Encheiridion — Epictetus

Epictetus A selection from the Discourses of Epictetus

^Jreseitteo to <3EI|0 ^Ctbrarg of the JBmiierstty of ®oronta by txie Lstate of Dr. Frederick C. narrison

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» Seicctfon trotn Zhe ^Discourses of JEpictetus Gbe iBncbeiriMon Cranalatcfc t>£ (Beor^e Xoncj " The important question, What is the rule of Life ? ts iost out of the worlds'"— Bishop Butler. '• Consider thyself to be dead, and to hai>e completed thy life up tc the present ti>ne ; and li-ve according to Nature the remainder •■which is aJltrwed thee."--M. Antoninus, vii, 56.

"Hew jgorfc ana lonton $. p. Putnam's Sow ^bc Unfcfeerbocher press i[ JAM 61964 "fiSlTY of T0«°*; h V 4 5 4 8 .

CONTENTS.

Epictetus (biographical note) . . v A. Selection from the Discourses oe Epictetus i The Encheiridion, or Manual . . 219 Index . 257

EPICTETUS.

VERY little is known of the life of Epictetus. It is said that he was a native of Hierapolis in Phrygia, a town between the Maeander and a branch of the Maeander named the Lycus. Hierapolis is mentioned in the epistle of Paul to the people of Colossae (Coloss. iv., 13) ; from which it has been concluded that there was a Christian church in Hierapolis in the time of the apostle. The date of the birth of Epictetus is unknown. The only recorded fact of his early life is that he was a slave in Rome, and his master was Epaphroditus, a profligate freedman of the Emperor Nero. There is a story that the master broke his slave's leg by torturing him ; but it is better to trust to the evidence of Simplicius, the commentator on the Encheiridion, or Manual, who says that Epictetus was weak in body and lame from an early age. It is not