# All the Works of Epictetus, Which Are Now Extant/Book 4/Chapter 1

Layout 1
THE
DISCOURSES
OF
EPICTETUS.
BOOK IV.
CHAPTER I.
Of Freedom.
§. 1.e is free, who lives as he likes; who is not subject either to Compulsion, to Restraint, or to Violence whose Pursuits are unhindered, his Desires successful, his Aversions unincurred. Who then would wish to lead a wrong Course of Life?——"No one."——Who would live deceived, prone to mistake, unjust, dissolute, discontented, dejected?——"No one."——No wicked Man then lives as he likes; therefore neither is he free. And who would live in Sorrow, ​Fear, Envy, Pity; with disappointed Desires, and incurred Aversions?——"No one."——Do we then find any of the Wicked exempt from Sorrow, Fear, disappointed Desires, incurred Aversions?——"Not one."——Consequently then, not free.
§. 2. If a Person who hath been twice Consul should hear this, provided you add, "but you are a wise Man; this is nothing to you;" he will forgive you. But if you tell him the Truth; that, in point of Slavery, he doth not differ from those who have been thrice sold, what must you expect, but to be beaten? "For how, says he, am I a Slave? My Father was free, my Mother free. Besides, I am a Senator too, and the Friend of Cæsar; and have been twice Consul; and have myself many Slaves."——In the first place, most worthy Sir, perhaps your Father too was a Slave of the same kind; and your Mother, and your Grandfather, and all your Ancestors successively. But even if they were ever so free, what is that to you? For what, if they were of a generous, you of a mean Spirit: they, brave; and you, a Coward: they, sober; and you, dissolute?
§. 3. And, "What, says he, is this towards being a Slave?"——Do you think it nothing towards being a Slave, to act against your Will? Compelled, and lamenting?——"Be it so. But who can compel me, but the Master of All, Cæsar?"——By your own Confession then, you have one Master: and let not his being, as you say, Master of All, give you any Comfort; but know, ​that you are a Slave in a great Family. Thus the Nicopolitans too, frequently cry out, "By the Life of Cæsar, we are free!"
§. 4. For the present, however, if you please, we will let Cæsar alone. But tell me this. Have you never been in Love with any one, either of a servile or liberal Condition?——"Why, what is that to the being either a Slave, or free?"——Was you never commanded any thing by your Mistress, that you did not chuse? Have you never flattered your Slave? Have you never kissed her Feet? And yet, if you were commanded to kiss Cæsar's Feet, you would think it an Outrage, and an Excess of Tyranny. Have you never gone out by Night, where you did not chuse? Have you never spent more than you chose? Have not you sometimes uttered your Words with Sighs and Groans? Born to be reviled, and shut out of Doors? But, if you are ashamed to confess your own Follies, see what Thrasonides says, and doth; who, after having fought more Battles perhaps than you, went out by Night, when Geta would not dare to go: Nay, had he been compelled to it by him, would have gone roaring, and lamenting his bitter Servitude. And what doth [this Master of his] say afterwards, "A sorry Girl hath enslaved me, whom no Enemy ever enslaved."——(Wretch! to be the Slave of a Girl, and a sorry Girl too! Why then do you still call yourself free? Why do you boast your military Expeditions?)——Then he calls for a Sword, and is angry with the Person who, out of Kindness, denies it; and sends Presents to her who hates him and begs, and weeps, and then again is elated on every little Success. But how is he elated even then? Is it so, as neither passionately to desire or fear.
​§. 5. Consider, in Animals, what is our Idea of Freedom. Some keep tame Lions, and feed, and even carry them about with them: and who will say, that any such Lion is free? Nay, doth he not live the more slavishly, the more he lives at ease? And who, that had Sense and Reason, would wish to be one of those Lions? Again: How much do Birds, which are taken and kept in a Cage, suffer, by trying to fly away? Nay, some of them starve with Hunger, rather than undergo such a Life: then, as many of them as are saved, it is scarcely, and with Difficulty, and in a pining Condition; and the Moment they find any Hole, out they hop. Such a Desire have they of natural Freedom, and to be at their own Disposal, and unrestrained.——"And what Harm doth this Confinement do you?"——"What say you? I was born to fly where I please, to live in the open Air, to sing when I please. You deprive me of all this, and say, What Harm doth it do you?"
§. 6. Hence we will allow those only to be free, who do not endure Captivity; but, as soon as they are taken, die, and escape. Thus Diogenes somewhere says, That the only way to Freedom is to die with Ease. And he writes to the Persian King; "You can no more enslave the Athenians, than you can Fish."——"How? What, shall not I take them?"——"If you do take them, says he, they will leave you, and be gone, like Fish. For take a Fish, and it dies. And, if the Athenians too die, as soon as you have taken them, of what Use are your warlike Preparations?"——This is the Voice of a free Man, who had examined the Matter in earnest; and, as it might be expected, found it out. But, if you seek it where it is not, what Wonder, if you never find it?
§. 7. A Slave wishes to be immediately set free. Think you it is because he is desirous to pay his ​Fine to the Officer? No: but because he fancies, that, for want of acquiring his Freedom, he hath hitherto lived under Restraint, and unprosperously. "If I am once set free, says he, it is all Prosperity: I care for no one; I speak to All, as their Equal, and on a Level with them. I go where I will, I come when, and how I will." He is at last made free; and presently, having nowhere to eat, he seeks whom he may flatter, with whom he may sup. He then either submits to the basest and most infamous Prostitution; and, if he can obtain Admission to some great Man's Table, falls into a Slavery much worse than the former; or, if the Creature, void of Sense and right Taste, happens to acquire an affluent Fortune, he doats upon some Girl, laments, and is unhappy, and wishes for Slavery again. "For what Harm did it do me? Another clothed me, another shod me, another fed me, another took care of me when I was sick. It was but in a few Things, by way of Return, I used to serve him. But now, miserable Wretch! what do I suffer, in being a Slave to many, instead of one! Yet, if I can obtain the Equestrian Rings, I shall live with the utmost Prosperity and Happiness." In order to obtain them, he first suffers what he deserves; and, as soon as he hath obtained them, it is all the same again. "But then, says he, if I do but get a military Command, I shall be delivered from all my Troubles." He gets a military Command. He suffers as much as the vilest Rogue of a Slave: and, nevertheless, he asks for a second Command, and a third: and when he hath put the finishing Hand, and is made a Senator, then he is a Slave indeed. ​When he comes into the Assembly, it is then that he undergoes his finest and most splendid Slavery.
§. 8.———. Not to be a Fool; but to learn what Socrates taught; the Nature of Things: and not to adapt Pre-conceptions rashly to particular Subjects. For the Cause of all human Evils is, the not being able to adapt general Pre-conceptions to particular Cases. But different People have different Opinions. One thinks the Cause of his Evils to be, that he is sick. By no means: but that he doth not adapt his Pre-conceptions right. Another, that he is poor: another, that he hath a harsh Father and Mother: another, that he is not in the good Graces of Cæsar. This is nothing else, but not understanding how to adapt our Pre-conceptions. For, who hath not a Pre-conception of Evil, that it is hurtful? That it is to be avoided? That it is by all means to be prudently guarded against? One Pre-conception doth not contradict another, except when it comes to be adapted. What then is this Evil, thus hurtful, and to be avoided? "Not to be the Friend of Cæsar," saith one. He is gone; he fails in the adapting; he is embarrassed; he seeks what is nothing to the purpose. For, if he gets to be Cæsar's Friend, he is never the less distant from what he sought. For what is it that every Man seeks? To be secure, to be happy, to do what he pleases without Restraint, and without Compulsion. When he becomes the Friend of Cæsar then, doth he cease to be restrained? To be compelled? Is he secure? Is he happy? Whom shall he ask? Whom can we better credit than this very Man, who hath been his Friend? Come forth and tell us, whether you sleep more quietly now, or before you were the Friend of Cæsar? You presently hear him cry, "Leave off, for Heaven's sake, and do not insult me. You know not the Miseries I suffer: there is no Sleep for me; but ​one comes, and saith, that Cæsar is already awake; another, that he is just going out. Then follow Perturbations, then Cares." Well: and when did you use to sup more pleasantly; formerly, or now? Hear what he says about this too. When he is not invited, he is distracted: and if he is, he sups like a Slave with his Master, solicitous all the while, not to say or do any thing foolish. And what think you? Is he afraid of being whipped, like a Slave? How can he hope to escape so well? No: but as becomes so great a Man, Cæsar's Friend, of losing his Head.——And when did you bathe more quietly; when did you perform your Exercises more at your leisure, in short, which Life would you rather wish to live, your present, or the former? I could swear, there is no one so stupid and insensible, as not to deplore his Miseries, in proportion as he is more the Friend of Cæsar.
§. 9. Since then, neither they who are called Kings, nor the Friends of Kings, live as they like; who, after all, are free? Seek, and you will find for you are furnished by Nature with Means for discovering the Truth. But, if you are not able by these alone to find the Consequence, hear them who have sought it. What do they say? Do you think Freedom a Good?——"The greatest."——Can any one then, who attains the greatest Good be unhappy, or unsuccessful in his Affairs?——"No."——As many, therefore, as you see unhappy, lamenting, unprosperous, confidently pronounce them not free.——"I do."——Henceforth then we have done with buying and selling, and such like stated Conditions of becoming Slaves. For, if you have made these Concessions properly, whether a great or a little King, a Consular, or one twice a Consul, be unhappy, he is not free.——"Agreed."
​§. 10. Further then, answer me this: Do you think Freedom to be something great, and noble, and valuable?——"How should I not?"——Is it possible then, that he who acquires any thing so great, and valuable, and noble, should be of an abject Spirit?——"It is not."——Whenever then you see any one subject to another, and flattering him, contrary to his own Opinion, confidently say, that He too is not free: and not only if he doth it for a Supper, but even if it be for a Government; nay, a Consulship: but call those indeed little Slaves, who act thus for the sake of little Things; and the others, as they deserve, great Slaves.——"Be this too agreed."——Well: do you think Freedom to be something independent and self-determined?——"How can it be otherwise?"——Him then, whom it is in the Power of another to restrain or to compell, affirm confidently, to be not free. And do not mind his Grandfathers, or Great Grandfathers; or inquire, whether he hath been bought or sold: but, if you hear him say, from his Heart, and with Emotion, my Master, though twelve Lictors should march before him, call him a Slave. And, if you should hear him say, Wretch, that I am! what do I suffer! call him a Slave. In short, if you see him wailing, complaining, unprosperous, call him a Slave in Purple.——"Suppose then he doth nothing of all this?"——Do not yet say, he is free; but learn whether his Principles are liable to Compulsion, to Restraint, or Disappointment; and, if you find this to be the Case, call him a Slave, keeping Holiday during the Saturnalia. Say, that his Master is abroad: he will come presently; and you will know what he suffers.——"Who will come?"——Whoever hath the Power either of bestowing, or taking away, any ​of the Things, he wishes for.——"Have we so many Masters then?"——We have. For, prior to all such, we have the Things themselves for our Masters; now they are many: and it is through these, that it becomes necessary that such as have the Disposal of them, should be our Masters too. For no one fears Cæsar himself; but Death, Banishment, Loss of Goods, Prison, Disgrace. Nor doth any one love Cæsar, unless he be a Person of great Worth: but we love Riches, the Tribunate, the Prætorship, the Consulship. When we love, and hate, and fear these Things, they who have the Disposal of them must necessarily be our Masters. Hence we even worship them as Gods. For we consider, that whoever hath the Disposal of the greatest Advantages, is a Deity: and then we subjoin falsely, but such a one hath the Power of the greatest Advantages; therefore he is a Deity. For, if we subjoin falsely, the Inference arising from thence must be false likewise.
§. 11. "What is it then that makes a Man free and independent? For neither Riches, nor Consulship, nor Command of Provinces, or Kingdoms, make him so; but something else must be found"——What is it that preserves any one from being hindered and restrained in Writing?——"The Science of Writing"——In Music?——"The Science of Music."——Therefore, in Life too, the Science of Living. As you have heard it in general then, consider it likewise in Particulars. Is it possible for Him to be unrestrained, who desires any of those Things, that are in the Power of others?——"No."——Can he avoid being hindered?——"No."——Therefore neither can he be free. Consider then, whether we have nothing, or all, in our own Power alone, or whether some Things are in our own Power and some in that of others.——"What do you mean?"——When you would have your Body perfect, is it in your own Power, or is it ​not?—"It is not."——When you would be healthy?——"Nor this."——When you would be handsome?——"Nor this."——Live or die?——"Nor this."——Body then is not our own; but subject to every thing stronger than itself.——"Agreed."——Well: is it in your own Power to have an Estate when you please, and as long as you please, and such a one as you please?——"No."——Slaves?——"No."——Clothes?——"No."——A House?——"No"——Horses? "Indeed none of these."——Well: if you would ever so fain have your Children live, or your Wife, or your Brother, or your Friends, is it in your own Power?——"No, nor this."——Will you say then, that there is nothing independent, which is in your own Power alone, and unalienable? See then, if you have any thing of this sort.——"I do not know."——But, consider it thus: Can any one make you assent to a Falshood?"——No one."——In the Topic of Assent then, you are unrestrained and unhindered.——"Agreed:"——Well: and can any one compell you to exert your Pursuits, towards what you do not like?——"He can. For when he threatens me with Death, or Fetters, he compells me to exert them."——If then you were to despise dying, or being fettered, would you any longer regard him?——"No."——Is despising Death then an Action in our Power, or is it not?——"It is."——Is it therefore in your Power also, to exert your Pursuits towards any thing, or is it not?——"Agreed, that it is. But in whose Power is my avoiding any thing?"——This too is in your own.——"What then, if, when I am exerting myself to walk, any one should restrain me?"——What Part of you can he restrain? Can he restrain your Assent?——"No: but my Body."——Ay, as he may a Stone.——"Be it so. But still I walk no more."——And who told you, that Walking was an Action of your own, that cannot be restrained? For I only said, that your exerting yourself towards it ​could not be restrained. But where there is need of Body, and its Assistance, you have already heard, that nothing is in your Power.——"Be this too agreed.'!——And can any one compell you to desire against your Will?——"No one."——Or to propose, or intend, or, in short, not to make use of the Appearances which present themselves to you?——"Nor this. But when I desire any thing, he will restrain me from obtaining what I desire."——If you desire any thing that is your own, and that cannot be restrained, how can He restrain you?——"By no means."——And pray who tells you, that he who desires what depends on another, cannot be restrained?——"May not I desire Health then?"——By no means: nor any thing else that depends on another: for what is not in your own Power, either to procure, or to preserve, when you will, that belongs to another. Keep off not only your Hands from it, but, far prior to these, your Desires. Otherwise you have given yourself up a Slave: you have put your Neck under the Yoke, if you admire any of the Things not your own, but subject and mortal, to which soever of them you are attached.——"Is not my Hand my own?"——It is a Part of you; but it is, by Nature, Clay; liable to Restraint, to Compulsion; a Slave to every thing stronger than itself. And why do I say your Hand? You ought to possess your whole Body as a paultry Ass, with a Pack-saddle on, as long as may be, as long as it is allowed you. But, if there should come a Press, and a Soldier should lay hold on it, let it go. Do not resist, or murmur: otherwise you will be first beat, and lose the Ass after all. And, since you are to consider the Body [itself] in this manner, think what remains to do, concerning those Things which are provided for the Sake of the Body. If that be an ​Ass, the rest are Bridles, Pack-saddles, Shoes, Oats, Hay, for the Ass. Let these go too. Quit them more easily and expeditiously, than the Ass. And when you are thus prepared, and thus exercised, to distinguish what belongs to others from your own; what is liable to Restraint, from what is not; to esteem the one your own Property, the other not; to keep your Desire, to keep your Aversion, carefully turned to this Point; whom have you any longer to fear?——"No one."——For about what should you be afraid? About what is your own, in which consists the Essence of Good and Evil? And who hath any Power over this? Who can take it away? Who can hinder you? No more than God [can be hindered]. But are you afraid for Body, for Possessions, for what belongs to others, for what is nothing to you? And what have you been studying all this while, but to distinguish between your own, and not your own; what is in your Power, and what is not in your Power; what is liable to Restraint, and what is not? And for what Purpose have you applied to the Philosophers? That you might be never the less disappointed and unfortunate? No doubt you will be exempt from Fear and Perturbation! And what is Grief to you? For [nothing but] what we fear, when expected, affects us with Grief, when present. And what will you any longer passionately wish for? For you have a temperate and steady Desire of Things. dependent on Choice, as they are good, and present: and you have no Desire of Things independent on Choice, so as to leave room for that irrational and impetuous, and immoderately hasty Passion.
§. 12. Since then you are thus affected with regard to Things, what Man can any longer be formidable to you? What hath Man formidable to Man, either in Appearance, or Speech, or mutual Intercourse? No more than Horse to Horse, or Dog to Dog, or Bee to Bee. But Things are formidable ​to every one, and when-ever any Person can either confer or take away these from another, He becomes formidable too.——"How then is the Citadel" [the Seat of Tyranny] "to be destroyed?"——Not by Sword or Fire, but by Principle. For if we should demolish that which is in the Town, shall we have demolished also that of a Fever, of pretty Girls, in short, the Citadel within ourselves; and turned out the Tyrants, to whom we are subject upon all Occasions, every Day; sometimes the same, sometimes others? From hence we must begin; from hence demolish the Citadel; turn out the Tyrants: give up Body, its Parts, Riches, Power, Fame, Magistracies, Honours, Children, Brothers, Friends: esteem all these as belonging to others. And, if the Tyrants be turned out from hence, why should I besides demolish the [external] Citadel; at least, on my own account? For what doth it do to me by standing? Why should I turn out the Guards? For in what Point do they affect me? It is against others they direct their Fasces, their Staves, and their Swords. Have I ever been restrained from what I willed; or compelled against my Will? Indeed how is this possible? I have ranged my Pursuits under the Direction of God. Is it His Will, that I should have a Fever? It is my Will too. Is it His Will, that I should pursue any Thing? It is my Will too. Is it His Will that I should desire? It is my Will too. Is it His Will, that I should obtain any Thing? It is mine too. Is it not His Will? It is not mine. Is it his Will, that I should be tortured? Then it is my Will to be tortured. Is it his Will, that I should die? Then it is ​my Will to die. Who can any longer restrain or compell me, contrary to my own Opinion? No more than Jupiter [can be restrained]. It is thus that cautious Travellers act. Doth any one hear, that the Road is beset by Robbers? He doth not set out alone; but waits for the Retinue of an Embassador, or Quæstor, or a Proconsul: and, when he hath joined himself to their Company, goes along in Safety. Thus doth the prudent Man act in the World. There are many Robberies, Tyrants, Storms, Distresses, Losses of Things the most dear. Where is there any Refuge? How can he go along unattacked? What Retinue can he wait for, to go safely through his Journey? To what Company join himself? To some rich Man? To some Consular Senator? And what Good will that do me? He is [often] stript himself; groans and laments. And what if my Fellow-Traveller himself should turn against me, and rob me? What shall I do? I will be the Friend of Cæsar. While I am his Companion, no one will injure me. Yet, before I can become illustrious enough for this, what must I bear and suffer! How often, and by how many, must I be robbed! And then, if I do become the Friend of Cæsar, he too is mortal: and if, by any Accident, he should become my Enemy, where can I best retreat? To a Desart? Well: and doth not a Fever come there? What can be done then? Is it not possible to find a Fellow-Traveller, safe, faithful, brave, incapable of being surprised? A Person, who reasons thus, understands and considers, that, if he joins himself to God, he shall go safely through his Journey.——"How do you mean, join himself?"——That whatever is the Will of God, may be his Will too: whatever is not the Will of God, may not be his.——"How then can this be done?"——Why, how otherwise than by considering the Exertions of God's Power, and his Administration? What hath he given ​me, my own, and independent? What hath he reserved to himself? He hath given me whatever depends upon Choice. The Things in my Power he hath made incapable of Hindrance or Restraint. But how could he make a Body of Clay incapable of Hindrance? Therefore he hath subjected [that, and] Possessions, Furniture, House, Children, Wife, to the Revolution of the Universe. Why then do I fight against God? Why do I will to retain what depends not on Will? What is not granted absolutely; but how? In such a Manner, and for such a Time, as was thought proper. But he who gave, takes away. Why then do I resist? Not to say, that I shall be a Fool in contending with a stronger than myself; what is a prior Consideration, I shall be unjust. For whence had I these Things, when I came into the World? My Father gave them to me. And who gave them to him? And who made the Sun? Who, the Fruits? Who, the Seasons? Who, their Connexion and Relation to each other? And, after you have received all, and even your very Self from another, are you angry with the Giver; and complain, if He takes any thing away from you? Who are you; and for what Purpose did you come? Was it not He who brought you here? Was it not He who showed you the Light? Hath not He given you Assistants? Hath not He given you Senses? Hath not He given you Reason? And as whom did He bring you here? Was it not as a Mortal? Was it not as one to live, with a little Portion of Flesh upon Earth, and to see his Administration; to behold the Spectacle with him, and partake of the Festival for a short Time? After having beheld the Spectacle, and the Solemnity, then, as long as it is permitted you, will you not depart, when He leads ​you out, adoring and thankful for what you have heard and seen?——"No: but I would enjoy the Feast still longer."——So would the Initiated too be longer in their Initiation; so, perhaps, would the Spectators at Olympia see more Combatants. But the Solemnity is over. Go away. Depart, like a grateful and modest Person: make room for others. Others too must be born, as you were; and, when they are born, must have a Place, and Habitations, and Necessaries. But, if the first do not give way, what [Room] is there left? Why are you insatiable? Why are you unconscionable? Why do you crowd the World?——"Ay: but I would have my Wife and Children with me too."——Why, are they your's? Are they not the Giver's? Are they not His who made you also? Will you not quit what belongs to another then? Will you not yield to your Superior?——"Why then did he bring me into the World upon these Conditions?"——Well: if it is not worth your while, depart. He hath no Need of a discontented Spectator. He wants such as may share the Festival; make Part of the Chorus: who may rather extoll, applaud, celebrate the Solemnity: He will not be displeased to see the Wretched and Fearful dismissed from it. For, when they were present, they did not behave as at a Festival, nor fill a proper Place; but lamented, found fault with the Deity, Fortune, their Companions: insensible both of their Advantages, and their Powers, which they ​received for contrary Purposes; the Powers of Magnanimity, Nobleness of Spirit, Fortitude, and the Subject of present Enquiry, Freedom.——"For what Purpose then have I received these Things?"——To use them.——"How long?"——As long as He, who lent them, pleases. If then they are not necessary, do not attach yourself to them, and they will not be so: do not tell yourself, that they are necessary, and they are not.
§. 13. This should be our Study from Morning till Night, beginning from the least and frailest Things, from an earthen Vessel, from a Glass. Afterwards, proceed to a Suit of Clothes, a Dog a Horse, an Estate: from thence to your Self, Body, Parts of the Body, Children, Wife, Brothers. Look every-where around you, and throw them from yourself. Correct your Principles. See that nothing cleave to you, which is not your own; nothing grow to you, that may give you Pain, when it is torn away. And say, when you are daily exercising yourself as you do here, not that you act the Philosopher (admit this to be an insolent Title), but that you are asserting your Freedom. For this is true Freedom. This is the Freedom, that Diogenes gained from Antisthenes; and declared, it was impossible, that he should ever after be a Slave, to any one. Hence, when he was taken Prisoner, how did he treat the Pirates? Did he call any of them Master? (I do not mean the Name, for I am not afraid of a Word, but the Disposition from whence the Word proceeds.) How did he reprove them for feeding their Prisoners ill? How was he sold? Did he seek a Master? No: but a Slave. And when he was sold, how did he converse with his Lord? He immediately disputed with him, that he ought not to be dressed nor shaved in the männer he was; how he ought to bring up his ​Children. And where is the Wonder? For if the same Master had bought an Instructor for his Children, in the Exercises of the Palæstra, would he in those Exercises have treated him as a Servant, or as a Master? And, so if he had bought a Physician or an Architect? In every Subject, the Skilful must necessarily be superior to the Unskilful. What else then can he be but Master, who possesses the universal Knowledge of Life? For who is Master in a Ship? The Pilot. Why? Because whoever disobeys him is a Loser.——"But a Master can put me in Chains."——Can he do it then without being a Loser?——"So I, among others, used to think."——But, because he must be a Loser, for that very Reason it is not in his Power: for no one acts unjustly, without being a Loser.——"And what Loss doth he suffer, who puts his own Slave in Chains?"——What think you? The very putting him in Chains. This you yourself must grant, if you would preserve the Doctrine, that Man is not a wild, but a gentle Animal. For when is it, that a Vine is in a bad Condition?——"When it is in a Condition contrary to its Nature."——When a Cock?——"The same."——Therefore a Man too. What then is his Nature? To bite, and kick, and throw into Prison, and cut off Heads? No: but to do good, to assist, to indulge the Wishes of others. Whether you will, or not then, he is in a bad Condition, when-ever he acts unreasonably.——"And so, was not Socrates in a bad Condition?"——No: but his Judges and Accusers.——"Nor Helvidius, at Rome?"——No: but his Murderer.——"How do you talk?"—— Why, just as you do. You do not call that Cock in a bad Condition, which is victorious, and wounded; but that which is conquered, and ​comes off unhurt. Nor do you call a Dog happy, which neither hunts nor toils; but when you see him sweating, and in pain, and panting, with the Chace. In what do we talk Paradoxes? If we say, that the Evil of every thing consists in what is contrary to its Nature, is this a Paradox? Do not you say it with regard to all other Things? Why therefore, in the Case of Man alone, do you take a different Turn? But farther: it is no Paradox to say, that by Nature Man is gentle, and social, and faithful.——"This is none neither."——How then [is it a Paradox to say,] that, when he is whipped, or imprisoned, or beheaded, he is not hurt? If he suffers nobly, doth not he come off even the better, and a Gainer? But he is the Person hurt, who suffers the most miserable and shameful Evils: who, instead of a Man, becomes a Wolf, or Viper, or a Hornet.
§. 14. Come then: let us recapitulate what hath been granted. The Man who is unrestrained, who hath all Things in his Power as he wills, is free: but he who may be restrained, or compelled, or hindered, or thrown into any Condition against his Will, is a Slave.——"And who is unrestrained?"——He that desires none of those Thing, that belong to others.——"And what are those Things, which belong to others?"——Those which are not in our own Power, either to have, or not to have; or to have them of such a Sort, or in such a State. Body, therefore, belongs to another; its Parts, to another; Possessions, to another. If then you attach yourself to any of these as your own, you will be punished, as he deserves, who desires what belongs to others. This is the Way, that leads to Free​dom; this the only Deliverance from Slavery; to be able at length to say, from the Bottom of one's Soul,
Conduct me, Jove, and thou, O Destiny, Where-ever Your Decrees have fix'd my Lot.
§. 15. But what say you, Philosopher? A Tyrant summons you to speak something unbecoming you. Will you say it, or will you not?——"Stay, let me consider."——Would you consider now? And what did you use to consider, when you were in the Schools? Did not you Study what Things are good, and evil, and what indifferent?——"I did."——Well: and what were the Opinions which pleased us?——"That just and fair Actions were good; unjust and base ones, evil."——Is living a Good?——"No."——Dying, an Evil?——"No."——A Prison?——"No."——And what did a mean and dishonest Speech, the betraying a Friend, or the flattering a Tyrant, appear to us?——"Evils."——Why then are you still considering, and have not already considered, and come to a Resolution? For what Sort of a Consideration is this? Whether I ought, when it is in my Power, to procure myself the greatest Good, instead of procuring myself the greatest Evil. A fine and necessary Consideration, truly, and deserving mighty Deliberation! Why do you trifle with us, Man? There never was any such Point considered: nor, if you really imagined what was fair and honest to be good, what base and dishonest, evil, and all other Things indifferent, would you ever be at such a Stand as this, or near it: but you would presently be able to distinguish, by your Understanding, as you do by your Sight. For do you ever consider, whether black is white: or light, heavy? Do not you follow the plain Evidence of ​your Senses? Why then do you say, that you are now considering, whether Things indifferent are to be avoided, rather than Evils? The Truth is, you have no Principles: for neither doth the one Sort of Things appear to you indifferent, but the greatest Evils; nor the other Evils, but Matters of no Concern to you. For thus you have accustomed yourself from the first. "Where am I? In the School? And is there an Audience? I talk as the Philosophers do. But am I got out from the School? Away with this Stuff, that belongs only to Scholars and Fools. This Man is accused by the Testimony of a Philosopher, his Friend: this Philosopher turns Parasite; that hires himself out for Money; a third doth it in the very Senate. Who doth not wish what appears [to himself to be right]? His Principles exclaim from within."——You are a poor cold Lump of Opinion, consisting of mere Words; on which you hang, as by a Hair. But preserve yourself firm, and make a due Use of the Appearances; remembering, that you are to be exercised in Things. In what manner do you hear, I do not say, that your Child is dead, (for how should you bear that?) but that your Oil is spilled, your Wine drank out? That any one, while you are bawling, might only say this; "Philosopher, you talk otherwise in the Schools. Why do you deceive us? Why, when you are a Worm, do you call yourself a Man?" I should be glad to be near one of these Philosophers, while he is revelling in Debauchery, that I might see how he exerts himself, and what Sayings he utters; whether he remembers his Title, and the Discourses which he hears, or speaks, or reads.
​§. 16. "And what is all this to Freedom?"——Truly nothing else is, but this, whether you rich People will or not.——"And who is your Evidence of this?"——Who, but yourselves? Who have a powerful Master, and live by his Motion and Nod, and faint away, if he doth but look sternly upon you: who pay your Court to old Men, and old Women, and say, "I cannot do this, it is not in my Power." Why is it not in your Power? Did not you just now contradict me, and say, you were free?——"But Aprylla hath forbid me."——Speak the Truth then, Slave, and do not run away from your Masters; nor deny them, nor dare to assert your Freedom, when you have so many Proofs of your Slavery. One might indeed find some Excuse for a Person, compelled by Love to do something contrary to his Opinion, even when at the same time he sees what is best, and yet hath not Resolution enough to follow it; since he is with-held by something violent, and in some measure, divine. But who can bear you, who are in Love with old Men and old Women; and wipe their Noses, and wash them, and bribe them with Presents, and wait upon them when they are sick, like a Slave; at the same time wishing they may die, and enquiring of the Physician, whether their Distemper be yet mortal? And again, when for these great and venerable Magistracies and Honours, you kiss the Hands of the Slaves of others; so that you are the Slave of those who are not free themselves! And then you walk about in State, a Prætor, or a Consul. Do not I know how you came to be Prætor; whence you received the Consulship; who gave it you? For my own Part, I would not even live, if I must live by Felicio's Means, and bear his Pride, and slavish Insolence. For I know what a Slave is, blinded by what he thinks good Fortune.
​§. 17. Are you free yourself then? (It will be said.) By Heaven I wish and pray for it. But I cannot yet face my Masters. I still pay a Regard to my Body, and set a great Value on keeping it whole; though at the same time it is not whole. But I can show you one who was free, that you may no longer seek an Example. Diogenes was free.——"How so?"——Not because he was of free Parents, for he was not; but because he was so himself; because he had cast away all the Handles of Slavery; nor was there any Way of getting at him, nor any-where to lay hold on him, to enslave him. Every thing sat loose upon him, every thing only just hung on. If you took hold on his Possessions, he would rather let them go, than follow you for them: if on his Leg, he let go his Leg: if his Body, he let go his Body: Acquaintance, Friends, Country, just the same. For he knew whence he had them, and from whom, and upon what Conditions he received them. But he would never have forsaken his true Parents the Gods, and his real Country; nor have suffered any one to be more dutiful and obedient to them than he: nor would any one have died more readily for his Country than he. For he never sought when it would be proper for him to act for the sake of any thing else, [except his real Country the Universe;] but he remembered, that every thing that exists is from thence, and carried on by it, and commanded by its Ruler. Accordingly, see what he himself says and writes. "Upon this Account, says he, O Diogenes, it is in your Power to converse as you will with the Persian Monarch, and with Archidamus, King of the Lacedemonians."——Was it because he was born ​of free Parents? Or was it because they were descended from Slaves, that all the Athenians, and all the Lacedemonians, and Corinthians, could not converse with them as they pleased; but feared and paid Court to them? Why then is it in your Power, Diogenes? "Because I do not esteem this sorry Body as my own. Because I want nothing. Because these [Principles,] and nothing else, are a Law to me." These were the Things that suffered him to be free.
§ 18. And that you may not think, that I show you the Example of a Man clear of Incumbrances; without a Wife or Children, or Country or Friends, or Relations, to bend and draw him aside: take Socrates, and consider him, who had a Wife and Children, but not as his own; a Country, Friends, Relations; but only as long as it was proper, and in the manner that was proper; and all these he submitted to the Law, and to the Obedience due to it. Hence, when it was proper to fight, he was the first to go out, and exposed himself to Danger, without the least Reserve. But when he was sent by the Thirty Tyrants to apprehend Leo; because he esteemed it a base Action, he did not deliberate about it; though he knew, that, perhaps, he might die for it. But what did that signify to him? For it was something else that he wanted to preserve, not his paultry Flesh: but his Fidelity, his Honour, free from Attack, or Subjection. And afterwards, when he was to make a Defence for his Life, doth he behave like one who had Children? Or a Wife? ​No: but like a single Man. And how doth he behave, when he was to drink the Poison? When he might have escaped, and Crito persuaded him to get out of Prison, for the Sake of his Children, what doth he say? Doth he esteem it a fortunate Opportunity? How should he? But he considers what is becoming, and neither sees nor regards any thing else. "For I am not desirous, says he, to preserve this pitiful Body; but that [Part of me] which is improved and preserved by Justice, and impaired and destroyed by Injustice." Socrates is not to be basely preserved. He, who refused to vote for what the Athenians commanded: he, who contemned the Thirty Tyrants: he, who held such Discourses on Virtue, and moral Beauty: such a Man is not to be preserved by a base Action; but is preserved by dying, not by running away. For even a good Actor is preserved by leaving off when he ought; not by going on to act beyond his Time. "What then will become of your Children?" "If I had gone away into Thessaly, you would have taken care of them; and will there be no one to take care of them, when I am departed to Hades?" You see how he ridicules, and plays with Death. But, if it had been you or I, we should presently have proved, by philosophical Arguments, that those, who act unjustly, are to be repaid in their own Way; and should have added, "If I escape, I shall be of Use to many; if I die, to none." Nay, if it had been necessary, we should have crept through a Mouse-hole to get away. But how should we have been of Use to any? For where must they have dwelt? If we were useful alive, should we not be of still more Use to Mankind, by dying when we ought, and as we ought? And now the Remembrance of the Death of Socrates is not less, but even more useful to the World, than that of the Things which he did and said when alive.
​§. 19. Study these Points, these Principles, these Discourses; contemplate these Examples, if you would be free, if you desire the Thing in Proportion to its Value. And where is the Wonder, that you should purchase so great a Thing at the Price of others, so many, and so great? Some hang themselves, others break their Necks, and sometimes even whole Cities have been destroyed, for that which is reputed Freedom: and will not you, for the Sake of the true, and secure, and inviolable Freedom, repay God what he hath given, when he demands it? Will you not study, not only as Plato says, to die, but to be tortured, and banished, and scourged; and, in short, to give up all that belongs to others. If not, you will be a Slave among Slaves, though you were ten thousand Times a Consul: and, even though you should rise to the Palace, you will be never the less so. And you will feel, that though Philosophers (as Cleanthes says) do, perhaps, talk contrary to common Opinion, yet not contrary to Reason. For you will find it true in fact, that the Things that are eagerly followed and admired, are of no Use to those, who have gained them: while they who have not yet gained them, imagine, that, if they are acquired, every Good will come along with them: and then, when they are acquired, there is the same Feverishness, the same Agitation, the same Nauseating, and the same Desire of what is absent. For Freedom is not procured by a full Enjoyment of what is desired, but by proving the Desire to be a wrong one. And, in order to know that this is true, take the same Pains about these, which you have taken about other Things. Lie awake to acquire a Set of Principles, that will make you free. Instead of a rich old Man, pay your Court to a Philosopher. Be seen about his Doors. You will not get any Disgrace by being seen there. You will not return empty, or unprofited, if you go as you ought. However, try at least. The Trial is not dishonourable.
* ↑ Whosoever committeth Sin, is the Servant of Sin. John viii. 34
* ↑ They answered him, We be Abraham's Seed, and were never in Bondage to any Man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? John vi 33.
* ↑ Mr. Upton's Copy transposes many Pages of this Chapter to their right Place; which, in others, were joined to the last Chapter of the Third Book.
* ↑ A Character in one of the Comedies of Menander, called The Hated Lover.
* ↑ The Name of a Slave.
* ↑ Wolfius, very rightly, for καλον reads κακον.
* ↑ See p. 99. Note (d).
* ↑ It seems necessary, that οθεν and οπου should be οταν and οπως; and they are so translated.
* ↑ A Gold Ring was the peculiar Ornament of the Roman Knights, by which they were distinguished from the Plebeians. Upton.
* ↑ Something is here wanting in the Original.
* ↑ Αναλγητος for αναληθης. Upton.
* ↑ The Stoics held the wise Man to be the only real King. Upton.
* ↑ The Feast of Saturn, in which the Slaves had a Liberty of sitting at Table with their Masters; in Memory of the Equality of Conditions under his Reign.
* ↑ Beasts of Burthen and Carriages are pressed, for the Use of Armies, when Need requires.
* ↑ Epictetus here personates one desirous of recovering the Liberty of the City, in which he lives. There were Citadels, erected from time to time in Greek Cities, to support Tyrants: and they and the Citadels were destroyed together, whenever it could be done.
* ↑ The Translation here is agreeable to Mr. Upton's Copy.
* ↑ See B. I. c. 1. §. 3.
* ↑ The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Job i. 21.
* ↑ And is this all the Comfort, every serious Reader will be apt to say, which one of the best Philosophers, in one of his noblest Discourses, can give to the good Man under severe Distress? "Either tell yourself, that present Suffering, void of future Hope, is no Evil; or give up your Existence, and mingle with the Elements of the Universe!" Unspeakably more rational, and more worthy of infinite Goodness, is our blessed Master's Exhortation to the persecuted Christian: "Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your Reward in Heaven."
* ↑ Mr. Upton's Conjecture.
* ↑ See p. 137. Note (c).
* ↑ The Translation here follows a different Pointing from Μr. Upton, Πως λεγεις; ως και συ Αλεκτρυονα, &c.
* ↑ This Answer implies a silent Concession, that it is no Paradox to affirm, the Evil of every thing to consist, in what is contrary to its Nature.
* ↑ The Translation here follows Mr. Upton's Conjecture.
* ↑ There is much Obscurity, and some Variety of Reading, in several Lines of the Original, in this Place; and I am not certain, whether the Translation hath given the true Sense; but it is the best I could make of it.
* ↑ Probably some rich old Woman, from whom the Speaker had Expectations.
* ↑ Epictetus here alludes to his own Lameness. See p. 28 and 50.
* ↑ This Passage hath great Difficulties in the Original. I have given it what appeared to me the best Sense. But I am still doubtful.
* ↑ Socrates, with Four other Persons, was commanded by the Thirty Tyrants of Athens to fetch Leo from the Isle of Salamis, in order to be put to Death. His Companions executed their Commission; but Socrates remained at home, and chose rather to expose his Life to the Fury of the Tyrants, than be accessary to the Death of an innocent Person. He would most probably have fallen a Sacrifice to their Vengeance, if the Oligarchy had not shortly after been dissolved. See Plato's Apology.
* ↑ Mr. Upton's Copy.