# All the Works of Epictetus, Which Are Now Extant/Book 1/Chapter 27

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CHAPTER XXVII.
Of the several Appearances of Things to the Mind: and what Remedies are to be provided for them.
§. 1.Appearances to the Mind are of Four Kinds. Things are either what they appear to be: or they neither are, nor appear to be: or they are, and do not appear to be: or they are not, and yet appear to be. To form a right Judgment in all these Cases, belongs only to the completely Instructed. But whatever presses, to that a Remedy must be applied. If the Sophistries of Pyrrhonism, or the Academy, press us, the Remedy must be applied there: if specious Ap​pearances, by which Things seem to be good which are not so, let us seek for a Comedy there. If it be Custom which presses us, we must endeavour to find a Remedy against that.
What Remedy is to be found against Custom?
A contrary Custom. You hear the Vulgar say, "Such a one, poor Soul! is dead."——Why, his Father died: his Mother died.——"Ay: but he was cut off in the Flower of his Age, and in a foreign Land."——Hear the contrary Ways of Speaking: withdraw yourself from these Expressions. Oppose to one Custom, a contrary Custom; to Sophistry, the Art of Reasoning, and the frequent Use and Exercise of it. Against specious Appearances, we must have clear Pre-conceptions, brightened up, and ready. When Death appears as an Evil, we ought immediately to remember, that Evils may be avoided, but Death is Necessity. For what can I do, or where can I fly from it? Let me suppose myself to be Sarpedon, the Son of Jove, that I may speak in the same gallant Way.
Brave tho' we die, and honour'd if we live; Or let us Glory gain, or Glory give.Pope.
If I can atchieve nothing myself, I will not envy another the Honour of doing some gallant Action. But suppose this to be a Strain too high for us; are not we capable [at least] of arguing thus?——Where shall I fly from Death? Shew me the Place; shew me the People, to whom I may have Recourse, whom Death doth not overtake. Shew me the Charm to avoid it. If there be none, what would you have me do? I cannot escape Death: but cannot I escape the Dread of it? Must I die trembling, and lamenting? For the Origin of the Disease is, wishing for something that is not ob​tained. In consequence of this, if I can bring over Externals to my own Inclination, I do it: if not, I want to tear out the Eyes of whoever hinders me. For it is the Nature of Man, not to bear the being deprived of Good; not to bear the falling into Evil. And so, at last, when I can neither bring over Things [to my own Inclination], nor tear out the Eyes of him who hinders me, I sit down, and groan, and revile him whom I can; Jupiter, and the rest of the Gods. For what are they to me, if they take no care of me?
Oh! but you will be guilty of Impiety.
What then? Can I be in a worse Condition than I am now? In general, remember this, That, unless Piety and Interest be placed in the same Thing, Piety cannot be preserved in any mortal Breast.
§. 2. Do not these Things seem to have Force? Let a Pyrrhonist, or an Academic, come and oppose them. For my part, I am not at Leisure; nor able to stand up as an Advocate for general Consent. Even if Business were concerning an Estate, I should call in another Advocate. With what Advocate, then, am I contented [in the present Case] With any that may be upon the Spot. I may be at a Loss, perhaps, to give a Reason, how Sensation is performed: whether it be diffused universally, or reside in a particular Part: for I find Difficulties that shock me, in each Case: but, that you and I are not the same Person, I very exactly know.
How so?
​Why, I never, when I have a mind to swallow any thing, carry it to your Mouth; but my own. I never, when I wanted to take a Loaf, took a Brush: but went directly to the Loaf, as fit to answer my Purpose. And do you yourselves, who deny all Evidence of the Senses, act any otherwise? Who of you, when he intended to go into a Bath, ever went into a Mill?
What, then, must not we, to the utmost, defend these Points? support the general Consent [of Mankind]? be fortified against every thing that opposes it?
Who denies that? But it must be done by him who hath Abilities; who hath Leisure: but he, who is full of Trembling and Perturbation, and inward Disorders of Heart, must employ his Time about something else.
* ↑ Pyrrho, the Founder of the Sect of the Pyrrhonists, was born at Elis, and flourished about the Time of Alexander. He held, That there is no Difference between Just and Unjust, Good and Evil: that all Things are equally indifferent, uncertain, and undistinguishable: that neither our Senses or Understanding give us either a true or a false Information: therefore, that we ought to give them no Credit; but to remain without Opinion; without Motion; without Inclination; and to say of every thing, that it no more is, than it is not; that it is no more one thing than another; and that against one Reason, there is always an equal Reason to be opposed. His Life is said to have been conformable to his Principles; for that he never avoided any thing: and his Friends were obliged to follow him, to prevent his running under the Wheels of a Coach, or walking down a Precipice. But these Stories, perhaps, are nothing but mere Invention; formed to expose the Absurdities of his System. Once, when he saw his Master Anaxarchus fallen into a Ditch, he passed by him, without offering him any Assistance. Anaxarchus was consistent enough with his Principles, not to suffer Pyrrho to be blamed for this Tranquil Behaviour: which he justified, as a laudable Instance of Indifference, and Want of Affection. A fine Picture this, of sceptical Friendship!For a more complete Account of the System of Pyrrho, see Diog. Laert. in his Life. And Lipsius Manuduct. ad Stoic. Philosoph. B. ii. Dif. 3.
* ↑ The Translation follows Mr. Upton's Reading, το φοβεισθαι.
* ↑ The blasphemous Impatience, here introduced, resembles that which is strongly described, in a few Words, Is. viii. 21.—When they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves; and curse their King, and their God, and look upward.
* ↑ This is spoken in Opposition to the Sceptics, who are alluded to in the Beginning of the Chapter; and who say, that no Argument hath any Force.
* ↑ This seems to be said by one of the Hearers, who wanted to have the Absurdities of the Sceptics confuted, and guarded against, by regular Argument. Epictetus allows this to be right, for such as have Abilities and Leisure: but recommends to others, the more necessary Talk, of curing their own moral Disorders: and insinuates, that the mere common Occurrences of Life are sufficient to overthrow the Notions of the Pyrrhonists.