Name: The Handbook
Author: Epictetus

Translated by George Long (1877). The Enchiridion (Handbook) is a condensed manual of Stoic practice compiled by Arrian from the Discourses of Epictetus. The word means 'what you hold in your hand.' Public domain.

I. What Is in Our Power

Of things, some are in our power, and others are not. In our power are opinion, movement towards a thing, desire, aversion; and, in a word, whatever are our own acts. Not in our power are the body, reputation, offices, and, in a word, whatever are not our own acts.

And the things in our power are by nature free, not subject to restraint or hindrance: but the things not in our power are weak, slavish, subject to restraint, in the power of others.

Remember then that if you think the things which are by nature slavish to be free, and the things which are in the power of others to be your own, you will be hindered, you will lament, you will be disturbed, you will blame both gods and men: but if you think only that which is your own to be your own, and if you think that what is another's is another's, no man will ever compel you, no man will hinder you, you will never blame any man, you will accuse no man, you will do nothing involuntarily, no man will harm you, you will have no enemy, for you will not suffer any harm.

II. If then you desire things so great, remember that you must not lay hands on them with a moderate effort; but you must entirely leave some things, and postpone others for the present. But if you wish for these things also, and power and wealth, perhaps you will not gain even these very things because you aim also at those former things: certainly you will fail in those things through which alone happiness and freedom are obtained.

III. Seek then in every appearance that which disturbs, and say, what bad thing is there in this? Or is it not among the things which are in our power, but among those which are not? For if it is among the things which are not in our power, it does not belong to us.

IV. Desire and Aversion

With respect to everything which is beloved, or useful, or of which you are fond, remember to tell yourself of what nature it is, beginning from the smallest things. If you are fond of an earthen vessel, say I am fond of an earthen vessel; for when it is broken you will not be disturbed. If you are fond of your child or wife, say that you are fond of a human being; for when the wife or child dies, you will not be disturbed.

V. Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things: for example, death is nothing terrible, for if it were, it would have seemed so to Socrates; for the opinion about death, that it is terrible, is the terrible thing. When then we are impeded or disturbed or grieved, let us never blame others, but ourselves, that is, our own opinions.

VI. Be not elated at any advantage which belongs to another. If a horse when elated should say, I am beautiful, one could bear with it. But when you say with elation, I have a beautiful horse, know that you are elated at having a good horse. What then is your own? The use of appearances. So that when in the use of appearances you are conformable to nature, then you will be elated, for then you will be elated at something good which is your own.

VII. As on a voyage when the vessel has come to a port, if you go out to get water, you may amuse yourself with picking up a shell or a truffle on the way, but your thoughts ought to be directed to the ship, and you ought to be constantly watching if the captain should call; and if he should call, you must leave all those things, that you may not be bound and pitched into the ship like sheep. So also in life, if there be given to you instead of a little bulb and a shell, a wife and child, there is nothing to prevent. But if the captain should call, run to the ship, and leave all those things without regard to them.

VIII. Seek Not That What Happens Should Happen As You Wish

Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; but wish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have a tranquil flow of life.

IX. Disease is an impediment to the body, but not to the will, unless the will chooses. Lameness is an impediment to the leg, but not to the will. And add this reflection on the occasion of everything that happens; for you will find it an impediment to something else, but not to yourself.

X. On the occasion of every accident that befalls you, remember to turn to yourself and inquire what power you have for turning it to use. If you see a fair man or a fair woman, you will find that the power to resist is temperance. If trouble be presented to you, you will find endurance. If it be abusive speech, you will find patience. And if you accustom yourself in this manner, you will not be carried away by the appearances.

XI. Never say about anything, I have lost it; but say I have restored it. Is your child dead? It has been restored. Is your wife dead? She has been restored. Has your estate been taken from you? Has not this also been restored? But he who took it from you is bad. But what is it to you, by whose hands the giver demanded it back?

XII. If you intend to improve, throw away such thoughts as these: if I neglect my affairs, I shall not have the means of living: unless I correct my slave, he will be bad. For it is better to die in want, than to live in abundance with perturbation; and it is better for your slave to be bad than for you to be unhappy.

XIII. If you would improve, be content to appear foolish and stupid with respect to external things. Do not desire to be considered to know anything; and if you shall seem to some to be a person of importance, distrust yourself.

XIV. The Proper Use of Externals

If you wish your children, and your wife, and your friends to live forever, you are silly; for you wish the things which are not in your power to be in your power, and the things which belong to others to be yours. So if you wish your slave not to be bad, you are a fool; for you wish badness not to be badness, but something else. But if you wish not to fail in your desires, this is in your power. Exercise then that which is in your power. He is the master of every man who has the power over the things which another person wishes or does not wish, the power to confer them on him or to take them away. Whoever then wishes to be free, let him neither wish for anything nor avoid anything which depends on others; if he does not observe this rule, he must be a slave.

XV. Remember that in life you ought to behave as at a banquet. Suppose that something is carried round and comes to you; stretch out your hand and take a portion with decency. Suppose that it passes by you; do not detain it. Suppose that it has not yet come to you; do not send your desire forward to it, but wait till it comes to you. So in like manner with respect to children, with respect to a wife, with respect to offices, with respect to wealth; and you will be some time a worthy partner of the banquets of the gods.

XVI. When you see a man shedding tears in sorrow for a child abroad or dead, or for loss of property, take care that the appearance does not hurry you away with it, as if he were suffering in external things. But straightway make a distinction in your own mind, and be in readiness to say, it is not that which has happened that afflicts this man, for it does not afflict another, but it is the opinion about this thing which afflicts the man.

XVII. On the Role We Play

Remember that you are an actor in a drama of such a kind as the author chooses; if short, a short one; if long, a long one. If he wishes you to act the part of a poor man, see that you act the part naturally; if the part of a lame man, of a magistrate, of a private person, the same. For this is your duty, to act well the part that is given to you; but to select the part, belongs to another.

XVIII. When a raven has croaked inauspiciously, let not the appearance hurry you away, but straightway make a distinction in your mind and say, none of these things are signified to me, but either to my poor body, or to my small property, or to my reputation, or to my children, or to my wife. But to me all significations are auspicious if I choose; for whatever of these things results, it is in my power to derive benefit from it.

XX. Remember that it is not the man who reviles you or strikes you who insults you, but it is your opinion about these things as being insulting. When then a man irritates you, you must know that it is your own opinion which has irritated you. Therefore especially try not to be carried away by the appearance. For if you once gain time and delay, you will more easily master yourself.

XXI. Let death and exile and every other thing which appears dreadful be daily before your eyes; but most of all death: and you will never think of anything mean nor will you desire anything extravagantly.

XXII. Philosophy and the Examined Life

If you desire philosophy, you must immediately prepare yourself to be ridiculed and to be laughed at by many who will say: He has all at once returned to us as a philosopher; and whence has he got this supercilious look for us? Do you not show a supercilious look; but hold on to the things which seem to you best as one appointed by God to this station. And remember that if you abide in the same principles, those who first ridiculed will afterwards admire you; but if you shall have been overpowered by them, you will bring on yourself double ridicule.

XXIII. If it should ever happen to you to be turned to externals in order to please some person, observe that you have lost your purpose in life. Be satisfied then in everything with being a philosopher; and if you wish to seem also to any person to be a philosopher, appear so to yourself, and you will be able to do this.

XXV. Has any man been preferred before you at a dinner? Has he been preferred to salutation? To walking in front? If these things are good, you ought to rejoice that he has obtained them; but if bad, be not grieved because you have not obtained them; and remember that you cannot, if you do not the same things which are done in order to obtain what is not in our power, be considered worthy of the same things.

XXVIII. If a man has reported to you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make any defence to what has been told you: but reply, The man did not know my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these only.

XXIX. What Is Good and What Is Not

In every act consider what precedes and what follows, and then proceed to the act. If you do not consider this, you will at first begin with spirit, since you have not thought at all of the things which follow; but afterwards when some consequences have shown themselves, you will basely desist. I wish to conquer at the Olympic games. But consider the things which come before and the things which follow; and then if it is for your good, begin the act. You must act according to rules, eat according to strict orders; you must abstain from delicate food, exercise your body whether you choose it or not, at a fixed hour, in heat and cold; you must drink no cold water, nor wine as you choose; in a word, you must deliver yourself up to the exercise-master as you do to a physician. Then in the contest, you must dig, and sometimes dislocate your hand, sprain your ankle, swallow a great deal of sand, sometimes be scourged, and after all this be defeated.

XXX. Duties are universally measured by relations. Is a man a father? The precept is to take care of him, to yield to him in all things, to submit when he is reproachful, when he inflicts blows. But suppose he is a bad father. Were you then by nature made akin to a good father? No; but to a father. Does a brother wrong you? Maintain then your own position towards him, and do not examine what he does, but what you must do that your will shall be in a state conformable to nature.

XXXI. As to piety towards the Gods, know that the chief thing is this, to have right opinions about them, to think that they exist, and that they administer the whole in a way that is good and just; and that you must fix yourself in this principle, to obey them, and yield to them in everything which happens, and voluntarily follow it as being accomplished by the wisest intelligence.

XXXIII. The Practice of Virtue

Prescribe a certain character and form to yourself, which you shall observe both when you are alone and when you meet with men. And let silence be the general rule, or let only what is necessary be said, and in few words. And rarely and when occasion requires let us say something; but not about any of the common subjects, nor about gladiators, nor horse-races, nor about athletes, nor about eating or drinking, which are the usual subjects; and especially not about men, as blaming them or praising them, or comparing them.

If then it is possible, by your conversation lead over the conversation of your associates to that which is proper; but if you should be left alone among strangers, be silent.

Laughter must not be much, nor on many occasions, nor excessive.

Refuse altogether to take an oath, if it is possible; if it is not, refuse as far as you are able.

XXXIV. When you have recourse to pleasure, be not carried away by the pleasantness of it, but set against it this, how much you will repent after you have enjoyed it, and how you will blame yourself. And set against it on the other side how you will rejoice if you have abstained, and how you will praise yourself.

XXXV. When you do anything from a clear judgment that it ought to be done, never try to avoid being seen, not even if the opinion of the multitude shall condemn you. For if the thing is not right, avoid doing it altogether; but if it is right, why do you fear those who shall find fault wrongly?

XLI. It is a mark of a mean capacity to spend much time on the things which concern the body, as to be long in our bodily exercises, in eating, in drinking, in easing ourselves, in amorous intercourse. But these things should be done as subordinate things: and let all your care be directed to the mind.

XLII. On Judgment and Right Action

When any person treats you ill or speaks ill of you, remember that he does this or says this because he thinks it is his duty. It is not possible then for him to follow that which seems right to you, but that which seems right to himself. Accordingly if he is wrong in his opinion, he is the person who is hurt, for he is the person deceived. For if a man shall suppose the true conjunction of things to be false, it is not the conjunction which is hindered, but the man who has been deceived about it.

XLIII. Everything has two handles, the one by which it may be borne, the other by which it may not. If your brother acts unjustly, do not lay hold of the act by the handle in which he acts unjustly, for by that handle it cannot be borne: but lay hold of the other, that he is your brother, that he was brought up with you; and you will lay hold of the thing by that handle by which it can be borne.

XLV. Does any person bathe hastily? Do not say that he does it badly, but hastily. Does any person drink much wine? Do not say that he does ill, but that he drinks much. For before you have determined his opinion, how do you know that he acts ill? And thus it will not happen to you to comprehend some appearances which are capable of being comprehended, and to assert to others.

XLVIII. The condition and characteristic of an uninstructed person is this: he never expects from himself profit or harm, but from externals. The condition and characteristic of a philosopher is this: he expects all advantage and all harm from himself.

The signs of one who is making progress are: he blames no one, praises no one, complains of no one, accuses no one, says nothing about himself as if he were somebody or knew something.

XLIX. Remember Who You Are

When a man is proud because he understands and can interpret the books of Chrysippus, say to yourself, if Chrysippus had not written obscurely, this man would have had nothing to be proud of. But what do I wish? To understand nature and to follow it. I ask then who is my interpreter? And when I have found that it is Chrysippus, I come to him. But I do not understand what is written, and therefore I seek an interpreter.

L. Whatever rules you have adopted, abide by them as if they were laws, and as if you would be guilty of impiety by violating them. But do not regard what any one says of you; for this after all is no concern of yours.

LI. How long will you delay to think yourself worthy of the best things, and in nothing to transgress the reason which distinguishes things? You have received the philosophical principles which you ought to accept, and you have accepted them. What kind of a teacher then do you still wait for in order to refer to him the correction of yourself? You are no longer a youth, but already a full-grown man. If then you are negligent and slothful, and are continually making delay after delay, and proposal after proposal, fixing day after day after which you will attend to yourself, you will not know that you are not making improvement, but you will continue ignorant until you die.

LII. It is better to die of hunger, exempt from grief and fear, than to live in affluence with perturbation; and it is better for your slave to be bad than for you to be unhappy.

LIII. In everything a philosopher does he asks himself: Is this consistent with my character? And if it is not, he does not do it. But if it is, he does it without hesitation, for then it is right.

What then is the rule? To act in all things as you would act if someone were watching you. For even if no one is watching you, the Gods are watching you.

The Handbook

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