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Title: The Enchiridion

Author: Epictetus

Translator: Thomas Wentworth Higginson

Release date: March 10, 2014 [eBook #45109]

Most recently updated: February 12, 2023

Language: English

Credits: Stephen Hutcheson, Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ENCHIRIDION ***

The Library of Liberal Arts

OSKAR PIEST, _General Editor_

[NUMBER EIGHT]

EPICTETUS

The Enchiridion

EPICTETUS

Translated by

THOMAS W. HIGGINSON

With an Introduction by

ALBERT SALOMON

_Professor of Sociology

New School for Social Research_

THE LIBERAL ARTS PRESS

NEW YORK

THE LIBERAL ARTS PRESS, INC.

First Edition, _October, 1948_

Reprinted

_December, 1950_; _August, 1954_

Second Edition, _November, 1955_

Published at 153 West 72nd Street, New York 23, N. Y.

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

Note on the Text

Introduction

Selected Bibliography

The Enchiridion

NOTE ON THE TEXT

The text of the second edition is a reprint of the first edition except

for a few minor corrections in style, punctuation, and spelling, which

have been revised to conform to current American usage.

The editorial staff of the publishers has added a few explanatory notes

which are set in brackets and marked “Ed.”

O.P.

INTRODUCTION

The little book by Epictetus called _Enchiridion_ or “manual” has played

a disproportionately large role in the rise of modern attitudes and

modern philosophy. As soon as it had been translated into the vernacular

languages, it became a bestseller among independent intellectuals, among

anti-Christian thinkers, and among philosophers of a subjective cast.

Montaigne had a copy of the _Enchiridion_ among his books. Pascal

violently rejected the megalomaniac pride of the Stoic philosopher.

Frederick the Great carried the book with him on all campaigns. It was a

source of inspiration and encouragement to Anthony, Earl of Shaftesbury,

in the serious illness which ended only in his death; many pages of his

diaries contain passages copied from the _Enchiridion_. It has been

studied and widely quoted by Scottish philosophers like Francis

Hutcheson, Adam Smith, and Adam Ferguson who valued Stoic moral

philosophy for its reconciliation of social dependency and personal

independence.

That there was a rebirth of Stoicism in the centuries of rebirth which

marked the emergence of the modern age was not mere chance.

Philosophical, moral, and social conditions of the time united to cause

it. Roman Stoicism had been developed in times of despotism as a

philosophy of lonely and courageous souls who had recognized the

redeeming power of philosophical reason in all the moral and social

purposes of life. Philosophy as a way of life makes men free. It is the

last ditch stand of liberty in a world of servitude. Many elements in the

new age led to thought which had structural affinity with Roman Stoicism.

Modern times had created the independent thinker, the free intellectual

in a secular civilization. Modern times had destroyed medieval liberties

and had established the new despotism of the absolute state supported by

ecclesiastical authority. Modern philosophies continued the basic trend

in Stoicism in making the subjective consciousness the foundation of

philosophy. The Stoic emphasis on moral problems was also appealing in an

era of rapid transition when all the values which had previously been

taken for granted were questioned and reconsidered.

While it is interesting to observe how varied were the effects produced

by this small volume, this epitome of the Stoic system of moral

philosophy, these effects seem still more remarkable when we consider

that it was not intended to be a philosophical treatise on Stoicism for

students. It was, rather, to be a guide for the advanced student of

Stoicism to show him the best roads toward the goal of becoming a true

philosopher. Thus Epictetus and his _Enchiridion_ have a unique position

in Roman Stoicism. Seneca and Marcus Aurelius had selected Stoic

philosophy as the most adequate system for expressing their existential

problems of independence, solitude, and history. In this enterprise,

Seneca made tremendous strides toward the insights of social psychology

as a by-product of his consciousness of decadence (in this he was close

to Nietzsche), but he was not primarily concerned with the unity of the

Stoic system. Marcus Aurelius changed the philosophical doctrine into the

regimen of the lonesome ruler. In contrast to both, Epictetus was

teaching Stoic philosophy as a doctrine and as a way of life. The

_Enchiridion_ is a summary of theoretical and applied Stoicism.

Epictetus was the son of a woman slave, born between 50 and 60 A.D. at

Hieropolis in Phrygia. We do not know how he came to Rome. He was there

as slave to one of Nero’s distinguished freedmen who served as the

Emperor’s secretary. While still in service, Epictetus took courses with

Musonius Rufus, the fashionable Stoic philosopher, who was impressed by

the sincere and dynamic personality of the young slave and trained him to

be a Stoic philosopher. Epictetus became a free man and began teaching

philosophy on street corners, in the market, but he was not successful.

During the rule of Domitian, Epictetus with many other philosophers was

exiled from Rome, probably between 89 and 92 A.D. He went to Nicopolis,

across Actium in Epirus, where he conducted his own school. He was so

well regarded and highly esteemed that he established the reputation of

the place as the town of Epictetus’ school. Students came from Athens and

Rome to attend his classes. Private citizens came to ask his advice and

guidance. Some of his students returned to their homes to enter the

traditional careers to which they were socially obligated. Others assumed

the philosophic way of life in order to escape into the sphere of Stoic

freedom.

Among the students was a young Roman, Flavius Arrian, who took courses at

Nicopolis when Epictetus was already old. Flavius, who was born in 108

A.D., was one of the intimates of Hadrian, who made him consul in 130

A.D. He probably studied with Epictetus between the years 123 and 126

A.D. The informal philosophical talks which Epictetus had with his

students fascinated him. Needless to say there were also systematic

courses in the fields of philosophy. But it was the informal discourses

which convinced Arrian that he had finally discovered a Stoic Socrates or

a Stoic Diogenes, who was not merely teaching a doctrine, but also living

the truth. Arrian recorded many of the discourses and informal

conversations of Epictetus with his intimate students. He took them down

in shorthand in order not to lose the ineffable liveliness, grace, and

wit of the beloved teacher. Arrian retired into private life after the

death of Hadrian in 138 A.D. and dedicated himself to his literary work.

He published his notes on Epictetus’ teaching under the title:

_Discourses in Four Books_. The _Enchiridion_, which was also arranged by

Arrian, is a brief summary of the basic ideas of Stoic philosophy and an

introduction to the techniques required to transform Stoic philosophy

into a way of life.

Thus we do not have any original writings of Epictetus. Like G. H. Mead

in recent times, he was completely dedicated to the human and

intellectual problems of his students. He left it for them to preserve

what they considered to be the lasting message of the teacher. In

contrast to Seneca and Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus had no subjective

approach to the Stoic doctrines. Moral philosophy was the center of his

teaching, and epistemology was only instrumental. It is even permissible

to say that he took physics or cosmology too lightly. If this is granted,

we must admit that he is completely absorbed by the fundamentals of Stoic

thought as presented in the _Enchiridion_. Epictetus’ personality is

totally integrated in the act of reasoning which establishes conformity

with nature.

A remarkable difference between the _Discourses_ and the _Enchiridion_

should be mentioned. The _Discourses_ are a living image of the teacher

in action; they present the process of philosophizing, not the finished

product. They show the enthusiastic and sober, the realistic and pathetic

moralist in constantly changing perspectives determined by the changing

students with their various concerns, problems, and questions; his

teachings, his formulations, have direct reference to the various life

situations in which the students should apply and practice the master’s

Stoic teaching. No human situation is omitted; as a guide to conduct,

philosophy has relevance for all. Whether the students have to attend a

dinner party, whether they are among competitors in a stadium or in a

swimming pool, whether they have to present themselves at court or in an

office, whether they are in the company of their mothers and sisters or

of girl friends, in all human situations the philosopher knows the

correct advice for the philosophical apprentice. Thus, in the

_Discourses_, Arrian presents the unique individuality of the philosopher

and of his applied moral method in living contact with various students

in concrete situations. Epictetus as teacher anticipates very modern

educational methods in his regard for the structure of situations and the

changing perspectives in human relationships.

Nothing like this is revealed in the _Enchiridion_. Gone is the Stoic

philosopher as living spirit. What remains is the living spirit of

Stoicism. The _Enchiridion_ is a manual for the combat officer. This

analogy should be taken seriously. The Roman Stoics coined the formula:

_Vivere militare!_ (Life is being a soldier.) The student of philosophy

is a private, the advancing Stoic is a non-commissioned officer, and the

philosopher is the combat officer. For this reason all Roman Stoics apply

metaphors and images derived from military life. Apprentice students of

Stoicism are described as messengers, as scouts of God, as

representatives of divine nature. The advancing student who is close to

the goal of being a philosopher has the rank of an officer. He is already

able to establish inner freedom and independence. He understands the

basic Stoic truth of subjective consciousness, which is to distinguish

what is in our power from what is not in our power. Not in our power are

all the elements which constitute our environment, such as wealth,

health, reputation, social prestige, power, the lives of those we love,

and death. In our power are our thinking, our intentions, our desires,

our decisions. These make it possible for us to control ourselves and to

make of ourselves elements and parts of the universe of nature. This

knowledge of ourselves makes us free in a world of dependencies. This

superiority of our powers enables us to live in conformity with nature.

The rational philosophy of control of Self and of adjustment to the Whole

implies an asceticism of the emotional and the sensitive life. The

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