Enchiridion, passage 139

Everything has two handles: one by which it may be borne, another by which it cannot. If your brother acts unjustly, do not lay hold on the affair by the handle of his injustice, for by that it cannot be borne, but rather by the opposite—that he is your brother, that he was brought up with you; and thus you will lay hold on it as it is to be borne.

Enchiridion, passage 146

The condition and characteristic of a vulgar person is that he never looks for either help or harm from himself, but only from externals. The condition and characteristic of a philosopher is that he looks to himself for all help or harm. The marks of a proficient are that he censures no one, praises no one, blames no one, accuses no one; says nothing concerning himself as being anybody or knowing anything.

Enchiridion, passage 160

[1]Happiness, the effect of virtue, is the mark which God has set up for us to aim at. Our missing it is no work of His; nor so properly anything real, as a mere negative and failure of our own.

Enchiridion, passage 176

(LLA 90) .80 *Leibniz: _Monadology and Other Philosophical Essays_. Tr. P. & A. Schrecker. (LLA 94) .90 *Lessing: _Laocoön_. Tr. E. A. McCormick. (LLA 78) .95 _The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes._ Tr. J. G. Markley. (LLA 37) .50 Locke: _A Letter Concerning Toleration_. (LLA 22) .40 ——: _The Second Treatise of Government_. (LLA 31) _cl. $2.50_ .80 Longinus: _On Great Writing (On the Sublime)_. Tr. G. M. A. Grube. (LLA 79) .60 Machiavelli: _Mandragola_. Tr. A. & H. Paolucci.

Enchiridion, passage 79

Remember that you must behave as at a banquet. Is anything brought round to you? Put out your hand and take a moderate share. Does it pass by you? Do not stop it. Is it not yet come? Do not yearn in desire toward it, but wait till it reaches you. So with regard to children, wife, office, riches; and you will some time or other be worthy to feast with the gods. And if you do not so much as take the things which are set before you, but are able even to forego them, then you will not only be worthy to feast with the gods, but to rule with them also. For, by thus doing, Diogenes and Heraclitus, and others like them, deservedly became divine, and were so recognized.

Enchiridion, passage 10

That there was a rebirth of Stoicism in the centuries of rebirth which marked the emergence of the modern age was not mere chance. Philosophical, moral, and social conditions of the time united to cause it. Roman Stoicism had been developed in times of despotism as a philosophy of lonely and courageous souls who had recognized the redeeming power of philosophical reason in all the moral and social purposes of life. Philosophy as a way of life makes men free.

Enchiridion, passage 68

Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of things. Thus death is nothing terrible, else it would have appeared so to Socrates. But the terror consists in our notion of death, that it is terrible. When, therefore, we are hindered or disturbed, or grieved, let us never impute it to others, but to ourselves—that is, to our own views. It is the action of an uninstructed person to reproach others for his own misfortunes; of one entering upon instruction, to reproach himself; and one perfectly instructed, to reproach neither others nor himself.

Enchiridion, passage 104

Consider first, man, what the matter is, and what your own nature is able to bear. If you would be a wrestler, consider your shoulders, your back, your thighs; for different persons are made for different things. Do you think that you can act as you do and be a philosopher, that you can eat, drink, be angry, be discontented, as you are now?

Enchiridion, passage 2

With an Introduction by ALBERT SALOMON _Professor of Sociology New School for Social Research_

Enchiridion, passage 6

The text of the second edition is a reprint of the first edition except for a few minor corrections in style, punctuation, and spelling, which have been revised to conform to current American usage.

Enchiridion, passage 136

Women from fourteen years old are flattered by men with the title of mistresses. Therefore, perceiving that they are regarded only as qualified to give men pleasure, they begin to adorn themselves, and in that to place all their hopes. It is worth while, therefore, to try that they may perceive themselves honored only so far as they appear beautiful in their demeanor and modestly virtuous.

Enchiridion, passage 131

When you do anything from a clear judgment that it ought to be done, never shrink from being seen to do it, even though the world should misunderstand it; for if you are not acting rightly, shun the action itself; if you are, why fear those who wrongly censure you?

Enchiridion, passage 88

Let not such considerations as these distress you: “I shall live in discredit and be nobody anywhere.” For if discredit be an evil, you can no more be involved in evil through another than in baseness. Is it any business of yours, then, to get power or to be admitted to an entertainment? By no means. How then, after all, is this discredit?

Enchiridion, passage 58

Wenley, R. M., _Stoicism and Its Influence_. New York, 1927.

Enchiridion, passage 97

The will of nature may be learned from things upon which we are all agreed. As when our neighbor’s boy has broken a cup, or the like, we are ready at once to say, “These are casualties that will happen”; be assured, then, that when your own cup is likewise broken, you ought to be affected just as when another’s cup was broken. Now apply this to greater things. Is the child or wife of another dead? There is no one who would not say, “This is an accident of mortality.” But if anyone’s own child happens to die, it is immediately, “Alas! how wretched am I!” It should be always remembered how we are affected on hearing the same thing concerning others.

Enchiridion, passage 181

Tr. F. O. Copley. (LLA 95) .45 ——: _The Woman of Andros_. Tr. F. O. Copley. (LLA 18) .45 *Tolstoy: _What Is Art?_ Tr. A. Maude. (LLA 51) .90 Whitman: _Democratic Vistas_. (LLA 9) .50

Enchiridion, passage 75

If you would improve, lay aside such reasonings as these: “If I neglect my affairs, I shall not have a maintenance; if I do not punish my servant, he will be good for nothing.” For it were better to die of hunger, exempt from grief and fear, than to live in affluence with perturbation; and it is better that your servant should be bad than you unhappy.

Enchiridion, passage 117

Attend, therefore, to the greater diviner, the Pythian God, who once cast out of the temple him who neglected to save his friend.[5]

Enchiridion, passage 92

And were you to supply it with another faithful and honorable citizen, would not he be of use to it? Yes. Therefore neither are you yourself useless to it. “What place, then,” say you, “shall I hold in the state?” Whatever you can hold with the preservation of your fidelity and honor. But if, by desiring to be useful to that, you lose these, how can you serve your country when you have become faithless and shameless?

Enchiridion, passage 19

Among the students was a young Roman, Flavius Arrian, who took courses at Nicopolis when Epictetus was already old. Flavius, who was born in 108 A.D., was one of the intimates of Hadrian, who made him consul in 130 A.D. He probably studied with Epictetus between the years 123 and 126 A.D. The informal philosophical talks which Epictetus had with his students fascinated him. Needless to say there were also systematic courses in the fields of philosophy.

Enchiridion, passage 71

Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well.

Enchiridion, passage 62

Seek at once, therefore, to be able to say to every unpleasing semblance, “You are but a semblance and by no means the real thing.” And then examine it by those rules which you have; and first and chiefly by this: whether it concerns the things which are within our own power or those which are not; and if it concerns anything beyond our power, be prepared to say that it is nothing to you.

Enchiridion, passage 135

The body is to everyone the proper measure of its possessions, as the foot is of the shoe. If, therefore, you stop at this, you will keep the measure; but if you move beyond it, you must necessarily be carried forward, as down a precipice; as in the case of a shoe, if you go beyond its fitness to the foot, it comes first to be gilded, then purple, and then studded with jewels. For to that which once exceeds the fit measure there is no bound.

Enchiridion, passage 73

Upon every accident, remember to turn toward yourself and inquire what faculty you have for its use. If you encounter a handsome person, you will find continence the faculty needed; if pain, then fortitude; if reviling, then patience. And when thus habituated, the phenomena of existence will not overwhelm you.

Enchiridion, passage 3

First Edition, _October, 1948_ Reprinted _December, 1950_; _August, 1954_ Second Edition, _November, 1955_

Enchiridion, passage 149

When anyone shows himself vain on being able to understand and interpret the works of Chrysippus,[7] say to yourself: “Unless Chrysippus had written obscurely, this person would have had nothing to be vain of. But what do I desire? To understand nature, and follow her. I ask, then, who interprets her; and hearing that Chrysippus does, I have recourse to him. I do not understand his writings. I seek, therefore, one to interpret _them_.” So far there is nothing to value myself upon.

Enchiridion, passage 87

If you ever happen to turn your attention to externals, for the pleasure of anyone, be assured that you have ruined your scheme of life. Be content, then, in everything, with being a philosopher; and if you wish to seem so likewise to anyone, appear so to yourself, and it will suffice you.

Enchiridion, passage 65

Where it is practically necessary for you to pursue or avoid anything, do even this with discretion and gentleness and moderation.

Enchiridion, passage 41

Hartmann, K., “Arrian und Epiktet,” _Neue Jahrbücher für das klassische Altertum_, Vol. XV, 1905.

Enchiridion, passage 82

When a raven happens to croak unluckily, be not overcome by appearances, but discriminate and say, “Nothing is portended to _me_, either to my paltry body, or property, or reputation, or children, or wife. But to _me_ all portents are lucky if I will. For whatsoever happens, it belongs to me to derive advantage therefrom.”

Enchiridion, passage 56

Rand, B., _The Life, Letters, etc. of Anthony, Earl of Shaftesbury_. London, 1900.

Enchiridion, passage 112

But it also becomes incumbent on everyone to offer libations and sacrifices and first fruits, according to the customs of his country, purely, and not heedlessly nor negligently; not avariciously, nor yet extravagantly.