The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Preface.
• The Discourses of Epictetus.
• Arrian to Lucius Gellius Wisheth All Happiness.
• Book I.
• Chapter I.: Of the Things Which Are, and the Things Which Are Not In Our Own Power.
• Chapter II.: In What Manner, Upon Every Occasion, to Preserve Our Character.
• Chapter III.: How, From the Doctrine That God Is the Father of Mankind, We May Proceed to Its Consequences.
• Chapter IV: Of Progress.
• Chapter V.: Concerning the Academics. †
• Chapter VI.: Of Providence.
• Chapter VII.: Of the Use of the Forms of Right Reasoning.
• Chapter VIII.: That Logical Subtleties Are Not Safe to the Uninstructed.
• Chapter IX.: How From the Doctrine of Our Relationship to God, We Are to Deduce Its Consequences.
• Chapter X.: Concerning Those Who Seek Preferment At Rome.
• Chapter XI.: Of Natural Affection.
• Chapter XII.: Of Contentment.
• Chapter XIII.: How Everything May Be Performed to the Divine Acceptance.
• Chapter XIV.: That All Things Are Under the Divine Supervision.
• Chapter XV.: What Philosophy Promises.
• Chapter XVI.: Of Providence.
• Chapter XVII.: That the Art of Reasoning Is Necessary.
• Chapter XVIII.: That We Ought Not to Be Angry With the Erring.
• Chapter XIX.: Of the Right Treatment of Tyrants.
• Chapter XX.: In What Manner Reason Contemplates Itself.
• Chapter XXI.: Of the Desire of Admiration.
• Chapter XXII.: Of General Principles.
• Chapter XXIII.: Against Epicurus.
• Chapter XXIV.: How We Ought to Struggle With Difficulties.
• Chapter XXV.: On the Same Subject.
• Chapter XXVI.: What the Rule of Life Is.
• Chapter XXVII.: Of the Varied Appearances of Things to the Mind, and What Means Are At Hand By Which to Regulate Them.
• Chapter XXVIII.: That We Ought Not to Be Angry With Mankind. What Things Are Little, What Great, Among Men.
• Chapter XXIX.: Of Courage.
• Chapter XXX.: Weapons Ready For Difficult Occasions.
• Book II.
• Chapter I.: That Courage Is Not Inconsistent With Caution.
• Chapter II.: Of Tranquillity.
• Chapter III.: Concerning Such As Recommend Persons to the Philosophers
• Chapter IV.: Concerning a Man Who Had Been Guilty of Adultery.
• Chapter V.: How Nobleness of Mind May Be Consistent With Prudence.
• Chapter VI.: Of Circumstances. *
• Chapter VII.: Of Divination.
• Chapter VIII.: Wherein Consists the Essence of Good.
• Chapter IX.: That Some Persons, Failing to Fulfil What the Character of a Man Implies, Assume That of a Philosopher.
• Chapter X.: How We May Infer the Duties of Life From Its Nominal Functions.
• Chapter XI.: The Beginning of Philosophy.
• Chapter XII.: Of Disputation.
• Chapter XIII.: Of Anxiety.
• Chapter XIV.: Concerning Naso.
• Chapter XV.: Concerning Those Who Obstinately Persist In Whatever They Have Determined.
• Chapter XVI.: That We Do Not Study to Make Use of the Established Principles Concerning Good and Evil.
• Chapter XVII.: How to Apply General Principles to Particular Cases.
• Chapter XVIII.: How the Semblances of Things Are to Be Combated.
• Chapter XIX.: Concerning Those Who Embrace Philosophy Only In Words.
• Chapter XX.: Concerning the Epicureans and Academics.
• Chapter XXI.: Of Inconsistency.
• Chapter XXII.: Of Friendship.
• Chapter XXIII.: Of Eloquence.
• Chapter XXIV.: Concerning a Person Whom He Treated With Disregard.
• Chapter XXV.: That Logic Is Necessary.
• Chapter XXVI.: What Is the Test of Error.
• Book III.
• Chapter I.: Of Personal Adornment.
• Chapter II.: In What a Well-trained Man Should Exercise Himself; and That We Neglect the Principal Things.
• Chapter III.: What Is the Chief Concern of a Good Man; and In What We Chiefly Ought to Train Ourselves.
• Chapter IV.: Concerning One Who Made Himself Improperly Conspicuous In the Theatre.
• Chapter V.: Concerning Those Who Plead Sickness.
• Chapter VI.: Miscellaneous.
• Chapter VII.: Concerning a Certain Governor Who Was an Epicurean.
• Chapter VIII.: How We Are to Exercise Ourselves Against the Semblances of Things.
• Chapter IX.: Concerning a Certain Orator, Who Was Going to Rome On a Lawsuit.
• Chapter X.: In What Manner We Ought to Bear Sickness.
• Chapter XI.: Miscellaneous.
• Chapter XII.: Of Training.
• Chapter XIII.: What Solitude Is; and What a Solitary Person.
• Chapter XIV.: Miscellaneous.
• Chapter XV. *: That Everything Is to Be Undertaken With Circumspection.
• Chapter XVI.: That Caution Should Be Used, As to Personal Familiarity.
• Chapter XVII.: Of Providence.
• Chapter XVIII.: That We Ought Not to Be Alarmed, By Any News That Is Brought Us.
• Chapter XIX.: What Is the Comparative Condition of the Philosopher, and of the Crowd.
• Chapter XX.: That Some Advantage May Be Gained From Every Outward Circumstance.
• Chapter XXI.: Concerning Those Who Readily Set Up For Sophists.
• Chapter XXII.: Of the Cynic Philosophy.
• Chapter XXIII.: Concerning Such As Read and Dispute Ostentatiously.
• Chapter XXIV.: That We Ought Not to Be Affected By Things Not In Our Own Power.
• Chapter XXV.: Concerning Those Who Waver In Their Purpose.
• Chapter XXVI.: Concerning Those Who Are In Dread of Want.
• Book IV.
• Chapter I.: Of Freedom.
• Chapter II.: Of Complaisance.
• Chapter III.: What Things Are to Be Exchanged For Others.
• Chapter IV.: Concerning Those Who Earnestly Desire a Life of Repose.
• Chapter V.: Concerning the Quarrelsome and Ferocious.
• Chapter VI.: Concerning Those Who Are Annoyed At Being Pitied.
• Chapter VII.: Of Fearlessness.
• Chapter VIII.: Concerning Such As Hastily Assume the Philosophic Dress.
• Chapter IX.: Concerning a Person Who Had Grown Immodest.
• Chapter X.: What Things We Are to Despise, and What Chiefly to Value.
• Chapter XI.: Of Purity.
• Chapter XII.: Of Taking Pains.
• Chapter XIII.: Concerning Such As Are Too Communicative.
• The Enchiridion, Or Manual.
• Part I
• From StobÆus, Antonius, and Maximus. *
• The Following Fragments Are Ascribed Jointly to Epictetus and Other Authors.
• I.
• II.
• III.
• IV.
• V.
• VI.
• VII.
• VIII.
• IX.
• X.
• XI.
• XII.
• XIII.
• XIV.
• XV.
• XVI.
• XVII.
• XVIII.
• XIX.
• XX.
• XXI.
• XXII.
• XXIII.
• XXIV.
• XXV.
• XXVI.
• XXVII.
• XXVIII.
• XXIX.
• XXX.
• XXXI.
• XXXII.
• The Following Fragments Are Omitted By Mr. Upton; But As They Stand Under the Name of Arrian, and Seem to Be In the Spirit of Epictetus, They Are Added Here.
• I.
• II.
• III.
• IV.
• V.
• VI.

CHAPTER XIV.

THAT ALL THINGS ARE UNDER THE DIVINE SUPERVISION.

WHEN a person asked him, how any one might be convinced that his every act is under the supervision of God? Do not you think, said Epictetus, that all things are mutually connected and united?

“I do.”

Well; and do not you think, that things on earth feel the influence of the heavenly powers?

“Yes.”

Else how is it that in their season, as if by express command, God bids the plants to blossom and they blossom, to bud and they bud, to bear fruit and they bear it, to ripen it and they ripen; — and when again he bids them drop their leaves, and withdrawing into themselves to rest and wait, they rest and wait? Whence again are there seen, on the increase and decrease of the moon, and the approach and departure of the sun, so great changes and transformations in earthly things? Have then the very leaves, and our own bodies, this connection and sympathy with the whole; and have not our souls much more? But our souls are thus connected and intimately joined to God, as being indeed members and distinct portions of his essence; and must not he be sensible of every movement of them, as belonging and connatural to himself? Can even you think of the divine administration, and every other divine subject, and together with these of human affairs also; can you at once receive impressions on your senses and your understanding, from a thousand objects; at once assent to some things, deny or suspend your judgment concerning others, and preserve in your mind impressions from so many and various objects, by whose aid you can revert to ideas similar to those which first impressed you? Can you retain a variety of arts and the memorials of ten thousand things? And is not God capable of surveying all things, and being present with all, and in communication with all? Is the sun capable of illuminating so great a portion of the universe, and of leaving only that small part of it unilluminated, which is covered by the shadow of the earth, — and cannot He who made and moves the sun, a small part of himself, if compared with the whole, — cannot he perceive all things?

“But I cannot,” say you, “attend to all things at once.” Who asserts that you have equal power with Zeus? Nevertheless he has assigned to each man a director, his own good genius, and committed him to that guardianship; a director sleepless and not to be deceived. To what better and more careful guardian could he have committed each one of us? So that when you have shut your doors, and darkened your room, remember, never to say that you are alone; for you are not alone; but God is within, and your genius is within; and what need have they of light, to see what you are doing? To this God you likewise ought to swear such an oath as the soldiers do to Cæsar. For they, in order to receive their pay, swear to prefer before all things the safety of Cæsar; and will not you swear, who have received so many and so great favors; or, if you have sworn, will you not fulfil the oath? And what must you swear? Never to distrust, nor accuse, nor murmur at any of the things appointed by him; nor to shrink from doing or enduring that which is inevitable. Is this oath like the former? In the first oath persons swear never to dishonor Cæsar; by the last, never to dishonor themselves.