# All the Works of Epictetus, Which Are Now Extant/Book 3/Chapter 21

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CHAPTER XXI.
Concerning those who readily set up for Sophists.
§. 1.They who have received bare Propositions, are presently inclined to throw them up, as a sick Stomach doth its Food. First concoct it, and then you will not throw it up; otherwise it will be crude and impure, and unfit for Nourishment. But show us, from what you have digested, some Change in your ruling Faculty; as Wrestlers do in their Shoulders, from their Exercise, and their Diet: as Artificers, in their Skill, from what they have learnt. A Carpenter doth not come and say, "Hear me discourse on the Art of Building:" but he hires a House, and fits it up, and shows himself Master of his Trade. Let it be your Business likewise to do something like this: eat like a Man; drink, dress, marry, have Children, perform the Duty of a Citizen; bear Reproach; bear with an unreasonable Brother; bear with a Father; bear with a Son, a Neighbour, a Companion; as becomes a Man. Show us these Things, that we may see that you have really learnt somewhat, from the Philosophers. No: "But come and hear me repeat Commentaries." Get you gone, and seek somebody else, to throw them ​out upon. Nay, but I will explain the Doctrines of Chrysippus to you, so as no other Person can: I will elucidate his Diction, in the clearest Manner." "And is it for this then, that young Men leave their Country, and their own Parents, that they may come and hear you explain Words? Ought they not to return patient, active, free from Passion, free from Perturbation; furnished with such a Provision for Life, that, setting-out with it, they will be able to bear all Events well, and derive Ornament from them? But how should you impart what you have not? For have you yourself done any Thing else, from the Beginning, but spent your Time in solving Syllogisms, and convertible Propositions, and interrogatory Arguments.——"But such a one hath a School, and why should not I have one?"——Wretch, these Things are not effected, in a careless and fortuitous Manner. But there must be Age, and a Method of Life, and a guiding God. Is it not so? No one quits the Port, or sets Sail, till he hath sacrificed to the Gods, and implored their Assistance: nor do Men sow, without first invoking Ceres. And shall any one who hath undertaken so great a Work, undertake it safely, without the Gods? And shall they, who apply to such a one, apply to him with Success? What are you doing else, Man, but divulging the Mysteries? And you say, "There is a Temple at Eleusis; and here is one too. There is a Priest; and I will make a Priest here: there is a Herald; and I will appoint a Herald too: there is a Torch-bearer; and I will have a ​Torch-bearer: there are Torches; and so shall there be here. The Words said, the Things done, are the same. Where is the Difference betwixt one and the other?" Most impious Man! is there no Difference? Are these Things of Use out of Place, and out of Time? A man should come with Sacrifices and Prayers, previously purified, and his Mind affected with a Sense, that he is approaching to sacred and ancient Rites. Thus the Mysteries become useful: thus we come to have an Idea, that all these Things were appointed by the Ancients, for the Instruction and Correction of Life. But you divulge and publish them, without Regard to Time and Place; without Sacrifices, without Purity: you have not the Garment that is necessary for a Priest, nor the Hair, or the Girdle, that is necessary; nor the Voice, nor the Age: nor have you purified yourself, like him. But, when you have got the Words by Heart, you say, "The Words are sacred of themselves." These Things are to be approached, in another Manner. It is a great, it is a mystical Affair; not given by Chance, or to every one indifferently. Nay, mere Wisdom, perhaps, is not a sufficient Qualification for the Care of Youth There ought to be likewise a certain Readiness and Aptitude for this, and indeed a particular Constitution of Body; and, above all, a Counsel from God to undertake this Office, as he counselled Socrates to undertake the Office of Confutation; Diogenes, that of authoritative Reproof; Zeno, that of dogmatical Instruction. But you set up for a Physician, provided with nothing but Medicines, and without knowing, or having studied, where, or how, they are to be applied. "Why: such a one had Medicines for the Eyes; and I have the same." ​Have you then, a Faculty too of making use of them? Do you, at all, know when, and how, and to whom, they will be of Service? Why then do you act at Hazard? Why are you careless, in Things of the greatest Importance? Why do you attempt a Matter unsuitable to you? Leave it to those who can perform it, and do it Honour. Do not you too bring a Scandal upon Philosophy, by your Means; nor be one of those, who cause the Thing itself to be calumniated. But, if Theorems delight you, sit quiet, and turn them every Way by yourself; but never call yourself a Philosopher; nor suffer another to call you so; but say, "He is mistaken: for my Desires are not different from what they were; nor my Pursuits directed to other Objects; nor my Assent otherwise given; nor have I at all made any Change in the Use of the Appearances, from my former Condition." Think and speak thus of yourself, if you would think as you ought: if not, act at all Hazards, and do as you do; for it becomes you.
* ↑ The Translation follows the Conjecture of Wolfius, ακαθαρτον.There are other Difficulties in the Text, as it now stands. Εξεμεσης, perhaps, should be εξεμεσεις; or, probably, there should be no μη before εξεμησης; and then the Meaning of Epictetus will be, That the Persons whom he is speaking of, ought first to concoct Propositions for their own Use, and then throw them up (i. e. utter them in Discourse), for the Use of others. But the Figure he makes use of is so dirty, that it is not to be enlarged upon, though taken from the Practice of the Greek and Roman Physicians.
* ↑ The Priest who presided over the Eleusinian Mysteries was called Hierophantes; i. e. a Revealer of sacred Things. He was obliged to devote himself to divine Service, and lead a chaste and single Life. He was attended by three Officers; a Torch bearer, a Herald, and One who assisted at the Altar. For a fuller Account of the Eleusinian Mysteries, see Potter's Grecian Antiquities, Vol. I. c. 20.
* ↑ The Girdle is mentioned among the holy Garments of the Levitical Priests. Exod. xxviii. 4. 39, 40, &c.