STOIC PHILOSOPHY

Epictetus: Selected Works.

Epictetus

Epictetus was an eminent Stoic philosopher, born as a slave at Hieropolis in Phyrgia in 55 CE. In Rome he was for some time a slave to Epaphroditus, one of Nero’s body-guards. Origen tells about the cruelty of Epaphroditus. Epictetus, when his master was twisting his leg one day, smiled and quietly said, "You will break it"; and when he did break it, only observed, "Did I not tell you that you would do so?" At some point Epictetus gained his freedom and was forced to leave Rome because of an edict against philosophers in 89 CE.

Epictetus led a life of exemplary contentment, simplicity, and virtue, practicing the morality which he taught. He lived in a small hut for a long while, with no other furniture than a bed and a lamp, and without an attendant. He benevolently adopted a child whom a friend had been compelled by poverty to give up; he also hired a nurse to look after the child. Epictetus was the most dominant teacher of Stoicism during the period of the Roman Empire. His lessons were principally, if not solely, directed to practical morality. His favorite maxim, and that into which he resolved all practical morality, was "bear and forbear," (anexou kai apexou). He appears to have differed from the Stoics on the subject of suicide, which he condemned. We are told by Arrian, in his Preface to the Discourses, that he was a powerful and inspiring lecturer; and, according to Origen (c. Cels. 7,ad. init.), his style was superior to that of Plato. It is a proof of the estimation in which Epictetus was held, that on his death, his lamp was purchased by an admirer for 3000 drachmas (several thousand dollars by today's standards). Though it is said by Suidas that Epictetus wrote much, there is good reason to believe that he himself wrote nothing. His Discourses were taken down by his pupil Arrian, and published after his death in eight books, of which four remain. Arrian also compiled the Euchiridion or "manual," an abstract of the teaching of his master, and wrote a life of Epictetus, which is lost. Some fragments have been preserved, however, by Stobaeus. Simplicius has also left an eclectic commentary on his doctrine.

From: The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy