# Epictetus his Morals, with Simplicius his Comment/Chapters 6-7

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CHAP.VI.
CHAP.VII.
COMMENT.
This now follows in a direct Method, from what went before, and is, as it were, a Demonstration of the Truth of the last Chapter: where we were told, that our Apprensions and Ideas of Things desirable must be regulated by that necessary Distinction of What is, and what is not within our own Power. The Observation of this Rule would be Sure to make us successful and happy, and the Neglect of it unfortunate and wretched. To this purpose, his first business is, to explain, What sort of Persons we use to esteem lucky or unlucky; and he tells us, that the End our Aversions propose to themselves, is, not to fall into the Mischief we endeavour to decline; so that in this case, the missing our Object is fortunate; as on the contrary, it is unfortunate, in cases of Desire, when we do not get our Object. And the Misfortune opposite to good Success is, when the Thing we would avoid does happen to us; for here we get our Object indeed, but then this getting is to our Prejudice, and what we might much better have been without.
When he hath set these Matters in a true Light, then he proceeds thus. If you take care to make those Things only, the Objects of your Aversions, which are contrary to Nature, and within the compass of your own choice, as Intemperance for Example, and Injustice, and the like; you can never be overtaken by any Thing you fear, because in these Matters you may be sure to escape if you please; and consequently, you are sure never to be unfortunate. But if, instead of these you pitch upon Sickness, or Poverty, or any of those Things that are out of your own Disposal; you must needs fall into calamitous Circumstances sometimes, because it cannot depend upon yourself, whether you shall be delivered from these or not. So again for Desire, That Man cannot secure himself against frequent Disappointments, who fixes upon Objects out of his own Power. But if our Desires and our Aversions be confined to Matters within our own Power and Choice; then it will not be possible for us to be baulked in our Hopes, or overtaken by our Fears, but Happiness and Success will attend us continually.
The Substance and Connexion of all which, in short, lies here. He that extends his Desires and his Aversions, to Things out of the Disposal of his own Will, very frequently ​misses his Aim, falls short in his Hopes, and is overtaken by his Fears; And he must needs do so, because these Things depend not on himself, but upon others. Now such a one is confessed to be an unsuccessful and unfortunate Person, and therefore wretched and miserable.
But it is worth our notice, how Epictetus imitates Socrates's way of Arguing upon this Occasion, and accommodates himself to his Hearers, so as, by descending to Their Notions, to raise them up higher to something better and more perfect. For, that Happiness consists in obtaining Mens Wishes and Desires, and in escaping the Mischiefs and Dangers they fear, is the general Notion Men have of it; and thus far Men of all Persuasions, and the most distant Tempers and Conversations, agree. But then herein they differ, that they do not employ their Desires and Aversions alike. For the Wise and Virtuous pursue such Objects only, as are really profitable and good, and avoid only the truly mischievous and substantial Evils; and this they do, by the free Guidance of their Reason, and the due Government of their Passions; for the brutish Appetites in Them are so subdued, so disciplin'd by Acts of Obedience to the Judgment, that they do not so much as think any thing pleasant but what Reason hath approved, and found to be so. But the Generality of Mankind, partly for want of duly improving their Judgments, and partly from their brutish Affections being kept in perpetual Commotion and Disorder, distinguish the Objects of their Desire, by no other Mark than Pleasure; without examining, whether this Pleasure be such as makes for their true Advantage, or not: And these Men often hit upon very impure and unsincere Pleasures; such as carry a Mixture and Allay of Pain along with them. For, in truth, they are not really and properly Pleasures, but only the empty Shadows and false Resemblances of Pleasure. Yet still, as was said before, all Mankind are agreed in the general, that Prosperity and Success consist in obtaining the good Things we wish, and keeping off the Evils we fear. So that even the Sensual and most Vicious Men may convince themselves from this Discourse, that the true way never to be disappointed in their Desires, or overtaken by their Fears, is, to agree, that those Things which are within our Power, are the only good and proper Objects of Desire; and that the Evils in our own Power are the only noxious and destructive, and proper Objects of Fear and Hatred. Since it is plain, that they, who fix upon Things without their Power, must needs fall ​short very frequently of their Hopes, and lose what they desire, and endure what they fear: And this is what even Vicious Persons acknowledge to be a great Misfortune.
Let then, says he, your Aversions be taken off from all Things out of your own Power, and transferred to such Things as are contrary to Nature, within your Power. For if you place them upon Sickness, or Poverty, or the like, you must unavoidably be unfortunate, because these are Things not in your Power to escape. For, though we can contribute considerably towards the avoiding of them, yet the Thing is not wholly and absolutely in ourselves; but it will depend upon Sundry other Circumstances and Accidents, whether our Endeavours shall succeed, or not. But, if we would follow his Advice, take off our Fears from these Things, and put them upon those within our own Choice, which are prejudicial and against Nature: If, for Instance, we would make it our Care to avoid Erroneous Opinions, and false Apprehensions of Things, and whatever else can be any Obstruction to a good Conversation, and such a Life, as Reason and Nature have made suitable to our Character; we should never be oppressed with any of the Calamities we fear, because it is in our own Power absolutely to avoid these Things. For nothing more than our own Aversions and Resolutions is requisite to the doing this effectually.
All here is sufficiently plain, and needs no Enlargement; but that which follows hath something of difficulty in it. For what can be his meaning in that Advice, that All Desire should for the present be wholly laid aside? There is a manifest Reason, why we should discharge all those Desires, that concern Things without our Power; because this evidently makes for our Advantage, both in regard of the Disappointments and perpetual Uneasinesses, which this Course delivers us from; and also in Consideration of the Things themselves, which, though we should suppose no such Troubles and Disappointments attending them, are yet not capable of bringing us any real Advantage, nor that, which is the proper Happiness of a Man.
But what shall we say to his forbidding the Desire, even of those good Things, which come within the Disposal of our own Wills? The Reason he gives is this, Because you are not yet come to this. But if you were come to it, there would then be no farther Occasion for Desire; for this is no other than a Motion of the Mind desiring, by which it reaches forward to what it is not yet come to. And this seems to ​cut off all Desire in general: For how is it possible to obtain any Good, without first desiring it? Especially, if (as hath been formerly shewn) the Good and Happiness of a Man consist, not so much in Actions, and the effecting what he would, as in the entertaining such Desires and Aversions, as are agreeable to Nature and Reason; what Ground can there be for suspending all our Desires, and utterly forbidding us for a while to entertain any at all? Or how can we imagine it possible, for a Man to live void of all Desire? I add, that this looks like a direct Contradiction to what went before, when in the 4th. Chapter he gave this Advice, Since therefore the Advantages you propose to yourself are so exceeding valuable, Remember, that you ought not to content yourself with a cold and moderate pursuit of them. For by that Pursuit he did not understand any Bodily Motion, but the Eagerness of the Soul, by which, in the Act of Desiring, she moves towards, and makes after the Object. And again, How can we suppose any Affections and Propensions without Desire? For the Order of Things infers a Necessity, before there can be any such Affections and Propensions of the Soul.
In Answer to these Objections, it may be replied, that Epictetus here addresses himself to young Beginners in Philosophy; for whom it cannot be safe to indulge any Desires at all, till they be first competently informed, what are the Objects which they ought to fix upon. And so that these Affections and Propensions of the Soul are to be understood, only of those first Motions to or from its Objects, which, the Stoicks contend, are always antecedent to Desire and Aversion.
Or if he direct his Discourse to Men already instructed; then we must not interpret the Words as they seem to sound nor may we suppose, that he intends to cut off all Desire of the good Things in our Power, absolutely speaking; but only to restrain the Vehemence and Eagerness of that Aversion and Desire, which in a moderate Degree he is content to allow. For you see, that he advises in the very same Place, to make use of our Propensions and Affections of the Soul gently, cooly, and cautiously. For we must necessarily move, towards the Object of our Desires, and from that which is our Aversion; but our Desires and Aversions are antecedent to such Motions to and from the Object, and do produce them, as Causes do their proper Effects.
​Again, When he advised before, that Men would not content themselves with a cold and moderate pursuit of such valuable Advantages, it was no part of his Intention, to recommend an eager and violent Desire; but rather, that we should be fixed and resolved in this prosecution, as to satisfie ourselves in doing what he adds himself immediately after, the abandoning some Enjoyments for all together, and the suspending of others for some convenient time.
Now a vehement Degree in any of these things, either the Propensities of the Mind, or the Desires and Aversions of it, is with great reason condemned; because of the ill Consequences it is apt to have, when Men shoot beyond the Mark thro' an Excess of Desire, and attempt things above their Strength. For this usually tends to the weakening of the Soul, as much as overstraining injures the Body. And this is an Inconvenience, which many have found experimentally from the immoderate Violence and heat of Action, which Men fond of Exercise, and eager in it, are most unseasonably guilty of. For there are but very few Persons of such a Constitution, either in Body or Mind, as to be able, all on the sudden, to change from a bad State to a sound and good one. Diogenes indeed, and Crates, and Zeno, and such eminent Lights as these, might be so happy; but for the generality of People, their Alterations are gradual and slow; they fall by little and little, and they recover themselves so too; and this is such a Condition, as Nature hath appointed for us, with regard to the Soul, as well as the Body. For gentle Methods are commonly more likely to hold, and a more safe way of proceeding. Theſe keep the Soul from spending sits strength too fast, and put some Checks upon its forwardness; which is the true way, both of preserving, and by degrees, though but slow ones, of confirming and increasing, the vigour of it. This is the true Reason, why we are advised to put a Restraint upon the Affections of the Soul, to move leisurely and gradually, and with much coolness and caution. That is, to slacken the Reins by little and little; and not to let loose our Desires and our Aversions, nor give them their full range immediately. For the Man, who from a dissolute and head-strong course of Life, would bring himself to the contrary Habits of Sobriety and strict Discipline, must not presently leap to the distant Extreme, from Luxury and Excess, to Abstemiousness and Fasting; but he must advance by Steps, and be satisfied at first, with abating somewhat of his former Extravagance. For what the Author of ​the Golden Verses hath observed, is very considerable upon these Occasions.
The Rash use Force, and with soft Pleasures Fight; The Wise retreat, and save themselves by Flight.
Thus it is in Matters of Learning and Knowledge; Young Students must admit the Idea's of things warily, and not take every Appearance of Truth for an uncontestable Axiom; that so, if upon a Second view, there be occasion to alter their Judgments, it may be done with greater Readiness and Ease, when their Minds are not too strongly possess'd with their first Notions.
Once more, Epictetus advises his Scholars to move leisurely and gradually to Objects of both kinds; but now, if so much Caution and Coldness be necessary, why does he allow our Aversions, any more than our Desires? for he bids us take off our Aversions from those Prejudicial things that are not in our power, and bend them against those that are; and yet at the same time he prohibits all manner of Desire, and, for some time, will not permit us to indulge that at all.
One probable account of this may be taken from the Nature and Condition of Men, who are beginning to reform. The first step towards a good Life is to throw off all the Venom and Corruption of a bad one; and till the Breast have discharged itself of this, no Nourishment can be had from any Principles of Virtue infused into it. What the great Hippocrates has moſt excellently observed concerning our Bodies, is much more truly applicable to our Souls: That so long as a Man continues full of gross and noxious Humours, the Nourishment he receives, does not feed Him, so much as his Distemper. For the Vicious Principles, which had taken Possession, corrupt all the Good ones that are put to them. Sometimes they make us disrelish them, as unpleasant; sometimes dread and avoid them, as hurtful and injurious to us; sometimes condemn them as Evil, and reject them as impossible to be complied with. And all this while, the Disease gathers more strength, and grows upon us, by bringing us to a Contempt of better Principles, after a pretence of having tried, and found them defective. Thus at last it becomes Incurable, and will not so much as suffer us to admit of any Arguments or Actions, that might advance us in Virtue, but produces in us a Loathing of all those Remedies, that contribute to our Recovery. Just as in the Jaundice, ​when the Vitiated Palate thinks Honey bitter, a Man nauseates it presently, and will never endure to taste Honey after, in order to the removing that Prejudice. Thus the Aversions are allowed in Young Beginners, because the Method of their Cure requires it; and the first step towards a Reformation, is, by growing into a Dislike of Vice, to put themselves into a Condition of receiving Virtuous Principles and Good Instructions.
This Discourse is also excellently well suited to such Persons, in regard it shews them the right way to Liberty, and Security, and an easie Mind, that so their Lives may be pleasant and sweet to them, which indeed is the very thing all Creatures aim at. Now, though an absolute freedom from Passion, and a Conversation in all points agreeable to the Rules of Decency, and Nature, be the proper Excellency, which we ought to desire and pursue; yet Beginners must satisfie themselves with less; and think they do very well, when they can abate of their Passions, and reduce them within some reasonable bounds, tho' they cannot gain an absolute Mastery over them. They must expect to relapse sometimes, and are not so much to be condemned for falling, as encouraged and commended, when they rise again. Such as these therefore are not yet arrived to the perfection of those things which should be the Object of their Desires: And this I take to be the meaning of that Expression, This is not come to your turn yet; i. e. the imperfect State you are in, hath not qualified you for such Desires: For when we aim at something that exceeds our Capacity, and find we cannot reach it, then Troubles and Disappointments, and a sinking of our Spirits, and sometimes a desponding Mind, follow upon it. Men violently bent upon things above their Strength, slight such as are proportionable to it, and think them vile and despicable; because they judge of them by way of comparison with greater. And yet it is by small beginnings only, that we can ever arrive at great Perfections; and before we can cope with things above us, we must practise upon less, and make ourselves Masters of such as we are a Match for.