Encheiridion — Epictetus

ftbe Discourses of JEpictetus 157 The Hellenes are going to die destroyed by the Trojans. And if the Trojans do not kill them, will they not die ? Yes ; but not all at once. What difference then does it make? For if death is an evil, whether men die altogether, or if they die singly, it is equally an evil. Is anything else then going to happen than the separation of the soul and the body ? Nothing.

And if the Hellenes perish, is the door closed, and is it not in your power to die ? It is. Why then do you lament (and say), Oh, you are a king and have the sceptre of Zeus? An unhappy king does not exist more than an unhappy god. What then art thou ? In truth a shepherd : for you weep as shepherds do, when a wolf has carried off one of their sheep : and these who are governed by you are sheep. And why did you come hither?

Was your desire in any danger? was your aversion (exxXidti) ? was your movement (pursuits) ? was your avoidance of things ? He replies, No ; but the wife of my brother was carried off. Was it not then a great gain to be deprived of an adulterous wife ? Shall we be despised then by the Trojans ? What kind of people are the Trojans, wise or foolish ? If they are wise, why do you fight with them? If they are fools, why do you care about them?

rs8 Gbe Discourses of jEpfctetus Do you possess the body then free or is it in servile condition ? We do not know. Do you not know that it is the slave of fever, of gout, ophthalmia, dysentery, of a tyrant, of fire, of iron, of everything which is stronger? Yes, it is a slave. How then is it possible that anything which belongs to the body can be free from hindrance ? and how is a thing great or valuable which is naturally dead, or earth, or mud?

Well then, do you possess nothing which is free ? Perhaps nothing. And who is able to compel you to assent to that which appears false? No man. And who can compel you not to assent to that which appears true ? No man. By this then you see that there is something in you naturally free.

But to desire or to be averse from, or to move towards an object or to move from it, or to prepare yourself, or to propose to do anything, which of you can do this, unless he has received an impression of the appearance of that which is profitable or a duty ? No man. You have then in these things also something which is not hindered and is free. Wretched men, work out this, take care of this, seek for good here. That we ought not to be Moved by a Desire oe those Things which are not in our Power. — L,et not that which in another

1Xbe Discourses of Bpictetus 159 is contrary to nature be an evil to you ; for you are not formed by nature to be depressed with others nor to be unhappy with others, but to be happy with them. If a man is unhappy, remember that his unhappiness is his own fault ; for God has made all men to be happy, to be free from perturbations.

For this purpose he has given means to them, some things to each person as his own, and other things not as his own ; some things subject to hindrance and compulsion and deprivation ; and these- things are not a man's own ; but the things which are not subject to hindrances, are his own ; and the nature of good and evil, as it was fit to be done by him who takes care of us and protects us like a father, he has made our own.

But you say, I have parted from a certain person, and he is grieved. Why did he consider as his own that which belongs to another ? why, when *it looked on you and was rejoiced, did he not also reckon that you are a mortal, that it is natural for you to part from him for a foreign country ? Therefore he suffers the consequences of his own folly. But why do you or for what purpose bewail yourself?

Is it that you also have not thought of these things ? but like poor women who are good for nothing, you have enjoyed all things in which you took pleasure, as if you would always enjoy them, both places and men