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Epictetus
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The Discourses of Epictetus, an emancipated Graeco-Roman slave, are the most powerful surviving record of an ancient Stoic teacher at work. This book offers a comprehensive analysis of Epictetus’ philosophy as a guide to life, focusing on his dialectical methodology, principal ideas, and long-term influence. It ... shows, for the first time, how strongly he aligned his thought and educational goals with those of the Platonic Socrates. The first part of the book treats Epictetus’ intellectual and cultural context and the conversational style of the Discourses. In the second part, the core of his philosophy is found to consist in four fundamental themes: freedom, judgement, volition, and integrity. The book is also intended to serve as a guide to reading and sampling Epictetus, and it includes numerous excerpts from the Discourses in the author's original translations.
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Epictetus was a Stoic, but of the Roman school. Zeno's principle--to live conformably to Nature--was too vague. But the solid social order which the Roman Commonwealth and Empire had established gave those words a new meaning. Above and beyond the narrow patriotism of the Greek State, or even of Greek culture, Roman conquest and law had enabled men to see that there was a citizenship of the world; and that this was a part of the order of Nature to which men should conform, if they were to be truly free. This thought is very prominent in the teachings of Epictetus. "Take," he said, "the organs of the body.
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The philosophy of Epictetus, a freed slave in the Roman Empire, has been profoundly influential on Western thought: it offers not only stimulating ideas but practical guidance in living one's life. A. A. Long, a leading scholar of later ancient philosophy, gives the definitive presentation of the thought of Epictetus for a broad readership. Long's fresh and vivid translations of a selection of the best of Epictetus' discourses show that his ideas are as valuable and striking today as they were amost two thousand years ago. The translations are organized thematically within the framework of an authoritative introduction and commentary, which offer a way into this world for those new to it, and illuminating interpretations for those who already know it. Epictetus is known as one of the great Stoic thinkers. But he took the life and conversation of Socrates as his educational model. His Socratic allegiance, scarcely examined before, is a major theme of this ground-breaking book.
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For Epictetus, then, the student of philosophy must not only study the three types of philosophical discourse but ... engage in these three types of philosophical training or exercise in order to translate that theory into actions. Marcus may himself be seen as a student of Epictetus, and so some scholars have suggested that the three topoi form a key to understanding the Meditations. Indeed, the Meditations may be approached as an example of a form of personal writing in which the very act of writing constituted a philosophical exercise designed to digest the three types of philosophical theory. In other words, the Meditations are a text produced by someone engaged in the three topoi outlined by Epictetus. This is hinted at in Med. 9.7 where Marcus exhorts himself to 'wipe out impression (phantasia), check impulse (hormê), and quench desire (orexis)'.
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Epictetus was born a slave in Hierapolis, a small town in Phrygia, Asia Minor (in present-day Turkey). His master was Epaphroditus, a member of Emperor Nero's personal staff in Rome. As was often done at that time, Epaphroditus saw to it that Epictetus had a good education, sending him to study with the Roman Stoic, Rufus. Founded by Zeno of Citium (336-265 B.C.), the Stoic school received its name from the columned "porch" stoa, where Zeno had taught. The Stoics held that human life should be lived in harmony with nature, regardless of what life may bring: a reassuring doctrine for a slave such as Epictetus. But Epictetus did not remain a slave, gaining his freedom sometime after the death of Nero in A.D. 68.
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THE Stoic philosopher Epictetus, born at Hierapolis, in Phrygia, about A.D. 50, was at first a slave at Rome, and on being freed devoted himself to philosophy. He lived and taught at Nicopolis in Epirus from about A.D. 90 to A.D. 138. He left no works, but his utterances were collected in four books of Discourses or Dissertations by his pupil and friend Arrian. In the Encheiridion Epictete--a Handbook to Epictetus complied and condensed from the Discourses--Arrian gives the most authentic account of the philosophy of the Greek and Roman Stoics. The Discourses and Encheiridion of Epictetus have both been drawn upon in the following selections.
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Epictetus