Epictetus

Epictetus (, ; , ''Epíktētos''; 50 135 AD) was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was born into slavery at Hierapolis, Phrygia (present-day Pamukkale, in western Turkey) and lived in Rome until his banishment, when he went to Nicopolis in northwestern Greece, where he spent the rest of his life.

Epictetus studied Stoic philosophy under Musonius Rufus and after manumission, his formal emancipation from slavery, he began to teach philosophy. Subject to the banishment of all philosophers from Rome by Emperor Domitian toward the end of the first century, Epictetus founded a school of philosophy in Nicopolis. Epictetus taught that philosophy is a way of life and not simply a theoretical discipline. To Epictetus, all external events are beyond our control; he argues that we should accept whatever happens calmly and dispassionately. However, he held that individuals are responsible for their own actions, which they can examine and control through rigorous self-discipline. His teachings were written down and published by his pupil Arrian in his '' Discourses'' and '' Enchiridion''. They influenced many later thinkers, including Marcus Aurelius, Pascal, Diderot, Montesquieu, Rabelais, and Samuel Johnson.

Life

Having described himself as old in 108 AD, Epictetus is presumed to have been born around AD 50, at Hierapolis, Phrygia. The name given by his parents is unknown. The name by which he is known is derived from the word ''epíktētos'' (ἐπίκτητος) that in Greek, simply means "gained" or "acquired"; the Greek philosopher Plato, in his ''Laws'', used that term to mean property that is "added to one's hereditary property". Epictetus spent his youth in Rome as a slave to Epaphroditus, a wealthy freedman who was secretary to Nero. His social position was thus complicated, combining the low status of a slave with the high status of one with a personal connection to Imperial power.

Early in life, Epictetus acquired a passion for philosophy and, with the permission of his wealthy master, he studied Stoic philosophy under Musonius Rufus. Becoming more educated in this way raised his social status. At some point, he became disabled. Celsus, quoted by Origen, wrote that this was because his leg had been deliberately broken by his master. Without citing a cause, Simplicius wrote that Epictetus had been disabled from childhood.Simplicius, ''Commentary on the Enchiridion'', 13.

Epictetus obtained his freedom sometime after the death of Nero in AD 68, and he began to teach philosophy in Rome. Around AD 93, when the Roman emperor Domitian banished all philosophers from the city, Epictetus moved to Nicopolis in Epirus, Greece, where he founded a school of philosophy.

His most famous pupil, Arrian, studied under him as a young man (around AD 108) and claimed to have written his famous '' Discourses'' based on the notes he took about lectures by Epictetus. Arrian argued that his Discourses should be considered comparable to the Socratic literature. Arrian described Epictetus as a powerful speaker who could "induce his listener to feel just what Epictetus wanted him to feel".Epictetus
''Discourses''
prologue. Many eminent figures sought conversations with him. Emperor Hadrian was friendly with him, possibly having heard Epictetus speak at his school in Nicopolis.

Epictetus lived a life of great simplicity, with few possessions. He lived alone for a long time, but in his old age, he adopted the child of a friend who otherwise would have been left to die, and raised him with the aid of a woman. It is unclear whether Epictetus and she were married. He died sometime around AD 135. After his death, according to Lucian, his oil lamp was purchased by an admirer for 3,000 drachmae.

Thought

Epictetus maintains that the foundation of all philosophy is self-knowledge; that is, the conviction of our ignorance and gullibility ought to be the first subject of our study. Logic provides valid reasoning and certainty in judgment, but it is subordinate to practical needs. He also maintained that the first and most necessary part of philosophy concerns the application of doctrine, for example, that people should not lie. The second concerns reasons, e.g., why people should not lie. The third, lastly, examines and establishes the reasons. Heinrich Ritter, Alexander James William Morrison, (1846), ''The History of Ancient Philosophy'', Volume 4, p. 201 This is the logical part, which finds reasons, shows what is a reason, and that a given reason is a correct one. This last part is necessary, but only on account of the second, which again is rendered necessary by the first.

Legacy

No writings by Epictetus are known. His discourses were transcribed and compiled by his pupil Arrian (). The main work is '' The Discourses'', four books of which have been preserved (out of the original eight). Arrian also compiled a popular digest, entitled the '' Enchiridion'', or ''Handbook'', of Epictetus. In a preface to the ''Discourses'' that is addressed to Lucius Gellius, Arrian states that "whatever I heard him say I used to write down, word for word, as best I could, endeavouring to preserve it as a memorial, for my own future use, of his way of thinking and the frankness of his speech".

The philosophy of Epictetus influenced the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 121 to AD 180), who cites Epictetus in his ''Meditations''. Epictetus also appears in a second or third century '' Dialogue Between the Emperor Hadrian and Epictetus the Philosopher''. This short Latin text consists of seventy-three short questions supposedly posed by Hadrian and answered by Epictetus. This dialogue was very popular in the Middle Ages with many translations and adaptations.

Epictetus exhibited an influence on French Enlightenment philosophers, such as Voltaire, Montesquieu, Denis Diderot, and Baron d'Holbach, who all read the ''Enchiridion'' when they were students. Blaise Pascal listed Epictetus as among those philosophers he was most familiar with, describing him as a "great mind" who is "among the philosophers of the world who have best understood the duties" of an individual.

In the sixth century, the Neoplatonist philosopher Simplicius wrote an extant commentary on the ''Enchiridion''.George Long, (1890), ''The Discourses of Epictetus, with the Encheridion and Fragments'', p. 390. George Bell and Sons

See also

* List of slaves

References

Origen's ''Contra Celcus'', Book vii, episode is in chapter LIII, with a secondary mention of the episode in chapter LIV.

Further reading

Primary sources

* ''All the Works of Epictetus, Which Are Now Extant'', Elizabeth Carter (trans.) (1758).
* ''The Complete Works: Handbook, Discourses, and Fragments'', Robin Waterfield (trans.) (2022).
* ''Discourses, Fragments, Handbook'', Robin Hard (trans.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
* ''Discourses and Selected Writings'', Robert Dobbin (trans.), Oxford: Penguin Classics, 2008. .
* ''The Discourses (The Handbook, Fragments)'', Robin Hard (trans.), Christopher Gill (contrib.), Everyman Edition, 2003. .
* ''Epictetus Discourses: Book 1'', Robert Dobbin (trans.), (Clarendon Later Ancient Philosophers), Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998. .
* ''The Handbook'', Nicholas P. White (trans.), Indianapolis: Hackett, 1983. .
* ''Enchiridion'', George Long (trans.), New York: A. L. Burt, 1955 (reprint: New York: Dover, 2004). .
* ''The Discourses,'' trans. W. A. Oldfather. 2 vols. (Loeb Classical Library edition.) Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925 and 1928. .

''Moral Discourses, Enchiridion and Fragments''
(at Open Library), Elizabeth Carter (trans.), W. H. D. Rouse (ed.), London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1910.

Studies

* Scott Aikin and William O. Stephens,
Epictetus's Encheiridion: A New Translation and Guide to Stoic Ethics
', London: Bloomsbury, 2023 .
* Jonathan Barnes, ''Logic and the Imperial Stoa'', Leiden: Brill, 1997 (Chapter Three: ''Epictetuts'', pp. 24–127)..
* Adolf Friedrich Bonhöffer,
The Ethics of the Stoic Epictetus, rev. edn.
', William O. Stephens trans., New York: Peter Lang, 2021 .
* Michel Foucault, ''The Hermeneutics of the Subject: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1981–1982'', New York: Picador, 2005 .
* Pedro P. Fuentes González. art.
Épictète
, in R. Goulet (ed.), ''Dictionnaire des Philosophes Antiques'' III, Paris, CNRS, 2000, pp. 106–151 .
*
*.
* Brian E. Johnson, ''The Role Ethics of Epictetus: Stoicism in Ordinary Life'', Lanham: Lexington Books, 2014 .
* A. A. Long, ''Epictetus: A Stoic and Socratic Guide to Life'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002 .
* Theodore Scaltsas, Andrew S. Mason (ed.), ''The Philosophy of Epictetus''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007 .
* Keith Seddon, ''Epictetus' Handbook and the Tablet of Cebes: Guides to Stoic Living'', Routledge, 2005.
* Werner Sohn, ''Epictetus: Ein erzkonservativer Bildungsroman mit liberalen Eselsohren'' (German version) Norderstedt: BoD, 2010 .
* William O. Stephens,
Stoic Ethics: Epictetus and Happiness as Freedom
', London: Continuum, 2007 .

External links

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at the Internet Classics Archive

Works by Epictetus
at the Stoic Therapy eLibrary

Who Was Epictetus?
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"Dialogue Between Hadrian and Epictetus"
– a fictitious 2nd or 3rd century composition, translated into English in '' The Knickerbocker'' magazine, August 1857

''Commentary on the Enchiridion of Epictetus''
by Simplicius of Cilicia (6th century)

''Stockdale on Stoicism I: The Stoic Warrior's Triad''
() by James Stockdale

''Stockdale on Stoicism II: Master of My Fate''
() by James Stockdale
*
Epicteti dissertationes ab Arriano digestae
', Heinrich Schenkl (ed.), Lipsiae, in aedibus B. G. Teubneri, 1916.

{{Authority control

135 deaths
55 births
1st-century Greek philosophers
1st-century Romans
2nd-century Greek philosophers
2nd-century Romans
Ancient Greek ethicists
Ancient Greek slaves and freedmen
Imperial Roman slaves and freedmen
Roman-era Phrygians
Roman-era Stoic philosophers
People from Pamukkale