Discourses and Selected Writings (Penguin Classics)

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He suggests that you aim not to suffer at all, to accept what is outside your control and be happy about the little that is within it. His animated discussions were celebrated for their rhetorical wizardry and were written down by Arrian, his most famous pupil. The morality of Greek philosophers was the antithesis of our modern one: they believed we should eschew all material desires, not because of some dictate of the heavens, but because they can never be satisfied and come to tyrannise us rather than make us happy.

Epictetus, a Greek Stoic and freed slave, ran a thriving philosophy school in Nicopolis in the early second century AD. As a matter of fact, Epictetus brilliantly remarks, a true Epicurean should teach his students Stoicism, since then he can, being a closet-Epicurean, have all the fun for himself. In addition to personal ethical endeavour, Epictetus talks of humans (just men, inevitably) as citizens, going to so far as to lecture on how antisocial it is not to keep yourself clean. Each of these roles requires certain standards of behaviour; Epictetus is arguing for civic virtue as well as personal disregard of material possessions and other worldly benefits. Faithful to the teachings of stoicism since Zeno of Citium, Epictetus places a huge emphasis on the free will of the individual, and the correct use of impressions.Like Epicurus, Epictetus believed that you had to implement your own philosophy so for his followers it became a quasi-religion. He knows that deep down you still envy your ex-classmates who had better jobs, better cars, your good looking colleagues, the seemingly perfect life of your superiors, he knows that you still blame fortune for not giving you this opportunity or that, anxious about what others think of you, fearing to fail to meet the social expectations of your group. To simplify, he seems to say that you should live a good life insofar as you can: consider all your behaviour carefully, be content with what you have, accept that all things are fleeting, and quietly set a good example rather than evangelising.

I still agree with a lot of what Epictetus says, but my ironic lapse helped me see that it's not enough to read him, but rather to put these methods into practice and preparation, even when, our lives seem at peace.Indeed, unlike Seneca, who was a fan of Epicurus, Epictetus repeatedly denounces Epicureans without seeming to understand their doctrine. Betraying some apprehension at the dissemination of the heretofore personal trove of notes and recollections from which the Discourses were composed, the Stoic alumnus who would achieve his own fame as the author of antiquity’s most complete biography of Alexander the Great nonetheless acknowledged that the very premises of his philosophy would have precluded Epictetus from concerning himself with how his message was received – even if so many of his hearers found him impossible to forget. We owe our knowledge of the teachings of Epictetus to one of his many devoted students, Arrian, who faithfully compiled the sage’s words into the Discourses and the Enchiridion after his retirement. Also, you perform your social roles like a robot, not considering the emotional attachments of you to others. Individuals, however, are responsible for their own actions which they can examine and control through rigorous self-discipline.

When you try to control the incontrollable, you will only face disappointment, anger, sadness, anxiety, fear and suffering. I think those few key concepts and doctrines can be grasped just fine by having some background knowledge and reading some 150 pages or so of Stoic texts (mostly fragments). Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. It seems that to achieve a certain degree of inner peace one should train himself to practice beliefs and habits which most humans indulge in and find very difficult to adhere to, like detachment from material objects, indifference towards blame or praise, acceptance of one’s lot. There's an argument about convictions and how important it is to maintain one's convictions in the face of adversity, but also an acknowledgement that convictions are only worth maintaining if they are moral and correct and dogged persistence in being wrong is not virtue but vice.

If we take off these masks of fear and pain and suffering, what we can find is our own emancipation. While Stoicism cannot be “mastered,” with continual practice and reflection the Stoic can achieve tranquility and intellectual freedom while coming to see that virtue is the only true good within our complete control.

When Epictetus uses the term “God,” he can mean the gods, Jupiter, and/or a guardian spirit within us. It is not included in promotions available to our main range products, as stated in our terms of service.If Stoicism has sometimes been accused of being resigned to despair, that criticism might have some justification with Epictetus. In this personal, practical guide to the ethics of Stoicism and moral self-improvement, Epictetus tackles questions of freedom and imprisonment, illness and fear, family, friendship and love.