Epictetus

Epictetus a Greek Stoic philosopher (c. AD 50–135) who was born a slave and became one of the most influential teachers of antiquity. He wrote nothing himself; his discourses and manual were recorded by his pupil Arrian. His teaching that we should concern ourselves only with what is within our power shaped later Stoicism and has inspired readers from Marcus Aurelius to the present day.

From Slavery to Teaching

Epictetus was born around AD 50 in Hierapolis in Phrygia, in Asia Minor, and was brought to Rome as a slave. He belonged to Epaphroditus, a freedman and secretary of the emperor Nero, and it was while still a slave that he began to study philosophy under the Stoic Musonius Rufus. He was lame, according to tradition from ill treatment, and he bore the disability without complaint.

He gained his freedom and taught philosophy in Rome until AD 89 or 93, when the emperor Domitian expelled the philosophers from Italy. He then settled at Nicopolis in Epirus, where he founded a school that attracted pupils from across the Greek world. He lived simply, married late in life, and is said to have adopted an orphaned child.

His reputation as a teacher was considerable, and among his hearers was the historian Arrian, who took careful notes of his lectures. It is to Arrian that we owe the Discourses and the Enchiridion, or Manual, which preserve his teaching in something close to his own words. Unlike the writings of Seneca or Marcus Aurelius, these works were never intended for publication by their author.

The Dichotomy of Control

The foundation of Epictetus's teaching is the distinction between what is up to us and what is not. Our judgements, desires, aversions and choices are within our power; our bodies, property, reputation, office and the actions of others are not. Confusion on this point, he held, is the source of all anxiety and frustration, because we try to control what we cannot and neglect what we can.

From this distinction follows the Stoic doctrine that the only true good is virtue and the only true evil is vice. Health, wealth and long life are matters of indifference in themselves, valuable only as materials for the exercise of virtue. The person who understands this is free even in chains, while the person who depends on externals is a slave even on a throne.

Epictetus expressed the point with characteristic force: some things are in our power and others are not. If you confine your effort and attention to the former, you will be invincible; if you reach for the latter, you will be thwarted and miserable. This teaching, simple to state and hard to live, is the core of the manual that has guided readers for nearly two millennia.

Discipline, Freedom and Character

For Epictetus philosophy was a way of life requiring constant practice rather than a body of theory to be learned. He compared the philosopher to an athlete in training, and he insisted that progress is measured not by what one knows but by how one behaves. The school was, in his conception, a hospital for the soul, where students came to be cured of their passions.

He emphasised the three disciplines of desire, action and assent: to desire only what is in accordance with nature, to act for the good of the community, and to withhold assent from false impressions. These disciplines anticipate the threefold structure of later Stoic ethics and give the teaching a practical, systematic form. Their influence can be seen in the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, which are steeped in Epictetus.

His conception of freedom was inward and uncompromising. The free person, he taught, is the one who lives as he wishes, which is possible only when he wishes for what actually lies in his power. External freedom, by contrast, is a matter of circumstance and can be taken away at any time. This idea gave Stoicism its enduring appeal to the enslaved, the exiled and the powerless.

The Teacher and His Methods

Epictetus taught by dialogue, question and vivid example, and his style, as recorded by Arrian, is blunt, humorous and often sharp. He used everyday images and anecdotes, mocked the pretensions of the would-be philosopher, and repeatedly turned the discussion back from theory to the conduct of the pupil. His manner was that of a mentor admonishing a friend rather than a lecturer delivering a system.

He was fond of invoking Socrates as a model, both for his method of question and for his fearless obedience to his own reason. He also drew on the Cynic tradition, praising Diogenes for his freedom from convention and his courage. The combination of Stoic theory with Cynic austerity gave his teaching a bracing, uncompromising tone that distinguishes it from the more moderate Greek Stoics.

Arrian's transcripts preserve not only the arguments but the atmosphere of the classroom: the interruptions, the objections of pupils, the teacher's impatience with those who studied philosophy for show. This concreteness is one reason the Discourses remain readable and moving. They give us the closest thing we have to the actual conversation of an ancient philosophical school.

Influence and Legacy

Epictetus exercised a direct influence on Marcus Aurelius, who read the Discourses and quoted them in his own notebook. Through Marcus he became part of the inheritance of later antiquity, and his manual was copied and studied throughout the Byzantine world. The early Christian writer Origen remarked that his teaching had made many feel the power of philosophy.

In the modern era the Enchiridion has been widely read as a guide to living. Its distinction between the controllable and the uncontrollable underlies much of contemporary cognitive behavioural therapy, whose founder Albert Ellis acknowledged his debt to Stoic teaching. The idea that our distress comes from our judgements rather than from events is the central therapeutic insight of the modern Stoic revival.

Epictetus is remembered as the most influential teacher of Greco-Roman Stoicism and as the model of the philosopher who lived his doctrine. Born a slave and always poor, he taught a freedom that no master and no emperor could take away, and he taught it with a directness that has lost none of its force. His words, preserved by a pupil, continue to shape how people think about adversity, control and contentment.

See also

• Stoicism
• Marcus Aurelius
• Musonius Rufus
• Cynicism