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

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THE
DISCOURSES
OF
EPICTETUS.
BOOK I.
CHAPTER I.
Of the Things which are, and of those which are not, in our own Power.
§. 1.f other Faculties, you will find no one that contemplates, or consequently approves or disapproves, itself. How far does the contemplative Power of Grammar extend?
As far as the Judging of Language.
Of Music?
As far as Judging of Melody.
Does either of them contemplate itself, then?
​By no means.
Thus, for Instance, when you are to write to your Friend, Grammar will tell you what to write: but whether you are to write to your Friend at all, or no, Grammar will not tell you. Thus Music, with regard to Tunes: but whether it be proper or improper, at any particular Time, to sing or play, Music will not tell you.
What will tell, then?
That which contemplates both itself and all other Things.
And what is that?
The reasoning Faculty: for that alone is found to consider both itself, its Powers, its Value, and likewise all the rest. For what is it else that says Gold is beautiful? (for the Gold itself does not speak) Evidently that Faculty, which judges of the Appearances of Things. What else distinguishes Music, Grammar, the other Faculties, proves their uses, and shows their proper Occasions? Nothing but this.
§. 2. As it was fit then, this most excellent and superior Faculty alone, a right Use of the Appearances of Things, the Gods have placed in our own Power; but all other Matters, not in our Power. Was it because they would not? I rather think, that if they could, they had granted us these too: but they certainly could not. For, placed upon Earth, and confined to such a Body, and to such Companions, how was it possible that, in these Respects, we should not be hindered by Things without us?
§. 3. But what says Jupiter? "O Epictetus, if it were possible, I had made this little Body and Property of thine free, and not liable to Hindrance. But now do not mistake: it is not thy own, but only a finer Mixture of ​Clay. Since, then, I could not give thee this, I have given thee a certain Portion of myself this Faculty of exerting the Powers of Pursuit and Avoidance, of Desire and Aversion; and, in a Word, the Use of the Appearances of Things. Taking Care of this Point, and making what is thy own to consist in this, thou wilt never be restrained, never be hindered; thou wilt not groan, wilt not complain, wilt not flatter any one. How then! Do all these Advantages seem small to thee? Heaven forbid! Let them suffice thee then, and thank the Gods."
§. 4. But now, when it is in our Power to take Care of one Thing, and to apply to one, we chuse rather to take Care of many, and to incumber ourselves with many; Body, Property, Brother, Friend, Child, and Slave; and, by this Multiplicity of Incumbrances, we are burdened and weighed down. Thus, when the Weather doth not happen to be fair for sailing, we sit screwing ourselves, and perpetually looking out.——Which Way is the Wind?——North.——What have we to do with that?——When will the West blow?——When itself, Friend, or Æolus pleases; for Jupiter has not made You Dispenser of the Winds, but Æolus.
§. 5. What then is to be done?
To make the best of what is in our Power, and take the rest as it naturally happens.
And how is that?
As it pleases God.
What, then, must I be the only one to lose my Head?
​Why, would you have all the World, then, lose their Heads for your Consolation? Why are not you willing to stretch out your Neck, like Lateranus, when he was commanded by Nero to be beheaded? For, shrinking a little, after receiving a weak Blow, he stretched it out again. And before this, when Epaphroditus, the Freedman of Nero, interrogated him about the Conspiracy; "If I have a Mind to say any thing, replied he, I will tell it to your Master."
§. 6. What then should we have at hand upon such Occasions? Why what else but——what is mine, and what not mine; what is permitted me, and what not.——I must die: and must I die groaning too?——Be fetter'd. Must it be lamenting too?——Exiled. And what hinders me, then, but that I may go smiling, and chearful, and serene?——"Betray a secret"——I will not betray it; for this is in my own Power.——"Then I will fetter you."——What do you say, Man? Fetter me? You will fetter my Leg; but not Jupiter himself can get the better of my Choice. "I will throw you into Prison: I will behead that paltry Body of yours." Did I ever tell you, that I alone had a Head not liable to be cut off?——These Things ought Philosophers to study; these ought ​they daily to write; and in these to exercise themselves.
§. 7. Thraseas used to say, "I had rather be killed To-day, than banished To-morrow." But how did Rufus answer him? "If you prefer it as a heavier Misfortune, how foolish a Preference! If as a lighter, who has put it in your Power? Why do not you study to be contented with what is allotted you?"
§. 8. Well, and what said Agrippinus, upon this Account? "I will not be a Hindrance to myself." Word was brought him, "Your Cause is trying in the Senate."——"Good Luck attend it.——But it is Eleven o'Clock" (the Hour when he used to exercise before bathing): "Let us go to our Exercise." When it was over, a Messenger tells him, "You are condemned." To Banishment, says he, or Death? "To Banishment."——What of my Estate?——"It is not taken away." Well then, let us go as far as Aricia, and dine there.
§. 9. This it is to have studied what ​ought to be studied; to have rendered our Desires and Aversions incapable of being restrained, or incurred. I must die: if instantly, I will die instantly; if in a short time, I will dine first; and when the Hour comes, then I will die. How? As becomes one who restores what is not his own.
* ↑ See Introduction, §. 7.
* ↑ The Sacred Writers also mention Man as made of Clay, Gen. ii. 7. Job x. 9. xxxiii. 6. Η συ λαβων γην πηλον, επλασας ζωον, xxxviii. 14.
* ↑ One would hope, from the Context, that Epictetus is here speaking only of a moral, not a natural Impossibility; an Impossibility arising merely from the present Constitution of Things. See Introduction, §. 17. See likewise B. II. chap. v. §. 5.
* ↑ See Introduction, §. 5.
* ↑ Plautius Lateranus, a Consul elect, was put to Death by the Command of Nero, for being privy to the Conspiracy of Piso. His Execution was so sudden, that he was not permitted to take Leave of his Wife and Children; but was hurried into a Place appropriated to the Punishment of Slaves, and there killed by the Hand of the Tribune Statius. He suffered in obstinate Silence, and without making any Reproach to Statius, who was concerned in the same Plot for which he himself was punished. Tacitus, L. xv. c. 60.
* ↑ Epaphroditus was the Master of Requests and Freedman of Nero, and the Master of Epictetus. He assisted Nero in killing himself; for which he was condemned to Death by Domitian. Suetonius in vita Neronis, c. 49. Domit. c. 14.
* ↑ See Introduction, §. 9.
* ↑ Thraseas Pætus, a Stoic Philosopher, put to Death by Nero. He was Husband of Arria, so well known by that beautiful Epigram in Martial. The Expression of Tacitus concerning him is remarkable: After the Murder of so many excellent Persons, Nero at last formed a Desire of cutting off Virtue itself, by the Execution of Thraseas Pætus and Bareas Soranus. L. xvi. c. 21.
* ↑ Rufus was a Tuscan of the Equestrian Order, and a Stoic Philosopher. When Vespasian banished the other Philosophers, Rufus was alone excepted. Upton.
* ↑ Agrippinus was banished by Nero, for no other Crime than the unfortunate Death of his Father, who had been causelessly killed by the Command of Tiberius: and this had furnished a Pretence for accusing him of hereditary Disloyalty. Tacitus, L. xvi. c. 28, 29.
* ↑ Aricia, a Town about sixteen Miles from Rome, which lay in his Road to Banishment.
* ↑ This chearful Readiness for Death, whenever appointed by Providence, is noble in a Christian, to whom dying is taking Possession of Happiness. But in Stoics, who seem to form no Hope beyond the Grave, it had surely more Insensibility than true Bravery, and was indeed contrary to Nature.