THE
ENCHEIRIDION OF EPICTETUS.[1]
I.α.Of things that exist, some depend upon ourselves,[2] others do not depend upon ourselves. Of things that depend upon ourselves are our opinions and impulses, desires and aversions, and, briefly, all that is of our own doing. Of things that do not depend upon ourselves are the body, possessions, reputation, civil authority, and, briefly, all that is not of our own doing.
β. And the things that depend upon ourselves are in their nature free, not liable to hindrance or
- ↑ In the following translation I have in the main followed Schweighäuser's text, ed. 1798; but I have sometimes adopted another fairly-supported reading which seemed to me to fall in more with the general line of Epictetus' thought. I cannot confidently suppose that there are no blunders in it, but I hope and think that there are few seriously misleading ones.
- ↑ ἐφ' ἡμῖν ἐστίν. The full sense which Epictetus puts into these words cannot be briefly rendered in English.
embarrassment,
