Encheiridion — Epictetus

154 Gbe Discourses of JEptctetus with his •whole soul to superintend men ? It cannot be : it is impossible. In the first place then you must make your ruling faculty pure, and this mode of life also. Now (you should say), to me the matter to work on is my understanding, as wood is to the ^arpenter, as hides to the shoemaker ; and my business is the right use of appearances. But the body is nothing to me : the parts of it are nothing to me.

Death ? Let it come when it chooses, either death of the whole or of a part. Ply, you say. And whither ; can any man eject me out of the world? He cannot. But wherever I go, there is the sun, there is the moon, there are the stars, dreams, omens, and the conversation (ouiXia) with gods.

Then, il he is thus prepared, the true Cynic cannot be satisfied with this ; but he must know that he is sent a messenger from Zeus to men about good and bad things, to show them that they have wandered and are seeking the substance of good and evil where it is not, but where it is, they never think ; and that he is a spy, as Diogenes was carried off to Philip after the battle of Chseroneia as a spy.

For in fact a Cynic is a spy of the things which are good for men and which are evil, and it is his duty to examine carefully and to come and report truly, and not to be struck with terror so as to point

XLbe Discourses of JEpfctetus 155 out as enemies those who are not enemies, nor in any other way to be perturbed by appearances nor confounded.

It is his duty then to be able with a loud voice, if the occasion should arise, and appearing on the tragic stage to say like Socrates : Men, whither are you hurrying, what are you doing, wretches? like blind people you are wandering up and down ; you are going by another road, and have left the true road ; you seek for prosperity and happiness where they are not, and if another shows you where they are, you do not believe him.

Why do you seek it without? In the body? It is not there. If you doubt, look at Myro, look at Ophcllius. In possessions? It is not there. Rut if you do not believe me, look at Croesus : look at those who are now rich, with what lamentations their life is filled. In power? It is not there. If it is, those must be happy who have been twice and thrice consuls ; but they are not. Whom shall we believe in these matters?

You who from without see their affairs and are dazzled by an appearance, or the men themselves ? What do they say ? Hear them when they groan, when they grieve, when on account of these very consulships and glory and splendor they think that they are more wretched and in greater danger. Is it in royal

156 Gbe Discourses of lEpictetus power? It is not : if it were, Nero would have been happy, and Sardanapalus. But neither was Agamemnon happy, though he was a better man than Sardanapalus and Nero ; but while others are snoring, what is he doing? Much from his head he tore his rooted hair : Iliad, x., 15. and what does he say himself? " I am perplexed," he says, " and Disturb 'd I am," and " my heart out of my bosom Is leaping. Iliad, x., 91.

Wretch, which of your affairs goes badly ? Your possessions? No. Your body? No. But you are rich in gold and copper. What then is the matter with you? That part of you, whatever it is, has been neglected by you and is corrupted, the part with which we desire, with which we avoid, with which we move towards and move from things. How neglected ?

He knows not the nature of good for which he is made by nature and the nature of evil ; and what is his own, and what belongs to another ; and when anything that belongs to others goes badly, he says, Woe to me, for the Hellenes are in danger. Wretched is his rilling faculty, and alone neglected and uncared for.