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Epictetus - The Enchiridion - 24, 25, 26, 27, 28
Identifier
013350
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
The Enchiridion
24. Don't allow such considerations as these distress you. "I
will live in dishonor, and be nobody anywhere." For, if
dishonor is an evil, you can no more be involved in any evil
by the means of another, than be engaged in anything base. Is
it any business of yours, then, to get power, or to be
admitted to an entertainment? By no means. How, then, after
all, is this a dishonor? And how is it true that you will be
nobody anywhere, when you ought to be somebody in those things
only which are in your own control, in which you may be of the
greatest consequence? "But my friends will be unassisted." --
What do you mean by unassisted? They will not have money from
you, nor will you make them Roman citizens. Who told you,
then, that these are among the things in our own control, and
not the affair of others? And who can give to another the
things which he has not himself? "Well, but get them, then,
that we too may have a share." If I can get them with the
preservation of my own honor and fidelity and greatness of
mind, show me the way and I will get them; but if you require
me to lose my own proper good that you may gain what is not
good, consider how inequitable and foolish you are. Besides,
which would you rather have, a sum of money, or a friend of
fidelity and honor? Rather assist me, then, to gain this
character than require me to do those things by which I may
lose it. Well, but my country, say you, as far as depends on
me, will be unassisted. Here again, what assistance is this
you mean? "It will not have porticoes nor baths of your
providing." And what signifies that? Why, neither does a smith
provide it with shoes, or a shoemaker with arms. It is enough
if everyone fully performs his own proper business. And were
you to supply it with another citizen of honor and fidelity,
would not he be of use to it? Yes. Therefore neither are you
yourself useless to it. "What place, then, say you, will I
hold in the state?" Whatever you can hold with the
preservation of your fidelity and honor. But if, by desiring
to be useful to that, you lose these, of what use can you be
to your country when you are become faithless and void of
shame.
25. Is anyone preferred before you at an entertainment, or in
a compliment, or in being admitted to a consultation? If these
things are good, you ought to be glad that he has gotten them;
and if they are evil, don't be grieved that you have not
gotten them. And remember that you cannot, without using the
same means [which others do] to acquire things not in our own
control, expect to be thought worthy of an equal share of
them. For how can he who does not frequent the door of any
[great] man, does not attend him, does not praise him, have an
equal share with him who does? You are unjust, then, and
insatiable, if you are unwilling to pay the price for which
these things are sold, and would have them for nothing. For
how much is lettuce sold? Fifty cents, for instance. If
another, then, paying fifty cents, takes the lettuce, and you,
not paying it, go without them, don't imagine that he has
gained any advantage over you. For as he has the lettuce, so
you have the fifty cents which you did not give. So, in the
present case, you have not been invited to such a person's
entertainment, because you have not paid him the price for
which a supper is sold. It is sold for praise; it is sold for
attendance. Give him then the value, if it is for your
advantage. But if you would, at the same time, not pay the one
and yet receive the other, you are insatiable, and a
blockhead. Have you nothing, then, instead of the supper? Yes,
indeed, you have: the not praising him, whom you don't like to
praise; the not bearing with his behavior at coming in.
26. The will of nature may be learned from those things in
which we don't distinguish from each other. For example, when
our neighbor's boy breaks a cup, or the like, we are presently
ready to say, "These things will happen." Be assured, then,
that when your own cup likewise is broken, you ought to be
affected just as when another's cup was broken. Apply this in
like manner to greater things. Is the child or wife of another
dead? There is no one who would not say, "This is a human
accident." but if anyone's own child happens to die, it is
presently, "Alas I how wretched am I!" But it should be
remembered how we are affected in hearing the same thing
concerning others.
27. As a mark is not set up for the sake of missing the aim,
so neither does the nature of evil exist in the world.
28. If a person gave your body to any stranger he met on his
way, you would certainly be angry. And do you feel no shame in
handing over your own mind to be confused and mystified by
anyone who happens to verbally attack you?
The source of the experience
EpictetusConcepts, symbols and science items
Symbols
Science Items
Activities and commonsteps
Commonsteps
Avoiding conflictMinding your own business
Questioning and doubting all existing beliefs