are we separated ? From wild beasts. And from what others. From sheep and like animals.

Take care then to do nothing like a wild beast ; but if you do, you have lost the character of a man ; you have not fulfill ad your promise. See that you do nothing like a sheep ; but if you do, in this case also the man is lost. What then do we do as sheep ? When we act gluttonously, when we act lewdly, when we act rashly, filthily, inconsiderately, to what have we declined ? To sheep. What have we lost? The rational faculty. When we act conteutiously and harmfully and passionately aud violently, to what have we declined?

Gbe Discourses of Bpictetus 71 To wild beasts. Consequently some of us are great wild beasts, and others little beasts, of a bad disposition and small, whence we may say, Let me be eaten by a lion. But in all these ways the promise of a man acting as a man is destroyed. For when is a conjunctive (complex) proposition maintained ?

When it fulfils what its nature promises ; so that the preservation of a complex proposition is when it is a conjunction of truths. When is a disjunctive maintained ? When it fulfils what it promises. When are flutes, a lyre, a horse, a dog, preserved ? (When they severally keep their promise.) What is the wonder then if man also in like manner is preserved, and in like manner is lost ?

Each man is improved and preserved by corresponding acts, the carpenter by acts of carpentry, the grammarian by acts of grammar. But if a man accustoms himself to write ungrammatically, of necessity his art will be corrupted and destroyed. Thus modest actions preserve the modest man, and immodest actions destroy him ; and actions of fidelity preserve the faithful man, and the contrary actions destroy him.

And on the other hand contrary actions strengthen contrary characters : shamelessness strengthens the shameless man, faithlessness the faithless man, abusive words the abusive man, anger the man of an angry tem-