Page images
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small]

80

XXVII. IN HOW MANY WAYS APPEARANCES EXIST, AND WHAT
AIDS WE SHOULD PROVIDE AGAINST THEM

XXVIII. THAT WE OUGHT NOT TO BE ANGRY WITH MEN; AND
WHAT ARE THE SMALL AND THE GREAT THINGS
AMONG MEN

[ocr errors]
[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small]
[ocr errors]

83

87

BOOK II.

I. THAT CONFIDENCE (COURAGE) IS NOT INCONSISTENT
WITH CAUTION

[ocr errors]

97

II. OF TRANQUILLITY (FREEDOM FROM PERTURBATION). 103
III. TO THOSE WHO RECOMMEND PERSONS TO PHILOSOPHERS 106
IV. AGAINST A PERSON WHO HAD ONCE BEEN DETECTED
IN ADULTERY

[ocr errors]

V. HOW MAGNANIMITY IS CONSISTENT WITH CARE
VI. OF INDIFFERENCE

[ocr errors]

VII. HOW WE OUGHT TO USE DIVINATION

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

VIII. WHAT IS THE NATURE ( ovoía) OF THE GOOD . 118
IX. THAT WHEN WE CANNOT FULFIL THAT WHICH THE
CHARACTER OF A MAN PROMISES, WE ASSUME THE
CHARACTER OF A PHILOSOPHER

.

X. HOW WE MAY DISCOVER THE DUTIES OF LIFE FROM

123

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small]

XI. WHAT THE BEGINNING OF PHILOSOPHY IS
XII. OF DISPUTATION OR DISCUSSION

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

XV. TO OR AGAINST THOSE WHO OBSTINATELY PERSIST IN

WHAT THEY HAVE DETERMINED

144

XVI. THAT WE DO NOT STRIVE TO USE OUR OPINIONS
ABOUT GOOD AND EVIL

[merged small][ocr errors]

XVII. HOW WE MUST ADAPT PRECONCEPTIONS TO PARTICULAR
CASES

XVIII. HOW WE SHOULD STRUGGLE AGAINST APPEARANCES
XIX. AGAINST THOSE WHO EMBRACE

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]
[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors]

XXIV. TO (OR AGAINST) A PERSON WHO WAS ONE OF THOSE
WHO WERE NOT VALUED (ESTEEMED) BY HIM

XXV. THAT LOGIC IS NECESSARY

XXVI. WHAT IS THE PROPERTY OF ERROR

[ocr errors]

BOOK III.

182

[ocr errors]

188
. 192

[ocr errors]

192

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

II. IN WHAT A MAN OUGHT TO BE EXERCISED WHO HAS
MADE PROFICIENCY; AND THAT WE NEGLECT THE
CHIEF THINGS

[ocr errors]
[merged small][ocr errors]

III. WHAT IS THE MATTER ON WHICH A GOOD MAN SHOULD
BE EMPLOYED, AND IN WHAT WE OUGHT CHIEFLY TO
EMPLOY OURSELVES

IV. AGAINST A PERSON WHO SHOWED HIS PARTIZANSHIP IN
AN UNSEEMLY WAY IN A THEATRE

[ocr errors]

V. AGAINST THOSE WHO ON ACCOUNT OF SICKNESS GO
AWAY HOME

[merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors]

VII. TO THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE FREE CITIES WHO
WAS AN EPICUREAN

VIII. How WE MUST EXERCISE OURSELVES AGAINST APPEAR-
ANCES (φαντασίαι).

[ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors]

IX. TO A CERTAIN RHETORICIAN WHO WAS GOING UP TO

[merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors]

X. IN WHAT MANNER WE OUGHT TO BEAR SICKNESS
XI. CERTAIN MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS

[merged small][ocr errors]
[ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
[ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[ocr errors][merged small]
[ocr errors]

240

XIII. WHAT SOLITUDE IS, AND WHAT KIND OF PERSON A
SOLITARY MAN IS

[ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

XV. THAT WE OUGHT TO PROCEED WITH CIRCUMSPECTION
TO EVERYTHING

[ocr errors][ocr errors]

XVI. THAT WE OUGHT WITH CAUTION TO
FAMILIAR INTERCOURSE WITH MEN

[merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

XVIII. THAT WE OUGHT NOT TO BE DISTURBED BY ANY

[merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors]

XIX. WHAT IS THE CONDITION OF A COMMON KIND OF MAN
AND OF A PHILOSOPHER

CHAP.

XX. THAT WE CAN DERIVE ADVANTAGE FROM ALL EXTERNAL
THINGS

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

PAGR

241

[ocr errors]

XXI. AGAINST THOSE WHO READILY COME TO THE PROFES-
SION OF SOPHISTS

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

244

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[merged small][ocr errors]
[merged small][ocr errors]

XXIII. TO THOSE WHO READ AND DISCUSS FOR THE SAKE OF
OSTENTATION

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

XXIV. THAT WE OUGHT NOT TO BE MOVED BY A DESIRE OF
THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE NOT IN OUR POWER

XXV. TO THOSE WHO FALL OFF (DESIST) FROM THEIR

PURPOSE

XXVI. TO THOSE WHO FEAR WANT

[merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors]
[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small]
[blocks in formation]

IV. TO THOSE WHO ARE DESIROUS OF PASSING LIFE IN

V. AGAINST THE QUARRELSOME AND FEROCIOUS

VI. AGAINST THOSE WHO LAMENT OVER BEING PITIED
VII. ON FREEDOM FROM FEAR

[ocr errors]

VIII. AGAINST THOSE WHO HASTILY RUSH INTO THE PHILO-
SOPHIC DRESS

[ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors]

IX. TO A PERSON WHO HAD BEEN CHANGED TO A CHAR-
ACTER OF SHAMELESSNESS

X. WHAT THINGS WE OUGHT TO DESPISE AND

322

324

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

325

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors]
[ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

XIII. AGAINST OR TO THOSE WHO READILY TELL THEIR OWN

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

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 said how he became a slave; but it has been asserted in modern times that the parents sold the child. I have not, however, found any authority for this statement.

It may be supposed that the young slave showed intelligence, for his master sent or permitted him to attend the lectures of C. Musonius Rufus, an eminent Stoic philosopher. It may seem strange that such a master should have wished to have his slave made into a philosopher; but Garnier, the author of a Mémoire sur les ouvrages d'Epictète, explains this matter very well in a communication to Schweighaeuser Garnier says: "Epictetus, borr.

at Hierapolis of Phrygia of poor parents, was indebted apparently for the advantages of a good education to the whim, which was common at the end of the Republic and under the first emperors, among the great of Rome to reckon among their numerous slaves Grammarians, Poets, Rhetoricians, and Philosophers, in the same way as rich financiers in these later ages have been led to form at a great cost rich and numerous libraries. This supposition is the only one which can explain to us, how a wretched child, born as poor as Irus, had received a good education, and how a rigid Stoic was the slave of Epaphroditus, one of the officers of the Imperial guard. For we cannot suspect that it was through predilection for the Stoic doctrine and for his own use, that the confidant and the minister of the debaucheries of Nero would have desired to possess such a slave."

Some writers assume that Epictetus was manumitted by his master; but I can find no evidence for this statement. Epaphroditus accompanied Nero when he fled from Rome before his enemies, and he aided the miserable tyrant in killing himself. Domitian (Sueton. Domit. 14) afterwards put Epaphroditus to death for this service to Nero. We may conclude that Epictetus in some way obtained his freedom, and that he began to teach at Rome; but after the expulsion of the philosophers from Rome by Domitian A.D. 89, he retired to Nicopolis in Epirus, a city built by Augustus to commemorate the victory at Actium. Epictetus opened a school or lecture room at Nicopolis, where he taught till he was an old man. The time of his death is unknown. Epictetus was never married, as we learn from Lucian (Demonax, c. 55, Tom. ii. ed. Hemsterh. p. 393). When Epictetus was finding fault with Demonax and advising him to take a wife and beget children, for this also, as Epictetus said, was a philosopher's duty, to 1 Lucian's 'Life of the Philosopher Demonax.'

« PreviousContinue »