disable test, add 3 enchridions translations

Gruntfile.coffee

@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ module.exports = (grunt) ->
 	watchconfigs = {
 		main: {
 			copy: {
-				files: [ 'source/.htaccess', 'source/tests/the_raven/*' ]
+				files: [ 'source/.htaccess', 'source/tests/the_raven/*', 'source/content/**/*' ]
 				tasks: 'copy:main'
 			}
 			jade: {
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ module.exports = (grunt) ->
 		}
 		min: {
 			copy_min: {
-				files: [ 'source/.htaccess', 'source/tests/the_raven/*' ]
+				files: [ 'source/.htaccess', 'source/tests/the_raven/*', 'source/content/**/*'  ]
 				tasks: 'copy:min'
 			}
 			jade_min: {
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ module.exports = (grunt) ->
 
 	grunt.config 'copy', add([
 		[ 'main', {
-			src: [ '.htaccess', 'tests/the_raven/*' ]
+			src: [ '.htaccess', 'tests/the_raven/*', 'content/**/*' ]
 			options: {
 				processContent: (content) ->
 					grunt.template.process content, { data: {
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ module.exports = (grunt) ->
 			src: ['fonts/*']
 		}]
 		[ 'min', {
-			src: [ '.htaccess', 'tests/the_raven/*' ]
+			src: [ '.htaccess', 'tests/the_raven/*', 'content/**/*' ]
 			options: {
 				processContent: (content) ->
 					grunt.template.process content, { data: {

README.md

@@ -29,12 +29,12 @@ Clone the project, go to project folder, and install dependencies:
 
 	node_modules/.bin/grunt serve
 
-Point your browser at http://0.0.0.0:8000/base:tests.the_raven/
+Point your browser at http://0.0.0.0:8000/base:tests.enchiridion/
 
 ### Tests
 
 If you have the grunt dev server running, point your browser at
-http://0.0.0.0:8000/tests.html. Otherwise, run tests with `npm test`.
+http://0.0.0.0:8000/tests.html. ~~Otherwise, run tests with `npm test`.~~
 
 ### Package/release
 

package.json

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 	"author": "Vit Brunner",
 	"description": "Visual comparison of different translations of itemized texts; e.g. poems, bibles, etc.",
 	"devDependencies": {
-		"bower": "1.3.x",
+		"bower": "1.8.x",
 		"connect-modrewrite": "0.7.x",
 		"grunt": "0.4.x",
 		"grunt-cli": "0.1.x",
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 		"grunt-contrib-copy": "0.7.x",
 		"grunt-contrib-cssmin": "0.10.x",
 		"grunt-contrib-jade": "0.13.x",
-		"grunt-contrib-qunit": "0.5.x",
 		"grunt-contrib-stylus": "0.20.x",
 		"grunt-contrib-uglify": "0.6.x",
 		"grunt-contrib-watch": "0.6.x",

source/content/enchiridion/0135-epictetus.md

@@ -0,0 +1,662 @@
+Author:     Epictetus  
+Title:      Εγχειρίδιον  
+Translator: Epictetus  
+Date:       0135  
+Source:     [el.wikisource.org](https://el.wikisource.org/wiki/%CE%95%CE%B3%CF%87%CE%B5%CE%B9%CF%81%CE%AF%CE%B4%CE%B9%CE%BF%CE%BD)  
+Code:       e  
+
+## 1
+
+Τῶν ὄντων τὰ μέν ἐστιν ἐφ' ἡμῖν, τὰ δὲ οὐκ ἐφ' ἡμῖν. ἐφ' ἡμῖν μὲν ὑπόληψις,
+ὁρμή, ὄρεξις, ἔκκλισις καὶ ἑνὶ λόγῳ ὅσα ἡμέτερα ἔργα: οὐκ ἐφ' ἡμῖν δὲ τὸ σῶμα,
+ἡ κτῆσις, δόξαι, ἀρχαὶ καὶ ἑνὶ λόγῳ ὅσα οὐχ ἡμέτερα ἔργα.
+
+Καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐφ' ἡμῖν ἐστι φύσει ἐλεύθερα, ἀκώλυτα, ἀπαραπόδιστα, τὰ δὲ οὐκ ἐφ'
+ἡμῖν ἀσθενῆ, δοῦλα, κωλυτά, ἀλλότρια.
+
+Μέμνησο οὖν,ότι, ἐὰν τὰ φύσει δοῦλα ἐλεύθερα οἰηθῇς καὶ τὰ ἀλλότρια ἴδια,
+ἐμποδισθήσῃ, πενθήσεις, ταραχθήσῃ, μέμψῃ καὶ θεοὺς καὶ ἀνθρώπους, ἐὰν δὲ τὸ σὸν
+μόνον οἰηθῇς σὸν εἶναι, τὸ δὲ ἀλλότριον, ὥσπερ ἐστίν, ἀλλότριον, οὐδείς σε
+ἀναγκάσει οὐδέποτε, οὐδείς σε κωλύσει, οὐ μέμψῃ οὐδένα, οὐκ ἐγκαλέσεις τινί,
+ἄκων πράξεις οὐδὲ ἕν, οὐδείς σε βλάψει, ἐχθρὸν οὐχ ἕξεις, οὐδὲ γὰρ βλαβερόν τι
+πείσῃ.
+
+Τηλικούτων οὖν ἐφιέμενος μέμνησο, ὅτι οὐ δεῖ μετρίως κεκινημένον ἅπτεσθαι
+αὐτῶν, ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν ἀφιέναι παντελῶς, τὰ δ' ὑπερτίθεσθαι πρὸς τὸ παρόν. ἐὰν δὲ
+καὶ ταῦτ' ἐθέλῃς καὶ ἄρχειν καὶ πλουτεῖν, τυχὸν μὲν οὐδ' αὐτῶν τούτων τεύξῃ διὰ
+τὸ καὶ τῶν προτέρων ἐφίεσθαι, πάντως γε μὴν ἐκείνων ἀποτεύξη, δι' ὧν μόνων
+ἐλευθερία καὶ εὐδαιμονία περιγίνεται.
+
+Εὐθὺς οὖν πάσῃ φαντασίᾳ τραχείᾳ μελέτα ἐπιλέγειν ὅτι «φαντασία εἶ καὶ οὐ πάντως
+τὸ φαινόμενον». ἔπειτα ἐξέταζε αὐτὴν καὶ δοκίμαζε τοῖς κανόσι τούτοις οἷς
+ἔχεις, πρώτῳ δὲ τούτῳ καὶ μάλιστα, πότερον περὶ τὰ ἐφ' ἡμῖν ἐστιν ἢ περὶ τὰ οὐκ
+ἐφ' ἡμῖν: κἂν περί τι τῶν οὐκ ἐφ' ἡμῖν ᾖ, πρόχειρον ἔστω τὸ διότι «οὐδὲν πρὸς
+ἐμέ».
+
+## 2
+
+Μέμνησο, ὅτι ὀρέξεως ἐπαγγελία ἐπιτυχία, οὗ ὀρέγῃ, ἐκκλίσεως ἐπαγγελία τὸ μὴ
+περιπεσεῖν ἐκείνῳ, ὃ ἐκκλίνεται, καὶ ὁ μὲν ἐν ὀρέξει ἀποτυγχάνων ἀτυχής, ὁ δὲ
+ἐν ἐκκλίσει περιπίπτων δυστυχής. ἂν μὲν οὖν μόνα ἐκκλίνῃς τὰ παρὰ φύσιν τῶν ἐπὶ
+σοί, οὐδενί, ὧν ἐκκλίνεις, περιπεσῇ: νόσον δ' ἂν ἐκκλίνῃς ἢ θάνατον ἢ πενίαν,
+δυστυχήσεις.
+
+ἆρον οὖν τὴν ἔκκλισιν ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν οὐκ ἐφ' ἡμῖν καὶ μετάθες ἐπὶ τὰ παρὰ φύσιν
+τῶν ἐφ' ἡμῖν. τὴν ὄρεξιν δὲ παντελῶς ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἄνελε: ἄν τε γὰρ ὀρέγῃ
+τῶν οὐκ ἐφ' ἡμῖν τινος, ἀτυχεῖν ἀνάγκη τῶν τε ἐφ' ἡμῖν, ὅσων ὀρέγεσθαι καλὸν
+ἄν, οὐδὲν οὐδέπω σοι πάρεστι. μόνῳ δὲ τῷ ὁρμᾶν καὶ ἀφορμᾶν χρῶ, κούφως μέντοι
+καὶ μεθ' ὑπεξαιρέσεως καὶ ἀνειμένως.
+
+## 3
+
+Εφ' ἑκάστου τῶν ψυχαγωγούντων ἢ χρείαν παρεχόντων ἢ στεργομένων μέμνησο
+ἐπιλέγειν, ὁποῖόν ἐστιν, ἀπὸ τῶν σμικροτάτων ἀρξάμενος: ἂν χύτραν στέργῃς, ὅτι
+«χύτραν στέργω». κατεαγείσης γὰρ αὐτῆς οὐ ταραχθήσῃ: ἂν παιδίον σαυτοῦ
+καταφιλῇς ἢ γυναῖκα, ὅτι ἄνθρωπον καταφιλεῖς: ἀποθανόντος γὰρ οὐ ταραχθήσῃ.
+
+## 4
+
+Ὅταν ἅπτεσθαί τινος ἔργου μέλλῃς, ὑπομίμνῃσκε σεαυτόν, ὁποῖόν ἐστι τὸ ἔργον.
+ἐὰν λουσόμενος ἀπίῃς, πρόβαλλε σεαυτῷ τὰ γινόμενα ἐν βαλανείῳ, τοὺς
+ἀποῤῥαίνοντας, τοὺς ἐγκρουομένους, τοὺς λοιδοροῦντας, τοὺς κλέπτοντας. καὶ
+οὕτως ἀσφαλέστερον ἅψῃ τοῦ ἔργου, ἐὰν ἐπιλέγῃς εὐθὺς ὅτι «λούσασθαι θέλω καὶ
+τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ προαίρεσιν κατὰ φύσιν ἔχουσαν τηρῆσαι». καὶ ὡσαύτως ἐφ' ἑκάστου
+ἔργου. οὕτω γὰρ ἄν τι πρὸς τὸ λούσασθαι γένηται ἐμποδών, πρόχειρον ἔσται διότι
+«ἀλλ' οὐ τοῦτο ἤθελον μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ προαίρεσιν κατὰ φύσιν ἔχουσαν
+τηρῆσαι: οὐ τηρήσω δέ, ἐὰν ἀγανακτῶ πρὸς τὰ γινόμενα».
+
+## 5
+
+Ταράσσει τοὺς ἀνθρώπους οὐ τὰ πράγματα, ἀλλὰ τὰ περὶ τῶν πραγμάτων δόγματα:
+οἷον ὁ θάνατος οὐδὲν δεινόν ἐπεὶ καὶ Σωκράτει ἂν ἐφαίνετο, ἀλλὰ τὸ δόγμα τὸ
+περὶ τοῦ θανάτου, διότι δεινόν, ἐκεῖνο τὸ δεινόν ἐστιν. ὅταν οὖν ἐμποδιζώμεθα ἢ
+ταρασσώμεθα ἢ λυπώμεθα, μηδέποτε ἄλλον αἰτιώμεθα, ἀλλ' ἑαυτούς, τοῦτ' ἔστι τὰ
+ἑαυτῶν δόγματα. ἀπαιδεύτου ἔργον τὸ ἄλλοις ἐγκαλεῖν, ἐφ' οἷς αὐτὸς πράσσει
+κακῶς: ἠργμένου παιδεύεσθαι τὸ ἑαυτῷ: πεπαιδευμένου τὸ μήτε ἄλλῳ μήτε ἑαυτῷ.
+
+## 6
+
+Ἐπὶ μηδενὶ ἐπαρθῇς ἀλλοτρίῳ προτερήματι. εἰ ὁ ἵππος ἐπαιρόμενος ἔλεγεν ὅτι
+«καλός εἰμι», οἰστὸν ἂν ἦν: σὺ δέ, ὅταν λέγῃς ἐπαιρόμενος ὅτι «ἵππον καλὸν
+ἔχω», ἴσθι, ὅτι ἐπὶ ἵππου ἀγαθῷ ἐπαίρῃ. τί οὖν ἐστι σόν; χρῆσις φαντασιῶν.
+ὥσθ', ὅταν ἐν χρήσει φαντασιῶν κατὰ φύσιν σχῇς, τηνικαῦτα ἐπάρθητι: τότε γὰρ
+ἐπὶ σῷ τινι ἀγαθῷ ἐπαρθήσῃ.
+
+## 7
+
+Καθάπερ ἐν πλῷ τοῦ πλοίου καθορμισθέντος εἰ ἐξέλθοις ὑθρεύσασθαι, ὁδοῦ μὲν
+πάρεργον καὶ κοχλίδιον ἀναλέξῃ καὶ βολβάριον, τετάσθαι δὲ δεῖ τὴν διάνοιαν ἐπὶ
+τὸ πλοῖον καὶ συνεχῶς ἐπιστρέφεσθαι, μή ποτε ὁ κυβερνήτης καλέσῃ, κἂν καλέσῃ,
+πάντα ἐκεῖνα ἀφιέναι, ἵνα μὴ δεδεμένος ἐμβληθῇς ὡς τὰ πρόβατα: οὕτω καὶ ἐν τῷ
+βίῳ, ἐὰν διδῶται ἀντὶ βολβαρίου καὶ κοχλιδίου γυναικάριον καὶ παιδίον, οὐδὲν
+κωλύσει: ἐὰν δὲ ὁ κυβερνήτης καλέσῃ, τρέχε ἐπὶ τὸ πλοῖον ἀφεὶς ἐκεῖνα ἅπαντα
+μηδὲ ἐπιστρεφόμενος. ἐὰν δὲ γέρων ᾖς, μηδὲ ἀπαλλαγῇς ποτε τοῦ πλοίου μακράν, μή
+ποτε καλοῦντος ἐλλίπῃς.
+
+## 8
+
+Μὴ ζήτει τὰ γινόμενα γίνεσθαι ὡς θέλεις, ἀλλὰ θέλε τὰ γινόμενα ὡς γίνεται καὶ
+εὐροήσεις.
+
+## 9
+
+Νόσος σώματός ἐστιν ἐμπόδιον, προαιρέσεως δὲ οὔ, ἐὰν μὴ αὐτὴ θέλῃ. χώλανσις
+σκέλους ἐστὶν ἐμπόδιον, προαιρέσεως δὲ οὔ. καὶ τοῦτο ἐφ' ἑκάστου τῶν
+ἐμπιπτόντων ἐπίλεγε: εὑρήσεις γὰρ αὐτὸ ἄλλου τινὸς ἐμπόδιον, σὸν δὲ οὔ.
+
+## 10
+
+Ἐφ' ἑκάστου τῶν προσπιπτόντων μέμνησο ἐπιστρέφων ἐπὶ σεαυτὸν ζητεῖν, τίνα
+δύναμιν ἔχεις πρὸς τὴν χρῆσιν αὐτοῦ. ἐὰν καλὸν ἴδῃς ἢ καλήν, εὑρήσεις δύναμιν
+πρὸς ταῦτα ἐγκράτειαν: ἐὰν πόνος προσφέρηται, εὑρήσεις καρτερίαν: ἂν λοιδορία,
+εὑρήσεις ἀνεξικακίαν. καὶ οὕτως ἐθιζόμενόν σε οὐ συναρπάσουσιν αἱ φαντασίαι.
+
+## 11
+
+Μηδέποτε ἐπὶ μηδενὸς εἴπῃς ὅτι «ἀπώλεσα αὐτό», ἀλλ' ὅτι «ἀπέδωκα». τὸ παιδίον
+ἀπέθανεν; ἀπεδόθη. ἡ γυνὴ ἀπέθανεν; ἀπεδόθη. «τὸ χωρίον ἀφῃρέθην». οὐκοῦν καὶ
+τοῦτο ἀπεδόθη. «ἀλλὰ κακὸς ὁ ἀφελόμενος». τί δὲ σοὶ μέλει, διὰ τίνος σε ὁ δοὺς
+ἀπῄτησε; μέχρι δ' ἂν διδῷ, ὡς ἀλλοτρίου αὐτοῦ ἐπιμελοῦ, ὡς τοῦ πανδοχείου οἱ
+παριόντες.
+
+## 12
+
+Εἰ προκόψαι θέλεις, ἄφες τοὺς τοιούτους ἐπιλογισμούς. «ἐὰν ἀμελήσω τῶν ἐμῶν,
+οὐχ ἕξω διατροφάς»: «ἐὰν μὴ κολάσω τὸν παῖδα, πονηρὸς ἔσται». κρεῖσσον γὰρ λιμῷ
+ἀποθανεῖν ἄλυπον καὶ ἄφοβον γενόμενον ἢ ζῆν ἐν ἀφθόνοις ταρασσόμενον. κρεῖττον
+δὲ τὸν παῖδα κακὸν εἶναι ἢ σὲ κακοδαίμονα.
+
+ἄρξαι τοιγαροῦν ἀπὸ τῶν σμικρῶν. ἐκχεῖται τὸ ἐλάδιον, κλέπτεται τὸ οἰνάριον:
+ἐπίλεγε ὅτι «τοσούτου πωλεῖται ἀπάθεια, τοσούτου ἀταραξία»: προῖκα δὲ οὐδὲν
+περιγίνεται. ὅταν δὲ καλῇς τὸν παῖδα, ἐνθυμοῦ, ὅτι δύναται μὴ ὑπακοῦσαι καὶ
+ὑπακούσας μηδὲν ποιῆσαι ὧν θέλεις: ἀλλ' οὐχ οὕτως ἐστὶν αὐτῷ καλῶς, ἵνα ἐπ'
+ἐκείνῳ ᾖ τὸ σὲ μὴ ταραχθῆναι.
+
+## 13
+
+Εἰ προκόψαι θέλεις, ὑπόμεινον ἕνεκα τῶν ἐκτὸς ἀνόητος δόξας καὶ ἠλίθιος, μηδὲν
+βούλου δοκεῖν ἐπίστασθαι: κἂν δόξῃς τις εἶναί τισιν, ἀπίστει σεαυτῷ. ἴσθι γὰρ
+ὅτι οὐ ῥᾴδιον τὴν προαίρεσιν τὴν σεαυτοῦ κατὰ φύσιν ἔχουσαν φυλάξαι καὶ τὰ
+ἐκτός, ἀλλὰ τοῦ ἑτέρου ἐπιμελούμενον τοῦ ἑτέρου ἀμελῆσαι πᾶσα ἀνάγκη.
+
+## 14
+
+Ἐὰν θέλῃς τὰ τέκνα σου καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τοὺς φίλους σου πάντοτε ζῆν, ἠλίθιος
+εἶ: τὰ γὰρ μὴ ἐπὶ σοὶ θέλεις ἐπὶ σοὶ εἶναι καὶ τὰ ἀλλότρια σὰ εἶναι. οὕτω κἂν
+τὸν παῖδα θέλῃς μὴ ἁμαρτάνειν, μωρὸς εἶ: θέλεις γὰρ τὴν κακίαν μὴ εἶναι κακίαν,
+ἀλλ' ἄλλο τι. ἐὰν δὲ θέλῃς ὀρεγόμενος μὴ ἀποτυγχάνειν, τοῦτο δύνασαι. τοῦτο οὖν
+ἄσκει, ὃ δύνασαι.
+
+κύριος ἑκάστου ἐστὶν ὁ τῶν ὑπ' ἐκείνου θελομένων ἢ μὴ θελομένων ἔχων τὴν
+ἐξουσίαν εἰς τὸ περιποιῆσαι ἢ ἀφελέσθαι. ὅστις οὖν ἐλεύθερος εἶναι βούλεται,
+μήτε θελέτω τι μήτε φευγέτω τι τῶν ἐπ' ἄλλοις: εἰ δὲ μή, δουλεύειν ἀνάγκη.
+
+## 15
+
+Μέμνησο, ὅτι ὡς ἐν συμποσίῳ σε δεῖ ἀναστρέφεσθαι. περιφερόμενον γέγονέ τι κατὰ
+σέ: ἐκτείνας τὴν χεῖρα κοσμίως μετάλαβε. παρέρχεται: μὴ κάτεχε. οὔπω ἥκει: μὴ
+ἐπίβαλλε πόῤῥω τὴν ὄρεξιν, ἀλλὰ περίμενε, μέχρις ἂν γένηται κατὰ σέ. οὕτω πρὸς
+τέκνα, οὕτω πρὸς γυναῖκα, οὕτω πρὸς ἀρχάς, οὕτω πρὸς πλοῦτον: καὶ ἔσῃ ποτὲ
+ἄξιος τῶν θεῶν συμπότης. ἂν δὲ καὶ παρατεθέντων σοι μὴ λάβῃς, ἀλλ' ὑπερίδῃς,
+τότε οὐ μόνον συμπότης τῶν θεῶν ἔσῃ, ἀλλὰ καὶ συνάρχων. οὕτω γὰρ ποιῶν Διογένης
+καὶ Ἡράκλειτος καὶ οἱ ὅμοιοι ἀξίως θεῖοί τε ἦσαν καὶ ἐλέγοντο.
+
+## 16
+
+Ὅταν κλαίοντα ἴδῃς τινὰ ἐν πένθει ἢ ἀποδημοῦντος τέκνου ἢ ἀπολωλεκότα τὰ
+ἑαυτοῦ, πρόσεχε μή σε ἡ φαντασία συναρπάσῃ ὡς ἐν κακοῖς ὄντος αὐτοῦ τοῖς ἐκτός,
+ἀλλ' εὐθὺς ἔστω πρόχειρον ὅτι «τοῦτον θλίβει οὐ τὸ συμβεβηκός (ἄλλον γὰρ οὐ
+θλίβει), ἀλλὰ τὸ δόγμα τὸ περὶ τούτου». μέχρι μέντοι λόγου μὴ ὄκνει
+συμπεριφέρεσθαι αὐτῷ, κἂν οὕτω τύχῃ, καὶ συνεπιστενάξαι: πρόσεχε μέντοι μὴ καὶ
+ἔσωθεν στενάξῃς.
+
+## 17
+
+Μέμνησο, ὅτι ὑποκριτὴς εἶ δράματος, οἵου ἂν θέλῃ ὁ διδάσκαλος: ἂν βραχύ,
+βραχέος: ἂν μακρόν, μακροῦ: ἂν πτωχὸν ὑποκρίνασθαί σε θέλῃ, ἵνα καὶ τοῦτον
+εὐφυῶς ὑποκρίνῃ ἂν χωλόν, ἂν ἄρχοντα, ἂν ἰδιώτην. σὸν γὰρ τοῦτ' ἔστι, τὸ δοθὲν
+ὑποκρίνασθαι πρόσωπον καλῶς: ἐκλέξασθαι δ' αὐτὸ ἄλλου.
+
+## 18
+
+Κόραξ ὅταν μὴ αἴσιον κεκράγῃ, μὴ συναρπαζέτω σε ἡ φαντασία: ἀλλ' εὐθὺς διαίρει
+παρὰ σεαυτῷ καὶ λέγε ὅτι «τούτων ἐμοὶ οὐδὲν ἐπισημαίνεται, ἀλλ' ἢ τῷ σωματίῳ
+μου ἢ τῷ κτησειδίῳ μου ἢ τῷ δοξαρίῳ μου ἢ τοῖς τέκνοις ἢ τῇ γυναικί. ἐμοὶ δὲ
+πάντα αἴσια σημαίνεται, ἐὰν ἐγὼ θέλω: ὅ τι γὰρ ἂν τούτων ἀποβαίνῃ, ἐπ' ἐμοί
+ἐστιν ὠφεληθῆναι ἀπ' αὐτοῦ».
+
+## 19
+
+Ἀνίκητος εἶναι δύνασαι, ἐὰν εἰς μηδένα ἀγῶνα καταβαίνῃς, ὃν οὐκ ἔστιν ἐπὶ σοὶ
+νικῆσαι.
+
+ὅρα μήποτε ἰδών τινα προτιμώμενον ἢ μέγα δυνάμενον ἢ ἄλλως εὐδοκιμοῦντα
+μακαρίσῃς, ὑπὸ τῆς φαντασίας συναρπασθείς. ἐὰν γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ἐφ' ἡμῖν ἡ οὐσία τοῦ
+ἀγαθοῦ ᾖ, οὔτε φθόνος οὔτε ζηλοτυπία χώραν ἔχει: σύ τε αὐτὸς οὐ στρατηγός, οὐ
+πρύτανις ἢ ὕπατος εἶναι θελήσεις, ἀλλ' ἐλεύθερος. μία δὲ ὁδὸς πρὸς τοῦτο,
+καταφρόνησις τῶν οὐκ ἐφ' ἡμῖν.
+
+## 20
+
+Μέμνησο, ὅτι οὐχ ὁ λοιδορῶν ἢ ὁ τύπτων ὑβρίζει, ἀλλὰ τὸ δόγμα τὸ περὶ τούτων ὡς
+ὑβριζόντων. ὅταν οὖν ἐρεθίσῃ σέ τις, ἴσθι, ὅτι ἡ σή σε ὑπόληψις ἠρέθικε.
+τοιγαροῦν ἐν πρώτοις πειρῶ ὑπὸ τῆς φαντασίας μὴ συναρπασθῆναι: ἂν γὰρ ἅπαξ
+χρόνου καὶ διατριβῆς τύχῃς, ῥᾷον κρατήσεις σεαυτοῦ.
+
+## 21
+
+Θάνατος καὶ φυγὴ καὶ πάντα τὰ δεινὰ φαινόμενα πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν ἔστω σοι καθ'
+ἡμέραν, μάλιστα δὲ πάντων ὁ θάνατος: καὶ οὐδὲν οὐδέποτε οὔτε ταπεινὸν
+ἐνθυμηθήσῃ οὔτε ἄγαν ἐπιθυμήσεις τινός.
+
+## 22
+
+Εἰ φιλοσοφίας ἐπιθυμεῖς, παρασκευάζου αὐτόθεν ὡς καταγελασθησόμενος, ὡς
+καταμωκησομένων σου πολλῶν, ὡς ἐρούντων ὅτι «ἄφνω φιλόσοφος ἡμῖν ἐπανελήλυθε»
+καὶ «πόθεν ἡμῖν αὕτη ἡ ὀφρύς;» σὺ δὲ ὀφρὺν μὲν μὴ σχῇς: τῶν δὲ βελτίστων σοι
+φαινομένων οὕτως ἔχου, ὡς ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ τεταγμένος εἰς ταύτην τὴν χώραν: μέμνησό
+τε διότι, ἐὰν μὲν ἐμμείνῃς τοῖς αὐτοῖς, οἱ καταγελῶντές σου τὸ πρότερον οὗτοί
+σε ὕστερον θαυμάσονται, ἐὰν δὲ ἡττηθῇς αὐτῶν, διπλοῦν προσλήψῃ καταγέλωτα.
+
+## 23
+
+Ἐάν ποτέ σοι γένηται ἔξω στραφῆναι πρὸς τὸ βούλεσθαι ἀρέσαι τινί, ἴσθι ὅτι
+ἀπώλεσας τὴν ἔνστασιν. ἀρκοῦ οὖν ἐν παντὶ τῷ εἶναι φιλόσοφος εἰ δὲ καὶ δοκεῖν
+βούλει [τῷ εἶναι], σαυτῷ φαίνου καὶ ἱκανὸς ἔσῃ.
+
+## 24
+
+Οὗτοί σε οἱ διαλογισμοὶ μὴ θλιβέτωσαν «ἄτιμος ἐγὼ βιώσομαι καὶ οὐδεὶς οὐδαμοῦ».
+εἰ γὰρ ἡ ἀτιμία ἐστὶ κακόν, οὐ δύνασαι ἐν κακῷ εἶναι δι' ἄλλον, οὐ μᾶλλον ἢ ἐν
+αἰσχρῷ: μή τι οὖν σόν ἐστιν ἔργον τὸ ἀρχῆς τυχεῖν ἢ παραληφθῆναι ἐφ' ἑστίασιν;
+οὐδαμῶς. πῶς οὖν ἔτι τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἀτιμία; πῶς δὲ οὐδεὶς οὐδαμοῦ ἔσῃ, ὃν ἐν
+μόνοις εἶναί τινα δεῖ τοῖς ἐπὶ σοί, ἐν οἷς ἔξεστί σοι εἶναι πλείστου ἀξίῳ;
+
+ἀλλά σοι οἱ φίλοι ἀβοήθητοι ἔσονται. τί λέγεις τὸ ἀβοήθητοι; οὐχ ἕξουσι παρὰ
+σοῦ κερμάτιον: οὐδὲ πολίτας ̔Ρωμαίων αὐτοὺς ποιήσεις. τίς οὖν σοι εἶπεν, ὅτι
+ταῦτα τῶν ἐφ' ἡμῖν ἐστιν, οὐχὶ δὲ ἀλλότρια ἔργα; τίς δὲ δοῦναι δύναται ἑτέρῳ, ἃ
+μὴ ἔχει αὐτός; «κτῆσαι οὖν», φησίν, «ἵνα ἡμεῖς ἔχωμεν».
+
+εἰ δύναμαι κτήσασθαι τηρῶν ἐμαυτὸν αἰδήμονα καὶ πιστὸν καὶ μεγαλόφρονα, δείκνυε
+τὴν ὁδὸν καὶ κτήσομαι. εἰ δ' ἐμὲ ἀξιοῦτε τὰ ἀγαθὰ τὰ ἐμαυτοῦ ἀπολέσαι, ἵνα
+ὑμεῖς τὰ μὴ ἀγαθὰ περιποιήσησθε, ὁρᾶτε ὑμεῖς, πῶς ἄνισοί ἐστε καὶ ἀγνώμονες. τί
+δὲ καὶ βούλεσθε μᾶλλον; ἀργύριον ἢ φίλον πιστὸν καὶ αἰδήμονα; εἰς τοῦτο οὖν μοι
+μᾶλλον συλλαμβάνετε καὶ μή, δι' ὧν ἀποβαλῶ αὐτὰ ταῦτα, ἐκεῖνά με πράσσειν
+ἀξιοῦτε.
+
+«ἀλλ' ἡ πατρίς, ὅσον ἐπ' ἐμοί», φησίν, «ἀβοήθητος ἔσται». πάλιν, ποίαν καὶ
+ταύτην βοήθειαν; στοὰς οὐχ ἕξει διὰ σὲ οὔτε βαλανεῖα. καὶ τί τοῦτο; οὐδὲ γὰρ
+ὑποδήματα ἔχει διὰ τὸν χαλκέα οὐδ' ὅπλα διὰ τὸν σκυτέα: ἱκανὸν δέ, ἐὰν ἕκαστος
+ἐκπληρώσῃ τὸ ἑαυτοῦ ἔργον. εἰ δὲ ἄλλον τινὰ αὐτῇ κατεσκεύαζες πολίτην πιστὸν
+καὶ αἰδήμονα, οὐδὲν ἂν αὐτὴν ὠφέλεις; «ναί». οὐκοῦν οὐδὲ σὺ αὐτὸς ἀνωφελὴς ἂν
+εἴης αὐτῇ. «τίνα οὖν ἕξω», φησί, «χώραν ἐν τῇ πόλει;» ἣν ἂν δύνῃ φυλάττων ἅμα
+τὸν πιστὸν καὶ αἰδήμονα.
+
+εἰ δὲ ἐκείνην ὠφελεῖν βουλόμενος ἀποβαλεῖς ταῦτα, τί ὄφελος ἂν αὐτῇ γένοιο
+ἀναιδὴς καὶ ἄπιστος ἀποτελεσθείς;
+
+## 25
+
+Προετιμήθη σού τις ἐν ἑστιάσει ἢ ἐν προσαγορεύσει ἢ ἐν τῷ παραληφθῆναι εἰς
+συμβουλίαν; εἰ μὲν ἀγαθὰ ταῦτά ἐστι, χαίρειν σε δεῖ, ὅτι ἔτυχεν αὐτῶν ἐκεῖνος:
+εἰ δὲ κακά, μὴ ἄχθου, ὅτι σὺ αὐτῶν οὐκ ἔτυχες: μέμνησο δέ, ὅτι οὐ δύνασαι μὴ
+ταὐτὰ ποιῶν πρὸς τὸ τυγχάνειν τῶν οὐκ ἐφ' ἡμῖν τῶν ἴσων ἀξιοῦσθαι.
+
+πῶς γὰρ ἴσον ἔχειν δύναται ὁ μὴ φοιτῶν ἐπὶ θύρας τινὸς τῷ φοιτῶντι; ὁ μὴ
+παραπέμπων τῷ παραπέμποντι; ὁ μὴ ἐπαινῶν τῷ ἐπαινοῦντι, ἄδικος οὖν ἔσῃ καὶ
+ἄπληστος, εἰ μὴ προϊέμενος ταῦτα, ἀνθ' ὧν ἐκεῖνα πιπράσκεται, προῖκα αὐτὰ
+βουλήσῃ λαμβάνειν.
+
+ἀλλὰ πόσου πιπράσκονται θρίδακες; ὀβολοῦ, ἂν οὕτω τύχῃ. ἂν οὖν τις προέμενος
+τὸν ὀβολὸν λάβῃ θρίδακας, σὺ δὲ μὴ προέμενος μὴ λάβῃς, μὴ οἴου ἔλαττον ἔχειν
+τοῦ λαβόντος. ὡς γὰρ ἐκεῖνος ἔχει θρίδακας, οὕτω σὺ τὸν ὀβολόν, ὃν οὐκ ἔδωκας.
+
+τὸν αὐτὸν δὴ τρόπον καὶ ἐνταῦθα. οὐ παρεκλήθης ἐφ' ἑστίασίν τινος; οὐ γὰρ
+ἔδωκας τῷ καλοῦντι, ὅσου πωλεῖ τὸ δεῖπνον. ἐπαίνου δ' αὐτὸ πωλεῖ, θεραπείας
+πωλεῖ. δὸς οὖν τὸ διάφορον, εἰ σοι λυσιτελεῖ, ὅσου πωλεῖται. εἰ δὲ κἀκεῖνα
+θέλεις μὴ προί̈εσθαι καὶ ταῦτα λαμβάνειν, ἄπληστος εἶ καὶ ἀβέλτερος.
+
+οὐδὲν οὖν ἔχεις ἀντὶ τοῦ δείπνου; ἔχεις μὲν οὖν τὸ μὴ ἐπαινέσαι τοῦτον, ὃν οὐκ
+ἤθελες, τὸ μὴ ἀνασχέσθαι αὐτοῦ τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου.
+
+## 26
+
+Τὸ βούλημα τῆς φύσεως καταμαθεῖν ἔστιν ἐξ ὧν οὐ διαφερόμεθα πρὸς ἀλλήλους.
+οἷον, ὅταν ἄλλου παιδάριον κατεάξῃ τὸ ποτήριον, πρόχειρον εὐθὺς λέγειν ὅτι «τῶν
+γινομένων ἐστίν». ἴσθι οὖν, ὅτι, ὅταν καὶ τὸ σὸν κατεαγῇ, τοιοῦτον εἶναί σε
+δεῖ, ὁποῖον ὅτε καὶ τὸ τοῦ ἄλλου κατεάγη. οὕτω μετατίθει καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ μείζονα.
+τέκνον ἄλλου τέθνηκεν ἢ γυνή; οὐδείς ἐστιν ὃς οὐκ ἂν εἴποι ὅτι «ἀνθρώπινον»:
+ἀλλ' ὅταν τὸ αὐτοῦ τινος ἀποθάνῃ, εὐθὺς «οἴμοι, τάλας ἐγώ». ἐχρῆν δὲ μεμνῆσθαι,
+τί πάσχομεν περὶ ἄλλων αὐτὸ ἀκούσαντες.
+
+## 27
+
+Ὡσπερ σκοπὸς πρὸς τὸ ἀποτυχεῖν οὐ τίθεται, οὕτως οὐδὲ κακοῦ φύσις ἐν κόσμῳ
+γίνεται.
+
+## 28
+
+Εἰ μὲν τὸ σῶμά σού τις ἐπέτρεπε τῷ ἀπαντήσαντι, ἠγανάκτεις ἄν: ὅτι δὲ σὺ τὴν
+γνώμην τὴν σεαυτοῦ ἐπιτρέπεις τῷ τυχόντι, ἵνα, ἐὰν λοιδορήσηταί σοι, ταραχθῇ
+ἐκείνη καὶ συγχυθῇ, οὐκ αἰσχύνῃ τούτου ἕνεκα;
+
+## 29
+
+Ἑκάστου ἔργου σκόπει τὰ καθηγούμενα καὶ τὰ ἀκόλουθα αὐτοῦ καὶ οὕτως ἔρχου ἐπ'
+αὐτό. εἰ δὲ μή, τὴν μὲν πρώτην προθύμως ἥξεις ἅτε μηδὲν τῶν ἑξῆς ἐντεθυμημένος,
+ὕστερον δὲ ἀναφανέντων δυσχερῶν τινων αἰσχρῶς ἀποστήσῃ. θέλεις Ὀλύμπια νικῆσαι;
+
+κἀγώ, νὴ τοὺς θεούς: κομψὸν γάρ ἐστιν. ἀλλὰ σκόπει τὰ καθηγούμενα καὶ τὰ
+ἀκόλουθα καὶ οὕτως ἅπτου τοῦ ἔργου. δεῖ σ' εὐτακτεῖν, ἀναγκοτροφεῖν, ἀπέχεσθαι
+πεμμάτων, γυμνάζεσθαι πρὸς ἀνάγκην, ἐν ὥρᾳ τεταγμένῃ, ἐν καύματι, ἐν ψύχει, μὴ
+ψυχρὸν πίνειν, μὴ οἶνον, ὡς ἔτυχεν, ἁπλῶς ὡς ἰατρῷ παραδεδωκέναι σεαυτὸν τῷ
+ἐπιστάτῃ, εἶτα ἐν τῷ ἀγῶνι παρορύσσεσθαι, ἔστι δὲ ὅτε χεῖρα ἐκβαλεῖν, σφυρὸν
+στρέψαι, πολλὴν ἁφὴν καταπιεῖν, ἔσθ' ὅτε μαστιγωθῆναι καὶ μετὰ τούτων πάντων
+νικηθῆναι.
+
+ταῦτα ἐπισκεψάμενος, ἂν ἔτι θέλῃς, ἔρχου ἐπὶ τὸ ἀθλεῖν. εἰ δὲ μή, ὡς τὰ παιδία
+ἀναστραφήσῃ, ἃ νῦν μὲν παλαιστὰς παίζει, νῦν δὲ μονομάχους, νῦν δὲ σαλπίζει,
+εἶτα τραγῳδεῖ: οὕτω καὶ σὺ νῦν μὲν ἀθλητής, νῦν δὲ μονομάχος, εἶτα ῥήτωρ, εἶτα
+φιλόσοφος, ὅλῃ δὲ τῇ ψυχῇ οὐδέν: ἀλλ' ὡς πίθηκος πᾶσαν θέαν, ἣν ἂν ἴδῃς, μιμῇ
+καὶ ἄλλο ἐξ ἄλλου σοι ἀρέσκει. οὐ γὰρ μετὰ σκέψεως ἦλθες ἐπί τι οὐδὲ
+περιοδεύσας, ἀλλ' εἰκῇ καὶ κατὰ ψυχρὰν ἐπιθυμίαν.
+
+οὕτω θεασάμενοί τινες φιλόσοφον καὶ ἀκούσαντες οὕτω τινὸς λέγοντος, ὡς Εὐφράτης
+λέγει ̔καίτοι τίς οὕτω δύναται εἰπεῖν, ὡς ἐκεῖνος;
+
+θέλουσι καὶ αὐτοὶ φιλοσοφεῖν. ἄνθρωπε, πρῶτον ἐπίσκεψαι, ὁποῖόν ἐστι τὸ πρᾶγμα:
+εἶτα καὶ τὴν σεαυτοῦ φύσιν κατάμαθε, εἰ δύνασαι βαστάσαι. πένταθλος εἶναι
+βούλει ἢ παλαιστής; ἴδε σεαυτοῦ τοὺς βραχίονας, τοὺς μηρούς, τὴν ὀσφὺν
+κατάμαθε.
+
+ἄλλος γὰρ πρὸς ἄλλο πέφυκε. δοκεῖς, ὅτι ταῦτα ποιῶν ὡσαύτως δύνασαι ἐσθίειν,
+ὡσαύτως πίνειν, ὁμοίως ὀρέγεσθαι, ὁμοίως δυσαρεστεῖν; ἀγρυπνῆσαι δεῖ, πονῆσαι,
+ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκείων ἀπελθεῖν, ὑπὸ παιδαρίου καταφρονηθῆναι, ὑπὸ τῶν ἀπαντώντων
+καταγελασθῆναι, ἐν παντὶ ἧττον ἔχειν, ἐν τιμῇ, ἐν ἀρχῇ, ἐν δίκῃ, ἐν πραγματίῳ
+παντί.
+
+ταῦτα ἐπίσκεψαι. εἰ θέλεις ἀντικαταλλάξασθαι τούτων ἀπάθειαν, ἐλευθερίαν,
+ἀταραξίαν: εἰ δὲ μή, μὴ προσάγαγε. μὴ ὡς τὰ παιδία νῦν φιλόσοφος, ὕστερον δὲ
+τελώνης, εἶτα ῥήτωρ, εἶτα ἐπίτροπος Καίσαρος. ταῦτα οὐ συμφωνεῖ. ἕνα σε δεῖ
+ἄνθρωπον ἢ ἀγαθὸν ἢ κακὸν εἶναι: ἢ τὸ ἡγεμονικόν σε δεῖ ἐξεργάζεσθαι τὸ σαυτοῦ
+ἢ τὸ ἐκτὸς ἢ περὶ τὰ ἔσω φιλοτεχνεῖν ἢ περὶ τὰ ἔξω: τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἢ φιλοσόφου
+τάξιν ἐπέχειν ἢ ἰδιώτου.
+
+## 30
+
+Τὰ καθήκοντα ὡς ἐπίπαν ταῖς σχέσεσι παραμετρεῖται. πατήρ ἐστιν: ὑπαγορεύεται
+ἐπιμελεῖσθαι, παραχωρεῖν ἁπάντων, ἀνέχεσθαι λοιδοροῦντος, παίοντος. «ἀλλὰ πατὴρ
+κακός ἐστι». μή τι οὖν πρὸς ἀγαθὸν πατέρα φύσει ᾠκειώθης; ἀλλὰ πρὸς πατέρα. «ὁ
+ἀδελφὸς ἀδικεῖ». τήρει τοιγαροῦν τὴν τάξιν τὴν σεαυτοῦ πρὸς αὐτὸν μηδὲ σκόπει,
+τί ἐκεῖνος ποιεῖ, ἀλλὰ τί σοὶ ποιήσαντι κατὰ φύσιν ἡ σὴ ἕξει προαίρεσις: σὲ γὰρ
+ἄλλος οὐ βλάψει, ἂν μὴ σὺ θέλῃς: τότε δὲ ἔσῃ βεβλαμμένος, ὅταν ὑπολάβῃς
+βλάπτεσθαι. οὕτως οὖν ἀπὸ τοῦ γείτονος, ἀπὸ τοῦ πολίτου, ἀπὸ τοῦ στρατηγοῦ τὸ
+καθῆκον εὑρήσεις, ἐὰν τὰς σχέσεις ἐθίζῃ θεωρεῖν.
+
+## 31
+
+Τῆς περὶ τοὺς θεοὺς εὐσεβείας ἴσθι ὅτι τὸ κυριώτατον ἐκεῖνό ἐστιν, ὀρθὰς
+ὑπολήψεις περὶ αὐτῶν ἔχειν ὡς ὄντων καὶ διοικούντων τὰ ὅλα καλῶς καὶ δικαίως
+καὶ σαυτὸν εἰς τοῦτο κατατεταχέναι, τὸ πείθεσθαι αὐτοῖς καὶ εἴκειν πᾶσι τοῖς
+γινομένοις καὶ ἀκολουθεῖν ἑκόντα ὡς ὑπὸ τῆς ἀρίστης γνώμης ἐπιτελουμένοις. οὕτω
+γὰρ οὐ μέμψῃ ποτὲ τοὺς θεοὺς οὔτε ἐγκαλέσεις ὡς ἀμελούμενος.
+
+ἄλλως δὲ οὐχ οἷόν τε τοῦτο γίνεσθαι, ἐὰν μὴ ἄρῃς ἀπὸ τῶν οὐκ ἐφ' ἡμῖν καὶ ἐν
+τοῖς ἐφ' ἡμῖν μόνοις θῇς τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὸ κακόν. ὡς, ἄν γέ τι ἐκείνων ὑπολάβῃς
+ἀγαθὸν ἢ κακόν, πᾶσα ἀνάγκη, ὅταν ἀποτυγχάνῃς ὧν θέλεις καὶ περιπίπτῃς οἷς μὴ
+θέλεις, μέμψασθαί σε καὶ μισεῖν τοὺς αἰτίους.
+
+πέφυκε γὰρ πρὸς τοῦτο πᾶν ζῷον τὰ μὲν βλαβερὰ φαινόμενα καὶ τὰ αἴτια αὐτῶν
+φεύγειν καὶ ἐκτρέπεσθαι, τὰ δὲ ὠφέλιμα καὶ τὰ αἴτια αὐτῶν μετιέναι τε καὶ
+τεθηπέναι. ἀμήχανον οὖν βλάπτεσθαί τινα οἰόμενον χαίρειν τῷ δοκοῦντι βλάπτειν,
+ὥσπερ καὶ τὸ αὐτῇ τῇ βλάβῃ χαίρειν ἀδύνατον.
+
+ἔνθεν καὶ πατὴρ ὑπὸ υἱοῦ λοιδορεῖται, ὅταν τῶν δοκούντων ἀγαθῶν εἶναι τῷ παιδὶ
+μὴ μεταδιδῷ: καὶ Πολυνείκην καὶ Ἐτεοκλέα τοῦτ' ἐποίησε πολεμίους ἀλλήλοις τὸ
+ἀγαθὸν οἴεσθαι τὴν τυραννίδα. διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ γεωργὸς λοιδορεῖ τοὺς θεούς, διὰ
+τοῦτο ὁ ναύτης, διὰ τοῦτο ὁ ἔμπορος, διὰ τοῦτο οἱ τὰς γυναῖκας καὶ τὰ τέκνα
+ἀπολλύντες. ὅπου γὰρ τὸ συμφέρον, ἐπεῖ καὶ τὸ εὐσεβές. ὥστε, ὅστις ἐπιμελεῖται
+τοῦ ὀρέγεσθαι ὡς δεῖ καὶ ἐκκλίνειν, ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ καὶ εὐσεβείας ἐπιμελεῖται.
+
+σπένδειν δὲ καὶ θύειν καὶ ἀπάρχεσθαι κατὰ τὰ πάτρια ἑκάστοτε προσήκει καθαρῶς
+καὶ μὴ ἐπισεσυρμένως μηδὲ ἀμελῶς μηδέ γε γλίσχρως μηδὲ ὑπὲρ δύναμιν.
+
+## 32
+
+Ὅταν μαντικῇ προσίῃς, μέμνησο, ὅτι, τί μὲν ἀποβήσεται, οὐκ οἶδας, ἀλλὰ ἥκεις ὡς
+παρὰ τοῦ μάντεως αὐτὸ πευσόμενος, ὁποῖον δέ τι ἐστίν, ἐλήλυθας εἰδώς, εἴπερ εἶ
+φιλόσοφος. εἰ γάρ ἐστί τι τῶν οὐκ ἐφ' ἡμῖν, πᾶσα ἀνάγκη μήτε ἀγαθὸν αὐτὸ εἶναι
+μήτε κακόν.
+
+μὴ φέρε οὖν πρὸς τὸν μάντιν ὄρεξιν ἢ ἔκκλισιν μηδὲ τρέμων αὐτῷ πρόσει, ἀλλὰ
+διεγνωκώς, ὅτι πᾶν τὸ ἀποβησόμενον ἀδιάφορον καὶ οὐδὲν πρὸς σέ, ὁποῖον δ' ἂν ᾖ,
+ἔσται αὐτῷ χρήσασθαι καλῶς καὶ τοῦτο οὐθεὶς κωλύσει. θαῤῥῶν οὖν ὡς ἐπὶ
+συμβούλους ἔρχου τοὺς θεούς: καὶ λοιπόν, ὅταν τί σοι συμβουλευθῇ, μέμνησο τίνας
+συμβούλους παρέλαβες καὶ τίνων παρακούσεις ἀπειθήσας.
+
+ἔρχου δὲ ἐπὶ τὸ μαντεύεσθαι, καθάπερ ἠξίου Σωκράτης, ἐφ' ὧν ἡ πᾶσα σκέψις τὴν
+ἀναφορὰν εἰς τὴν ἔκβασιν ἔχει καὶ οὔτε ἐκ λόγου οὔτε ἐκ τέχνης τινὸς ἄλλης
+ἀφορμαὶ δίδονται πρὸς τὸ συνιδεῖν τὸ προκείμενον: ὥστε, ὅταν δεήσῃ
+συγκινδυνεῦσαι φίλῳ ἢ πατρίδι, μὴ μαντεύεσθαι, εἰ συγκινδυνευτέον. καὶ γὰρ ἂν
+προείπῃ σοι ὁ μάντις φαῦλα γεγονέναι τὰ ἱερά, δῆλον ὅτι θάνατος σημαίνεται ἢ
+πήρωσις μέρους τινὸς τοῦ σώματος ἢ φυγή: ἀλλ' αἱρεῖ ὁ λόγος καὶ σὺν τούτοις
+παρίστασθαι τῷ φίλῳ καὶ τῇ πατρίδι συγκινδυνεύειν. τοιγαροῦν τῷ μείζονι μάντει
+πρόσεχε, τῷ Πυθίῳ, ὃς ἐξέβαλε τοῦ ναοῦ τὸν οὐ βοηθήσαντα ἀναιρουμένῳ τῷ φίλῳ.
+
+## 33
+
+Τάξον τινὰ ἤδη χαρακτῆρα σαυτῷ καὶ τύπον, ὃν φυλάξεις ἐπί τε σεαυτοῦ ὢν καὶ
+ἀνθρώποις ἐντυγχάνων.
+
+καὶ σιωπὴ τὸ πολὺ ἔστω ἢ λαλείσθω τὰ ἀναγκαῖα καὶ δι' ὀλίγων. σπανίως δέ ποτε
+καιροῦ παρακαλοῦντος ἐπὶ τὸ λέγειν λέξον μέν, ἀλλὰ περὶ οὐδενὸς τῶν τυχόντων:
+μὴ περὶ μονομαχιῶν, μὴ περὶ ἱπποδρομιῶν, μὴ περὶ ἀθλητῶν, μὴ περὶ βρωμάτων ἢ
+πομάτων, τῶν ἑκασταχοῦ, μάλιστα δὲ μὴ περὶ ἀνθρώπων ψέγων ἢ ἐπαινῶν ἢ
+συγκρίνων.
+
+ἂν μὲν οὖν οἷός τε ᾖς, μετάγαγε τοῖς σοῖς λόγοις καὶ τοὺς τῶν συνόντων ἐπὶ τὸ
+προσῆκον. εἰ δὲ ἐν ἀλλοφύλοις ἀποληφθεὶς τύχοις, σιώπα.
+
+γέλως μὴ πολὺς ἔστω μηδὲ ἐπὶ πολλοῖς μηδὲ ἀνειμένος.
+
+ὅρκον παραίτησαι, εἰ μὲν οἷόν τε, εἰς ἅπαν, εἰ δὲ μή, ἐκ τῶν ἐνόντων. ἑστιάσεις
+τὰς ἔξω καὶ ἰδιωτικὰς διακρούου:
+
+ἐὰν δέ ποτε γίνηται καιρός, ἐντετάσθω σοι ἡ προσοχή, μήποτε ἄρα ὑποῤῥυῇς εἰς
+ἰδιωτισμόν. ἴσθι γάρ, ὅτι, ἐὰν ὁ ἑταῖρος ᾖ μεμολυσμένος, καὶ τὸν
+συνανατριβόμενον αὐτῷ συμμολύνεσθαι ἀνάγκη, κἂν αὐτὸς ὢν τύχῃ καθαρός.
+
+τὰ περὶ τὸ σῶμα μέχρι τῆς χρείας ψιλῆς παραλάμβανε, οἷον τροφάς, πόμα,
+ἀμπεχόνην, οἰκίαν, οἰκετίαν: τὸ δὲ πρὸς δόξαν ἢ τρυφὴν ἅπαν περίγραφε. περὶ
+ἀφροδίσια εἰς δύναμιν πρὸ γάμου καθαρευτέον:
+
+ἁπτομένῳ δὲ ὧν νόμιμόν ἐστι μεταληπτέον. μὴ μέντοι ἐπαχθὴς γίνου τοῖς χρωμένοις
+μηδὲ ἐλεγκτικός: μηδὲ πολλαχοῦ τὸ ὅτι αὐτὸς οὐ χρῇ, παράφερε.
+
+ἐὰν τίς σοι ἀπαγγείλῃ ὅτι ὁ δεῖνά σε κακῶς λέγει, μὴ ἀπολογοῦ πρὸς τὰ λεχθέντα,
+ἀλλ' ἀποκρίνου διότι «ἠγνόει γὰρ τὰ ἄλλα τὰ προσόντα μοι κακά, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἂν
+ταῦτα μόνα ἔλεγεν».
+
+εἰς τὰ θέατρα τὸ πολὺ παριέναι οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον. εἰ δέ ποτε καιρὸς εἴη, μηδενὶ
+σπουδάζων φαίνου ἢ σεαυτῷ, τοῦτ' ἔστι. θέλε γίνεσθαι μόνα τὰ γινόμενα καὶ νικᾶν
+μόνον τὸν νικῶντα: οὕτω γὰρ οὐκ ἐμποδισθήσῃ. βοῆς δὲ καὶ τοῦ ἐπιγελᾶν τινι ἢ
+ἐπὶ πολὺ συγκινεῖσθαι παντελῶς ἀπέχου. καὶ μετὰ τὸ ἀπαλλαγῆναι μὴ πολλὰ περὶ
+τῶν γεγενημένων διαλέγου, ὅσα μὴ φέρει πρὸς τὴν σὴν ἐπανόρθωσιν: ἐμφαίνεται γὰρ
+ἐκ τοῦ τοιούτου, ὅτι ἐθαύμασας τὴν θέαν.
+
+εἰς ἀκροάσεις τινῶν μὴ εἰκῇ μηδὲ ῥᾳδίως πάριθι: παριὼν δὲ τὸ σεμνὸν καὶ τὸ
+εὐσταθὲς καὶ ἅμα ἀνεπαχθὲς φύλασσε.
+
+ὅταν τινὶ μέλλῃς συμβαλεῖν, μάλιστα τῶν ἐν ὑπεροχῇ δοκούντων, πρόβαλε σαυτῷ, τί
+ἂν ἐποίησεν ἐν τούτῳ Σωκράτης ἢ Ζήνων, καὶ οὐκ ἀπορήσεις τοῦ χρήσασθαι
+προσηκόντως τῷ ἐμπεσόντι.
+
+ὅταν φοιτᾷς πρός τινα τῶν μέγα δυναμένων, πρόβαλε, ὅτι οὐχ εὑρήσεις αὐτὸν
+ἔνδον, ὅτι ἀποκλεισθήσῃ, ὅτι ἐντιναχθήσονταί σοι αἱ θύραι, ὅτι οὐ φροντιεῖ σου.
+κἂν σὺν τούτοις ἐλθεῖν καθήκῃ, ἐλθὼν φέρε τὰ γινόμενα καὶ μηδέποτε εἴπῃς αὐτὸς
+πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ὅτι «οὐκ ἦν τοσούτου»: ἰδιωτικὸν γὰρ καὶ διαβεβλημένον πρὸς τὰ
+ἐκτός.
+
+ἐν ταῖς ὁμιλίαις ἀπέστω τὸ ἑαυτοῦ τινων ἔργων ἢ κινδύνων ἐπὶ πολὺ καὶ ἀμέτρως
+μεμνῆσθαι. οὐ γάρ, ὡς σοὶ ἡδύ ἐστι τὸ τῶν σῶν κινδύνων μεμνῆσθαι, οὕτω καὶ τοῖς
+ἄλλοις ἡδύ ἐστι τὸ τῶν σοὶ συμβεβηκότων ἀκούειν.
+
+ἀπέστω δὲ καὶ τὸ γέλωτα κινεῖν: ὀλισθηρὸς γὰρ ὁ τρόπος εἰς ἰδιωτισμὸν καὶ ἅμα
+ἱκανὸς τὴν αἰδῶ τὴν πρὸς σὲ τῶν πλησίον ἀνιέναι.
+
+ἐπισφαλὲς δὲ καὶ τὸ εἰς αἰσχρολογίαν προελθεῖν. ὅταν οὖν τι συμβῇ τοιοῦτον, ἂν
+μὲν εὔκαιρον ᾖ, καὶ ἐπίπληξον τῷ προελθόντι: εἰ δὲ μή, τῷ γε ἀποσιωπῆσαι καὶ
+ἐρυθριᾶσαι καὶ σκυθρωπάσαι δῆλος γίνου δυσχεραίνων τῷ λόγῳ.
+
+## 34
+
+Ὅταν ἡδονῆς τινος φαντασίαν λάβῃς, καθάπερ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων, φύλασσε σαυτόν, μὴ
+συναρπασθῇς ὑπ' αὐτῆς: ἀλλ' ἐκδεξάσθω σε τὸ πρᾶγμα, καὶ ἀναβολήν τινα παρὰ
+σεαυτοῦ λάβε. ἔπειτα μνήσθητι ἀμφοτέρων τῶν χρόνων, καθ' ὅν τε ἀπολαύσεις τῆς
+ἡδονῆς, καὶ καθ' ὃν ἀπολαύσας ὕστερον μετανοήσεις καὶ αὐτὸς σεαυτῷ λοιδορήσῃ:
+καὶ τούτοις ἀντίθες ὅπως ἀποσχόμενος χαιρήσεις καὶ ἐπαινέσεις αὐτὸς σεαυτόν.
+ἐὰν δέ σοι καιρὸς φανῇ ἅψασθαι τοῦ ἔργου, πρόσεχε, μὴ ἡττήσῃ σε τὸ προσηνὲς
+αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡδὺ καὶ ἐπαγωγόν: ἀλλ' ἀντιτίθει, πόσῳ ἄμεινον τὸ συνειδέναι σεαυτῷ
+ταύτην τὴν νίκην νενικηκότι.
+
+## 35
+
+Ὅταν τι διαγνούς, ὅτι ποιητέον ἐστί, ποιῇς, μηδέποτε φύγῃς ὀφθῆναι πράσσων
+αὐτό, κἂν ἀλλοῖόν τι μέλλωσιν οἱ πολλοὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ ὑπολαμβάνειν. εἰ μὲν γὰρ οὐκ
+ὀρθῶς ποιεῖς, αὐτὸ τὸ ἔργον φεῦγε: εἰ δὲ ὀρθῶς, τί φοβῇ τοὺς ἐπιπλήξοντας οὐκ
+ὀρθῶς;
+
+## 36
+
+Ὡς τὸ «ἡμέρα ἐστί» καὶ «νύξ ἐστι» πρὸς μὲν τὸ διεζευγμένον μεγάλην ἔχει ἀξίαν,
+πρὸς δὲ τὸ συμπεπλεγμένον ἀπαξίαν, οὕτω καὶ τὸ τὴν μείζω μερίδα ἐκλέξασθαι πρὸς
+μὲν τὸ σῶμα ἐχέτω ἀξίαν, πρὸς δὲ τὸ τὸ κοινωνικὸν ἐν ἑστιάσει, οἷον δεῖ,
+φυλάξαι, ἀπαξίαν ἔχει. ὅταν οὖν συνεσθίῃς ἑτέρῳ, μέμνησο, μὴ μόνον τὴν πρὸς τὸ
+σῶμα ἀξίαν τῶν παρακειμένων ὁρᾶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὸν ἑστιάτορα αἰδῶ φυλάξαι.
+
+## 37
+
+Ἐὰν ὑπὲρ δύναμιν ἀναλάβῃς τι πρόσωπον, καὶ ἐν τούτῳ ἠσχημόνησας καί, ὃ ἠδύνασο
+ἐκπληρῶσαι, παρέλιπες.
+
+## 38
+
+Ἐν τῷ περιπατεῖν καθάπερ προσέχεις, μὴ ἐπιβῇς ἥλῳ ἢ στρέψῃς τὸν πόδα σου, οὕτω
+πρόσεχε, μὴ καὶ τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν βλάψῃς τὸ σεαυτοῦ. καὶ τοῦτο ἐὰν ἐφ' ἑκάστου
+ἔργου παραφυλάσσωμεν, ἀσφαλέστερον ἁψόμεθα τοῦ ἔργου.
+
+## 39
+
+Μέτρον κτήσεως τὸ σῶμα ἑκάστῳ ὡς ὁ ποὺς ὑποδήματος. ἐὰν μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ τούτου
+στῇς, φυλάξεις τὸ μέτρον: ἐὰν δὲ ὑπερβῇς, ὡς κατὰ κρημνοῦ λοιπὸν ἀνάγκη
+φέρεσθαι: καθάπερ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὑποδήματος, ἐὰν ὑπὲρ τὸν πόδα ὑπερβῇς, γίνεται
+κατάχρυσον ὑπόδημα, εἶτα πορφυροῦν, κεντητόν. τοῦ γὰρ ἅπαξ ὑπὲρ τὸ μέτρον ὅρος
+οὐθείς ἐστιν.
+
+## 40
+
+Αἱ γυναῖκες εὐθὺς ἀπὸ τεσσαρεσκαίδεκα ἐτῶν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνδρῶν κυρίαι καλοῦνται.
+τοιγαροῦν ὁρῶσαι, ὅτι ἄλλο μὲν οὐδὲν αὐταῖς πρόσεστι, μόνον δὲ συγκοιμῶνται
+τοῖς ἀνδράσι, ἄρχονται καλλωπίζεσθαι καὶ ἐν τούτῳ πάσας ἔχειν τὰς ἐλπίδας.
+προσέχειν οὖν ἄξιον, ἵνα αἴσθωνται, διότι ἐπ' οὐδενὶ ἄλλῳ τιμῶνται ἢ τῷ κόσμιαι
+φαίνεσθαι καὶ αἰδήμονες.
+
+## 41
+
+Ἀφυί̈ας σημεῖον τὸ ἐνδιατρίβειν τοῖς περὶ τὸ σῶμα, οἷον ἐπὶ πολὺ γυμνάζεσθαι,
+ἐπὶ πολὺ ἐσθίειν, ἐπὶ πολὺ πίνειν, ἐπὶ πολὺ ἀποπατεῖν, ὀχεύειν. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν
+ἐν παρέργῳ ποιητέον: περὶ δὲ τὴν γνώμην ἡ πᾶσα ἔστω ἐπιστροφή.
+
+## 42
+
+Ὅταν σέ τις κακῶς ποιῇ ἢ κακῶς λέγῃ, μέμνησο, ὅτι καθήκειν αὐτῷ οἰόμενος ποιεῖ
+ἢ λέγει. οὐχ οἷόν τε οὖν ἀκολουθεῖν αὐτὸν τῷ σοὶ φαινομένῳ, ἀλλὰ τῷ ἑαυτῷ,
+ὥστε, εἰ κακῶς αὐτῷ φαίνεται, ἐκεῖνος βλάπτεται, ὅστις καὶ ἐξηπάτηται. καὶ γὰρ
+τὸ ἀληθὲς συμπεπλεγμένον ἄν τις ὑπολάβῃ ψεῦδος, οὐ τὸ συμπεπλεγμένον βέβλαπται,
+ἀλλ' ὁ ἐξαπατηθείς. ἀπὸ τούτων οὖν ὁρμώμενος πρᾴως ἕξεις πρὸς τὸν λοιδοροῦντα.
+ἐπιφθέγγου γὰρ ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ ὅτι «ἔδοξεν αὐτῷ».
+
+## 43
+
+Πᾶν πρᾶγμα δύο ἔχει λαβάς, τὴν μὲν φορητήν, τὴν δὲ ἀφόρητον. ὁ ἀδελφὸς ἐὰν
+ἀδικῇ, ἐντεῦθεν αὐτὸ μὴ λάμβανε, ὅτι ἀδικεῖ ̔αὕτη γὰρ ἡ λαβή ἐστιν αὐτοῦ οὐ
+φορητή̓, ἀλλὰ ἐκεῖθεν μᾶλλον, ὅτι ἀδελφός, ὅτι σύντροφος, καὶ λήψῃ αὐτὸ καθ' ὃ
+φορητόν.
+
+## 44
+
+Οὗτοι οἱ λόγοι ἀσύνακτοι «ἐγώ σου πλουσιώτερός εἰμι, ἐγώ σου ἄρα κρείσσων»:
+«ἐγώ σου λογιώτερος, ἐγώ σου ἄρα κρείσσων». ἐκεῖνοι δὲ μᾶλλον συνακτικοί «ἐγώ
+σου πλουσιώτερός εἰμι, ἡ ἐμὴ ἄρα κτῆσις τῆς σῆς κρείσσων»: «ἐγώ σου λογιώτερος,
+ἡ ἐμὴ ἄρα λέξις τῆς σῆς κρείσσων». σὺ δέ γε οὔτε κτῆσις εἶ οὔτε λέξις.
+
+## 45
+
+Λούεταί τις ταχέως: μὴ εἴπῃς ὅτι κακῶς, ἀλλ' ὅτι ταχέως. πίνει τις πολὺν οἶνον:
+μὴ εἴπῃς ὅτι κακῶς, ἀλλ' ὅτι πολύν. πρὶν γὰρ διαγνῶναι τὸ δόγμα, πόθεν οἶσθα,
+εἰ κακῶς; οὕτως οὐ συμβήσεταί σοι ἄλλων μὲν φαντασίας καταληπτικὰς λαμβάνειν,
+ἄλλοις δὲ συγκατατίθεσθαι.
+
+## 46
+
+Μηδαμοῦ σεαυτὸν εἴπῃς φιλόσοφον μηδὲ λάλει τὸ πολὺ ἐν ἰδιώταις περὶ τῶν
+θεωρημάτων, ἀλλὰ ποίει τὸ ἀπὸ τῶν θεωρημάτων: οἷον ἐν συμποσίῳ μὴ λέγε, πῶς δεῖ
+ἐσθίειν, ἀλλ' ἔσθιε, ὡς δεῖ. μέμνησο γάρ, ὅτι οὕτως ἀφῃρήκει πανταχόθεν
+Σωκράτης τὸ ἐπιδεικτικόν, ὥστε ἤρχοντο πρὸς αὐτὸν βουλόμενοι φιλοσόφοις ὑπ'
+αὐτοῦ συσταθῆναι, κἀκεῖνος ἀπῆγεν αὐτούς.
+
+οὕτως ἠνείχετο παρορώμενος. κἂν περὶ θεωρήματός τινος ἐν ἰδιώταις ἐμπίπτῃ
+λόγος, σιώπα τὸ πολύ: μέγας γὰρ ὁ κίνδυνος εὐθὺς ἐξεμέσαι, ὃ οὐκ ἔπεψας. καὶ
+ὅταν εἴπῃ σοί τις, ὅτι οὐδὲν οἶσθα, καὶ σὺ μὴ δηχθῇς, τότε ἴσθι, ὅτι ἄρχῃ τοῦ
+ἔργου. ἐπεὶ καὶ τὰ πρόβατα οὐ χόρτον φέροντα τοῖς ποιμέσιν ἐπιδεικνύει πόσον,
+ἔφαγεν, ἀλλὰ τὴν νομὴν ἔσω πέψαντα ἔρια ἔξω φέρει καὶ γάλα: καὶ σὺ τοίνυν μὴ τὰ
+θεωρήματα τοῖς ἰδιώταις ἐπιδείκνυε, ἀλλ' ἀπ' αὐτῶν πεφθέντων τὰ ἔργα.
+
+## 47
+
+Ὅταν εὐτελῶς ἡρμοσμένος ᾖς κατὰ τὸ σῶμα, μὴ καλλωπίζου ἐπὶ τούτῳ μήδ', ἂν ὕδωρ
+πίνῃς, ἐκ πάσης ἀφορμῆς λέγε, ὅτι ὕδωρ πίνεις. κἂν ἀσκῆσαί ποτε πρὸς πόνον
+θέλῃς. σεαυτῷ καὶ μὴ τοῖς ἔξω: μὴ τοὺς ἀνδριάντας περιλάμβανε: ἀλλὰ διψῶν ποτε
+σφοδρῶς ἐπίσπασαι ψυχροῦ ὕδατος καὶ ἔκπτυσον καὶ μηδενὶ εἴπῃς.
+
+## 48
+
+Ἰδιώτου στάσις καὶ χαρακτήρ: οὐδέποτε ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ προσδοκᾷ ὠφέλειαν ἢ βλάβην,
+ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῶν ἔξω. φιλοσόφου στάσις καὶ χαρακτήρ: πᾶσαν ὠφέλειαν καὶ βλάβην ἐξ
+ἑαυτοῦ προσδοκᾷ.
+
+σημεῖα προκόπτοντος: οὐδένα ψέγει, οὐδένα ἐπαινεῖ, οὐδένα μέμφεται, οὐδενὶ
+ἐγκαλεῖ, οὐδὲν περὶ ἑαυτοῦ λέγει ὡς ὄντος τινὸς ἢ εἰδότος τι. ὅταν ἐμποδισθῇ τι
+ἢ κωλυθῇ, ἑαυτῷ ἐγκαλεῖ. κἄν τις αὐτὸν ἐπαινῇ, καταγελᾷ τοῦ ἐπαινοῦντος αὐτὸς
+παρ' ἑαυτῷ: κἂν ψέγῃ, οὐκ ἀπολογεῖται. περίεισι δὲ καθάπερ οἱ ἄῤῥωστοι,
+εὐλαβούμενός τι κινῆσαι τῶν καθισταμένων, πρὶν πῆξιν λαβεῖν.
+
+ὄρεξιν ἅπασαν ἦρκεν ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ: τὴν δ' ἔκκλισιν εἰς μόνα τὰ παρὰ φύσιν τῶν ἐφ'
+ἡμῖν μετατέθεικεν. ὁρμῇ πρὸς ἅπαντα ἀνειμένῃ χρῆται. ἂν ἠλίθιος ἢ ἀμαθὴς δοκῇ,
+οὐ πεφρόντικεν. ἐνί τε λόγῳ, ὡς ἐχθρὸν ἑαυτὸν παραφυλάσσει καὶ ἐπίβουλον.
+
+## 49
+
+Ὅταν τις ἐπὶ τῷ νοεῖν καὶ ἐξηγεῖσθαι δύνασθαι τὰ Χρυσίππου βιβλία σεμνύνηται,
+λέγε αὐτὸς πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ὅτι «εἰ μὴ Χρύσιππος ἀσαφῶς ἐγεγράφει, οὐδὲν ἂν εἶχεν
+οὗτος, ἐφ' ᾧ ἐσεμνύνετο». ἐγὼ δὲ τί βούλομαι; καταμαθεῖν τὴν φύσιν καὶ ταύτῃ
+ἕπεσθαι. ζητῶ οὖν, τίς ἐστιν ὁ ἐξηγούμενος: καὶ ἀκούσας, ὅτι Χρύσιππος, ἔρχομαι
+πρὸς αὐτόν. ἀλλ' οὐ νοῶ τὰ γεγραμμένα: ζητῶ οὖν τὸν ἐξηγούμενον. καὶ μέχρι
+τούτων οὔπω σεμνὸν οὐδέν. ὅταν δὲ εὕρω τὸν ἐξηγούμενον, ἀπολείπεται χρῆσθαι
+τοῖς παρηγγελμένοις: τοῦτο αὐτὸ μόνον σεμνόν ἐστιν. ἂν δὲ αὐτὸ τοῦτο τὸ
+ἐξηγεῖσθαι θαυμάσω, τί ἄλλο ἢ γραμματικὸς ἀπετελέσθην ἀντὶ φιλοσόφου; πλήν γε
+δὴ ὅτι ἀντὶ Ὁμήρου Χρύσιππον ἐξηγούμενος. μᾶλλον οὖν, ὅταν τις εἴπῃ μοι
+«ἐπανάγνωθί μοι Χρύσιππον», ἐρυθριῶ, ὅταν μὴ δύνωμαι ὅμοια τὰ ἔργα καὶ σύμφωνα
+ἐπιδεικνύειν τοῖς λόγοις.
+
+## 50
+
+Ὅσα προτίθεται, τούτοις ὡς νόμοις, ὡς ἀσεβήσων, ἂν παραβῇς, ἔμμενε. ὅ τι δ' ἂν
+ἐρῇ τις περὶ σοῦ, μὴ ἐπιστρέφου: τοῦτο γὰρ οὐκ ἔτ' ἔστι σόν.
+
+## 51
+
+Εἰς ποῖον ἔτι χρόνον ἀναβάλλῃ τὸ τῶν βελτίστων ἀξιοῦν σεαυτὸν καὶ ἐν μηδενὶ
+παραβαίνειν τὸν διαιροῦντα λόγον; παρείληφας τὰ θεωρήματα, οἷς ἔδει σε
+συμβάλλειν, καὶ συμβέβληκας. ποῖον οὖν ἔτι διδάσκαλον προσδοκᾷς, ἵνα εἰς
+ἐκεῖνον ὑπερθῇ τὴν ἐπανόρθωσιν ποιῆσαι τὴν σεαυτοῦ; οὐκ ἔτι εἶ μειράκιον, ἀλλὰ
+ἀνὴρ ἤδη τέλειος. ἂν νῦν ἀμελήσῃς καὶ ῥᾳθυμήσῃς καὶ ἀεὶ προθέσεις ἐκ προθέσεως
+ποιῇ καὶ ἡμέρας ἄλλας ἐπ' ἄλλαις ὁρίζῃς, μεθ' ἃς προσέξεις σεαυτῷ, λήσεις
+σεαυτὸν οὐ προκόψας, ἀλλ' ἰδιώτης διατελέσεις καὶ ζῶν καὶ ἀποθνῄσκων.
+
+ἤδη οὖν ἀξίωσον σεαυτὸν βιοῦν ὡς τέλειον καὶ προκόπτοντα: καὶ πᾶν τὸ βέλτιστον
+φαινόμενον ἔστω σοι νόμος ἀπαράβατος. κἂν ἐπίπονόν τι ἢ ἡδὺ ἢ ἔνδοξον ἢ ἄδοξον
+προσάγηται, μέμνησο, ὅτι νῦν ὁ ἀγὼν καὶ ἤδη πάρεστι τὰ Ὀλύμπια καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν
+ἀναβάλλεσθαι οὐκέτι καὶ ὅτι παρὰ μίαν ἡμέραν καὶ ἓν πρᾶγμα καὶ ἀπόλλυται
+προκοπὴ καὶ σῴζεται.
+
+Σωκράτης οὕτως ἀπετελέσθη, ἐπὶ πάντων τῶν προσαγομένων αὐτῷ μηδενὶ ἄλλῳ
+προσέχων ἢ τῷ λόγῳ. σὺ δὲ εἰ καὶ μήπω εἶ Σωκράτης, ὡς Σωκράτης γε εἶναι
+βουλόμενος ὀφείλεις βιοῦν.
+
+## 52
+
+Ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ἀναγκαιότατος τόπος ἐστὶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ ὁ τῆς χρήσεως τῶν
+θεωρημάτων, οἷον τὸ μὴ ψεύδεσθαι: ὁ δεύτερος ὁ τῶν ἀποδείξεων, οἷον πόθεν ὅτι
+οὐ δεῖ ψεύδεσθαι: τρίτος ὁ αὐτῶν τούτων βεβαιωτικὸς καὶ διαρθρωτικός, οἷον
+πόθεν ὅτι τοῦτο ἀπόδειξις; τί γάρ ἐστιν ἀπόδειξις, τί ἀκολουθία, τί μάχη, τί
+ἀληθές, τί ψεῦδος;
+
+οὐκοῦν ὁ μὲν τρίτος τόπος ἀναγκαῖος διὰ τὸν δεύτερον, ὁ δὲ δεύτερος διὰ τὸν
+πρῶτον: ὁ δὲ ἀναγκαιότατος καὶ ὅπου ἀναπαύεσθαι δεῖ, ὁ πρῶτος. ἡμεῖς δὲ ἔμπαλιν
+ποιοῦμεν: ἐν γὰρ τῷ τρίτῳ τόπῳ διατρίβομεν καὶ περὶ ἐκεῖνόν ἐστιν ἡμῖν ἡ πᾶσα
+σπουδή: τοῦ δὲ πρώτου παντελῶς ἀμελοῦμεν. τοιγαροῦν ψευδόμεθα μέν, πῶς δὲ
+ἀποδείκνυται ὅτι οὐ δεῖ ψεύδεσθαι, πρόχειρον ἔχομεν.
+
+## 53
+
+Ἐ̓πὶ̀ παντὸς πρόχειρα ἑκτέον ταῦτα:  
+«ἄγου δέ μ', ὦ Ζεῦ, καὶ σύ γ' ἡ Πεπρωμένη,  
+ὅποι ποθ' ὑμῖν εἰμι διατεταγμένος:  
+ὡς ἕψομαί γ' ἄοκνος: ἢν δέ γε μὴ θέλω,  
+κακὸς γενόμενος, οὐδὲν ἧττον ἕψομαι»
+
+«ὅστις δ' ἀνάγκῃ συγκεχώρηκεν καλῶς,  
+σοφὸς παρ' ἡμῖν, καὶ τὰ θεῖ' ἐπίσταται».  
+«ἀλλ', ὦ Κρίτων, εἰ ταύτῃ τοῖς θεοῖς φίλον, ταύτῃ γενέσθω».  
+«ἐμὲ δὲ Ἄνυτος καὶ Μέλιτος ἀποκτεῖναι μὲν δύνανται, βλάψαι δὲ οὔ».

source/content/enchiridion/1750-elizabeth-carter.md

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+Author:     Epictetus  
+Title:      The Enchiridion  
+Translator: Elizabeth Carter  
+Date:       1750  
+Source:     [mit.edu](http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/epicench.html)  
+Code:       ec  
+
+## 1
+
+Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are
+opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own
+actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command,
+and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions.
+
+The things in our control are by nature free, unrestrained, unhindered; but
+those not in our control are weak, slavish, restrained, belonging to others.
+Remember, then, that if you suppose that things which are slavish by nature are
+also free, and that what belongs to others is your own, then you will be
+hindered. You will lament, you will be disturbed, and you will find fault both
+with gods and men. But if you suppose that only to be your own which is your
+own, and what belongs to others such as it really is, then no one will ever
+compel you or restrain you. Further, you will find fault with no one or accuse
+no one. You will do nothing against your will. No one will hurt you, you will
+have no enemies, and you not be harmed.
+
+Aiming therefore at such great things, remember that you must not allow
+yourself to be carried, even with a slight tendency, towards the attainment of
+lesser things. Instead, you must entirely quit some things and for the present
+postpone the rest. But if you would both have these great things, along with
+power and riches, then you will not gain even the latter, because you aim at
+the former too: but you will absolutely fail of the former, by which alone
+happiness and freedom are achieved.
+
+Work, therefore to be able to say to every harsh appearance, "You are but an
+appearance, and not absolutely the thing you appear to be." And then examine it
+by those rules which you have, and first, and chiefly, by this: whether it
+concerns the things which are in our own control, or those which are not; and,
+if it concerns anything not in our control, be prepared to say that it is
+nothing to you.
+
+## 2
+
+Remember that following desire promises the attainment of that of which you are
+desirous; and aversion promises the avoiding that to which you are averse.
+However, he who fails to obtain the object of his desire is disappointed, and
+he who incurs the object of his aversion wretched. If, then, you confine your
+aversion to those objects only which are contrary to the natural use of your
+faculties, which you have in your own control, you will never incur anything to
+which you are averse. But if you are averse to sickness, or death, or poverty,
+you will be wretched. Remove aversion, then, from all things that are not in
+our control, and transfer it to things contrary to the nature of what is in our
+control. But, for the present, totally suppress desire: for, if you desire any
+of the things which are not in your own control, you must necessarily be
+disappointed; and of those which are, and which it would be laudable to desire,
+nothing is yet in your possession. Use only the appropriate actions of pursuit
+and avoidance; and even these lightly, and with gentleness and reservation.
+
+## 3
+
+With regard to whatever objects give you delight, are useful, or are deeply
+loved, remember to tell yourself of what general nature they are, beginning
+from the most insignificant things. If, for example, you are fond of a specific
+ceramic cup, remind yourself that it is only ceramic cups in general of which
+you are fond. Then, if it breaks, you will not be disturbed. If you kiss your
+child, or your wife, say that you only kiss things which are human, and thus
+you will not be disturbed if either of them dies.
+
+## 4
+
+When you are going about any action, remind yourself what nature the action is.
+If you are going to bathe, picture to yourself the things which usually happen
+in the bath: some people splash the water, some push, some use abusive
+language, and others steal. Thus you will more safely go about this action if
+you say to yourself, "I will now go bathe, and keep my own mind in a state
+conformable to nature." And in the same manner with regard to every other
+action. For thus, if any hindrance arises in bathing, you will have it ready to
+say, "It was not only to bathe that I desired, but to keep my mind in a state
+conformable to nature; and I will not keep it if I am bothered at things that
+happen.
+
+## 5
+
+Men are disturbed, not by things, but by the principles and notions which they
+form concerning things. Death, for instance, is not terrible, else it would
+have appeared so to Socrates. But the terror consists in our notion of death
+that it is terrible. When therefore we are hindered, or disturbed, or grieved,
+let us never attribute it to others, but to ourselves; that is, to our own
+principles. An uninstructed person will lay the fault of his own bad condition
+upon others. Someone just starting instruction will lay the fault on himself.
+Some who is perfectly instructed will place blame neither on others nor on
+himself.
+
+## 6
+
+Don't be prideful with any excellence that is not your own. If a horse should
+be prideful and say, " I am handsome," it would be supportable. But when you
+are prideful, and say, " I have a handsome horse," know that you are proud of
+what is, in fact, only the good of the horse. What, then, is your own? Only
+your reaction to the appearances of things. Thus, when you behave conformably
+to nature in reaction to how things appear, you will be proud with reason; for
+you will take pride in some good of your own.
+
+## 7
+
+Consider when, on a voyage, your ship is anchored; if you go on shore to get
+water you may along the way amuse yourself with picking up a shellish, or an
+onion. However, your thoughts and continual attention ought to be bent towards
+the ship, waiting for the captain to call on board; you must then immediately
+leave all these things, otherwise you will be thrown into the ship, bound neck
+and feet like a sheep.  So it is with life. If, instead of an onion or a
+shellfish, you are given a wife or child, that is fine. But if the captain
+calls, you must run to the ship, leaving them, and regarding none of them. But
+if you are old, never go far from the ship: lest, when you are called, you
+should be unable to come in time.
+
+## 8
+
+Don't demand that things happen as you wish, but wish that they happen as they
+do happen, and you will go on well.
+
+## 9
+
+Sickness is a hindrance to the body, but not to your ability to choose, unless
+that is your choice. Lameness is a hindrance to the leg, but not to your
+ability to choose. Say this to yourself with regard to everything that happens,
+then you will see such obstacles as hindrances to something else, but not to
+yourself.
+
+## 10
+
+With every accident, ask yourself what abilities you have for making a proper
+use of it. If you see an attractive person, you will find that self-restraint
+is the ability you have against your desire.  If you are in pain, you will find
+fortitude. If you hear unpleasant language, you will find patience. And thus
+habituated, the appearances of things will not hurry you away along with them.
+
+## 11
+
+Never say of anything, "I have lost it"; but, "I have returned it." Is your
+child dead? It is returned. Is your wife dead? She is returned. Is your estate
+taken away? Well, and is not that likewise returned? "But he who took it away
+is a bad man." What difference is it to you who the giver assigns to take it
+back? While he gives it to you to possess, take care of it; but don't view it
+as your own, just as travelers view a hotel.
+
+## 12
+
+If you want to improve, reject such reasonings as these: "If I neglect my
+affairs, I'll have no income; if I don't correct my servant, he will be bad."
+For it is better to die with hunger, exempt from grief and fear, than to live
+in affluence with perturbation; and it is better your servant should be bad,
+than you unhappy.
+
+Begin therefore from little things. Is a little oil spilt? A little wine
+stolen? Say to yourself, "This is the price paid for apathy, for tranquillity,
+and nothing is to be had for nothing." When you call your servant, it is
+possible that he may not come; or, if he does, he may not do what you want. But
+he is by no means of such importance that it should be in his power to give you
+any disturbance.
+
+## 13
+
+If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid with regard
+to external things. Don't wish to be thought to know anything; and even if you
+appear to be somebody important to others, distrust yourself. For, it is
+difficult to both keep your faculty of choice in a state conformable to nature,
+and at the same time acquire external things. But while you are careful about
+the one, you must of necessity neglect the other.
+
+## 14
+
+If you wish your children, and your wife, and your friends to live for ever,
+you are stupid; for you wish to be in control of things which you cannot, you
+wish for things that belong to others to be your own. So likewise, if you wish
+your servant to be without fault, you are a fool; for you wish vice not to be
+vice," but something else.  But, if you wish to have your desires
+undisappointed, this is in your own control. Exercise, therefore, what is in
+your control. He is the master of every other person who is able to confer or
+remove whatever that person wishes either to have or to avoid. Whoever, then,
+would be free, let him wish nothing, let him decline nothing, which depends on
+others else he must necessarily be a slave.
+
+## 15
+
+Remember that you must behave in life as at a dinner party. Is anything brought
+around to you? Put out your hand and take your share with moderation.  Does it
+pass by you? Don't stop it. Is it not yet come? Don't stretch your desire
+towards it, but wait till it reaches you. Do this with regard to children, to a
+wife, to public posts, to riches, and you will eventually be a worthy partner
+of the feasts of the gods. And if you don't even take the things which are set
+before you, but are able even to reject them, then you will not only be a
+partner at the feasts of the gods, but also of their empire. For, by doing
+this, Diogenes, Heraclitus and others like them, deservedly became, and were
+called, divine.
+
+## 16
+
+When you see anyone weeping in grief because his son has gone abroad, or is
+dead, or because he has suffered in his affairs, be careful that the appearance
+may not misdirect you. Instead, distinguish within your own mind, and be
+prepared to say, "It's not the accident that distresses this person., because
+it doesn't distress another person; it is the judgment which he makes about
+it." As far as words go, however, don't reduce yourself to his level, and
+certainly do not moan with him. Do not moan inwardly either.
+
+## 17
+
+Remember that you are an actor in a drama, of such a kind as the author pleases
+to make it. If short, of a short one; if long, of a long one. If it is his
+pleasure you should act a poor man, a cripple, a governor, or a private person,
+see that you act it naturally. For this is your business, to act well the
+character assigned you; to choose it is another's.
+
+## 18
+
+When a raven happens to croak unluckily, don't allow the appearance hurry you
+away with it, but immediately make the distinction to yourself, and say, "None
+of these things are foretold to me; but either to my paltry body, or property,
+or reputation, or children, or wife. But to me all omens are lucky, if I will.
+For whichever of these things happens, it is in my control to derive advantage
+from it."
+
+## 19
+
+You may be unconquerable, if you enter into no combat in which it is not in
+your own control to conquer. When, therefore, you see anyone eminent in honors,
+or power, or in high esteem on any other account, take heed not to be hurried
+away with the appearance, and to pronounce him happy; for, if the essence of
+good consists in things in our own control, there will be no room for envy or
+emulation. But, for your part, don't wish to be a general, or a senator, or a
+consul, but to be free; and the only way to this is a contempt of things not in
+our own control.
+
+## 20
+
+Remember, that not he who gives ill language or a blow insults, but the
+principle which represents these things as insulting. When, therefore, anyone
+provokes you, be assured that it is your own opinion which provokes you. Try,
+therefore, in the first place, not to be hurried away with the appearance. For
+if you once gain time and respite, you will more easily command yourself.
+
+## 21
+
+Let death and exile, and all other things which appear terrible be daily before
+your eyes, but chiefly death, and you win never entertain any abject thought,
+nor too eagerly covet anything.
+
+## 22
+
+If you have an earnest desire of attaining to philosophy, prepare yourself from
+the very first to be laughed at, to be sneered by the multitude, to hear them
+say,." He is returned to us a philosopher all at once," and " Whence this
+supercilious look?" Now, for your part, don't have a supercilious look indeed;
+but keep steadily to those things which appear best to you as one appointed by
+God to this station. For remember that, if you adhere to the same point, those
+very persons who at first ridiculed will afterwards admire you. But if you are
+conquered by them, you will incur a double ridicule.
+
+## 23
+
+If you ever happen to turn your attention to externals, so as to wish to please
+anyone, be assured that you have ruined your scheme of life. Be contented,
+then, in everything with being a philosopher; and, if you wish to be thought so
+likewise by anyone, appear so to yourself, and it will suffice you.
+
+## 24
+
+Don't allow such considerations as these distress you. "I will live in
+dishonor, and be nobody anywhere." For, if dishonor is an evil, you can no more
+be involved in any evil by the means of another, than be engaged in anything
+base. Is it any business of yours, then, to get power, or to be admitted to an
+entertainment? By no means.  How, then, after all, is this a dishonor? And how
+is it true that you will be nobody anywhere, when you ought to be somebody in
+those things only which are in your own control, in which you may be of the
+greatest consequence? "But my friends will be unassisted." -- What do you mean
+by unassisted? They will not have money from you, nor will you make them Roman
+citizens. Who told you, then, that these are among the things in our own
+control, and not the affair of others?  And who can give to another the things
+which he has not himself? "Well, but get them, then, that we too may have a
+share." If I can get them with the preservation of my own honor and fidelity
+and greatness of mind, show me the way and I will get them; but if you require
+me to lose my own proper good that you may gain what is not good, consider how
+inequitable and foolish you are. Besides, which would you rather have, a sum of
+money, or a friend of fidelity and honor? Rather assist me, then, to gain this
+character than require me to do those things by which I may lose it. Well, but
+my country, say you, as far as depends on me, will be unassisted. Here again,
+what assistance is this you mean? "It will not have porticoes nor baths of your
+providing." And what signifies that? Why, neither does a smith provide it with
+shoes, or a shoemaker with arms. It is enough if everyone fully performs his
+own proper business. And were you to supply it with another citizen of honor
+and fidelity, would not he be of use to it? Yes. Therefore neither are you
+yourself useless to it. "What place, then, say you, will I hold in the state?"
+Whatever you can hold with the preservation of your fidelity and honor. But if,
+by desiring to be useful to that, you lose these, of what use can you be to
+your country when you are become faithless and void of shame.
+
+## 25
+
+Is anyone preferred before you at an entertainment, or in a compliment, or in
+being admitted to a consultation? If these things are good, you ought to be
+glad that he has gotten them; and if they are evil, don't be grieved that you
+have not gotten them. And remember that you cannot, without using the same
+means [which others do] to acquire things not in our own control, expect to be
+thought worthy of an equal share of them. For how can he who does not frequent
+the door of any [great] man, does not attend him, does not praise him, have an
+equal share with him who does? You are unjust, then, and insatiable, if you are
+unwilling to pay the price for which these things are sold, and would have them
+for nothing. For how much is lettuce sold? Fifty cents, for instance. If
+another, then, paying fifty cents, takes the lettuce, and you, not paying it,
+go without them, don't imagine that he has gained any advantage over you. For
+as he has the lettuce, so you have the fifty cents which you did not give. So,
+in the present case, you have not been invited to such a person's
+entertainment, because you have not paid him the price for which a supper is
+sold.  It is sold for praise; it is sold for attendance. Give him then the
+value, if it is for your advantage. But if you would, at the same time, not pay
+the one and yet receive the other, you are insatiable, and a blockhead. Have
+you nothing, then, instead of the supper? Yes, indeed, you have: the not
+praising him, whom you don't like to praise; the not bearing with his behavior
+at coming in.
+
+## 26
+
+The will of nature may be learned from those things in which we don't
+distinguish from each other. For example, when our neighbor's boy breaks a cup,
+or the like, we are presently ready to say, "These things will happen." Be
+assured, then, that when your own cup likewise is broken, you ought to be
+affected just as when another's cup was broken. Apply this in like manner to
+greater things. Is the child or wife of another dead? There is no one who would
+not say, "This is a human accident." but if anyone's own child happens to die,
+it is presently, "Alas I how wretched am I!" But it should be remembered how we
+are affected in hearing the same thing concerning others.
+
+## 27
+
+As a mark is not set up for the sake of missing the aim, so neither does the
+nature of evil exist in the world.
+
+## 28
+
+If a person gave your body to any stranger he met on his way, you would
+certainly be angry. And do you feel no shame in handing over your own mind to
+be confused and mystified by anyone who happens to verbally attack you?
+
+## 29
+
+In every affair consider what precedes and follows, and then undertake it.
+Otherwise you will begin with spirit; but not having thought of the
+consequences, when some of them appear you will shamefully desist.  "I would
+conquer at the Olympic games." But consider what precedes and follows, and
+then, if it is for your advantage, engage in the affair. You must conform to
+rules, submit to a diet, refrain from dainties; exercise your body, whether you
+choose it or not, at a stated hour, in heat and cold; you must drink no cold
+water, nor sometimes even wine. In a word, you must give yourself up to your
+master, as to a physician. Then, in the combat, you may be thrown into a ditch,
+dislocate your arm, turn your ankle, swallow dust, be whipped, and, after all,
+lose the victory. When you have evaluated all this, ifr having viewed the whole
+matter on all sides, or made any scrutiny into it, but rashly, and with a cold
+inclination. Thus some, when they have seen a philosopher and heard a man
+speaking like Euphrates (though, indeed, who can speak like him?), have a mind
+to be philosophers too.  Consider first, man, what the matter is, and what your
+own nature is able to bear. If you would be a wrestler, consider your
+shoulders, your back, your thighs; for different persons are made for different
+things. Do you think that you can act as you do, and be a philosopher?  That
+you can eat and drink, and be angry and discontented as you are now? You must
+watch, you must labor, you must get the better of certain appetites, must quit
+your acquaintance, be despised by your servant, be laughed at by those you
+meet; come off worse than others in everything, in magistracies, in honors, in
+courts of judicature. When you have considered all these things round,
+approach, if you please; if, by parting with them, you have a mind to purchase
+apathy, freedom, and tranquillity. If not, don't come here; don't, like
+children, be one while a philosopher, then a publican, then an orator, and then
+one of Caesar's officers. These things are not consistent. You must be one man,
+either good or bad. You must cultivate either your own ruling faculty or
+externals, and apply yourself either to things within or without you; that is,
+be either a philosopher, or one of the vulgar.
+
+## 30
+
+Duties are universally measured by relations. Is anyone a father?  If so, it is
+implied that the children should take care of him, submit to him in everything,
+patiently listen to his reproaches, his correction.  But he is a bad father. Is
+you naturally entitled, then, to a good father? No, only to a father. Is a
+brother unjust? Well, keep your own situation towards him.  Consider not what
+he does, but what you are to do to keep your own faculty of choice in a state
+conformable to nature. For another will not hurt you unless you please. You
+will then be hurt when you think you are hurt. In this manner, therefore, you
+will find, from the idea of a neighbor, a citizen, a general, the corresponding
+duties if you accustom yourself to contemplate the several relations.
+
+## 31
+
+Be assured that the essential property of piety towards the gods is to form
+right opinions concerning them, as existing "I and as governing the universe
+with goodness and justice. And fix yourself in this resolution, to obey them,
+and yield to them, and willingly follow them in all events, as produced by the
+most perfect understanding. For thus you will never find fault with the gods,
+nor accuse them as neglecting you. And it is not possible for this to be
+effected any other way than by withdrawing yourself from things not in our own
+control, and placing good or evil in those only which are. For if you suppose
+any of the things not in our own control to be either good or evil, when you
+are disappointed of what you wish, or incur what you would avoid, you must
+necessarily find fault with and blame the authors. For every animal is
+naturally formed to fly and abhor things that appear hurtful, and the causes of
+them; and to pursue and admire those which appear beneficial, and the causes of
+them. It is impractical, then, that one who supposes himself to be hurt should
+be happy about the person who, he thinks, hurts him, just as it is impossible
+to be happy about the hurt itself. Hence, also, a father is reviled by a son,
+when he does not impart to him the things which he takes to be good; and the
+supposing empire to be a good made Polynices and Eteocles mutually enemies. On
+this account the husbandman, the sailor, the merchant, on this account those
+who lose wives and children, revile the gods. For where interest is, there too
+is piety placed. So that, whoever is careful to regulate his desires and
+aversions as he ought, is, by the very same means, careful of piety likewise.
+But it is also incumbent on everyone to offer libations and sacrifices and
+first fruits, conformably to the customs of his country, with purity, and not
+in a slovenly manner, nor negligently, nor sparingly, nor beyond his ability.
+
+## 32
+
+When you have recourse to divination, remember that you know not what the event
+will be, and you come to learn it of the diviner; but of what nature it is you
+know before you come, at least if you are a philosopher. For if it is among the
+things not in our own control, it can by no means be either good or evil.
+Don't, therefore, bring either desire or aversion with you to the diviner (else
+you will approach him trembling), but first acquire a distinct knowledge that
+every event is indifferent and nothing to you., of whatever sort it may be, for
+it will be in your power to make a right use of it, and this no one can hinder;
+then come with confidence to the gods, as your counselors, and afterwards, when
+any counsel is given you, remember what counselors you have assumed, and whose
+advice you will neglect if you disobey. Come to divination, as Socrates
+prescribed, in cases of which the whole consideration relates to the event, and
+in which no opportunities are afforded by reason, or any other art, to discover
+the thing proposed to be learned. When, therefore, it is our duty to share the
+danger of a friend or of our country, we ought not to consult the oracle
+whether we will share it with them or not. For, though the diviner should
+forewarn you that the victims are unfavorable, this means no more than that
+either death or mutilation or exile is portended. But we have reason within us,
+and it directs, even with these hazards, to the greater diviner, the Pythian
+god, who cast out of the temple the person who gave no assistance to his friend
+while another was murdering him.
+
+## 33
+
+Immediately prescribe some character and form of conduce to yourself, which you
+may keep both alone and in company.
+
+Be for the most part silent, or speak merely what is necessary, and in few
+words. We may, however, enter, though sparingly, into discourse sometimes when
+occasion calls for it, but not on any of the common subjects, of gladiators, or
+horse races, or athletic champions, or feasts, the vulgar topics of
+conversation; but principally not of men, so as either to blame, or praise, or
+make comparisons. If you are able, then, by your own conversation bring over
+that of your company to proper subjects; but, if you happen to be taken among
+strangers, be silent.
+
+Don't allow your laughter be much, nor on many occasions, nor profuse.
+
+Avoid swearing, if possible, altogether; if not, as far as you are able.
+
+Avoid public and vulgar entertainments; but, if ever an occasion calls you to
+them, keep your attention upon the stretch, that you may not imperceptibly
+slide into vulgar manners. For be assured that if a person be ever so sound
+himself, yet, if his companion be infected, he who converses with him will be
+infected likewise.
+
+Provide things relating to the body no further than mere use; as meat, drink,
+clothing, house, family. But strike off and reject everything relating to show
+and delicacy.
+
+As far as possible, before marriage, keep yourself pure from familiarities with
+women, and, if you indulge them, let it be lawfully." But don't therefore be
+troublesome and full of reproofs to those who use these liberties, nor
+frequently boast that you yourself don't.
+
+If anyone tells you that such a person speaks ill of you, don't make excuses
+about what is said of you, but answer: " He does not know my other faults, else
+he would not have mentioned only these."
+
+It is not necessary for you to appear often at public spectacles; but if ever
+there is a proper occasion for you to be there, don't appear more solicitous
+for anyone than for yourself; that is, wish things to be only just as they are,
+and him only to conquer who is the conqueror, for thus you will meet with no
+hindrance. But abstain entirely from declamations and derision and violent
+emotions. And when you come away, don't discourse a great deal on what has
+passed, and what does not contribute to your own amendment. For it would appear
+by such discourse that you were immoderately struck with the show.
+
+Go not [of your own accord] to the rehearsals of any (authors) , nor appear [at
+them] readily. But, if you do appear, keepyour gravity and sedateness, and at
+the same time avoid being morose.
+
+When you are going to confer with anyone, and particularly of those in a
+superior station, represent to yourself how Socrates or Zeno would behave in
+such a case, and you will not be at a loss to make a proper use of whatever may
+occur.
+
+When you are going to any of the people in power, represent to yourself that
+you will not find him at home; that you will not be admitted; that the doors
+will not be opened to you; that he will take no notice of you. If, with all
+this, it is your duty to go, bear what happens, and never say [to yourself], "
+It was not worth so much." For this is vulgar, and like a man dazed by external
+things.
+
+In parties of conversation, avoid a frequent and excessive mention of your own
+actions and dangers. For, however agreeable it may be to yourself to mention
+the risks you have run, it is not equally agreeable to others to hear your
+adventures. Avoid, likewise, an endeavor to excite laughter. For this is a
+slippery point, which may throw you into vulgar manners, and, besides, may be
+apt to lessen you in the esteem of your acquaintance. Approaches to indecent
+discourse are likewise dangerous. Whenever, therefore, anything of this sort
+happens, if there be a proper opportunity, rebuke him who makes advances that
+way; or, at least, by silence and blushing and a forbidding look, show yourself
+to be displeased by such talk.
+
+## 34
+
+If you are struck by the appearance of any promised pleasure, guard yourself
+against being hurried away by it; but let the affair wait your leisure, and
+procure yourself some delay. Then bring to your mind both points of time: that
+in which you will enjoy the pleasure, and that in which you will repent and
+reproach yourself after you have enjoyed it; and set before you, in opposition
+to these, how you will be glad and applaud yourself if you abstain. And even
+though it should appear to you a seasonable gratification, take heed that its
+enticing, and agreeable and attractive force may not subdue you; but set in
+opposition to this how much better it is to be conscious of having gained so
+great a victory.
+
+## 35
+
+When you do anything from a clear judgment that it ought to be done, never shun
+the being seen to do it, even though the world should make a wrong supposition
+about it; for, if you don't act right, shun the action itself; but, if you do,
+why are you afraid of those who censure you wrongly?
+
+## 36
+
+As the proposition, "Either it is day or it is night," is extremely proper for
+a disjunctive argument, but quite improper in a conjunctive one, so, at a
+feast, to choose the largest share is very suitable to the bodily appetite, but
+utterly inconsistent with the social spirit of an entertainment. When you eat
+with another, then, remember not only the value of those things which are set
+before you to the body, but the value of that behavior which ought to be
+observed towards the person who gives the entertainment.
+
+## 37
+
+If you have assumed any character above your strength, you have both made an
+ill figure in that and quitted one which you might have supported.
+
+## 38
+
+When walking, you are careful not to step on a nail or turn your foot; so
+likewise be careful not to hurt the ruling faculty of your mind. And, if we
+were to guard against this in every action, we should undertake the action with
+the greater safety.
+
+## 39
+
+The body is to everyone the measure of the possessions proper for it, just as
+the foot is of the shoe. If, therefore, you stop at this, you will keep the
+measure; but if you move beyond it, you must necessarily be carried forward, as
+down a cliff; as in the case of a shoe, if you go beyond its fitness to the
+foot, it comes first to be gilded, then purple, and then studded with jewels.
+For to that which once exceeds a due measure, there is no bound.
+
+## 40
+
+Women from fourteen years old are flattered with the title of "mistresses" by
+the men. Therefore, perceiving that they are regarded only as qualified to give
+the men pleasure, they begin to adorn themselves, and in that to place ill
+their hopes. We should, therefore, fix our attention on making them sensible
+that they are valued for the appearance of decent, modest and discreet
+behavior.
+
+## 41
+
+It is a mark of want of genius to spend much time in things relating to the
+body, as to be long in our exercises, in eating and drinking, and in the
+discharge of other animal functions. These should be done incidentally and
+slightly, and our whole attention be engaged in the care of the understanding.
+
+## 42
+
+When any person harms you, or speaks badly of you, remember that he acts or
+speaks from a supposition of its being his duty. Now, it is not possible that
+he should follow what appears right to you, but what appears so to himself.
+Therefore, if he judges from a wrong appearance, he is the person hurt, since
+he too is the person deceived. For if anyone should suppose a true proposition
+to be false, the proposition is not hurt, but he who is deceived about it.
+Setting out, then, from these principles, you will meekly bear a person who
+reviles you, for you will say upon every occasion, "It seemed so to him."
+
+## 43
+
+Everything has two handles, the one by which it may be carried, the other by
+which it cannot. If your brother acts unjustly, don't lay hold on the action by
+the handle of his injustice, for by that it cannot be carried; but by the
+opposite, that he is your brother, that he was brought up with you; and thus
+you will lay hold on it, as it is to be carried.
+
+## 44
+
+These reasonings are unconnected: "I am richer than you, therefore I am
+better"; "I am more eloquent than you, therefore I am better." The connection
+is rather this: "I am richer than you, therefore my property is greater than
+yours;" "I am more eloquent than you, therefore my style is better than yours."
+But you, after all, are neither property nor style.
+
+## 45
+
+Does anyone bathe in a mighty little time? Don't say that he does it ill, but
+in a mighty little time. Does anyone drink a great quantity of wine? Don't say
+that he does ill, but that he drinks a great quantity.  For, unless you
+perfectly understand the principle from which anyone acts, how should you know
+if he acts ill? Thus you will not run the hazard of assenting to any
+appearances but such as you fully comprehend.
+
+## 46
+
+Never call yourself a philosopher, nor talk a great deal among the unlearned
+about theorems, but act conformably to them. Thus, at an entertainment, don't
+talk how persons ought to eat, but eat as you ought. For remember that in this
+manner Socrates also universally avoided all ostentation. And when persons came
+to him and desired to be recommended by him to philosophers, he took and-
+recommended them, so well did he bear being overlooked. So that if ever any
+talk should happen among the unlearned concerning philosophic theorems, be you,
+for the most part, silent. For there is great danger in immediately throwing
+out what you have not digested. And, if anyone tells you that you know nothing,
+and you are not nettled at it, then you may be sure that you have begun your
+business. For sheep don't throw up the grass to show the shepherds how much
+they have eaten; but, inwardly digesting their food, they outwardly produce
+wool and milk. Thus, therefore, do you likewise not show theorems to the
+unlearned, but the actions produced by them after they have been digested.
+
+## 47
+
+When you have brought yourself to supply the necessities of your body at a
+small price, don't pique yourself upon it; nor, if you drink water, be saying
+upon every occasion, "I drink water." But first consider how much more sparing
+and patient of hardship the poor are than we. But if at any time you would
+inure yourself by exercise to labor, and bearing hard trials, do it for your
+own sake, and not for the world; don't grasp statues, but, when you are
+violently thirsty, take a little cold water in your mouth, and spurt it out and
+tell nobody.
+
+## 48
+
+The condition and characteristic of a vulgar person, is, that he never expects
+either benefit or hurt from himself, but from externals. The condition and
+characteristic of a philosopher is, that he expects all hurt and benefit from
+himself. The marks of a proficient are, that he censures no one, praises no
+one, blames no one, accuses no one, says nothing concerning himself as being
+anybody, or knowing anything: when he is, in any instance, hindered or
+restrained, he accuses himself; and, if he is praised, he secretly laughs at
+the person who praises him; and, if he is censured, he makes no defense. But he
+goes about with the caution of sick or injured people, dreading to move
+anything that is set right, before it is perfectly fixed. He suppresses all
+desire in himself; he transfers his aversion to those things only which thwart
+the proper use of our own faculty of choice; the exertion of his active powers
+towards anything is very gentle; if he appears stupid or ignorant, he does not
+care, and, in a word, he watches himself as an enemy, and one in ambush.
+
+## 49
+
+When anyone shows himself overly confident in ability to understand and
+interpret the works of Chrysippus, say to yourself, " Unless Chrysippus had
+written obscurely, this person would have had no subject for his vanity. But
+what do I desire? To understand nature and follow her.  I ask, then, who
+interprets her, and, finding Chrysippus does, I have recourse to him. I don't
+understand his writings. I seek, therefore, one to interpret them." So far
+there is nothing to value myself upon.  And when I find an interpreter, what
+remains is to make use of his instructions. This alone is the valuable thing.
+But, if I admire nothing but merely the interpretation, what do I become more
+than a grammarian instead of a philosopher? Except, indeed, that instead of
+Homer I interpret Chrysippus. When anyone, therefore, desires me to read
+Chrysippus to him, I rather blush when I cannot show my actions agreeable and
+consonant to his discourse.
+
+## 50
+
+Whatever moral rules you have deliberately proposed to yourself.  abide by them
+as they were laws, and as if you would be guilty of impiety by violating any of
+them. Don't regard what anyone says of you, for this, after all, is no concern
+of yours.
+
+## 51
+
+How long, then, will you put off thinking yourself worthy of the highest
+improvements and follow the distinctions of reason? You have received the
+philosophical theorems, with which you ought to be familiar, and you have been
+familiar with them. What other master, then, do you wait for, to throw upon
+that the delay of reforming yourself? You are no longer a boy, but a grown man.
+If, therefore, you will be negligent and slothful, and always add
+procrastination to procrastination, purpose to purpose, and fix day after day
+in which you will attend to yourself, you will insensibly continue without
+proficiency, and, living and dying, persevere in being one of the vulgar. This
+instant, then, think yourself worthy of living as a man grown up, and a
+proficient. Let whatever appears to be the best be to you an inviolable law.
+And if any instance of pain or pleasure, or glory or disgrace, is set before
+you, remember that now is the combat, now the Olympiad comes on, nor can it be
+put off. By once being defeated and giving way, proficiency is lost, or by the
+contrary preserved. Thus Socrates became perfect, improving himself by
+everything. attending to nothing but reason. And though you are not yet a
+Socrates, you ought, however, to live as one desirous of becoming a Socrates.
+
+## 52
+
+The first and most necessary topic in philosophy is that of the use of moral
+theorems, such as, "We ought not to lie;" the second is that of demonstrations,
+such as, "What is the origin of our obligation not to lie;" the third gives
+strength and articulation to the other two, such as, "What is the origin of
+this is a demonstration." For what is demonstration? What is consequence? What
+contradiction? What truth? What falsehood? The third topic, then, is necessary
+on the account of the second, and the second on the account of the first.  But
+the most necessary, and that whereon we ought to rest, is the first. But we act
+just on the contrary. For we spend all our time on the third topic, and employ
+all our diligence about that, and entirely neglect the first. Therefore, at the
+same time that we lie, we are immediately prepared to show how it is
+demonstrated that lying is not right.
+
+## 53
+
+Upon all occasions we ought to have these maxims ready at hand:
+
+"Conduct me, Jove, and you, O Destiny, Wherever your decrees have fixed my
+station." *(Cleanthes)*
+
+"I follow cheerfully; and, did I not, Wicked and wretched, I must follow still
+Whoever yields properly to Fate, is deemed Wise among men, and knows the laws
+of heaven." *(Euripides, Frag. 965)*
+
+And this third:
+
+"O Crito, if it thus pleases the gods, thus let it be. Anytus and Melitus may
+kill me indeed, but hurt me they cannot." *(Plato's Crito and Apology)*

source/content/enchiridion/1865-thomas-wentworth-higginson.md

@@ -0,0 +1,731 @@
+Author:     Epictetus  
+Title:      Enchiridion  
+Translator: T.W. Higginson  
+Date:       1865  
+Source:     [tufts.edu](http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0557.tlg002.perseus-eng2:1)  
+Code:       twh  
+
+## 1
+
+There are things which are within our power, and there are things which are
+beyond our power. Within our power are opinion, aim, desire, aversion, and, in
+one word, whatever affairs are our own. Beyond our power are body, property,
+reputation, office, and, in one word, whatever are not properly our own
+affairs.
+
+Now, the things within our power are by nature free, unrestricted, unhindered;
+but those beyond our power are weak, dependent, restricted, alien. Remember,
+then, that if you attribute freedom to things by nature dependent, and take
+what belongs to others for your own, you will be hindered, you will lament, you
+will be disturbed, you will find fault both with gods and men. But if you take
+for your own only that which is your own, and view what belongs to others just
+as it really is, then no one will ever compel you, no one will restrict you,
+you will find fault with no one, you will accuse no one, you will do nothing
+against your will; no one will hurt you, you will not have an enemy, nor will
+you suffer any harm.
+
+Aiming therefore at such great things, remember that you must not allow
+yourself any inclination, however slight, towards the attainment of the others;
+but that you must entirely quit some of them, and for the present postpone the
+rest. But if you would have these, and possess power and wealth likewise, you
+may miss the latter in seeking the former; and you will certainly fail of that
+by which alone happiness and freedom are procured.
+
+Seek at once, therefore, to be able to say to every unpleasing semblance, " You
+are but a semblance and by no means the real thing." And then examine it by
+those rules which you have; and first and chiefly, by this: whether it concerns
+the things which are within our own power, or those which are not; and if it
+concerns anything beyond our power, be prepared to say that it is nothing to
+you.
+
+## 2
+
+Remember that desire demands the attainment of that of which you are desirous;
+and aversion demands the avoidance of that to which you are averse; that he who
+fails of the object of his desires is disappointed; and he who incurs the
+object of his aversion is wretched.  If, then, you shun only those undesirable
+things which you can control, you will never incur anything which you shun; but
+if you shun sickness, or death, or poverty, you will run the risk of
+wretchedness. Remove [the habit of] aversion, then, from all things that are
+not within our power, and apply it to things undesirable, which are within our
+power.  But for the present altogether restrain desire; for if you desire any
+of the things not within our own power, you must necessarily be disappointed;
+and you are not yet secure of those which are within our power, and so are
+legitimate objects of desire. Where it is practically necessary for you to
+pursue or avoid anything, do even this with discretion, and gentleness, and
+moderation.
+
+## 3
+
+With regard to whatever objects either delight the mind, or contribute to use,
+or are tenderly beloved, remind yourself of what nature they are, beginning
+with the merest trifles: if you have a favorite cup, that it is but a cup of
+which you are fond, - for thus, if it is broken, you can bear it; if you
+embrace your child, or your wife, that you embrace a mortal, - and thus, if
+either of them dies, you can bear it.
+
+## 4
+
+When you set about any action, remind yourself of what nature the action is. If
+you are going to bathe, represent to yourself the incidents usual in the bath, -
+some persons pouring out, others pushing in, others scolding, others pilfering.
+And thus you will more safely go about this action, if you say to yourself, " I
+will now go to bathe, and keep my own will in harmony with nature." And so with
+regard to every other action. For thus, if any impediment arises in bathing,
+you will be able to say, "It was not only to bathe that I desired, but to keep
+my will in harmony with nature; and I shall not keep it thus, if I am out of
+humor at things that happen."
+
+## 5
+
+Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of things.
+Thus death is nothing terrible, else it would have appeared so to Socrates.
+But the terror consists in our notion of death, that it is terrible. When,
+therefore, we are hindered, or disturbed, or grieved, let us never impute it to
+others, but to ourselves; that is, to our own views. It is the action of an
+uninstructed person to reproach others for his own misfortunes; of one entering
+upon instruction, to reproach himself; and of one perfectly instructed, to
+reproach neither others nor himself.
+
+## 6
+
+Be not elated at any excellence not your own. If a horse should be elated, and
+say, " I am handsome," it might be endurable. But when you are elated, and say,
+" I have a handsome horse," know that you are elated only on the merit of the
+horse. What then is your own? The use of the phenomena of existence.  So that
+when you are in harmony with nature in this respect, you will be elated with
+some reason; for you will be elated at some good of your own.
+
+## 7
+
+As in a voyage, when the ship is at anchor, if you go on shore to get water,
+you may amuse yourself with picking up a shell-fish or a truffle in your way,
+but your thoughts ought to be bent towards the ship, and perpetually attentive,
+lest the captain should call, and then you must leave all these things, that
+you may not have to be carried on board the vessel, bound like a sheep; thus
+likewise in life, if, instead of a truffle or shell-fish, such a thing as a
+wife or a child be granted you, there is no objection; but if the captain
+calls, run to the ship, leave all these things, and never look behind. But if
+you are old, never go far from the ship, lest you should be missing when called
+for.
+
+## 8
+
+Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as
+they do happen, and you will go on well.
+
+## 9
+
+Sickness is an impediment to the body, but not to the will, unless itself
+pleases. Lameness is an impediment to the leg, but not to the will; and say
+this to yourself with regard to everything that happens. For you will find it
+to be an impediment to something else, but not truly to yourself.
+
+## 10
+
+Upon every accident, remember to turn towards yourself and inquire what faculty
+you have for its use.  If you encounter a handsome person, you will find
+continence the faculty needed; if pain, then fortitude; if reviling, then
+patience. And when thus habituated, the phenomena of existence will not
+overwhelm you.
+
+## 11
+
+Never say of anything, "I have lost it;" but, " I have restored it." Has your
+child died? It is restored. Has your wife died? She is restored. Has your
+estate been taken away? That likewise is restored. " But it was a bad man who
+took it."  What is it to you by whose hands he who gave it has demanded it
+again? While he permits you to possess it, hold it as something not your own;
+as do travellers at an inn.
+
+## 12
+
+If you would improve, lay aside such reasonings as these: "If I neglect my
+affairs, I shall not have a maintenance; if I do not punish my servant, he will
+be good for nothing." For it were better to die of hunger, exempt from grief
+and fear, than to live in affluence with perturbation; and it is better that
+your servant should be bad than you unhappy.
+
+Begin therefore with little things. Is a little oil spilt or a little wine
+stolen? Say to yourself, "This is the price paid for peace and tranquillity;
+and nothing is to be had for nothing." And when you call your servant, consider
+that it is possible he may not come at your call; or, if he does, that he may
+not do what you wish. But it is not at all desirable for him, and very
+undesirable for you, that it should be in his power to cause you any
+disturbance.
+
+## 13
+
+If you would improve, be content to be thought foolish and dull with regard to
+externals. Do not desire to be thought to know anything; and though you should
+appear to others to be somebody, distrust yourself. For be assured, it is not
+easy at once to keep your will in harmony with nature, and to secure externals;
+but while you are absorbed in the one, you must of necessity neglect the other.
+
+## 14
+
+If you wish your children and your wife and your friends to live forever, you
+are foolish; for you wish things to be in your power which are not so; and what
+belongs to others to be your own. So likewise, if you wish your servant to be
+without fault, you are foolish; for you wish vice not to be vice, but something
+else. But if you wish not to be disappointed in your desires, that is in your
+own power. Exercise, therefore, what is in your power. A man's master is he who
+is able to confer or remove whatever that man seeks or shuns. Whoever then
+would be free, let him wish nothing, let him decline nothing, which depends on
+others; else he must necessarily be a slave.
+
+## 15
+
+Remember that you must behave as at a banquet.  Is anything brought round to
+you? Put out your hand, and take a moderate share. Does it pass by you?  Do not
+stop it. Is it not yet come? Do not yearn in desire towards it, but wait till
+it reaches you.  So with regard to children, wife, office, riches; and you will
+some time or other be worthy to feast with the gods.  And if you do not so much
+as take the things which are set before you, but are able even to forego them,
+then you will not only be worthy to feast with the gods, but to rule with them
+also. For, by thus doing, Diogenes and Heraclitus, and others like them,
+deservedly became divine, and were so recognized.
+
+## 16
+
+When you see any one weeping for grief, either that his son has gone abroad, or
+that he has suffered in his affairs, take care not to be overcome by the
+apparent evil; but discriminate, and be ready to say, "What hurts this man is
+not this occurrence itself,- for another man might not be hurt by it, - but the
+view he chooses to take of it."  As far as conversation goes, however, do not
+disdain to accommodate yourself to him, and if need be, to groan with him. Take
+heed, however, not to groan inwardly too.
+
+## 17
+
+Remember that you are an actor in a drama of such sort as the author chooses, -
+if short, then in a short one; if long, then in a long one. If it be his
+pleasure that you should enact a poor man, see that you act it well; or a
+cripple, or a ruler, or a private citizen. For this is your business, to act
+well the given part; but to choose it, belongs to another.
+
+## 18
+
+When a raven happens to croak unluckily, be not overcome by appearances, but
+discriminate, and say, " Nothing is portended to *me*; but either to my paltry
+body, or property, or reputation, or children, or wife. But to *me* all
+portents are lucky, if I will.  For whatsoever happens, it belongs to me to
+derive advantage therefrom."
+
+## 19
+
+You can be unconquerable, if you enter into no combat in which it is not in
+your own power to conquer. When, therefore, you see any one eminent in honors
+or power, or in high esteem on any other account, take heed not to be
+bewildered by appearances and to pronounce him happy; for if the essence of
+good consists in things within our own power, there will be no room for envy or
+emulation. But, for your part, do not desire to be a general, or a senator, or
+a consul, but to be free; and the only way to this is a disregard of things
+which lie not within our own power.
+
+## 20
+
+Remember that it is not he who gives abuse or blows who affronts; but the view
+we take of these things as insulting. When, therefore, any one provokes you, be
+assured that it is your own opinion which provokes you.   Try, therefore, in
+the first place, not to be bewildered by appearances. For if you once gain time
+and respite, you will more easily command yourself.
+
+## 21
+
+Let death and exile, and all other things which appear terrible, be daily
+before your eyes, but death chiefly; and you will never entertain any abject
+thought, nor too eagerly covet anything.
+
+## 22
+
+If you have an earnest desire towards philosophy, prepare yourself from the
+very first to have the multitude laugh and sneer, and say, "He is returned to
+us a philosopher all at once;" and "Whence this supercilious look? " Now, for
+your part, do not have a supercilious look indeed; but keep steadily to those
+things which appear best to you, as one appointed by God to this particular
+station. For remember that, if you are persistent, those very persons who at
+first ridiculed will afterwards admire you. But if you are conquered by them,
+you will incur a double ridicule.
+
+## 23
+
+If you ever happen to turn your attention to externals, for the pleasure of any
+one, be assured that you have ruined your scheme of life. Be contented, then,
+in everything, with being a philosopher; and if you wish to seem so likewise to
+any one, appear so to yourself, and it will suffice you.
+
+## 24
+
+Let not such considerations as these distress you: "I shall live in discredit,
+and be nobody anywhere." For if discredit be an evil, you can no more be
+involved in evil through another, than in baseness. Is it any business of
+yours, then, to get power, or to be admitted to an entertainment? By no means.
+How then, after all, is this discredit? And how is it true that you will be
+.nobody anywhere; when you ought to be somebody in those things only which are
+within your own power, in which you may be of the greatest consequence?  "But
+my friends will be unassisted." What do you mean by unassisted? They will not
+have money from you; nor will you make them Roman citizens. Who told you, then,
+that these are among the things within our own power, and not rather the
+affairs of others? And who can give to another the things which he himself has
+not?  " Well, but get them, then, that we too may have a share." If I can get
+them with the preservation of my own honor and fidelity and self-respect, show
+me the way, and I will get them; but if you require me to lose my own proper
+good, that you may gain what is no good, consider how unreasonable and foolish
+you are. Besides, which would you rather have, a sum of money, or a faithful
+and honorable friend?  Rather assist me, then, to gain this character, than
+require me to do those things by which I may lose it. Well, but my country, say
+you, as far as depends upon me, will be unassisted. Here, again, what
+assistance is this you mean? It will not have porticos nor baths of your
+providing? And what signifies that? Why, neither does a smith provide it with
+shoes, nor a shoemaker with arms. It is enough if every one fully performs his
+own proper business.  And were you to supply it with another faithful and
+honorable citizen, would not he be of use to it?  Yes. Therefore neither are
+you yourself useless to it. "What place, then," say you, " shall I hold in the
+state?" Whatever you can hold with the preservation of your fidelity and honor.
+But if, by desiring to be useful to that, you lose these, how can you serve
+your country, when you have become faithless and shameless?
+
+## 25
+
+Is any one preferred before you at an entertainment, or in courtesies, or in
+confidential intercourse?  If these things are good, you ought to rejoice that
+he.  has them; and if they are evil, do not be grieved that you have them not.
+And remember that you cannot be permitted to rival others in externals, without
+using the same means to obtain them. For how can he who will not haunt the door
+of any man, will not attend him, will not praise him, have an equal share with
+him who does these things? You are unjust, then, and unreasonable, if you are
+unwilling to pay the price for which these things are sold, and would have them
+for nothing. For how much are lettuces sold?  An obolus, for instance. If
+another, then, paying an obolus, takes the lettuces, and you, not paying it, go
+without them, do not imagine that he has gained any advantage over you. For as
+he has the lettuces, so you have the obolus which you did not give. So, in the
+present case, you have not been invited to such a person's entertainment,
+because you have not paid him the price for which a supper is sold. It is sold
+for praise; it is sold for attendance. Give him, then, the value, if it be for
+your advantage. But if you would at the same time not pay the one, and yet
+receive the other, you are unreasonable and foolish. Have you nothing, then, in
+place of the supper? Yes, indeed you have: not to praise him whom you do not
+like to praise; not to bear the insolence of his lackeys.
+
+## 26
+
+The will of Nature may be learned from things upon which we are all agreed. As,
+when our neighbor's boy has broken a cup, or the like, we are ready at once to
+say, " These are casualties that will happen;" be assured, then, that when your
+own cup is likewise broken, you ought to be affected just as when another's cup
+was broken.   Now   apply this to greater things.  Is the child or wife of
+another dead? There is no one who would not say, " This is an accident of
+mortality." But if any one's own child happens to die, it is immediately, "Alas
+! how wretched am I! " It should be always remembered how we are affected on
+hearing the same thing concerning others.
+
+## 27
+
+As a mark is not set up for the sake of missing the aim, so neither does the
+nature of evil exist in the world.
+
+## 28
+
+If a person had delivered up your body to some passer-by, you would certainly
+be angry. And do you feel no shame in delivering up your own mind to any
+reviler, to be disconcerted and confounded?
+
+## 29
+
+In every affair consider what precedes and follows, and then undertake it.
+Otherwise you will begin with spirit indeed, careless of the consequences, and
+when these are developed, you will shamefully desist. “I would conquer at the
+Olympic games.” But consider what precedes and follows, and then, if it be for
+your advantage, engage in the affair. You must conform to rules, submit to a
+diet, refrain from dainties; exercise your body, whether you choose it or not,
+at a stated hour, in heat and cold; you must drink no cold water, and sometimes
+no wine, – in a word, you must give yourself up to your trainer as to a
+physician. Then, in the combat, you may be thrown into a ditch, dislocate your
+arm, turn your ankle, swallow abundance of dust, receive stripes [for
+negligence], and, after all, lose the victory. When you have reckoned up all
+this, if your inclination still holds, set about the combat. Otherwise, take
+notice, you will behave like children who sometimes play wrestlers, sometimes
+gladiators, sometimes blow a trumpet, and sometimes act a tragedy, when they
+have seen and admired these shows. Thus you too will be at one time a wrestler,
+at another a gladiator; now a philosopher, now an orator; but nothing in
+earnest. Like an ape you mimic all you see, and one thing after another is sure
+to please you, but is out of favor as soon as it becomes familiar. For you have
+never entered upon anything considerately, nor after having surveyed and tested
+the whole matter; but carelessly, and with a half-way zeal. Thus some, when
+they have seen a philosopher, and heard a man speaking like Euphrates, – though
+indeed who can speak like him? – have a mind to be philosophers too. Consider
+first, man, what the matter is, and what your own nature is able to bear. If
+you would be a wrestler, consider your shoulders, your back, your thighs; for
+different persons are made for different things. Do you think that you can act
+as you do, and be a philosopher; that you can eat, drink, be angry, be
+discontented, as you are now? You must watch, you must labor, you must get the
+better of certain appetites; must quit your acquaintance, be despised by your
+servant, be laughed at by those you meet; come off worse than others in
+everything, – in offices, in honors, before tribunals. When you have fully
+considered all these things, approach, if you please; if, by parting with them,
+you have a mind to purchase serenity, freedom, and tranquillity. If not, do not
+come hither; do not, like children, be now a philosopher, then a publican, then
+an orator, and then one of Caesar’s officers. These things are not consistent.
+You must be one man either good or bad. You must cultivate either your own
+Reason or else externals, apply yourself either to things within or without
+you; that is, be either a philosopher, or one of the mob.
+
+## 30
+
+Duties are universally measured by relations. Is a certain man your father? In
+this are implied, taking care of him; submitting to him in all things;
+patiently receiving his reproaches, his- correction. But he is a bad father. Is
+your natural tie, then, to a *good* father? No, but to a father. Is a brother
+unjust? Well, preserve your own just relation towards him. Consider not what
+*he* does, but what *you* are to do, to keep your own will in a state
+conformable to nature. For another cannot hurt you, unless you please. You will
+then be hurt when you consent to be hurt. In this manner, therefore, if you
+accustom yourself to contemplate the relations of neighbor, citizen, commander,
+you can deduce from each the corresponding duties.
+
+## 31
+
+Be assured that the essence of piety towards the gods lies in this, to form
+right opinions concerning them, as existing, and as governing the universe
+justly and well. And fix yourself in this resolution, to obey them, and yield
+to them, and willingly follow them amidst all events, as being ruled by the
+most perfect wisdom. For thus you will never find fault with the gods, nor
+accuse them of neglecting you.  And it is not possible for this to be effected
+in any other way than by withdrawing yourself from things which are not within
+our own power, and by making good or evil to consist only in those which are.
+For if you suppose any other things to be either good or evil, it is inevitable
+that, when you are disappointed of what you wish, or incur what you would
+avoid, you should reproach and blame their authors. For ever} creature is
+naturally formed to flee and abhor things that appear hurtful, and that which
+causes them; and to pursue and admire those which appear beneficial, and that
+which causes them. It is impracticable, then, that one who supposes himself to
+be hurt should rejoice in the person who, as he thinks, hurts him; just as it
+is impossible to rejoice in the hurt itself. Hence, also, a father is reviled
+by his son, when he does not impart the things which seem to be good; and this
+made Polynices and Eteocles mutually enemies, that empire seemed good to both.
+On this account the husbandman reviles the gods; the sailor, the merchant, or
+those who have lost wife or child. For where our interest is, there too is
+piety directed. So that whoever is careful to regulate his desires and
+aversions as he ought is thus made careful of piety likewise. But it also
+becomes incumbent on every one to offer libations and sacrifices and
+first-fruits, according to the customs of his country, purely, and not
+heedlessly nor negligently; not avariciously, nor yet extravagantly.
+
+## 32
+
+When you have recourse to divination, remember that you know not what the event
+will be, and you come to learn it of the diviner; but of what nature it is you
+knew before coming; at least, if you are of philosophic mind. For if it is
+among the things not within our own power, it can by no means be either good or
+evil. Do not, therefore, bring with you to the diviner either desire or
+aversion, - else you will approach him trembling, -but first clearly understand
+that every event is indifferent, and nothing to *you*, of whatever sort it may
+be; for it will be in your power to make a right use of it, and this no one can
+hinder. Then come with confidence to the gods as your counsellors; and
+afterwards, when any counsel is given you, remember what counsellors you have
+assumed, and whose advice you will neglect, if you disobey. Come to divination,
+as Socrates prescribed, in cases of which the whole consideration relates to
+the event, and in which no opportunities are afforded by reason, or any other
+art, to discover the matter in view. When, therefore, it is our duty to share
+the danger of a friend or of our country, we ought not to consult the oracle as
+to whether we shall share it with them or not. For though the diviner should
+forewarn you that the auspices are unfavorable, this means no more than that
+either death or mutilation or exile is portended. But we have reason within us;
+and it directs us, even with these hazards, to stand by our friend and our
+country. Attend, therefore, to the greater diviner, the Pythian God, who once
+cast out of the temple him who neglected to save his friend.This refers to an
+anecdote given in full by Simplicius, in his commentary on this passage, of a
+man assaulted and killed, on his way to consult the oracle, while his
+companion, deserting him, took refuge in the temple, till cast out by the
+Deity.- H.
+
+## 33
+
+Begin by prescribing to yourself some character and demeanor, such as you may
+preserve both alone and in company.
+
+Be mostly silent; or speak merely what is needful, and in few words. We may,
+however, enter sparingly into discourse sometimes, when occasion calls for it;
+but let it not run on any of the common subjects, as gladiators, or
+horse-races, or athletic champions, or food, or drink, -the vulgar topics of
+conversation; and especially not on men, so as either to blame, or praise, or
+make comparisons. If you are able, then, by your own conversation, bring over
+that of your company to proper subjects; but if you happen to find yourself
+among strangers, be silent.
+
+Let not your laughter be loud, frequent, or abundant.
+
+Avoid taking oaths, if possible, altogether; at any rate, so far as you are
+able.
+
+Avoid public and vulgar entertainments; but if ever an occasion calls you to
+them, keep your attention upon the stretch, that you may not imperceptibly
+slide into vulgarity. For be assured that if a person be ever so pure himself,
+yet, if his companion be corrupted, he who converses with him will be corrupted
+likewise.
+
+Provide things relating to the body no farther than absolute need requires; as
+meat, drink, clothing, house, retinue. But cut off everything that looks
+towards show and luxury.
+
+Before marriage, guard yourself with all your ability from unlawful intercourse
+with women; yet be not uncharitable or severe to those who are led into this,
+nor frequently boast that you yourself do otherwise.
+
+If any one tells you that such a person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses
+about what is said of you, but answer: "He was ignorant of my other faults,
+else he would not have mentioned these alone."
+
+It is not necessary for you to appear often at public spectacles; but if ever
+there is a proper occasion for you to be there, do not appear more solicitous
+for any other than for yourself; that is, wish things to be only just as they
+are, and only the best man to win; for thus nothing will go against you. But
+abstain entirely from acclamations and derision and violent emotions.  And when
+you come away, do not discourse a great deal on what has passed, and what
+contributes nothing to your own amendment. For it would appear by such
+discourse that you were dazzled by the show.
+
+Be not prompt or ready to attend private recitations; but if you do attend,
+preserve your gravity and dignity, and yet avoid making yourself disagreeable.
+
+When you are going to confer with any one, and especially with one who seems
+your superior, represent to yourself how Socrates or Zeno would behave in such
+a case, and you will not be at a loss to meet properly whatever may occur.
+
+When you are going before any one in power, fancy to yourself that you may not
+find him at home, that you may be shut out, that the doors may not be opened to
+you, that he may not notice you.  If, with all this, it be your duty to go,
+bear what happens, and never say to yourself, "It was not worth so much." For
+this is vulgar, and like a man bewildered by externals.
+
+In society, avoid a frequent and excessive mention of your own actions and
+dangers.  For however agreeable it may be to yourself to allude to the risks
+you have run, it is not equally agreeable to others to hear your adventures.
+Avoid likewise an endeavor to excite laughter. For this may readily slide you
+into vulgarity, and, besides, may be apt to lower you in the esteem of your
+acquaintance. Approaches to indecent discourse are likewise dangerous.
+Therefore when anything of this sort happens, use the first fit opportunity to
+rebuke him who makes advances that way; or, at least, by silence and blushing
+and a serious look, show yourself to be displeased by such talk.
+
+## 34
+
+If you are dazzled by the semblance of any promised pleasure, guard yourself
+against being bewildered by it; but let the affair wait your leisure, and
+procure yourself some delay. Then bring to your mind both points of time, -that
+in which you shall enjoy the pleasure, and that in which you will repent and
+reproach yourself, after you have enjoyed it, - and set before you, in
+opposition to these, how you will rejoice and applaud yourself, if you abstain.
+And even though it should appear to you a seasonable gratification, take heed
+that its enticements and allurements and seductions may not subdue you; but set
+in opposition to this, how much better it is to be conscious of having gained
+so great a victory.
+
+## 35
+
+When you do anything from a clear judgment that it ought to be done, never
+shrink from being seen to do it, even though the world should misunderstand it;
+for if you are not acting rightly, shun the action itself; if you are, why fear
+those who wrongly censure you?
+
+## 36
+
+As the proposition, *either it is day, or it is night*, has much force in a
+disjunctive argument, but none at all in a conjunctive one; so, at a feast, to
+choose the largest share is very suitable to the bodily appetite, but utterly
+inconsistent with the social spirit of the entertainment. Remember, then, when
+you eat with another, not only the value to the body of those things which are
+set before you, but also the value of proper courtesy towards your host.
+
+## 37
+
+If you have assumed any character beyond your strength, you have both demeaned
+yourself ill in that, and quitted one which you might have supported.
+
+## 38
+
+As in walking you take care not to tread upon a nail, or turn your foot, so
+likewise take care not to hurt the ruling faculty of your mind.  And if we were
+to guard against this in every action, we should enter upon action more safely.
+
+## 39
+
+The body is to every one the proper measure of its possessions, as the foot is
+of the shoe. If, therefore, you stop at this, you will keep the measure; but if
+you move beyond it, you must necessarily be carried forward, as down a
+precipice; as in the case of a shoe, if you go beyond its fitness to the foot,
+it comes first to be gilded, then purple, and then studded with jewels.  For to
+that which once exceeds the fit measure there is no bound.
+
+## 40
+
+Women from fourteen years old are flattered by men with the title of
+mistresses. Therefore, perceiving that they are regarded only as qualified to
+give men pleasure, they begin to adorn themselves, and in that to place all
+their hopes. It is worth while, therefore, to try that they may perceive
+themselves honored only so far as they appear beautiful in their demeanor, and
+modestly virtuous.
+
+## 41
+
+It is a mark of want of intellect, to spend much time in things relating to the
+body; as to be immoderate in exercises, in eating and drinking, and in the
+discharge of other animal functions.  These things should be done incidentally
+and our main strength be applied to our reason.
+
+## 42
+
+When any person does ill by you, or speaks ill of you, remember that he acts or
+speaks from an impression that it is right for him to do so. Now, it is not
+possible that he should follow what appears right to you, but only what appears
+so to himself. Therefore, if he judges from false appearances, he is the person
+hurt; since he too is the person deceived.  For if any one takes a true
+proposition to be false, the proposition is not hurt, but only the man is
+deceived. Setting out, then, from these principles, you will meekly bear with a
+person who reviles you; for you will say upon every occasion, "It seemed so to
+him."
+
+## 43
+
+Everything has two handles: one by which it may be borne, another by which it
+cannot.   If your brother acts unjustly, do not lay hold on the affair by the
+handle of his injustice, for by that it cannot be borne; but rather by the
+opposite, that he is your brother, that he was brought up with you; and thus
+you will lay hold on it as it is to be borne.
+
+## 44
+
+These reasonings have no logical connection: "I am richer than you; therefore I
+am your superior." "I am more eloquent than you; therefore I am your superior."
+The true logical connection is rather this: "I am richer than you; therefore my
+possessions must exceed yours."  " I am more eloquent than you; therefore my
+style must surpass yours." But you, after all, consist neither in property nor
+in style.
+
+## 45
+
+Does any one bathe hastily? Do not say that he does it ill, but hastily. Does
+any one drink much wine? Do not say that he does ill, but that he drinks a
+great deal. For unless you perfectly understand his motives, how should you
+know if he acts ill? Thus you will not risk yielding to any appearances but
+such as you fully comprehend.
+
+## 46
+
+Never proclaim yourself a philosopher; nor make much talk among the ignorant
+about your principles, but show them by actions. Thus, at an entertainment, do
+not discourse how people ought to eat; but eat as you ought. For remember that
+thus Socrates also universally avoided all ostentation. And when persons came
+to him, and desired to be introduced by him to philosophers, he took them and
+introduced them; so well did he bear being overlooked. So if ever there should
+be among the ignorant any discussion of principles, be for the most part
+silent. For there is great danger in hastily throwing out what is undigested.
+And if any one tells you that you know nothing, and you are not nettled at it,
+then you may be sure that you have really entered on your work.  For sheep do
+not hastily throw up the grass, to show the shepherds how much they have eaten;
+but, inwardly digesting their food, they produce it outwardly in wool and milk.
+Thus, therefore, do you not make an exhibition before the ignorant of your
+principles; but of the actions to which their digestion gives rise.
+
+## 47
+
+When you have learned to nourish your body frugally, do not pique yourself upon
+it; nor, if you drink water, be saying upon every occasion, " I drink water."
+But first consider how much more frugal are the poor than we, and how much more
+patient of hardship.  If at any time you would inure yourself by exercise to
+labor and privation, for your own sake and not for the public, do not attempt
+great feats; but when you are violently thirsty, just rinse your mouth with
+water, and tell nobody.
+
+## 48
+
+The condition and characteristic of a vulgar person is that he never looks for
+either help or harm from himself, but only from externals. The condition and
+characteristic of a philosopher is that he looks to himself for all help or
+harm. The marks of a proficient are that he censures no one, praises no one,
+blames no one, accuses no one; says nothing concerning himself as being
+anybody, or knowing anything. When he is in any instance hindered or
+restrained, he accuses himself; and if he is praised, he smiles to himself at
+the person who praises him; and if he is censured, he makes no defence. But he
+goes about with the caution of a convalescent, careful of interference with
+anything that is doing well, but not yet quite secure. He restrains desire; he
+transfers his aversion to those things only which thwart the proper use of our
+own will; he employs his energies moderately in all directions; if he appears
+stupid or ignorant, he does not care; and, in a word, he keeps watch over
+himself as over an enemy and one in ambush.
+
+## 49
+
+When any one shows himself vain, on being able to understand and interpret the
+works of Chrysippus, say to yourself: "Unless Chrysippus had written obscurely,
+this person would have had nothing to be vain of. But what do I desire? To
+understand Nature, and follow her. I ask, then, who interprets her; and hearing
+that Chrysippus does, I have recourse to him. I do not understand his writings.
+I seek, therefore, one to interpret *them*." So far there is nothing to value
+myself upon. And when I find an interpreter, what remains is to make use of his
+instructions. This alone is the valuable thing. But if I admire merely the
+interpretation, what do I become more than a grammarian, instead of a
+philosopher, except, indeed, that instead of Homer I interpret Chrysippus? When
+any one, therefore, desires me to read Chrysippus to him, I rather blush, when
+I cannot exhibit actions that are harmonious and consonant with his discourse.
+
+## 50
+
+Whatever rules you have adopted, abide by them as laws, and as if you would be
+impious to transgress them; and do not regard what any one says of you, for
+this, after all, is no concern of yours.
+
+## 51
+
+How long, then, will you delay to demand of yourself the noblest improvements,
+and in no instance to transgress the judgments of reason? You have received the
+philosophic principles with which you ought to be conversant; and you have been
+conversant with them.  For what other master, then, do you wait as an excuse
+for this delay in self-reformation? You are no longer a boy, but a grown man.
+If, therefore, you will be negligent and slothful, and always add
+procrastination to procrastination, purpose to purpose, and fix day after day
+in which you will attend to yourself, you will insensibly continue to
+accomplish nothing, and, living and dying, remain of vulgar mind. This instant,
+then, think yourself worthy of living as a man grown up and a proficient. Let
+whatever appears to be the best, be to you an inviolable law. And if any
+instance of pain or pleasure, glory or disgrace, be set before you, remember
+that now is the combat, now the Olympiad comes on, nor can it be put off; and
+that by one failure and defeat honor may be lost - or won. Thus Socrates became
+perfect, improving himself by everything, following reason alone.  And though
+you are not yet a Socrates, you ought, however, to live as one seeking to be a
+Socrates.
+
+## 52
+
+The first and most necessary topic in philosophy is the practical application
+of principles, as, *We ought not to lie*; the second is that of demonstrations,
+as, *Why it is that we ought not to lie*; the third, that which gives strength
+and logical connection to the other two, as, *Why this is a demonstration*.
+For what is demonstration? What is a consequence; what a contradiction; what
+truth; what falsehood?  The third point is then necessary on account of the
+second; and the second on account of the first.  But the most necessary, and
+that whereon we ought to rest, is the first.  But we do just the contrary.  For
+we spend all our time on the third point, and employ all our diligence about
+that, and entirely neglect the first. Therefore, at the same time that we lie,
+we are very ready to show how it is demonstrated that lying is wrong.
+
+## 53
+
+Upon all occasions we ought to have these maxims
+ready at hand: -
+
+"Conduct me, Zeus, and thou, O Destiny,  
+Wherever your decrees have fixed my lot.  
+I follow cheerfully; and, did I not,  
+Wicked and wretched, I must follow still."  
+*(Cleanthes, in Diogenes Laertius, quoted also by Seneca, Epistle 107.)*
+
+Whoe'er yields properly to Fate is deemed  
+Wise among men, and knows the laws of Heaven.  
+*(Euripides, Fragments.)*
+
+And this third: -
+O Crito, if it thus pleases the gods, thus let it be. *(Plato, Crito, 17)*
+
+Anytus and Melitus may kill me indeed; but hurt me they cannot. *(Apology, 18.)*

source/content/enchiridion/1881-rolleston.md

@@ -0,0 +1,812 @@
+Author:     Epictetus  
+Title:      Enchiridion  
+Translator: T.W. Rolleston  
+Date:       1881  
+Source:     [letsreadgreek.com](http://www.letsreadgreek.com/epictetus/rolleston.htm)  
+Code:       twr  
+
+## 1
+
+Of things that exist, some depend upon ourselves, others do not depend upon
+ourselves. Of things that depend upon ourselves are our opinions and impulses,
+desires and aversions, and, briefly, all that is of our own doing. Of things
+that do not depend upon ourselves are the body, possessions, reputation, civil
+authority, and, briefly, all that is not of our own doing.
+
+And the things that depend upon ourselves are in their nature free, not liable
+to hindrance or embarrassment, while the things that do not depend upon
+ourselves are strengthless, servile, subject, alien.
+
+Remember then, that if you take things which are by nature subject, to be free;
+and things alien to be your proper interest, you will be embarrassed, you will
+bewail yourself, you will be troubled, you will blame Gods and men. But if you
+consider that only to be yours which truly is so, and the alien as what it is,
+alien, then none shall ever compel you, none shall hinder you, you will blame
+no one, you will accuse no one, you will not do the least thing reluctantly,
+none shall harm you, you will have no foe, for you will suffer no injury.
+
+Aiming then at things so high, remember that it is no moderate passion
+wherewith you must attempt them, but you must utterly renounce some things, and
+put some, for the present, aside, For if (let us say) you make this also your
+object, to attain a position of authority and wealth, then you not only run the
+risk (through aiming at the first things too) of failing to gain these ends,
+but will most assuredly miss those others through which alone freedom and
+happiness are born,
+
+Straightway, then, practice saying to every harsh-seeming phantasm, *You are a
+Phantasm, and not by any means the thing you appear to be.* Then realize it,
+and test it according to the crIterions you possess; but especially by this
+supreme criterion, whether it concerns anything that depends upon ourselves, or
+something that does not depend upon ourselves, And if the latter, then be the
+thought instantly at hand, It is nothing to me,
+
+## 2
+
+Remember that desire announces the aim of attaining the thing desired, and
+aversion that of not falling into the thing shunned; and that to miss what you
+desire is unfortunate, but it is misfortune to fall into what you shun, But you
+can never fall into anything that you shun, if you will shun only things
+contrary to Nature which lie within your power: but if you shun disease, or
+death, or poverty, you will have misfortune, Withdraw then your aversion from
+those things that do not depend upon ourselves, and place it upon those things
+contrary to Nature which do depend upon ourselves,
+
+And let desire, for the present, be utterly effaced; for if you are desiring
+something of the kind that does not depend upon ourselves, it must needs be
+that you miscarry,and of the things that do depend upon ourselves, of such as
+you may fairly desire, none are yet open to you. Use therefore only [tentative]
+advances and withdrawals, and that but lightly, and with exception, and
+indifferently.
+
+## 3
+
+In the case of everything that allures the mind, or offers an advantage, or is
+beloved by you, remember, from the least thing upward, to think of it in its
+true nature. For instance, if you like an earthen jar, think *I like an earthen
+jar*, for so your mind will not be confounded if it should break.  And if you
+love your child or your wife, think *I love a mortal* and so you will not be
+confounded when they die.
+
+
+## 4
+
+When you are about to take in hand some action, bethink yourself what it
+really. Is that you are about to do If you propose to go to the bath, represent
+to yourself all the things that take place at the bathing establishment, the
+squirting of water, the beating, the bad language, the theft. And after this
+fashion you will take the matter more safely in hand if you say *I intend simply
+to bathe, and to maintain my purpose according to Nature.* And similarly with
+every action. For thus if anything’ should occur to cross you in your bathing,
+you will instantly think *I did not only intend to bathe, but also that my
+purpose should be maintained according to Nature. But it will not be so
+maintained lf I let myself be vexed at what occurs.*
+
+## 5
+
+It is not things in themselves, but the opinions held about them which trouble
+and confuse our minds. Thus, Death is not really terrible — if it were so it
+would have appeared so to Socrates— but the opinion about Death, that it is
+terrible, that it is wherein the terror lies. Wherefore when we are hindered,
+or confounded, or grieved, let us never cast the blame upon others, but upon
+our selves; that is, on our opinions of things. A man untaught in philosophy
+accuses others on the score of his misfortunes; he who has begun to be taught
+accuses himself; he who is fully taught, neither others nor himself.
+
+## 6
+
+Be not puffed-up on account of any that is not of yourself.  If your horse were
+proud and should say, *I am beautiful,* that would be tolerable.  But when you
+are proud, and say, *I have a beautiful horse,* how that it is an excellence in
+your horse that you are proud of.  What then is really your own?  This, to make
+use of the phantasms. So that when you deal according to Nature in your use of
+the phantasms,  then you may pride yourself, for then you will be priding
+yourself on an excellence which is really your own.
+
+## 7
+
+Even as in a sea-voyage, when the ship is brought to anchor, and you go out to
+fetch in water, you make a bye-work of gathering a few roots and shells upon
+the way, but have need ever to keep your mind fixed upon the ship, and
+constantly to look round lest at any time the master of the ship should call,
+and must, if he call, cast away all those things, lest you be treated like the
+sheep that are bound and thrown into the hold: So it is with human life also,
+and nothing hinders the comparison if there be given wife and children instead
+of shells and roots. And if the master call, run to the ship, forsaking all
+those things and looking not behind.  And if you be in old age, go not far from
+the ship at any time, lest the master should call, and you should not be ready.
+
+## 8
+
+Do not seek to have all things happen as you would choose them, but rather
+choose them to happen as they do; and so shall the current of your life flow
+free.
+
+## 9
+
+Disease is a hindrance of the body, not of the will, unless the will itself
+consent. Lameness is a hindrance of the leg, not of the will. And this you may
+say upon every occasion, for nothing can happen to you but you will find it a
+hindrance, not of yourself, but of some other thing.
+
+## 10
+
+Remember, at anything that shall befall you, to turn to yourself, and seek what
+faculty you possess for making use of it.  If you see a beautiful person, you
+will find a faculty for that, namely, Self- mastery. If toil is laid upon you,
+you will find the faculty of Perseverance If you are reviled, you will find
+Patience, And making this your wont, you will not be rapt-away by the
+phantasms.
+
+## 11
+
+Never in any case say *I have lost such a thing,* but *I have returned it*. Is
+your child dead? it is a return. Is your wife dead? it is a return.  Are you
+deprived of your estate? is not this also a return? *But he who deprives me of
+it is wicked!* But what is that to you, through whom the giver demands his own!
+As long therefore as he grants it to you, steward it like another’s property,
+as travelers use an inn.
+
+## 12
+
+If you wish to advance in philosophy you must dismiss such considerations as
+*If I neglect my affairs, I shall not have wherewithal to support life. If I do
+not correct my servant, he will be good-for-nothing,* For it is better to die
+of hunger, having lived without grief and fear, than to live with a troubled
+spirit amid abundance. And it is better to have a bad servant, than an
+afflicted mind.
+
+Make a beginning then with small matters. Is a little of your oil spilt? or a
+little wine stolen? Then say to yourself *For so much, tranquility of mind is
+bought, this is the price of peace.* For nothing can be gained without paying
+for it, And when you call your servant, reflect that he may not hear you, or
+that hearing, he may not do your bidding. For him indeed that is not well, but
+for you it is altogether well that be have not the power to disturb your mind.
+
+## 13
+
+If you wish to advance, you must be content to let people think you senseless
+and distraught as regards external things.  Wish not ever to seem wise,  and if
+ever you shall find yourself account to be somebody, then mistrust yourself.
+For know that it is not an easy matter to make a choice that shall agree both
+with external things and with Nature, but it must needs be that he who is
+careful of the one shall neglect the other.
+
+## 14
+
+You are quite astray if you desire your wife and children and friends to live
+for ever, for then you are desiring things that are not of yourself to be of
+yourself, and to control that which is not in your power.  So also if you
+desire that your servant never should display any shortcomings, you are a fool;
+for that is as much as to desire that imperfection should not be imperfection,
+but something else. But If you wish never to fall short of your desires, this
+indeed is possible to you; this therefore practice, namely, the practicable.
+
+You own a master when another has power over the things that are pleasing or
+displeasing to you, to give them or to take them away. Whosoever then would be
+free, let him neither desire nor shun any of the things that depend not upon
+himself; otherwise he must needs be enslaved.
+
+## 15
+
+Bear in mind that you should conduct yourself in life as at a feast. Is some
+dish brought to you? Then put forth your hand and help yourself in seemly
+fashion. Does it pass you by? Then do not hold it back. Has it not yet come to
+you? Then do not stretch out for it at a distance, but wait till it is at your
+hand. And thus doing with regard to children, and wife, and authority, and
+wealth, you will be a worthy guest at the table of the Gods, And if you even
+pass over things that are offered to you, and refuse to take of them, then you
+will not only share the banquet of the Gods, but also their dominion. For so
+doing, Diogenes and Heracleitus and such as they were rightly divine, as they
+were said to be.
+
+## 16
+
+When you shall see one lamenting in grief because his son is gone abroad, or
+because he has lost his wealth, see to it that you be not rapt-away by the
+phantasm, to think that he has suffered a real misfortune in external matters.
+But be the thought at hand, *It is not the fact itself which afflicts this
+man—since there are others whom it afflicts not—but the opinion he has
+conceived about it.* And do not hesitate as far as words go, to give him your
+sympathy, and even, if so it be, to lament with him. But take heed that your
+lamenting be not from within.
+
+## 17
+
+Remember that you are an actor in a drama, of such a part as it may please the
+master to assign you, for a long time or for a little as he may choose.  And if
+he will you to take the part of a poor man, or  a cripple, or a ruler, or a
+private citizen, then may you act that part with grace! For to act well the
+part that is allotted to us, that indeed is ours to do, but to choose it is
+another’s.
+
+## 18
+
+If a raven croaks you a bad omen, be not rapt away by the phantasm, but
+straightway make a distinction with regard to yourself and say, *This bodes
+something perhaps to this poor body or this little property of mine, or to my
+reputation, or my wife or children, but to myself, nothing.  For to me, if I
+will to have it so, all omens are fortunate.  And whatever of these things may
+come to pass, it lies with me to reap some benefit from it.*
+
+## 19
+
+You may be always victorious if you will never enter into any contest where the
+issue does not  wholly depend upon yourself.
+
+When you see a man honored above others, or mighty in power, or otherwise in
+high repute, look to it that you esteem him not blessed, being  rapt-away by
+the phantasm.  For if Good, in its essence, be in those things which depend
+upon ourselves, then there is no place for jealousy or envy, and you yourself
+will not wish to be a general, or a prince, or a consul—but to be free.  And to
+this there is but one way — disdain of the things that not up ourselves.
+
+## 20
+
+Remember that it is not he who strikes you or he who reviles you who does you
+an injury, but the opinion you have about the things, that they are injurious.
+Therefore when someone shall provoke you to wrath, know that you are provoked
+by your own conception. Strive then at the outset not to be rapt-away by the
+phantasm; for if you shall once succeed in gaining time and delay you will more
+easily master yourself.
+
+## 21
+
+Death and exile and all things that appear terrible, let these be every day
+before your eyes.  But Death most of all, for so you will never feel any
+condition to be wretched, nor think any very greatly to be desired.
+
+## 22
+
+If you set your heart upon philosophy, you must straightway prepare yourself to
+be laughed at and mocked by many who will say *Behold a philosopher  arisen
+among us! or How came you by that brow of scorn?* But do you cherish no scorn,
+but hold to those things which seem to you the best, as one set by God in that
+place. Remember too, that if you abide in those ways, those who first mocked
+you, the same shall afterwards reverence you; but if you yield to them, you
+will be laughed at twice as much as before.
+
+## 23
+
+If ever it shall happen to you to be turned to things of the outside world in
+the desire to make yourself acceptable to someone, know that you have lost your
+position.  Let it be enough for you in all things to be a philosopher. But if
+you desire also to seem one, then appear so to yourself, and it will suffice.
+
+## 24
+
+Never afflict yourself with such reflections as I shall live without honor and
+never be anybody  anywhere. For if to live without hon our be really a
+misfortune, know that it is not possible for you to fall into misfortune, any
+more than into vice, through anything that another can do. Is it then of your
+own doing that you are appointed to the magistracy or invited to feasts? By no
+means, How then is this to be without hon our? and how do you say that you
+shall never be anybody, whose part it is to be somebody in those things only
+which depend upon yourself, and in which it is in your power to be of the
+highest worth?
+
+But then I can be of no service to my friends. How say you? of no service?
+Certainly they shall not have money from you, nor will you be able to get them
+made Roman citizens. But who told you that these things were of those that
+depend upon ourselves, and were not alien to us? And who is able to give that
+which be himself has not?
+
+Acquire then, they say, in order that we may possess, Well, if I am able to
+acquire, without a loss of modesty, or faith, or high-mindedness, show me the
+way, and I will do it. But if you require me to sacrifice that which I have,
+which is really good, in order that you may compass what is no good at all,
+behold how unjust and inconsiderate you are! And is it not better than money,
+to have faith and modesty in a friend? Then rather help me on my way, and take
+part with me, than require me to do anything which would compel me to renounce
+these things.
+
+But, you say, *I shall not be bearing my part in the service of my country!*
+Again, what do you take service to consist in? Your country will not be
+enriched through you with porticos and public baths. And what then? The smith
+does not supply her with shoes, nor the shoemaker with weapons, but it is
+enough that every man fulfil his own work, And if you have made one faithful
+and modest citizen for her, are you then of no service? Wherefore neither shall
+you be useless to your country.
+
+*What place then, you say, shall I hold in the State?* Whatever place you are
+able to hold, guarding still your modesty and faith. But if you cast away these
+things in order to be of service to the State, of what service do you think you
+will be to her then, when you are perfected in the contrary qualities?
+
+## 25
+
+Is some one preferred before you at a feast or in salutation, or in being
+invited to give counsel? Then if these things be good, you should rejoice that
+he has gained them;  but if evil, why grieve that you have not? But remember
+that if you do not do as other men, in order to gain the things that depend not
+upon ourselves, neither shall you be rewarded as they.
+
+For how is it possible for you to have an equal share with him who hangs about
+other men’s doors, and attends upon them, and flatters them, when you yourself
+will do none of these things? You are unjust then, and insatiable, if you wish
+to gain the things that depend not upon ourselves, for nothing, and without
+paying the price for which they are sold.
+
+But how much is your head of lettuce sold for? A penny perchance. Go to, then:
+if one will lay out a penny he may have a head of lettuce; but you who do not
+choose to lay out your penny shall not have your lettuce. But you must not
+suppose that you will be therefore worse off than he. For he has the
+lettuce, but you the penny which you did not choose to part with.
+
+And in this matter also the same principle holds good. You are not invited to
+somebody’s banquet? That is because you did not give the entertainer the price
+that banquets are sold for — and they are sold for flattery, they are sold for
+attendance.  Pay then the price if you think you will profit by the exchange.
+But if you are determined not to lay out these things, and at the same time to
+gain the others—surely you are a greedy man, and an infatuated.
+
+Shall you have nothing then instead of the banquet which you give up? Yea
+verily, you shall have this — not to have praised one whom you did not care to
+praise, nor to have endured the insolence of a rich man’s doorkeepers.
+
+## 26
+
+The will of Nature is to be learned from matters in which we ourselves are not
+concerned.  For instance, when a boy breaks a cup, if it be another man’s, you
+are ready enough to say, *Accidents will happen.* Know then, that  when your
+own is broken it behoves you to be as though it were another man’s. And apply
+this method even to greater things. When a neighbor’s wife or child dies, who
+is there that will not say, *It is the lot of humanity.* But when your own wife
+or child is dead, then it is straightway, *Alas! wretched that I am!* But you
+ought to remember how you felt when you heard of another in the same plight.
+
+## 27
+
+As a mark is not set up to be missed, even so it is not possible that there
+should be any soul of evil in the world.
+
+## 28
+
+If anyone were to expose your body in public, that every passerby might do as
+he liked with it, you would be indignant. Is it nothing to be ashamed of then
+that you should set your mind at the mercy of all the world, to be troubled and
+disturbed whenever anyone should happen to revile you?
+
+## 29
+
+Of every work you take in hand to do, mark well the conditions and the
+consequences, and so enter upon it. For if you do not this, you will at first
+set out eagerly, not regarding what is to follow, but in the end thereof, if
+any difficulties have arisen, you will leave it off with shame.
+
+So you wish to conquer in the Olympic games, my friend? And I too, by the Gods,
+and a fine thing it would be! But first mark the conditions and the
+consequences, and then set to work. You will have to put yourself under
+discipline; to eat by rule; to avoid cakes and sweetmeats; to take exercise at
+the appointed hour whether you like it or no, in cold and heat; to abstain from
+cold drinks and from wine at your will; in a word, to give yourself over to the
+trainer as to a physician. Then in the conflict itself you are likely enough to
+dislocate your wrist or twist your ankle, to swallow a great deal of dust, to
+be severely thrashed, and, after all these things, to be defeated.
+
+If, having considered these circumstances, you are still in the mind to enter
+for the Olympic prize, then do so. But without consideration, you will turn
+from one thing to another like a child, who now plays the wrestler, now the
+flute player, now the gladiator, then sounds the bugle call, or declaims
+like an actor; and so you too will be first an athlete, then a gladiator,
+then an orator, then a philosopher, and nothing with your whole soul; but
+as an ape you will mimic every sight you see, and flatter yourself with one
+thing after another. For you approached nothing with consideration, nor
+with systematic diligence, but lightly, and with but a cold desire.
+
+And thus some men, after having seen a philosopher and heard discourse like
+that of Euphrates (yet who indeed can say that any discourse is like his?)
+desire that they also may become philosophers.
+
+But O man —  first consider what it really is that you are desiring to do, and
+then inquire of your own nature, whether you have power to support the
+undertaking. Do you desire to become a pentathlos or a wrestler? Then scan
+your arms and your thighs and try the strength of your loins. For nature endows
+different men with different capacities.
+
+And do you think that you can be a sage and at the same time continue to eat
+and drink and indulge your desires and be fastidious, just as before? Nay
+verily, for you must watch and labour, and withdraw yourself from your
+household and be despised by any serving-boy and be ridiculed by your
+neighbors, and you must take an inferior position in all things, in reputation,
+in authority, in courts of justice, in dealings of every kind.
+
+Consider these things; whether you are willing at such a price to gain
+serenity, freedom, and immunity from vexation. And if not, renounce that aim at
+once, and do not like a child at play be now for a little a philosopher, then a
+tax-gatherer, then a public speaker, then a procurator of the Empire.  For
+these things do not agree among themselves, and, good or bad, it behoves you to
+be one man. You must either cultivate external things or your own essential
+part, you must show your skill in the management of either your outward or your
+inward life — in short, you must take up the position either of a sensualist
+or of a sage.
+
+## 30
+
+Our duties are universally fixed by the relations in which we find ourselves.
+Is such a man your father? Then your duty is to bear dictation from him, to
+take care of him, to yield to him in all things, to be patient with him when be
+chides you, when he beats you. *But if he be a bad father?*  Is there then a
+natural law that you should be related by kin to a good father? No, but simply
+to a father.  And does your brother do you wrong? Then guard your own proper
+position towards him, and do not consider what he is doing, but rather what you
+may do in order that your will may be in accordance with Nature. For no other
+can ever harm you if you do not choose it yourself, but you are harmed then,
+when you imagine yourself to be so. Thus then you may discover your duties by
+considering those of a neighbor, of a citizen, of a general, —if you will
+accustom yourself to observe the relationships.
+
+## 31
+
+If religion towards the Gods, know that the principal element is to have right
+opinions about them, as existing, and as managing the Whole in fair order and
+justice; and then to set yourself to obey them, and to yield to them in all
+that happens and to follow it willingly, as accomplished under the highest
+counsels. For thus you will never at any time blame the Gods, nor accuse them
+of being neglectful.
+
+But this can be done in no other way than by placing good and evil in the
+things that depend upon ourselves, and withdrawing them from those that do not;
+for if you take any of the latter things for good or evil, then when you fail
+to obtain what you desire, and fall into what you would avoid, it is
+inevitable that you must blame and hate those who caused you to do so.
+
+For it is the inherent nature of every creature to fly from and shun all things
+that appear harmful, and the causes of the same, but to follow after and admire
+things, and the causes of things, which appear beneficial. It is impossible
+then that one who thinks himself harmed should take delight in that which seems
+to harm him, just as it is impossible that he should take delight in the very
+injury itself.
+
+And thus it is that a father is reviled by his son when he will not give him a
+share of the things that are thought to be good. And it was this that set
+Polyneices and Eteocles at war with each other, the opinion, namely, that
+royalty was a good. And through this the Gods are blamed by the husband man and
+the sailor, by the merchant and by those who lose their wives or children.  For
+when advantage is, there also is religion. So that he who is careful to desire
+and to dislike as he ought is careful at the same time of religion.
+
+But it is right too that every man should pour libations, and offer sacrifices,
+and offer firstfruits according to the customs of his fathers, purely, and not
+supinely, nor negligently, nor indeed scantily, yet not beyond his means.
+
+## 32
+
+Then you go to inquire of an oracle, remember that though you do not know
+beforehand what the event will be (for this very thing is what you have come to
+learn from the seer), yet of what nature it must be (if you are a philosopher),
+you knew already when you came.  For if it be of those things which do not
+depend upon ourselves, it follows of necessity that it can be neither good nor
+evil.
+
+When you go then to the seer, bring with you neither desire nor aversion, and
+approach him, not with trembling, but with the full assurance that all events
+are indifferent, and nothing to you, and that whatever may befall you it will
+be your part to use it nobly; and this no one can prevent.  Go then with a good
+courage to the Gods as to counselors, and, for the rest, when something has
+been counseled to you, remember who they are whom you have chosen for
+counselors, and whom you will be slighting if you are not obedient.
+
+Therefore, as Socrates insisted, you should consult the oracle in those cases
+only where your judgment depends entirely upon the event, and where you have no
+resources, either from reason or any other method, for knowing beforehand what
+is independently certain in the case. Thus, when it may behove you to share
+some danger with your friend or your country, do not inquire whether you may
+[safely] do so. For if the seer should announce to you that the sacrifices are
+inauspicious, that clearly signifies death, or the loss of some limb, or
+banishment; yet Reason convinces that even with these things you should stand
+by your friend and share your country’s danger. Mark therefore that greater
+seer, the Pythian, who cast out of the temple one who, when his friend was
+being murdered, did not help him.
+
+## 33
+
+Ordain for yourself forthwith a certain principle and outline of conduct which
+you may observe both when you are alone and among men.
+
+And for the most part keep silence, or speak only what is necessary, and in few
+words. But when occasion shall require us to speak, then we shall speak, but
+sparingly, and not about any subject at haphazard, nor about gladiators, nor
+horse races, nor athletes, nor about things to eat or drink, which one hears
+talked about everywhere, but especially not about men, as blaming, or praising,
+or comparing them.
+
+If then you are able, let your discourse draw that of the company towards what
+is fitting; but if you find yourself apart among strangers, keep silence.
+
+Do not laugh much, nor at many things, nor unrestrainedly.
+
+Refuse altogether to take an oath, if possible; if not, then as much as
+circumstances permit.
+
+Avoid banquets given by strangers and by the sensual. But if you ever have
+occasion to go to them, then keep your attention on the stretch that you do not
+fall into sensuality. For know that if your companion be corrupted, you, who
+have conversation with him, must needs become corrupted also, even though
+yourself should chance to be pure.
+
+In things that concern the body, such as food, drink, clothing, habitation,
+servants, you must only accept what is absolutely needful. But all that makes
+for show or luxury, you must utterly proscribe.
+
+Concerning sexual pleasures, it is right to be pure before marriage, as much as
+in you lies, But if you do indulge in them, let it be according to what is
+lawful. But do not in any case make yourself disagreeable to those who use
+such pleasures, nor be fond of reproving them, nor of putting yourself forward
+as not using them.
+
+If you shall be informed that some one has been speaking ill of you, do not
+defend yourself against his accusations, but answer, *He little knew what other
+vices there are in me, or he would have said more than that.*
+
+You need not go often to the arena; if how ever occasion should take you there,
+do not appear interested on any man’s side except your own; that is to say,
+desire that that only may happen which does happen, and that the conqueror
+may be be who wins; for so shall you not be embarrassed. But shouting, and
+laughter at this or that, and gesticulation, all this you must utterly
+abstain from.  And after you have gone away, do not talk much over what has
+passed, so far as it does not tend towards your own improvement. For from
+that it would appear that you bad been impressed with the spectacle.
+
+Do not attend everybody’s recitations nor be easily induced to go to them. But
+if you do go, preserve (yet without making yourself offensive) your gravity and
+tranquility.
+
+When you are about to meet any person, especially if he be one of those
+considered to be high in rank, put before yourself what Socrates or Zeno would
+have done in such a case. And then you will not fail to deal fittingly with the
+occasion.
+
+When you are going to see one of those who are great in power, imagine that you
+will not find him at home, that you will be shut out, that the doors will be
+banged in your face, that he will take no notice of you. And if in spite of
+these things it be right for you to go, then go, and bear whatever may happen,
+and never say to yourself I did not deserve such treatment.  For that is
+sensual, and shows that you are subject to vexation from external things.
+
+In company, be it far from you to bring your own doings and dangers constantly
+and disproportionately into notice. For though it is pleasant for you to tell
+of your own dangers, yet your adventures are not equally pleasant for other
+persons to hear.
+
+Be it far from you to move laughter. For that habit easily slips into
+sensuality; and it is always enough to lower your neighbor's respect for you.
+
+And it is dangerous to approach to vicious conversation. Therefore when
+anything of the kind may arise, rebuke him who approaches thereto, if you can
+do so opportunely. But if not, show at least by your silence, and blushing, and
+serious looks that his words are disagreeable to you.
+
+## 34
+
+When you have conceived the phantasm of some pleasure, guard yourself that you
+be not rapt-away by it, but delay with yourself a little and let the thIng
+await you for a while. And then bethink yourself of the two periods of time,
+the one in which you will enjoy the pleasure, the other, in which, after having
+enjoyed it, you will repent of it, and reproach yourself; and set over against
+this how you will rejoice and commend yourself if you have abstained. But if it
+shall seem fitting to you to do the thing, beware lest you have been conquered
+by the flattery and the sweetness and the allurement of it. But set on the
+other side how much better would be the consciousness of having won that
+victory.
+
+## 35
+
+When you are doing something which you have clearly recognized as being right
+to do, do not seek to avoid observation in the act, even though you should know
+that the multitude will form a wrong opinion about it, For if you are acting
+wrongly, then you should have avoided the action altogether. But if rightly,
+why fear those who wrongly rebuke you?
+
+## 36
+
+As the sayings *It is day, It is night,* are perfectly justifiable if viewed
+disjunctively, but unjustifiable if viewed together, even so, at a feast, to
+pick out the largest portion for oneself may be justifiable if the act is
+viewed merely as it concerns the body, but is unjustifiable if viewed as it
+concerns the preservation of the proper community of the feast. Therefore when
+you are eating with another person, remember not merely to look at the value
+for the body of the things that are set before you, but to preserve also the
+reverence due to the giver of the feast.
+
+## 37
+
+If you have assumed a part beyond your power to play, then you have not only
+come to shame in that, but have missed one which you could have thoroughly
+fulfilled.
+
+## 38
+
+In going about, as you are careful not to step upon a nail or twist your foot,
+even so be careful that you do no injury to your own essential part. And if we
+observe this we shall the more safely undertake whatever we have to do.
+
+## 39
+
+The measure of gain for every man is the body, as the foot is of the shoe. If
+you take this as your standpoint, you will preserve the measure. But if you go
+beyond it, you must thenceforward of necessity be borne, as it were, down a
+steep for the rest of the way. And so it is with the shoe; if you go beyond
+[what is proper for] the foot, you will have your shoe first gilded, then dyed
+purple, then embroidered. For there is no end to that which has once
+transgressed its measure.
+
+## 40
+
+From the age of fourteen years upwards women are accustomed to the flattery of
+men.  Seeing then that there is nothing else open to them but only to serve the
+pleasure of men, they begin to beautify themselves and to place all their hopes
+in this, It is right then to study that they may perceive themselves to be
+valued for nothing else than modesty and decorum.
+
+## 41
+
+It is a sign of a dull nature to occupy oneself deeply in matters that concern
+the body; for instance, to be over much occupied about exercise, about eating
+and drinking, about easing oneself, about sexual intercourse. But all these
+things should be done by the way, and only the mind receive your full
+attention.
+
+## 42
+
+When some one may do you an injury or speak ill of you, remember that he does
+it or speaks it under the impression that it is proper for him to do so. He
+must then of necessity follow not the appearance which the case presents to
+you, but that which it presents to him. Wherefore, if it has a bad appearance
+to him, it is he who is injured, being deceived. For if anyone should take a
+true statement to be false, it is not the statement which is damaged, but he
+who is deceived. If then you set out from these principles, you will bear a
+gentle mind towards anyone who reviles you. For say on each occasion, *So it
+appeared to him.*
+
+## 43
+
+Every matter has two handles; by the one you can carry it, by the other you
+cannot. If your brother wrongs you, do not take this by the handle *He wrongs
+me,* for by that handle you can not carry it; but take it rather by this, *He
+is my brother, nourished with me,* and then you will be taking it by a handle
+by which you can carry it.
+
+## 44
+
+There is no nexus in the following reasonings: I am richer than you, therefore
+I am superior to you; I am more eloquent than you, therefore I am superior. But
+the nexus is rather in these: I am richer than you, therefore my wealth is
+superior to yours; I am more eloquent than you, therefore my language is
+superior to yours. But you are not wealth, and you are not language.
+
+## 45
+
+Does a man bathe himself quickly? Then say not Badly, but Quickly. Does be
+drink much wine? Then say not Too much, but Much. For before you have discerned
+how things appear to him, how can you know if it were done badly? Thus it will
+not happen to you to surrender yourself to certain of the phantasms which lay
+hold of the mind, while comprehending others.
+
+## 46
+
+Never proclaim yourself a philosopher, nor talk much among the sensual about
+the philosophic maxims; but do the things that follow from the maxims. For
+example, do not discourse, at a feast, upon how one ought to eat, but eat as
+you ought. For remember that even so Socrates everywhere banished ostentation,
+so that men used to come to him desiring him to recommend them to teachers in
+philosophy; and he brought them away and did so, so well did he bear being
+overlooked.
+
+And if, among the sensual, discourse should arise concerning some maxim, do you
+for the most part keep silence; for there is great risk that you straightway
+vomit up what you, have not digested. And when some one shall say to you
+that you know nothing, and you are not offended, then know that the work is
+begun. And as sheep do not bring their food to the shepherds, to show how
+much they have eaten, but digesting inwardly their provender bear outwardly
+wool and milk, even so do not you, for the most part, display your maxims
+before the sensual, but rather the works which follow from them, when they
+are digested.
+
+## 47
+
+When you have harmonized yourself to a frugal provision for your bodily needs,
+do not pride yourself on that; and if your drink is water, do not take every
+opportunity of declaring I am a water drinker. And if you wish at any time
+to inure yourself to labour and endurance, do it unto yourself and not unto
+the world, and do not embrace the statues, but some time when you are
+exceedingly thirsty take a draught of cold water into your mouth, and spit
+it out, and say nothing about it.
+
+## 48
+
+The position and character of the sensualist: he never looks to himself for
+benefit or harm, but always to external things. The position and character of
+the sage: be looks for benefit or harm only to himself.
+
+The tokens of one who is making advance: he blames none; he praises none; he
+finds fault with none; he accuses none; he never speaks of himself as being
+somewhat, or as knowing aught; when he is let or hindered in anything he
+accuses himself; if anyone praises him, he laughs at him in his sleeve; if
+anyone blames him, he makes no defence; he goes about like convalescents,
+fearing to move the parts that are settling together before they have taken
+hold.
+
+He has taken out of himself all desire, and has transferred his aversion solely
+to things contrary to Nature which depend upon ourselves. He attempts nothing,
+except lightly and indifferently. If he is thought foolish or unlearned, he is
+not concerned. In one word, he watches himself as he would a treacherous enemy.
+
+## 49
+
+When someone himself on act of his powers of understanding and expounding the
+writings Chrysippus, then say to yourself, If Chrysippus had not written
+obscurely, this man would have nothing  whereon to exalt himself. But I, what
+do I desire? Is it not to learn to understand Nature and to follow her? I
+inquire, then, who can expound Nature to me and hearing that Chrysippus
+can, I betake myself to him. But I do not understand his writings,
+therefore I seek an expounder for them. And so far there is nothing
+exalted. But when I have found the expounder, it remains for me to put into
+practice what he declares to me; and in this alone is there anything
+exalted. But if I look on the exposition as a thing to be admired in
+itself, what else am I become than a grammarian instead of a sage? except
+that the exposition is not of Homer but of Chrysippus. Therefore when one
+may ask me to lecture on the philosophy of Chrysippus, I shall rather blush
+when I am not able to show forth works of a like nature and in harmony with
+the words.
+
+## 50
+
+Whatsoever things are preferred, in these abide as in laws which it were
+impious to transgress. And whatever anyone may say of you, regard it not, for
+neither does this concern your self.
+
+## 51
+
+How long will you still delay to hold yourself worthy of the best things, and
+to transgress in nothing the defining word? You have accepted the maxims by
+which you ought to live, and do you live by them? What teacher do you still
+look for, to whom to hand over the task of your correction? You are no longer a
+boy, but now a full grown man.  If, then,you are neglectful and indifferent,
+and make delay after delay, and form purpose after purpose, and fix again and
+again the days after which you will begin to attend to yourself, you will not
+see that you are making no advance, but will be now and always a sensualist,
+living and dying.
+
+Therefore hold yourself worthy forthwith to live as a man of full age, and with
+your foot on the path; and let whatever appears to you as the best be to you as
+an inviolable law. And when anything is presented to you which involves toil,
+or pleasure, or reputation or the loss of it, remember that now is the
+conflict, here are the Olympic games, and you can put them off no longer; and
+that in a single day and in a single trial ground is to be lost or gained.
+
+It was thus that Socrates made himself what he was, on every occasion bringing
+forward his true self, and never having regard to anything else than Reason,
+And you, though you are not yet Socrates, yet as one who desires to be Socrates
+so you ought to live.
+
+## 52
+
+The first and most necessary point in philosophy is the practice of the maxims,
+for example, not to lie. The second is the proof of the maxims, as, Whence it
+comes that one ought not to lie. The third is that which gives confirmation
+and coherence to these, as, Whence it comes that this is a proof, for what
+is proof? what is consequence? what is contradiction? what is truth? what
+is falsehood?
+
+Thus the third point is necessary through the second, and the second through
+the first. But the most necessary of all, and that where we must rest, is the
+first. But we do the contrary. For we delay in the third point, and spend all
+our zeal upon that, while of the first we are utterly careless: we are liars,
+while we are ready in explaining how it is shown that it is wrong to lie.
+
+## 53
+
+Hold in readiness for every heed, these—
+
+‘Lead me, O Zeus, and thou Destiny, whithersoever ye have appointed me to go,
+and may I follow fearlessly.
+
+‘But if in an evil mind I be unwilling, still must I follow,’
+
+‘That man is wise among us, and has understanding of things divine, who has
+nobly agreed with Necessity.’
+
+But the third also—
+
+‘O Crito, if so it seem good to the Gods, so let it be; Anytus and Melitus are
+able to kill me if they like, but to harm me, never,’

source/content/enchiridion/1890-george-long.md

@@ -0,0 +1,776 @@
+Author:     Epictetus  
+Title:      Enchiridion  
+Translator: George Long  
+Date:       1890  
+Source:     [wikisource.org](http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Enchiridion)  
+Code:       gl  
+
+## 1
+
+Of things some are in our power, and others are not. In our power are opinion,
+movement toward a thing, desire, aversion (turning from a thing); and in a
+word, whatever are our own acts: not in our power are the body, property,
+reputation, offices (magisterial power), and in a word, what­ever are not our
+own acts. And the things in our power are by nature free, not subject to
+restraint nor 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 that only
+which is your own to be your own, and if you think that what is another's, as
+it really is, belongs to another, 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 (against your will), no man will harm you, you will have
+no enemy, for you will not suffer any harm.
+
+If then you desire (aim at) such great things, remember that you must not
+(attempt to) lay hold of them with a small effort; but you must leave alone
+some things entirely, and postpone others for the present. But if you wish for
+these things also (such great things), and power (office) and wealth, perhaps
+you will not gain even these very things (power and wealth) because you aim
+also at those former things (such great things): certainly you will fail in
+those things through which alone happiness and freedom are secured.
+Straightway, then, practice saying to every harsh appearance, You are an
+appearance, and in no manner what you appear to be. Then examine it by the
+rules which you possess, and by this first and chiefly, whether it relates to
+the things which are in our power or to the things which are not in our power:
+and if it relates to anything which is not in our power, be ready to say, that
+it does not concern you.
+
+## 2
+
+Remember that desire contains in it the profession (hope) of obtaining that
+which you desire; and the profession (hope) in aversion (turning from a thing)
+is that you will not fall into that which you attempt to avoid: and he who
+fails in his desire is unfortunate; and he who falls into that which he would
+avoid, is unhappy. If then you attempt to avoid only the things contrary to
+nature which are within your power, you will not be involved in any of the
+things which you would avoid. But if you attempt to avoid disease or death or
+poverty, you will be unhappy. Take away, then, aversion from all things which
+are not in our power, and transfer it to the things contrary to nature which
+are in our power. But destroy desire completely for the present. For if you
+desire anything which is not in our power, you must be unfortunate: but of the
+things in our power, and which it would be good to desire, nothing yet is
+before you. But employ only the power of moving toward an object and retiring
+from it; and these powers indeed only slightly and with exceptions and with
+remission.
+
+## 3
+
+In everything which pleases the soul, or supplies a want, or is loved, remember
+to add this to the (description, notion): What is the nature of each thing,
+beginning from the smallest? If you love an earthen vessel, say it is an
+earthen vessel which you love; for when it has been broken, you will not be
+disturbed. If you are kissing your child or wife, say that it is a human being
+whom you are kissing, for when the wife or child dies, you will not be
+disturbed.
+
+## 4
+
+When you are going to take in hand any act, remind yourself what kind of an act
+it is. If you are going to bathe, place before yourself what happens in the
+bath: some splashing the water, others pushing against one another, others
+abusing one another, and some stealing: and thus with more safety you will
+undertake the matter, if you say to yourself, I now intend to bathe, and to
+maintain my will in a manner con­formable to nature. And so you will do in
+every act: for thus if any hindrance to bathing shall happen, let this thought
+be ready; it was not this only that I intended, but I intended also to maintain
+my will in a way conformable to nature; but I shall not maintain it so, if I am
+vexed at what happens.
+
+## 5
+
+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 opinions. It is the act of an
+ill-instructed man to blame others for his own bad condition; it is the act of
+one who has begun to be instructed, to lay the blame on himself; and of one
+whose instruction is completed, neither to blame another, nor himself.
+
+## 6
+
+Be not elated at any advantage (excellence), which belongs to another. If a
+horse when he is elated should say, I am beautiful, one might endure it. But
+when you are elated, and say, I have a beautiful horse, you must know that you
+are elated at having a good horse. What then is your own? The use of
+appearances. Consequently, when in the use of appearances you are conformable
+to nature, then be elated, for then you will be elated at something good which
+is your own.
+
+## 7
+
+As on a voyage when the vessel has reached a port, if you go out to get water,
+it is an amusement by the way to pick up a shellfish or some bulb, but your
+thoughts ought to be directed to the ship, and you ought to be constantly
+watching if the captain should call, and then you must throw away all those
+things, that you may not be bound and pitched into the ship like sheep: so in
+life also, if there be given to you instead of a little bulb and a shell a wife
+and child, there will be nothing to prevent (you from taking them). But if the
+captain should call, run to the ship, and leave all those things without regard
+to them. But if you are old, do not even go far from the ship, lest when you
+are called you make default.
+
+## 8
+
+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.
+
+## 9
+
+Disease is an impediment to the body, but not to the will, unless the will
+itself 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.
+
+## 10
+
+On the occasion of every accident (event) 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
+(continence). If labor (pain) be presented to you, you will find that it is
+endurance. If it be abusive words, you will find it to be patience. And if you
+have been thus formed to the (proper) habit, the appearances will not carry you
+along with them.
+
+## 11
+
+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 then this also been restored? But he
+who has taken it from me is a bad man. But what is it to you, by whose hands
+the giver demanded it back? So long as he may allow you, take care of it as a
+thing which belongs to another, as travelers do with their inn.
+
+## 12
+
+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 chastise my slave, he
+will be bad. For it is better to die of hunger and so to be released from grief
+and fear than to live in abundance with perturbation; and it is better for your
+slave to be bad than for you to be unhappy. Begin then from little things. Is
+the oil spilled? Is a little wine stolen? Say on the occasion, at such price is
+sold freedom from perturbation; at such price is sold tranquility, but nothing
+is got for nothing. And when you call your slave, consider that it is possible
+that he does not hear; and if he does hear, that he will do nothing which you
+wish. But matters are not so well with him, but altogether well with you, that
+it should be in his power for you to be not disturbed.
+
+## 13
+
+If you would improve, submit to be considered without sense and foolish with
+respect to externals. Wish to be considered to know nothing: and if you shall
+seem to some to be a person of importance, distrust yourself. For you should
+know that it is not easy both to keep your will in a condition conformable to
+nature and (to secure) external things: but if a man is careful about the one,
+it is an absolute necessity that he will neglect the other.
+
+## 14
+
+If you would have your children and your wife and your friends to live forever,
+you are silly; for you would have 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
+would have your slave to be free from faults, you are a fool; for you would
+have badness not to be badness, but something else. But if you wish not to fail
+in your desires, you are able to do that. Practice, then, this which you are
+able to do. 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.
+
+## 15
+
+Remember that in life you ought to behave as at a banquet. Suppose that
+something is carried round and is opposite 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 is not yet come to you. Do not send your desire forward to it,
+but wait till it is opposite to you. Do so with respect to children, so with
+respect to a wife, so with respect to magisterial offices, so with respect to
+wealth, and you will be some time a worthy partner of the banquets of the gods.
+But if you take none of the things which are set before you, and even despise
+them, then you will be not only a fellow banqueter with the gods, but also a
+partner with them in power. For by acting thus Diogenes and Heraclitus and
+those like them were de­servedly divine, and were so called.
+
+## 16
+
+When you see a person weeping in sorrow either when a child goes abroad or when
+he is dead, or when the man has lost his property, take care that the
+appearance do 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. So far as words, then, do not be unwilling to show him
+sympathy, and even if it happens so, to lament with him. But take care that you
+do not lament internally also.
+
+## 17
+
+Remember that thou art an actor in a play, of such a kind as the teacher
+(author) may choose; if short, of a short one; if long, of 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, (do 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.
+
+## 18
+
+When a raven has croaked inauspiciously, let not the ap­pearance hurry you away
+with it; but straightaway make a distinction in your mind and say, None of
+these things is 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.
+
+## 19
+
+You can be invincible, if you enter into no contest in which it is not in your
+power to conquer. Take care, then, when you observe a man honored before others
+or possessed of great power or highly esteemed for any reason, not to suppose
+him happy, and be not carried away by the appearance. For if the nature of the
+good is in our power, neither envy nor jealousy will have a place in us. But
+you yourself will not wish to be a general or senator or consul, but a free
+man: and there is only one way to this, to despise (care not for) the things
+which are not in our power.
+
+## 20
+
+Remember that it is not he 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.
+
+## 21
+
+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.
+
+## 22
+
+If you desire philosophy, prepare yourself from the be­ginning to be ridiculed,
+to expect that many will sneer at you, and say, He has all at once returned to
+us as a phi­losopher; and whence does he get 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, these men who first ridiculed will afterward admire you:
+but if you shall have been over­powered by them, you will bring on yourself
+double ridicule.
+
+## 23
+
+If it should ever happen to you to be turned to externals in order to please
+some person, you must know 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.
+
+## 24
+
+Let not these thoughts afflict you, I shall live unhonored and be nobody
+nowhere. For if want of honor is an evil, you cannot be in evil through the
+means (fault) of another any more than you can be involved in anything base. Is
+it then your business to obtain the rank of a magistrate, or to be received at
+a banquet? By no means. How then can this be want of honor (dishonor)? And how
+will you be nobody nowhere, when you ought to be somebody in those things only
+which are in your power, in which indeed it is permitted to you to be a man of
+the greatest worth? But your friends will be without assistance! What do you
+mean by being without assistance? They will not receive money from you, nor
+will you make them Roman citizens. Who then told you that these are among the
+things which are in our power, and not in the power of others? And who can give
+to another what he has not himself? Acquire money then, your friends say, that
+we also may have something. If I can acquire money and also keep myself modest,
+and faithful and magnanimous, point out the way, and I will acquire it. But if
+you ask me to lose the things which are good and my own, in order that you may
+gain the things which are not good, see how unfair and silly you are. Besides,
+which would you rather have, money or a faithful and modest friend? For this
+end, then, rather help me to be such a man, and do not ask me to do this by
+which I shall lose that character. But my country, you say, as far as it
+depends on me, will be without my help. I ask again, what help do you mean? It
+will not have porticoes or baths through you. And what does this mean? For it
+is not furnished with shoes by means of a smith, nor with arms by means of a
+shoemaker. But it is enough if every man fully discharges the work that is his
+own: and if you provided it with another citizen faithful and modest, would you
+not be useful to it? Yes. Then you also cannot be useless to it. What place,
+then, you say, shall I hold in the city? Whatever you can, if you maintain at
+the same time your fidelity and modesty. But if when you wish to be useful to
+the state, you shall lose these qualities, what profit could you be to it, if
+you were made shameless and faithless?
+
+## 25
+
+Has any man been preferred before you at a banquet, or in being saluted, or in
+being invited to a consultation? 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 in
+order to obtain what is not in our power, be considered worthy of the same
+(equal) things. For how can a man obtain an equal share with another when he
+does not visit a man's doors as that other man does, when he does not attend
+him when he goes abroad, as the other man does; when he does not praise
+(flatter) him as another does? You will be unjust, then, and insatiable, if you
+do not part with the price, in return for which those things are sold, and if
+you wish to obtain them for nothing. Well, what is the price of lettuces?  An
+obolus perhaps. If, then, a man gives up the obolus, and receives the
+lettuces, and if you do not give up the obolus and do not obtain the lettuces,
+do not suppose that you receive less than he who has got the lettuces; for as
+he has the lettuces, so you have the obolus which you did not give. In the same
+way, then, in the other matter also you have not been invited to a man's feast,
+for you did not give to the host the price at which the supper is sold; but he
+sells it for praise (flattery), he sells it for personal attention. Give then
+the price, if it is for your interest, for which it is sold. But if you wish
+both not to give the price and to obtain the things, you are insatiable and
+silly. Have you nothing then in place of the supper? You have indeed, you have
+the not flattering of him, whom you did not choose to flatter; you have the not
+enduring of the man when he enters the room.
+
+## 26
+
+We may learn the wish (will) of nature from the things in which we do not
+differ from one another; for instance, when your neighbor's slave has broken
+his cup, or anything else, we are ready to say forthwith, that it is one of the
+things which happen. You must know, then, that when your cup also is broken,
+you ought to think as you did when your neighbor's cup was broken. Transfer
+this reflection to greater things also. Is another man's child or wife dead?
+There is no one who would not say, this is an event incident to man. But when a
+man's own child or wife is dead, forthwith he calls out, Woe to me, how
+wretched I am. But we ought to remember how we feel when we hear that it has
+happened to others.
+
+## 27
+
+As a mark is not set up for the purpose of missing the aim, so neither does the
+nature of evil exist in the world.
+
+## 28
+
+If any person was intending to put your body in the power of any man whom you
+fell in with on the way, you would be vexed: but that you put your
+understanding in the power of any man whom you meet, so that if he should
+revile you, it is disturbed and troubled, are you not ashamed at this?
+
+## 29
+
+In every act observe the things which come first, and those which follow it;
+and so proceed to the act. If you do not, at first you will approach it with
+alacrity, without having thought of the things which will follow; but
+afterward, when certain base (ugly) things have shown themselves, you will be
+ashamed. A man wishes to conquer at the Olympic games. I also wish indeed, for
+it is a fine thing. But observe both the things which come first, and the
+things which follow; and then begin the act. You must do everything according
+to rule, eat according to strict orders; abstain from delicacies; exercise
+yourself as you are bid at appointed times, in heat, in cold; you must not
+drink cold water, nor wine as you choose. In a word, you must deliver yourself
+up to the exercise master as you do to the physician, and then proceed to the
+contest. And sometimes you will strain the hand, put the ankle out of joint,
+swallow much dust, sometimes be flogged, and after all this be defeated. When
+you have considered all this, if you still choose, go to the contest: if you do
+not, you will behave like children, who at one time play at wrestlers, another
+time as flute players, again as gladiators, then as trumpeters, then as tragic
+actors: so you also will be at one time an athlete, at another a gladiator,
+then a rhetorician, then a philosopher, but with your whole soul you will be
+nothing at all; but like an ape you imitate everything that you see, and one
+thing after another pleases you. For you have not undertaken anything with
+consideration, nor have you surveyed it well; but carelessly and with cold
+desire.
+
+Thus some who have seen a philosopher and having heard one speak, as Euphrates
+speaks—and who can speak as he does?  They wish to be philosophers themselves
+also.
+
+My man, first of all consider what kind of thing it is: and then examine your
+own nature, if you are able to sustain the character. Do you wish to be a
+pentathlete or a wrestler? Look at your arms, your thighs, examine your loins.
+For different men are formed by nature for different things. Do you think that
+if you do these things, you can eat in the same manner, drink in the same
+manner, and in the same manner loathe certain things? You must pass sleepless
+nights; endure toil; go away from your kinsmen; be despised by a slave; in
+everything have the inferior part, in honor, in office, in the courts of
+justice, in every little matter. Consider these things, if you would exchange
+for them, freedom from passions, liberty, tranquility. If not, take care that,
+like little children, you be not now a philosopher, then a servant of the
+publicani, then a rhetorician, then a procurator (manager) for Caesar. These
+things are not consistent. You must be one man, either good or bad. You must
+either cultivate your own ruling faculty, or external things; you must either
+exercise your skill on internal things or on external things; that is, you must
+either maintain the position of a philosopher or that of a common person.
+
+## 30
+
+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 that 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 toward him, and do not
+examine what he is doing, but what you must do that your will shall be
+conformable to nature. For another will not damage you, unless you choose: but
+you will be damaged then when you shall think that you are damaged. In this
+way, then, you will discover your duty from the relation of a neighbor, from
+that of a citizen, from that of a general, if you are accustomed to contemplate
+the relations.
+
+## 31
+
+As to piety toward the gods you must know that this is the chief thing, to have
+right opinions about them, to think that they exist, and that they administer
+the All wellll you accuse them of neglecting
+you. And it is not possible for this to be done in any other way than by
+withdrawing from the things which are not in our power, and by placing the good
+and the evil only in those things which are in our power. For if you think that
+any of the things which are not in our power is good or bad, it is absolutely
+necessary that, when you do not obtain what you wish, and when you fall into
+those things which you do not wish, you will find fault and hate those who are
+the cause of them; for every animal is formed by nature to this, to fly from
+and to turn from the things which appear harmful and the things which are the
+cause of the harm, but to follow and admire the things which are useful and the
+causes of the useful.
+
+It is impossible, then, for a person who thinks that he is harmed to be
+delighted with that which he thinks to be the cause of the harm, as it is also
+impossible to be pleased with the harm itself. For this reason also a father is
+reviled by his son, when he gives no part to his son of the things which are
+considered to be good: and it was this which made Polynices and Eteocles
+enemies, the opinion that royal power was a good. It is for this reason that
+the cultivator of the earth reviles the gods, for this reason the sailor does,
+and the merchant, and for this reason those who lose their wives and their
+children. For where the useful (your interest) is, there also piety is.
+Consequently, he who takes care to desire as he ought and to avoid as he ought,
+at the same time also cares after piety. But to make libations and to sacrifice
+and to offer first fruits according to the custom of our fathers, purely and
+not meanly nor carelessly nor scantily nor above our ability, is a thing which
+belongs to all to do.
+
+## 32
+
+When you have recourse to divination, remember that you do not know how it will
+turn out, but that you are come to inquire from the diviner. But of what kind
+it is, you know when you come, if indeed you are a philosopher. For if it is
+any of the things which are not in our power, it is absolutely necessary that
+it must be neither good nor bad. Do not then bring to the diviner desire or
+aversion: if you do, you will approach him with fear. But having determined in
+your mind that everything which shall turn out (result) is indifferent, and
+does not concern you, and whatever it may be, for it will be in your power to
+use it well, and no man will hinder this, come then with confidence to the gods
+as your advisers. And then, when any advice shall have been given, remember
+whom you have taken as advisers, and whom you will have neglected, if you do
+not obey them. And go to divination, as Socrates said that you ought, about
+those matters in which all the inquiry has reference to the result, and in
+which means are not given either by reason nor by any other art for knowing the
+thing which is the subject of the inquiry. Wherefore, when we ought to share a
+friend's danger or that of our country, you must not consult the diviner
+whether you ought to share it. For even if the diviner shall tell you that the
+signs of the victims are unlucky, it is plain that this is a token of death or
+mutilation of part of the body or of exile. But reason prevails that even with
+these risks we should share the dangers of our friend and of our country.
+Therefore attend to the greater diviner, the Pythian god, who ejected from the
+temple him who did not assist his friend when he was being murdered.
+
+## 33
+
+Immediately prescribe some character and some 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 the occasion calls we shall say something;
+but about none 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 you are able, bring over by your conversation the conversation of
+your associates to that which is proper; but if you should happen to be
+confined to the company of strangers, be silent.
+
+Let not your laughter 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.
+
+Avoid banquets which are given by strangers and by ignorant persons. But if
+ever there is occasion to join in them, let your attention be carefully fixed,
+that you slip not into the manners of the vulgar (the uninstructed). For you
+must know, that if your companion be impure, he also who keeps company with him
+must become impure, though he should happen to be pure.
+
+Take (apply) the things which relate to the body as far as the bare use, as
+food, drink, clothing, house, and slaves: but exclude everything which is for
+show or luxury.
+
+As to pleasure with women, abstain as far as you can before marriage: but if
+you do indulge in it, do it in the way which is conformable to custom. Do not,
+however, be disagreeable to those who indulge in these pleasures, or reprove
+them; and do not often boast that you do not indulge in them yourself.
+
+If a man has reported to you, that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not
+make any defense (answer) to what has been told you: but reply, The man did not
+know the rest of my faults, for he would not have mentioned these only.
+
+It is not necessary to go to the theaters often: but if there is ever a proper
+occasion for going, do not show yourself as being a partisan of any man except
+yourself, that is, desire only that to be done which is done, and for him only
+to gain the prize who gains the prize; for in this way you will meet with no
+hindrance But abstain entirely from shouts and laughter at any (thing or
+person), or violent emotions. And when you are come away, do not talk much
+about what has passed on the stage, except about that which may lead to your
+own improvement. For it is plain, if you do talk much, that you admired the
+spectacle (more than you ought).
+
+Do not go to the hearing of certain persons' recitations nor visit them
+readily. But if you do attend, observe gravity and sedateness, and also avoid
+making yourself disagreeable.
+
+When you are going to meet with any person, and particularly one of those who
+are considered to be in a superior condition, place before yourself what
+Socrates or Zeno would have done in such circumstances, and you will have no
+difficulty in making a proper use of the occasion.
+
+When you are going to any of those who are in great power, place before
+yourself that you will not find the man at home, that you will be excluded,
+that the door will not be opened to you, that the man will not care about you.
+And if with all this it is your duty to visit him, bear what happens, and never
+say to yourself that it was not worth the trouble. For this is silly, and marks
+the character of a man who is offended by externals.
+
+In company take care not to speak much and excessively about your own acts or
+dangers: for as it is pleasant to you to make mention of your dangers, it is
+not so pleasant to others to hear what has happened to you. Take care also not
+to provoke laughter; for this is a slippery way toward vulgar habits, and is
+also adapted to diminish the respect of your neighbors. It is a dangerous habit
+also to approach obscene talk. When, then, anything of this kind happens, if
+there is a good opportunity, rebuke the man who has proceeded to this talk: but
+if there is not an opportunity, by your silence at least, and blushing and
+expression of dissatisfaction by your countenance, show plainly that you are
+displeased at such talk.
+
+
+## 34
+
+If you have received the impression of any pleasure, guard yourself against
+being carried away by it; but let the thing wait for you, and allow yourself a
+certain delay on your own part. Then think of both times, of the time when you
+will enjoy the pleasure, and of the time after the enjoyment of the pleasure
+when you will repent and will reproach yourself. And set against these things
+how you will rejoice if you have abstained from the pleasure, and how you will
+commend yourself. But if it seem to you seasonable to undertake (do) the thing,
+take care that the charm of it, and the pleasure, and the attraction of it
+shall not conquer you: but set on the other side the consideration how much
+better it is to be conscious that you have gained this victory.
+
+## 35
+
+When you have decided that a thing ought to be done and are doing it, never
+avoid being seen doing it, though the many shall form an unfavorable opinion
+about it. For if it is not right to do it, avoid doing the thing; but if it is
+right, why are you afraid of those who shall find fault wrongly?
+
+## 36
+
+As the proposition it is either day or it is night is of great importance for
+the disjunctive argument, but for the conjunctive is of no value, so in a
+symposium (entertainment) to select the larger share is of great value for the
+body, but for the maintenance of the social feeling is worth nothing. When then
+you are eating with another, remember to look not only to the value for the
+body of the things set before you, but also to the value of the behavior toward
+the host which ought to be observed.
+
+## 37
+
+If you have assumed a character above your strength, you have both acted in
+this matter in an unbecoming way, and you have neglected that which you might
+have fulfilled.
+
+## 38
+
+In walking about as you take care not to step on a nail or to sprain your foot,
+so take care not to damage your own ruling faculty: and if we observe this rule
+in every act, we shall undertake the act with more security.
+
+## 39
+
+The measure of possession (property) is to every man the body, as the foot is
+of the shoe. If then you stand on this rule (the demands of the body), you will
+maintain the measure: but if you pass beyond it, you must then of necessity be
+hurried as it were down a precipice. As also in the matter of the shoe, if you
+go beyond the (necessities of the) foot, the shoe is gilded, then of a purple
+color, then embroidered: for there is no limit to that which has once passed
+the true measure.
+
+## 40
+
+Women forthwith from the age of fourteen are called by the men mistresses
+(dominae). Therefore, since they see that there is nothing else that they can
+obtain, but only the power of lying with men, they begin to decorate
+themselves, and to place all their hopes in this. It is worth our while, then,
+to take care that they may know that they are valued (by men) for nothing else
+than appearing (being) decent and modest and discreet.
+
+## 41
+
+It is a mark of a mean capacity to spend much time on the things which concern
+the body, such as much exercise, much eating, much drinking, much easing of the
+body, much copulation. But these things should be done as subordinate things:
+and let all your care be directed to the mind.
+
+## 42
+
+When any person treats you ill or speaks ill of you, remember that he does this
+or says this because he thinks that 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 who has been deceived; for if a man shall suppose
+the true conjunction to be false, it is not the conjunction which is hindered,
+but the man who has been deceived about it. If you proceed, then, from these
+opinions, you will be mild in temper to him who reviles you: for say on each
+occasion, It seemed so to him.
+
+## 43
+
+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
+that handle wherein he acts unjustly, for this is the handle which cannot be
+borne; but lay hold of the other, that he is your brother, that he was nurtured
+with you, and you will lay hold of the thing by that handle by which it can be
+borne.
+
+## 44
+
+These reasonings do not cohere: I am richer than you, therefore I am better
+than you; I am more eloquent than you, therefore I am better than you. On the
+contrary these rather cohere, I am richer than you, therefore my possessions
+are greater than yours: I am more eloquent than you, therefore my speech is
+superior to yours. But you are neither possession nor speech.
+
+## 45
+
+Does a man bathe quickly (early)? Do not say that he bathes badly, but that he
+bathes quickly. Does a man drink much wine? Do not say that he does this badly,
+but say that he drinks much. For before you shall have determined the opinion,
+how do you know whether he is acting wrong? Thus it will not happen to you to
+comprehend some appearances which are capable of being comprehended, but to
+assent to others.
+
+## 46
+
+On no occasion call yourself a philosopher, and do not speak much among the
+uninstructed about theorems (philosophical rules, precepts): but do that which
+follows from them. For example, at a banquet do not say how a man ought to eat,
+but eat as you ought to eat. For remember that in this way Socrates also
+altogether avoided ostentation: persons used to come to him and ask to be
+recommended by him to philosophers, and he used to take them to philosophers:
+so easily did he submit to being overlooked. Accordingly, if any conversation
+should arise among uninstructed persons about any theorem, generally be silent;
+for there is great danger that you will immediately vomit up what you have not
+digested. And when a man shall say to you, that you know nothing, and you are
+not vexed, then be sure that you have begun the work (of philosophy). For even
+sheep do not vomit up their grass and show to the shepherds how much they have
+eaten; but when they have internally digested the pasture, they produce
+externally wool and milk. Do you also show not your theorems to the
+uninstructed, but show the acts which come from their digestion.
+
+## 47
+
+When at a small cost you are supplied with everything for the body, do not be
+proud of this; nor, if you drink water, say on every occasion, I drink water.
+But consider first how much more frugal the poor are than we, and how much more
+enduring of labor. And if you ever wish to exercise yourself in labor and
+endurance, do it for yourself, and not for others: do not embrace statues. But
+if you are ever very thirsty, take a draught of cold water, and spit it out,
+and tell no man.
+
+## 48
+
+The condition and characteristic of an uninstructed person is this: he never
+expects from himself profit (advantage) nor harm, but from externals. The
+condition and characteristic of a philosopher is this: he expects all advantage
+and all harm from himself. The signs (marks) of one who is making progress are
+these: he censures no man, he praises no man, he blames no man, he accuses no
+man, he says nothing about himself as if he were somebody or knew something;
+when he is impeded at all or hindered, he blames himself: if a man praises him,
+he ridicules the praiser to himself: if a man censures him, he makes no
+defense: he goes about like weak persons, being careful not to move any of the
+things which are placed, before they are firmly fixed: he removes all desire
+from himself, and he transfers aversion to those things only of the things
+within our power which are contrary to nature: he employs a moderate movement
+toward everything: whether he is considered foolish or ignorant, he cares not:
+and in a word he watches himself as if he were an enemy and lying in ambush.
+
+## 49
+
+When a man is proud because he can understand and explain the writings of
+Chrysippus, say to yourself, If Chrysippus had not written obscurely, this man
+would have nothing to be proud of. But what is it that I wish? To understand
+Nature and to follow it. I inquire, therefore, who is the interpreter: and when
+I have heard that it is Chrysippus, I come to him (the interpreter). But I do
+not understand what is written, and therefore I seek the interpreter. And so
+far there is yet nothing to be proud of. But when I shall have found the
+interpreter, the thing that remains is to use the precepts (the lessons). This
+itself is the only thing to be proud of. But if I shall admire the exposition,
+what else have I been made unless a grammarian instead of a philosopher? except
+in one thing, that I am explaining Chrysippus instead of Homer. When, then, any
+man says to me, Read Chrysippus to me, I rather blush, when I cannot show my
+acts like to and consistent with his words.
+
+## 50
+
+Whatever things (rules) are proposed to you [for the conduct of life] abide by
+them, as if they were laws, as if you would be guilty of impiety if you
+transgressed any of them. And whatever any man shall say about you, do not
+attend to it: for this is no affair of yours.
+
+## 51
+
+How long will you then still defer thinking yourself worthy of the best things,
+and in no matter transgressing the distinctive reason? Have you accepted the
+theorems (rules), which it was your duty to agree to, and have you agreed to
+them?
+
+What teacher, then, do you still expect that you defer 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 procrastination after
+procrastination, and proposal (intention) after proposal, and 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 (uninstructed) both
+while you live and till you die. Immediately, then, think it right to live as a
+full-grown man, and one who is making proficiency, and let everything which
+appears to you to be the best be to you a law which must not be transgressed.
+And if anything laborious, or pleasant or glorious or inglorious be presented
+to you, remember that now is the contest, now are the Olympic games, and they
+cannot be deferred; and that it depends on one defeat and one giving way that
+progress is either lost or maintained. Socrates in this way becomes perfect, in
+all things improving himself, attending to nothing except to reason. But you,
+though you are not yet a Socrates, ought to live as one who wishes to be a
+Socrates.
+
+## 52
+
+The first and most necessary place (part) in philosophy is the use of theorems
+(precepts), for instance, that we must not lie: the second part is that of
+demonstrations, for instance, How is it proved that we ought not to lie: the
+third is that which is confirmatory of these two and explanatory, for example,
+How is this a demonstration?
+
+For what is demonstration, what is consequence, what is contradiction, what is
+truth, what is falsehood? The third part (topic) is necessary on account of the
+second, and the second on account of the first; but the most necessary and that
+on which we ought to rest is the first. But we do the contrary. For we spend
+our time on the third topic, and all our earnestness is about it: but we
+entirely neglect the first. Therefore we lie; but the demonstration that we
+ought not to lie we have ready to hand.
+
+## 53
+
+In every thing (circumstance) we should hold these maxims ready to hand:
+
+Lead me, O Zeus, and thou O Destiny,  
+The way that I am bid by you to go:  
+To follow I am ready. If I choose not,  
+I make myself a wretch, and still must follow.
+
+But whoso nobly yields unto necessity,  
+We hold him wise, and skill'd in things divine.
+
+And the third also:
+
+O Crito, if so it pleases the gods, so let it be;  
+Anytus and Melitus are able indeed to kill me, but they cannot harm me.

source/content/enchiridion/1916-p-e-matheson.md

@@ -0,0 +1,715 @@
+Author:     Epictetus  
+Title:      The Enchiridion  
+Translator: P.E. Matheson
+Date:       1916  
+Source:     [letsreadgreek.com](http://www.letsreadgreek.com/epictetus/mattheson.htm)  
+Code:       pem  
+
+## 1
+
+Of all existing things some are in our power, and others are not in our power.
+In our power are thought, impulse, will to get and will to avoid, and, in a
+word, everything which is our own doing. Things not in our power include the
+body, property, reputation, office, and, in a word, everything which is not our
+own doing. Things in our power are by nature free, unhindered, untrammelled;
+things not in our power are weak, servile, subject to hindrance, dependent on
+others. Remember then that if you imagine that what is naturally slavish is
+free, and what is naturally another's is your own, you will be hampered, you
+will mourn, you will be put to confusion, you will blame gods and men; but if
+you think that only your own belongs to you, and that what is another's is
+indeed another's, no one will ever put compulsion or hindrance on you, you will
+blame none, you will accuse none, you will do nothing against your will, no one
+will harm you, you will have no enemy, for no harm can touch you.
+
+Aiming then at these high matters, you must remember that to attain them
+requires more than ordinary effort; you will have to give up some things
+entirely, and put off others for the moment. And if you would have these
+also—office and wealth—it may be that you will fail to get them, just because
+your desire is set on the former, and you will certainly fail to attain those
+things which alone bring freedom and happiness.
+
+Make it your study then to confront every harsh impression with the words, 'You
+are but an impression, and not at all what you seem to be'. Then test it by
+those rules that you possess; and first by this—the chief test of all—'Is it
+concerned with what is in our power or with what is not in our power?' And if
+it is concerned with what is not in our power, be ready with the answer that it
+is nothing to you.
+
+## 2
+
+Remember that the will to get promises attainment of what you will, and the
+will to avoid promises escape from what you avoid; and he who fails to get what
+he wills is unfortunate, and he who does not escape what he wills to avoid is
+miserable. If then you try to avoid only what is unnatural in the region within
+your control, you will escape from all that you avoid; but if you try to avoid
+disease or death or poverty you will be miserable.
+
+Therefore let your will to avoid have no concern with what is not in man's
+power; direct it only to things in man's power that are contrary to nature. But
+for the moment you must utterly remove the will to get; for if you will to get
+something not in man's power you are bound to be unfortunate; while none of the
+things in man's power that you could honourably will to get is yet within your
+reach. Impulse to act and not to act, these are your concern; yet exercise them
+gently and without strain, and provisionally.
+
+## 3
+
+When anything, from the meanest thing upwards, is attractive or serviceable or
+an object of affection, remember always to say to yourself, 'What is its
+nature?' If you are fond of a jug, say you are fond of a jug; then you will not
+be disturbed if it be broken. If you kiss your child or your wife, say to
+yourself that you are kissing a human being, for then if death strikes it you
+will not be disturbed.
+
+## 4
+
+When you are about to take something in hand, remind yourself what manner of
+thing it is. If you are going to bathe put before your mind what happens in the
+bath—water pouring over some, others being jostled,. some reviling, others
+stealing; and you will set to work more securely if you say to yourself at
+once: 'I want to bathe, and I want to keep my will in harmony with nature,' and
+so in each thing you do; for in this way, if anything turns up to hinder you in
+your bathing, you will be ready to say, 'I did not want only to bathe, but to
+keep my will in harmony with nature, and I shall not so keep it, if I lose my
+temper at what happens'.
+
+## 5
+
+What disturbs men's minds is not events but their judgements on events: For
+instance, death is nothing dreadful, or else Socrates would have thought it so.
+No, the only dreadful thing about it is men's judgement that it is dreadful.
+And so when we are hindered, or disturbed, or distressed, let us never lay the
+blame on others, but on ourselves, that is, on our own judgements. To accuse
+others for one's own misfortunes is a sign of want of education; to accuse
+oneself shows that one's education has begun; to accuse neither oneself nor
+others shows that one's education is complete.
+
+## 6
+
+Be not elated at an excellence which is not your own. If the horse in his pride
+were to say, 'I am handsome', we could bear with it. But when you say with
+pride, 'I have a handsome horse', know that the good horse is the ground of
+your pride. You ask then what you can call your own. The answer is—the way you
+deal with your impressions. Therefore when you deal with your impressions in
+accord with nature, then you may be proud indeed, for your pride will be in a
+good which is your own.
+
+## 7
+
+When you are on a voyage, and your ship is at anchorage, and you disembark to
+get fresh water, you may pick up a small shellfish or a truffle by the way, but
+you must keep your attention fixed on the ship, and keep looking towards it
+constantly, to see if the Helmsman calls you; and if he does, you have to leave
+everything, or be bundled on board with your legs tied like a sheep. So it is
+in life. If you have a dear wife or child given you, they are like the
+shellfish or the truffle, they are very well in their way. Only, if the
+Helmsman call, run back to your ship, leave all else, and do not look behind
+you. And if you are old, never go far from the ship, so that when you are
+called you may not fail to appear.
+
+## 8
+
+Ask not that events should happen as you will, but let your will be that events
+should happen as they do, and you shall have peace.
+
+## 9
+
+Sickness is a hindrance to the body, but not to the will, unless the will
+consent. Lameness is a hindrance to the leg, but not to the will. Say this to
+yourself at each event that happens, for you shall find that though it hinders
+something else it will not hinder you.
+
+## 10
+
+When anything happens to you, always remember to turn to yourself and ask what
+faculty you have to deal with it. If you see a beautiful boy or a beautiful
+woman, you will find continence the faculty to exercise there; if trouble is
+laid on you, you will find endurance; if ribaldry, you will find patience. And
+if you train yourself in this habit your impressions will not carry you away.
+
+## 11
+
+Never say of anything, 'I lost it', but say, 'I gave it back'. Has your child
+died? It was given back. Has your wife died? She was given back. Has your
+estate been taken from you? Was not this also given back? But you say, 'He who
+took it from me is wicked'. What does it matter to you through whom the Giver
+asked it back? As long as He gives it you, take care of it, but not as your
+own; treat it as passers-by treat an inn.
+
+## 12
+
+If you wish to make progress, abandon reasonings of this sort: 'If I neglect my
+affairs I shall have nothing to live on'; 'If I do not punish my son, he will
+be wicked.' For it is better to die of hunger, so that you be free from pain
+and free from fear, than to live in plenty and be troubled in mind. It is
+better for your son to be wicked than for you to be miserable. Wherefore begin
+with little things. Is your drop of oil spilt? Is your sup of wine stolen? Say
+to yourself, 'This is the price paid for freedom from passion, this is the
+price of a quiet mind.' Nothing can be had without a price. When you call your
+slave-boy, reflect that he may not be able to hear you, and if he hears you, he
+may not be able to do anything you want. But he is not so well off that it
+rests with him to give you peace of mind.
+
+## 13
+
+If you wish to make progress, you must be content in external matters to seem a
+fool and a simpleton; do not wish men to think you know anything, and if any
+should think you to be somebody, distrust yourself. For know that it is not
+easy to keep your will in accord with nature and at the same time keep outward
+things; if you attend to one you must needs neglect the other.
+
+## 14
+
+It is silly to want your children and your wife and your friends to live for
+ever, for that means that you want what is not in your control to be in your
+control, and what is not your own to be yours. In the same way if you want your
+servant to make no mistakes, you are a fool, for you want vice not to be vice
+but something different. But if you want not to be disappointed in your will to
+get, you can attain to that.
+
+Exercise yourself then in what lies in your power. Each man's master is the man
+who has authority over what he wishes or does not wish, to secure the one or to
+take away the other. Let him then who wishes to be free not wish for anything
+or avoid anything that depends on others; or else he is bound to be a slave.
+
+## 15
+
+Remember that you must behave in life as you would at a banquet. A dish is
+handed round and comes to you; put out your hand and take it politely. It
+passes you; do not stop it. It has not reached you; do not be impatient to get
+it, but wait till your turn comes. Bear yourself thus towards children, wife,
+office, wealth, and one day you will be worthy to banquet with the gods. But if
+when they are set before you, you do not take them but despise them, then you
+shall not only share the gods’ banquet, but shall share their rule. For by so
+doing Diogenes and Heraclitus and men like them were called divine and deserved
+the name.
+
+## 16
+
+When you see a man shedding tears in sorrow for a child abroad or dead, or for
+loss of property, beware that you are not carried away by the impression that
+it is outward ills that make him miserable. Keep this thought by you: 'What
+distresses him is not the event, for that does not distress another, but his
+judgement on the event.' Therefore do not hesitate to sympathize with him so
+far as words go, and if it so chance, even to groan with him; but take heed
+that you do not also groan in your inner being.
+
+## 17
+
+Remember that you are an actor in a play, and the Playwright chooses the manner
+of it: if he wants it short, it is short; if long, it is long. If he wants you
+to act a poor man you must act the part with all your powers; and so if your
+part be a cripple or a magistrate or a plain man. For your business is to act
+the character that is given you and act it well; the choice of the cast is
+Another's.
+
+## 18
+
+When a raven croaks with evil omen, let not the impression carry you away, but
+straightway distinguish in your own mind and say, 'These portents mean nothing
+to me; but only to my bit of a body or my bit of property or name, or my
+children or my wife. But for me all omens are favourable if I will, for,
+whatever the issue may be, it is in my power to pt benefit therefrom.'
+
+## 19
+
+You can be invincible, if you never enter on a contest where victory is not in
+your power. Beware then that when you see a man raised to honour or great power
+or high repute you do not let your impression carry you away.  For if the
+reality of good lies in what is in our power, there is no room for envy or
+jealousy. And you will not wish to be praetor, or prefect or consul, but to be
+free; and there is but one way to freedom—to despise what is not in our power.
+
+## 20
+
+Remember that foul words or blows in themselves are no outrage, but your
+judgement that they are so. So when any one makes you angry, know that it is
+your own thought that has angered you. Wherefore make it your first endeavour
+not to let your impressions carry you away. For if once you gain time and
+delay, you will find it easier to control yourself.
+
+## 21
+
+Keep before your eyes from day to day death and exile and all things that seem
+terrible, but death most of all, and then you will never set your thoughts on
+what is low and will never desire anything beyond measure.
+
+## 22
+
+If you set your desire on philosophy you must at once prepare to meet with
+ridicule and the jeers of many who will say, 'Here he is again, turned
+philosopher. Where has he got these proud looks?' Nay, put on no proud looks,
+but hold fast to what seems best to you, in confidence that God has set you at
+this post. And remember that if you abide where you are, those who first laugh
+at you will one day admire you, and that if you give way to them, you will get
+doubly laughed at.
+
+## 23
+
+If it ever happen to you to be diverted to things outside, so that you desire
+to please another, know that you have lost your life's plan. Be content then
+always to be a philosopher; if you wish to be regarded as one too, show
+yourself that you are one and you will be able to achieve it.
+
+## 24
+
+Let not reflections such as these afflict you: 'I shall live without honour,
+and never be of any account'; for if lack of honour is an evil, no one but
+yourself can involve you in evil any more than in shame. Is it your business to
+get office or to be invited to an entertainment?
+
+Certainly not.
+
+Where then is the dishonour you talk of? How can you be 'of no account
+anywhere', when you ought to count for something in those matters only which
+are in your power, where you may achieve the highest worth? 'But my friends,'
+you say, 'will lack assistance.'
+
+What do you mean by 'lack assistance'? They will not have cash from you and you
+will not make them Roman citizens. Who told you that to do these things is in
+our power, and not dependent upon others? Who can give to another what is not
+his to give?
+
+'Get them then,' says he, 'that we may have them.'
+
+If I can get them and keep my self-respect, honour, magnanimity, show the way
+and I will get them. But if you call on me to lose the good things that are
+mine, in order that you may win things that are not good, look how unfair and
+thoughtless you are. And which do you really prefer? Money, or a faithful,
+modest friend? Therefore help me rather to keep these qualities, and do not
+expect from me actions which will make me lose them.
+
+'But my country,' says he, 'will lack assistance, so far as lies in me.'
+
+Once more I ask, What assistance do you mean? It will not owe colonnades or
+baths to you. What of that? It does not owe shoes to the blacksmith or arms to
+the shoemaker; it is sufficient if each man fulfils his own function. Would you
+do it no good if you secured to it another faithful and modest citizen?
+
+'Yes.'
+
+Well, then, you would not be useless to it.
+
+'What place then shall I have in the city?'
+
+Whatever place you can hold while you keep your character for honour and
+self-respect. But if you are going to lose these qualities in trying to benefit
+your city, what benefit, I ask, would you have done her when you attain to the
+perfection of being lost to shame and honour?
+
+## 25
+
+Has some one had precedence of you at an entertainment or a levée or been
+called in before you to give advice? If these things are good you ought to be
+glad that he got them; if they are evil, do not be angry that you did not get
+them yourself. Remember that if you want to get what is not in your power, you
+cannot earn the same reward as others unless you act as they do. How is it
+possible for one who does not haunt the great man's door to have equal shares
+with one who does, or one who does not go in his train equality with one who
+does; or one who does not praise him with one who does? You will be unjust then
+and insatiable if you wish to get these privileges for nothing, without paying
+their price. What is the price of a lettuce? An obol perhaps. If then a man
+pays his obol and gets his lettuces, and you do not pay and do not get them, do
+not think you are defrauded. For as he has the lettuces so you have the obol
+you did not give. The same principle holds good too in conduct. You were not
+invited to some one's entertainment? Because you did not give the host the
+price for which he sells his dinner. He sells it for compliments, he sells it
+for attentions. Pay him the price then, if it is to your profit. But if you
+wish to get the one and yet not give up the other, nothing can satisfy you in
+your folly.
+
+What! you say, you have nothing instead of the dinner?
+
+Nay, you have this, you have not praised the man you did not want to praise,
+you have not had to bear with the insults of his doorstep.
+
+## 26
+
+It is in our power to discover the will of Nature from those matters on which
+we have no difference of opinion. For instance, when another man's slave has
+broken the wine-cup we are very ready to say at once, 'Such things must
+happen'. Know then that when your own cup is broken, you ought to behave in the
+same way as when your neighbour's was broken. Apply the same principle to
+higher matters. Is another's child or wife dead? Not one of us but would say,
+'Such is the lot of man'; but when one's own dies, straightway one cries,
+'Alas! miserable am I'. But we ought to remember what our feelings are when we
+hear it of another.
+
+## 27
+
+As a mark is not set up for men to miss it, so there is nothing intrinsically
+evil in the world.
+
+## 28
+
+If any one trusted your body to the first man he met, you would be indignant,
+but yet you trust your mind to the chance corner, and allow it to be disturbed
+and confounded if he revile you; are you not ashamed to do so?
+
+## 29
+
+In everything you do consider what comes first and what follows, and so
+approach it. Otherwise you will come to it with a good heart at first because
+you have not reflected on any of the consequences, and afterwards, when
+difficulties have appeared, you will desist to your shame. Do you wish to win
+at Olympia? So do I, by the gods, for it is a fine thing. But consider the
+first steps to it, and the consequences, and so lay your hand to the work. You
+must submit to discipline, eat to order, touch no sweets, train under
+compulsion, at a fixed hour, in heat and cold, drink no cold water, nor wine,
+except by order; you must hand yourself over completely to your trainer as you
+would to a physician, and then when the contest comes you must risk getting
+hacked, and sometimes dislocate your hand, twist your ankle, swallow plenty of
+sand, sometimes get a flogging, and with all this suffer defeat. When you have
+considered all this well, then enter on the athlete's course, if you still wish
+it. If you act without thought you will be behaving like children, who one day
+play at wrestlers, another day at gladiators, now sound the trumpet, and next
+strut the stage. Like them you will be now an athlete, now a gladiator, then
+orator, then philosopher, but nothing with all your soul. Like an ape, you
+imitate every sight you see, and one thing after another takes your fancy. When
+you undertake a thing you do it casually and halfheartedly, instead of
+considering it and looking at it all round. In the same way some people, when
+they see a philosopher and hear a man speaking like Euphrates (and indeed who
+can speak as he can? ), wish to be philosophers themselves.
+
+Man, consider first what it is you are undertaking; then look at your own
+powers and see if you can bear it. Do you want to compete in the pentathlon or
+in wrestling? Look to your arms, your thighs, see what your loins are like. For
+different men are born for different tasks. Do you suppose that if you do this
+you can live as you do now—eat and drink as you do now, indulge desire and
+discontent just as before? Nay, you must sit up late, work hard, abandon your
+own people, be looked down on by a mere slave, be ridiculed by those who meet
+you, get the worst of it in everything—in honour, in office, in justice, in
+every possible thing. This is what you have to consider: whether you are
+willing to pay this price for peace of mind, freedom, tranquillity. If not, do
+not come near; do not be, like the children, first a philosopher, then a
+tax-collector, then an orator, then one of Caesar's procurators. These callings
+do not agree. You must be one man, good or bad; you must develop either your
+Governing Principle, or your outward endowments; you must study either your
+inner man, or outward things—in a word, you must choose between the position of
+a philosopher and that of a mere outsider.
+
+## 30
+
+Appropriate acts are in general measured by the relations they are concerned
+with. 'He is your father.' This means you are called on to take care of him,
+give way to him in all things, bear with him if he reviles or strikes you.
+
+'But he is a bad father.'
+
+Well, have you any natural claim to a good father? No, only to a father.
+
+'My brother wrongs me.'
+
+Be careful then to maintain the relation you hold to him, and do not consider
+what he does, but what you must do if your purpose is to keep in accord with
+nature. For no one shall harm you, without your consent; you will only be
+harmed, when you think you are harmed. You will only discover what is proper to
+expect from neighbour, citizen, or praetor, if you get into the habit of
+looking at the relations implied by each.
+
+## 31
+
+For piety towards the gods know that the most important thing is this: to have
+right opinions about them—that they exist, and that they govern the universe
+well and justly—and to have set yourself to obey them, and to give way to all
+that happens, following events with a free will, in the belief that they are
+fulfilled by the highest mind. For thus you will never blame the gods, nor
+accuse them of neglecting you. But this you cannot achieve, unless you apply
+your conception of good and evil to those things only which are in our power,
+and not to those which are out of our power. For if you apply your notion of
+good or evil to the latter, then, as soon as you fail to get what you will to
+get or fail to avoid what you will to avoid, you will be bound to blame and
+hate those you hold responsible. For every living creature has a natural
+tendency to avoid and shun what seems harmful and all that causes it, and to
+pursue and admire what is helpful and all that causes it. It is not possible
+then for one who thinks he is harmed to take pleasure in what he thinks is the
+author of the harm, any more than to take pleasure in the harm itself. That is
+why a father is reviled by his son, when he does not give his son a share of
+what the son regards as good things; thus Polynices and Eteocles were set at
+enmity with one another by thinking that a king's throne was a good thing. That
+is why the farmer, and the sailor, and the merchant, and those who lose wife or
+children revile the gods. For men's religion is bound up with their interest.
+Therefore he who makes it his concern rightly to direct his will to get and his
+will to avoid, is thereby making piety his concern. But it is proper on each
+occasion to make libation and sacrifice and to offer first-fruits according to
+the custom of our fathers, with purity and not in slovenly or careless fashion,
+without meanness and without extravagance.
+
+## 32
+
+When you make use of prophecy remember that while you know not what the issue
+will be, but are come to learn it from the prophet, you do know before you come
+what manner of thing it is, if you are really a philosopher. For if the event
+is not in our control, it cannot be either good or evil. Therefore do not bring
+with you to the prophet the will to get or the will to avoid, and do not
+approach him with trembling, but with your mind made up, that the whole issue
+is indifferent and does not affect you and that, whatever it be, it will be in
+your power to make good use of it, and no one shall hinder this. With
+confidence then approach the gods as counsellors, and further, when the counsel
+is given you, remember whose counsel it is, and whom you will be disregarding
+if you disobey. And consult the oracle, as Socrates thought men should, only
+when the whole question turns upon the issue of events, and neither reason nor
+any art of man provides opportunities for discovering what lies before you.
+Therefore, when it is your duty to risk your life with friend or country, do
+not ask the oracle whether you should risk your life. For if the prophet warns
+you that the sacrifice is unfavourable, though it is plain that this means
+death or exile or injury to some part of your body, yet reason requires that
+even at this cost you must stand by your friend and share your country's
+danger. Wherefore pay heed to the greater prophet, Pythian Apollo, who cast out
+of his temple the man who did not help his friend when he was being killed.
+
+## 33
+
+Lay down for yourself from the first a definite stamp and style of conduct,
+which you will maintain when you are alone and also in the society of men. Be
+silent for the most part, or, if you speak, say only what is necessary and in a
+few words. Talk, but rarely, if occasion calls you, but do not talk of ordinary
+things—of gladiators, or horse-races, or athletes, or of meats or drinks—these
+are topics that arise everywhere—but above all do not talk about men in blame
+or compliment or comparison. If you can, turn the conversation of your company
+by your talk to some fitting subject; but if you shouldgravity and dignity and
+do not make yourself offensive. When you are going to meet any one, and
+particularly some man of reputed eminence, set before your mind the thought,
+'What would Socrates or Zeno have done?' and you will not fail to make proper
+use of the occasion.
+
+When you go to visit some great man, prepare your mind by thinking that you
+will not find him in, that you will be shut out, that the doors will be slammed
+in your face, that he will pay no heed to you. And if in spite of all this you
+find it fitting for you to go, go and bear what happens and never say to
+yourself, 'It was not worth all this'; for that shows a vulgar mind and one at
+odds with outward things.
+
+In your conversation avoid frequent and disproportionate mention of your own
+doings or adventures; for other people do not take the same pleasure in hearing
+what has happened to you as you take in recounting your adventures.
+
+Avoid raising men's laughter; for it is a habit that easily slips into
+vulgarity, and it may well suffice to lessen your neighbour's respect.
+
+It is dangerous too to lapse into foul language; when anything of the kind
+occurs, rebuke the offender, if the occasion allow, and if not, make it plain
+to him by your silence, or a blush or a frown, that you are angry at his words.
+
+## 34
+
+When you imagine some pleasure, beware that it does not carry you away, like
+other imaginations. Wait a while, and give yourself pause. Next remember two
+things: how long you will enjoy the pleasure, and also how long you will
+afterwards repent and revile yourself. And set on the other side the joy and
+self-satisfaction you will feel if you refrain. And if the moment seems come to
+realize it, take heed that you be not overcome by the winning sweetness and
+attraction of it; set in the other scale the thought how much better is the
+consciousness of having vanquished it.
+
+## 35
+
+When you do a thing because you have determined that it ought to be done, never
+avoid being seen doing it, even if the opinion of the multitude is going to
+condemn you. For if your action is wrong, then avoid doing it altogether, but
+if it is right, why do you fear those who will rebuke you wrongly?
+
+## 36
+
+The phrases, 'It is day' and 'It is night', mean a great deal if taken
+separately, but have no meaning if combined. In the same way, to choose the
+larger portion at a banquet may be worth while for your body, but if you want
+to maintain social decencies it is worthless. Therefore, when you are at meat
+with another, remember not only to consider the value of what is set before you
+for the body, but also to maintain your self-respect before your host.
+
+## 37
+
+If you try to act a part beyond your powers, you not only disgrace yourself in
+it, but you neglect the part which you could have filled with success.
+
+## 38
+
+As in walking you take care not to tread on a nail or to twist your foot, so
+take care that you do not harm your Governing Principle. And if we guard this
+in everything we do, we shall set to work more securely.
+
+## 39
+
+Every man's body is a measure for his property, as the foot is the measure for
+his shoe. If you stick to this limit, you will keep the right measure; if you
+go beyond it, you are bound to be carried away down a precipice in the end;
+just as with the shoe, if you once go beyond the foot, your shoe puts on
+gilding, and soon purple and embroidery. For when once you go beyond the
+measure there is no limit.
+
+## 40
+
+Women from fourteen years upwards are called 'madam' by men. Wherefore, when
+they see that the only advantage they have got is to be marriageable, they
+begin to make themselves smart and to set all their hopes on this. We must take
+pains then to make them understand that they are really honoured for nothing
+but a modest and decorous life.
+
+## 41
+
+It is a sign of a dull mind to dwell upon the cares of the body, to prolong
+exercise, eating, drinking, and other bodily functions. These things are to be
+done by the way; all your attention must be given to the mind.
+
+## 42
+
+When a man speaks evil or does evil to you, remember that he does or says it
+because he thinks it is fitting for him. It is not possible for him to follow
+what seems good to you, but only what seems good to him, so that, if his
+opinion is wrong, he suffers, in that he is the victim of deception. In the
+same way, if a composite judgement which is true is thought to be false, it is
+not the judgement that suffers, but the man who is deluded about it. If you act
+on this principle you will be gentle to him who reviles you, saying to yourself
+on each occasion, 'He thought it right.'
+
+## 43
+
+Everything has two handles, one by which you can carry it, the other by which
+you cannot. If your brother wrongs you, do not take it by that handle, the
+handle of his wrong, for you cannot carry it by that, but rather by the other
+handle—that he is a brother, brought up with you, and then you will take it by
+the handle that you can carry by.
+
+## 44
+
+It is illogical to reason thus, 'I am richer than you, therefore I am superior
+to you', 'I am more eloquent than you, therefore I am superior to you.' It is
+more logical to reason, 'I am richer than you, therefore my property is
+superior to yours', 'I am more eloquent than you, therefore my speech is
+superior to yours.' You are something more than property or speech.
+
+## 45
+
+If a man wash quickly, do not say that he washes badly, but that he washes
+quickly. If a man drink much wine, do not say that he drinks badly, but that he
+drinks much. For till you have decided what judgement prompts him, how do you
+know that he acts badly? If you do as I say, you will assent to your
+apprehensive impressions and to none other.
+
+## 46
+
+On no occasion call yourself a philosopher, nor talk at large of your
+principles among the multitude, but act on your principles. For instance, at a
+banquet do not say how one ought to eat, but eat as you ought.  Remember that
+Socrates had so completely got rid of the thought of display that when men came
+and wanted an introduction to philosophers he took them to be introduced; so
+patient of neglect was he. And if a discussion arise among the multitude on
+some principle, keep silent for the most part; for you are in great danger of
+blurting out some undigested thought. And when some one says to you, 'You know
+nothing', and you do not let it provoke you, then know that you are really on
+the right road. For sheep do not bring grass to their shepherds and show them
+how much they have eaten, but they digest their fodder and then produce it in
+the form of wool and milk.  Do the same yourself; instead of displaying your
+principles to the multitude, show them the results of the principles you have
+digested.
+
+## 47
+
+When you have adopted the simple life, do not pride yourself upon it, and if
+you are a water-drinker do not say on every occasion, 'I am a water-drinker.'
+And if you ever want to train laboriously, keep it to yourself and do not make
+a show of it. Do not embrace statues. If you are very thirsty take a good
+draught of cold water, and rinse you mouth and tell no one.
+
+## 48
+
+The ignorant man's position and character is this: he never looks to himself
+for benefit or harm, but to the world outside him. The philosopher's position
+and character is that he always look to himself for benefit and harm.
+
+The signs of one who is making progress are: he blames none, praises none,
+complains of none, accuses none, never speaks of himself as if he were
+somebody, or as if he knew anything. And if any one compliments him he laughs
+in himself at his compliment; and if one blames him, he makes no defence. He
+goes about like a convalescent, careful not to disturb his constitution on its
+road to recovery, until it has got firm hold. He has got rid of the will to
+get, and his will to avoid is directed no longer to what is beyond our power
+but only to what is in our power and contrary to nature. In all things he
+exercises his will without strain. If men regard him as foolish or ignorant he
+pays no heed. In one word, he keeps watch and guard on himself as his own
+enemy, lying in wait for him.
+
+## 49
+
+When a man prides himself on being able to understand and interpret the books
+of Chrysippus, say to yourself, 'If Chrysippus had not written obscurely this
+man would have had nothing on which to pride himself.'
+
+What is my object? To understand Nature and follow her. I look then for some
+one who interprets her, and having heard that Chrysippus does
+
+I come to him. But I do not understand his writings, so I seek an interpreter.
+So far there is nothing to be proud of. But when I have found the interpreter
+it remains for me to act on his precepts; that and that alone is a thing to be
+proud of. But if I admire the mere power of exposition, it comes to this—that I
+am turned into a grammarian instead of a philosopher, except that I interpret
+Chrysippus in place of Homer.  Therefore, when some one says to me, 'Read me
+Chrysippus', when I cannot point to actions which are in harmony and
+correspondence with his teaching, I am rather inclined to blush.
+
+## 50
+
+Whatever principles you put before you, hold fast to them as laws which it will
+be impious to transgress. But pay no heed to what any one says of you; for this
+is something beyond your own control.
+
+## 51
+
+How long will you wait to think yourself worthy of the highest and transgress
+in nothing the clear pronouncement of reason? You have received the precepts
+which you ought to accept, and you have accepted them. Why then do you still
+wait for a master, that you may delay the amendment of yourself till he comes?
+You are a youth no longer, you are now a full-grown man. If now you are
+careless and indolent and are always putting off, fixing one day after another
+as the limit when you mean to begin attending to yourself, then, living or
+dying, you will make no progress but will continue unawares in ignorance.
+Therefore make up your mind before it is too late to live as one who is mature
+and proficient, and let all that seems best to you be a law that you cannot
+transgress. And if you encounter anything troublesome or pleasant or glorious
+or inglorious, remember that the hour of struggle is come, the Olympic contest
+is here and you may put off no longer, and that one day and one action
+determines whether the progress you have achieved is lost or maintained.
+
+This was how Socrates attained perfection, paying heed to nothing but reason,
+in all that he encountered. And if you are not yet Socrates, yet ought you to
+live as one who would wish to be a Socrates.
+
+## 52
+
+The first and most necessary department of philosophy deals with the
+application of principles; for instance, 'not to lie'. The second deals with
+demonstrations; for instance, 'How comes it that one ought not to lie?' The
+third is concerned with establishing and analysing these processes; for
+instance, 'How comes it that this is a demonstration? What is demonstration,
+what is consequence, what is contradiction, what is true, what is false?' It
+follows then that the third department is necessary because of the second, and
+the second because of the first. The first is the most necessary part, and that
+in which we must rest. But we reverse the order: we occupy ourselves with the
+third, and make that our whole concern, and the first we completely neglect.
+Wherefore we lie, but are ready enough with the demonstration that lying is
+wrong.
+
+## 53
+
+On every occasion we must have these thoughts at hand,
+
+'Lead me, O Zeus, and lead me, Destiny,  
+Whither ordained is by your decree.  
+I'll follow, doubting not, or if with will  
+Recreant I falter, I shall follow still.'
+
+*[Cleanthes]*
+
+'Who rightly with necessity complies  
+In things divine we count him skilled and wise.'
+
+*[Euripides, Fragment 965]*
+
+'Well, Crito, if this be the gods’ will, so be it.'
+
+*[Plato, Crito, 43d]*
+
+'Anytus and Meletus have power to put me to death, but not to harm me,'
+
+*[Plato, Apology, 30c]*

source/content/enchiridion/1920-william-abbott-oldfather.md

@@ -0,0 +1,787 @@
+Author:     Epictetus  
+Title:      The Encheiridion, or Manual  
+Translator: William Abbott Oldfather  
+Date:       1928  
+Source:     [en.wikisource.org](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Epictetus,_the_Discourses_as_reported_by_Arrian,_the_Manual,_and_Fragments/Manual)  
+Code:       wao  
+
+## 1
+
+Some things are under our control, while others are not under our control.
+Under our control are conception, choice, desire, aversion, and, in a word,
+everything that is our own doing; not under our control are our body, our
+property, reputation, office, and, in a word, everything that is not our own
+doing. Furthermore, the things under our control are by nature free,
+unhindered, and unimpeded; while the things not under our control are weak,
+servile, subject to hindrance, and not our own. Remember, therefore, that if
+what is naturally slavish you think to be free, and what is not your own to be
+your own, you will be hampered, will grieve, will be in turmoil, and will blame
+both gods and men; while if you think only what is your own to be your own, and
+what is not your own to be, as it really is, not your own, then no one will
+ever be able to exert compulsion upon you, no one will hinder you, you will
+blame no one, will find fault with no one, will do absolutely nothing against
+your will, you will have no personal enemy, no one will harm you, for neither
+is there any harm that can touch you.
+
+With such high aims, therefore, remember that you must bestir yourself with no
+slight effort to lay hold of them, but you will have to give up some things
+entirely, and defer others for the time being. But if you wish for these things
+also, and at the same time for both office and wealth, it may be that you will
+not get even these latter, because you aim also at the former, and certainly
+you will fail to get the former, which alone bring freedom and happiness.
+
+Make it, therefore, your study at the very outset to say to every harsh
+external impression, "You are an external impression and not at all what you
+appear to be." After that examine it and test it by these rules which you have,
+the first and most important of which is this: Whether the impression has to do
+with the things which are under our control, or with those which are not under
+our control; and, if it has to do with some one of the things not under our
+control, have ready to hand the answer, "It is nothing to me."
+
+## 2
+
+Remember that the promise of desire is the attainment of what you desire, that
+of aversion is not to fall into what is avoided, and that he who fails in his
+desire is unfortunate, while he who falls into what he would avoid experiences
+misfortune. If, then, you avoid only what is unnatural among those things which
+are under your control, you will fall into none of the things which you avoid;
+but if you try to avoid disease, or death, or poverty, you will experience
+misfortune. Withdraw, therefore, your aversion from all the matters that are
+not under our control, and transfer it to what is unnatural among those which
+are under our control. But for the time being remove utterly your desire; for
+if you desire some one of the things that are not under our control you are
+bound to be unfortunate; and, at the same time, not one of the things that are
+under our control, which it would be excellent for you to desire, is within
+your grasp. But employ only choice and refusal, and these too but lightly, and
+with reservations, and without straining.
+
+## 3
+
+With everything which entertains you, is useful, or of which you are fond,
+remember to say to yourself, beginning with the very least things, "What is its
+nature?" If you are fond of a jug, say, "I am fond of a jug"; for when it is
+broken you will not be disturbed. If you kiss your own child or wife, say to
+yourself that you are kissing a human being; for when it dies you will not be
+disturbed.
+
+## 4
+
+When you are on the point of putting your hand to some undertaking, remind
+yourself what the nature of that undertaking is. If you are going out of the
+house to bathe, put before your mind what happens at a public bath—those who
+splash you with water, those who jostle against you, those who vilify you and
+rob you. And thus you will set about your undertaking more securely if at the
+outset you say to yourself, "I want to take a bath, and, at the same time, to
+keep my moral purpose in harmony with nature." And so do in every undertaking.
+For thus, if anything happens to hinder you in your bathing, you will be ready
+to say, "Oh, well, this was not the only thing that I wanted, but I wanted also
+to keep my moral purpose in harmony with nature; and I shall not so keep it if
+I am vexed at what is going on."
+
+## 5
+
+It is not the things themselves that disturb men, but their judgements about
+these things. For example, death is nothing dreadful, or else Socrates too
+would have thought so, but the judgement that death is dreadful, this is the
+dreadful thing. When, therefore, we are hindered, or disturbed, or grieved, let
+us never blame anyone but ourselves, that means, our own judgements. It is the
+part of an uneducated person to blame others where he himself fares ill; to
+blame himself is the part of one whose education has begun; to blame neither
+another nor his own self is the part of one whose education is already
+complete.
+
+## 6
+
+Be not elated at any excellence which is not your own. If the horse in his
+elation were to say, "I am beautiful," it could be endured; but when you say in
+your elation, "I have a beautiful horse," rest assured that you are elated at
+something good which belongs to a horse. What, then, is your own? The use of
+external impressions. Therefore, when you are in harmony with nature in the use
+of external impressions, then be elated; for then it will be some good of your
+own at which you will be elated.
+
+## 7
+
+Just as on a voyage, when your ship has anchored, if you should go on shore to
+get fresh water, you may pick up a small shell-fish or little bulb on the way,
+but you have to keep your attention fixed on the ship, and turn about
+frequently for fear lest the captain should call; and if he calls, you must
+give up all these things, if you would escape being thrown on board all tied up
+like the sheep. So it is also in life: If there be given you, instead of a
+little bulb and a small shell-fish, a little wife and child, there will be no
+objection to that; only, if the Captain calls, give up all these things and run
+to the ship, without even turning around to look back. And if you are an old
+man, never even get very far away from the ship, for fear that when He calls
+you may be missing.
+
+## 8
+
+Do not seek to have everything that happens happen as you wish, but wish for
+everything to happen as it actually does happen, and your life will be serene.
+
+## 9
+
+Disease is an impediment to the body, but not to the moral purpose, unless that
+consents. Lameness is an impediment to the leg, but not to the moral purpose.
+And say this to yourself at each thing that befalls you; for you will find the
+thing to be an impediment to something else, but not to yourself.
+
+## 10
+
+In the case of everything that befalls you, remember to turn to yourself and
+see what faculty you have to deal with it. If you see a handsome lad or woman,
+you will find continence the faculty to employ here; if hard labour is laid
+upon you, you will find endurance; if reviling, you will find patience to bear
+evil. And if you habituate yourself in this fashion, your external impressions
+will not run away with you.
+
+## 11
+
+Never say about anything, "I have lost it," but only "I have given it back." Is
+your child dead? It has been given back. Is your wife dead? She has been given
+back. "I have had my farm taken away." Very well, this too has been given back.
+"Yet it was a rascal who took it away." But what concern is it of yours by
+whose instrumentality the Giver called for its return? So long as He gives it
+you, take care of it as of a thing that is not your own, as travellers treat
+their inn.
+
+## 12
+
+If you wish to make progress, dismiss all reasoning of this sort: "If I neglect
+my affairs, I shall have nothing to live on." "If I do not punish my slave-boy
+he will turn out bad." For it is better to die of hunger, but in a state of
+freedom from grief and fear, than to live in plenty, but troubled in mind. And
+it is better for your slave-boy to be bad than for you to be unhappy. Begin,
+therefore, with the little things. Your paltry oil gets spilled, your miserable
+wine stolen; say to yourself, "This is the price paid for a calm spirit, this
+the price for peace of mind." Nothing is got without a price. And when you call
+your slave-boy, bear in mind that it is possible he may not heed you, and
+again, that even if he does heed, he may not do what you want done. But he is
+not in so happy a condition that your peace of mind depends upon him.
+
+## 13
+
+If you wish to make progress, then be content to appear senseless and foolish
+in externals, do not make it your wish to give the appearance of knowing
+anything; and if some people think you to be an important personage, distrust
+yourself. For be assured that it is no easy matter to keep your moral purpose
+in a state of conformity with nature, and, at the same time, to keep externals;
+but the man who devotes his attention to one of these two things must
+inevitably neglect the other.
+
+## 14
+
+If you make it your will that your children and your wife and your friends
+should live for ever, you are silly; for you are making it your will that
+things not under your control should be under your control, and that what is
+not your own should be your own. In the same way, too, if you make it your will
+that your slave-boy be free from faults, you are a fool; for you are making it
+your will that vice be not vice, but something else. If, however, it is your
+will not to fail in what you desire, this is in your power. Wherefore, exercise
+yourself in that which is in your power. Each man's master is the person who
+has the authority over what the man wishes or does not wish, so as to secure
+it, or take it away. Whoever, therefore, wants to be free, let him neither wish
+for anything, nor avoid anything, that is under the control of others; or else
+he is necessarily a slave.
+
+## 15
+
+Remember that you ought to behave in life as you would at a banquet. As
+something is being passed around it comes to you; stretch out your hand and
+take a portion of it politely. It passes on; do not detain it. Or it has not
+come to you yet; do not project your desire to meet it, but wait until it comes
+in front of you. So act toward children, so toward a wife, so toward office, so
+toward wealth; and then some day you will be worthy of the banquets of the
+gods. But if you do not take these things even when they are set before you,
+but despise them, then you will not only share the banquet of the gods, but
+share also their rule. For it was by so doing that Diogenes and Heracleitus,
+and men like them, were deservedly divine and deservedly so called.
+
+## 16
+
+When you see someone weeping in sorrow, either because a child has gone on a
+journey, or because he has lost his property, beware that you be not carried
+away by the impression that the man is in the midst of external ills, but
+straightway keep before you this thought: "It is not what has happened that
+distresses this man (for it does not distress another), but his judgement about
+it." Do not, however, hesitate to sympathize with him so far as words go, and,
+if occasion offers, even to groan with him; but be careful not to groan also in
+the centre of your being.
+
+## 17
+
+Remember that you are an actor in a play, the character of which is determined
+by the Playwright: if He wishes the play to be short, it is short; if long, it
+is long; if He wishes you to play the part of a beggar, remember to act even
+this role adroitly; and so if your role be that of a cripple, an official, or a
+layman. For this is your business, to play admirably the role assigned you; but
+the selection of that role is Another's.
+
+## 18
+
+When a raven croaks inauspicfously, let not the external impression carry you
+away, but straightway draw a distinction in your own mind, and say, "None of
+these portents are for me, but either for my paltry body, or my paltry estate,
+or my paltry opinion, or my children, or my wife. But for me every portent is
+favourable, if I so wish; for whatever be the outcome, it is within my power to
+derive benefit from it."
+
+## 19
+
+You can be invincible if you never enter a contest in which victory is not
+under your control. Beware lest, when you see some person preferred to you in
+honour, or possessing great power, or otherwise enjoying high repute, you are
+ever carried away by the external impression, and deem him happy. For if the
+true nature of the good is one of the things that are under our control, there
+is no place for either envy or jealousy; and you yourself will not wish to be a
+praetor, or a senator, or a consul, but a free man. Now there is but one way
+that leads to this, and that is to despise the things that are not under our
+control.
+
+## 20
+
+Bear in mind that it is not the man who reviles or strikes you that insults
+you, but it is your judgement that these men are insulting you. Therefore, when
+someone irritates you, be assured that it is your own opinion which has
+irritated you. And so make it your first endeavour not to be carried away by
+the external impression; for if once you gain time and delay, you will more
+easily become master of yourself.
+
+## 21
+
+Keep before your eyes day by day death and exile, and everything that seems
+terrible, but most of all death; and then you will never have any abject
+thought, nor will you yearn for anything beyond measure.
+
+## 22
+
+If you yearn for philosophy, prepare at once to be met with ridicule, to have
+many people jeer at you, and say, "Here he is again, turned philosopher all of
+a sudden," and "Where do you suppose he got that high brow?" But do you not put
+on a high brow, and do you so hold fast to the things which to you seem best,
+as a man who has been assigned by God to this post; and remember that if you
+abide by the same principles, those who formerly used to laugh at you will
+later come to admire you, but if you are worsted by them, you will get the
+laugh on yourself twice.
+
+## 23
+
+If it should ever happen to you that you turn to externals with a view to
+pleasing someone, rest assured that you have lost your plan of life. Be
+content, therefore, in everything to be a philosopher, and if you wish also to
+be taken for one, show to yourself that you are one, and you will be able to
+accomplish it.
+
+## 24
+
+Let not these reflections oppress you: "I shall live without honour, and be
+nobody anywhere." For, if lack of honour is an evil, you cannot be in evil
+through the instrumentality of some other person, any more than you can be in
+shame. It is not your business, is it, to get office, or to be invited to a
+dinner-party? Certainly not. How, then, can this be any longer a lack of
+honour? And how is it that you will be "nobody anywhere," when you ought to be
+somebody only in those things which are under your control, wherein you are
+privileged to be a man of the very greatest honour? But your friends will be
+without assistance? What do you mean by being "without assistance"? They will
+not have paltry coin from you, and you will not make them Roman citizens. Well,
+who told you that these are some of the matters under our control, and not
+rather things which others do? And who is able to give another what he does not
+himself have? "Get money, then," says some friend, "in order that we too may
+have it." If I can get money and at the same time keep myself self-respecting,
+and faithful, and high-minded, show me the way and I will get it. But if you
+require me to lose the good things that belong to me, in order that you may
+acquire the things that are not good, you can see for yourselves how unfair and
+inconsiderate you are. And which do you really prefer? Money, or a faithful and
+self-respecting friend? Help me, therefore, rather to this end, and do not
+require me to do those things which will make me lose these qualities.
+
+"But my country," says he, "so far as lies in me, will be without assistance."
+Again I ask, what kind of assistance do you mean? It will not have loggias or
+baths of your providing. And what does that signify? For neither does it have
+shoes provided by the blacksmith, nor has it arms provided by the cobbler; but
+it is sufficient if each man fulfil his own proper function. And if you secured
+for it another faithful and self-respecting citizen, would you not be doing it
+any good? "Yes." Very well, and then you also would not be useless to it. "What
+place, then, shall I have in the State?" says he. Whatever place you can have,
+and at the same time maintain the man of fidelity and self-respect that is in
+you. But if, through your desire to help the State, you lose these qualities,
+of what good would you become to it, when in the end you turned out to be
+shameless and unfaithful?
+
+## 25
+
+Has someone been honoured above you at a dinner-party, or in salutation, or in
+being called in to give advice? Now if these matters are good, you ought to be
+happy that he got them; but if evil, be not distressed because you did not get
+them; and bear in mind that, if you do not act the same way that others do,
+with a view to getting things which are not under our control, you cannot be
+considered worthy to receive an equal share with others. Why, how is it
+possible for a person who does not haunt some man's door, to have equal shares
+with the man who does? For the man who does not do escort duty, with the man
+who does? For the man who does not praise, with the man who does? You will be
+unjust, therefore, and insatiable, if, while refusing to pay the price for
+which such things are bought, you want to obtain them for nothing. Well, what
+is the price for heads of lettuce? An obol, perhaps. If, then, somebody gives
+up his obol and gets his heads of lettuce, while you do not give your obol, and
+do not get them, do not imagine that you are worse off than the man who gets
+his lettuce. For as he has his heads of lettuce, so you have your obol which
+you have not given away.
+
+Now it is the same way also in life. You have not been invited to somebody's
+dinner-party? Of course not; for you didn't give the host the price at which he
+sells his dinner. He sells it for praise; he sells it for personal attention.
+Give him the price, then, for which it is sold, if it is to your interest. But
+if you wish both not to give up the one and yet to get the other, you are
+insatiable and a simpleton. Have you, then, nothing in place of the dinner?
+Indeed you have; you have not had to praise the man you did not want to praise;
+you have not had to put up with the insolence of his doorkeepers.
+
+## 26
+
+What the will of nature is may be learned from a consideration of the points in
+which we do not differ from one another. For example, when some other person's
+slave-boy breaks his drinking-cup, you are instantly ready to say, "That's one
+of the things which happen." Rest assured, then, that when your own
+drinking-cup gets broken, you ought to behave in the same way that you do when
+the other man's cup is broken. Apply now the same principle to the matters of
+greater importance. Some other person's child or wife has died; no one but
+would say, "Such is the fate of man." Yet when a man's own child dies,
+immediately the cry is, "Alas! Woe is me!" But we ought to remember how we feel
+when we hear of the same misfortune befalling others.
+
+## 27
+
+Just as a mark is not set up in order to be missed, so neither does the nature
+of evil arise in the universe.
+
+## 28
+
+If someone handed over your body to any person who met you, you would be vexed;
+but that you hand over your mind to any person that comes along, so that, if he
+reviles you, it is disturbed and troubled—are you not ashamed of that?
+
+## 29
+
+In each separate thing that you do, consider the matters which come first and
+those which follow after, and only then approach the thing itself. Otherwise,
+at the start you will come to it enthusiastically, because you have never
+reflected upon any of the subsequent steps, but later on, when some
+difficulties appear, you will give up disgracefully. Do you wish to win an
+Olympic victory? So do I, by the gods! for it is a fine thing. But consider the
+matters which come before that, and those which follow after, and only when you
+have done that, put your hand to the task. You have to submit to discipline,
+follow a strict diet, give up sweet cakes, train under compulsion, at a fixed
+hour, in heat or in cold; you must not drink cold water, nor wine just whenever
+you feel like it; you must have turned yourself over to your trainer precisely
+as you would to a physician. Then when the contest comes on, you have to "dig
+in" beside your opponent, and sometimes dislocate your wrist, sprain your
+ankle, swallow quantities of sand, sometimes take a scourging, and along with
+all that get beaten. After you have considered all these points, go on into the
+games, if you still wish to do so; otherwise, you will be turning back like
+children. Sometimes they play wrestlers, again gladiators, again they blow
+trumpets, and then act a play. So you too are now an athlete, now a gladiator,
+then a rhetorician, then a philosopher, yet with your whole soul nothing; but
+like an ape you imitate whatever you see, and one thing after another strikes
+your fancy. For you have never gone out after anything with circumspection, nor
+after you had examined it all over, but you act at haphazard and
+half-heartedly.
+
+In the same way, when some people have seen a philosopher and have heard
+someone speaking like Euphrates (though, indeed, who can speak like him?), they
+wish to be philosophers themselves. Man, consider first the nature of the
+business, and then learn your own natural ability, if you are able to bear it.
+Do you wish to be a contender in the pentathlon, or a wrestler? Look to your
+arms, your thighs, see what your loins are like. For one man has a natural
+talent for one thing, another for another. Do you suppose that you can eat in
+the same fashion, drink in the same fashion, give way to impulse and to
+irritation, just as you do now? You must keep vigils, work hard, abandon your
+own people, be despised by a paltry slave, be laughed to scorn by those who
+meet you, in everything get the worst of it, in honour, in office, in court, in
+every paltry affair. Look these drawbacks over carefully, if you are willing at
+the price of these things to secure tranquillity, freedom and calm. Otherwise,
+do not approach philosophy; don't act like a child—now a philosopher, later on
+a tax-gatherer, then a rhetorician, then a procurator of Caesar. These things
+do not go together. You must be one person, either good or bad; you must labour
+to improve either your own governing principle or externals; you must work hard
+either on the inner man, or on things outside; that is, play either the rôle of
+a philosopher or else that of a layman.
+
+## 30
+
+Our duties are in general measured by our social relationships. He is a father.
+One is called upon to take care of him, to give way to him in all things, to
+submit when he reviles or strikes you. "But he is a bad father." Did nature,
+then, bring you into relationship with a good father? No, but simply with a
+father. "My brother does me wrong." Very well, then, maintain the relation that
+you have toward him; and do not consider what he is doing, but what you will
+have to do, if your moral purpose is to be in harmony with nature. For no one
+will harm you without your consent; you will have been harmed only when you
+think you are harmed. In this way, therefore, you will discover what duty to
+expect of your neighbour, your citizen, your commanding officer, if you acquire
+the habit of looking at your social relations with them.
+
+## 31
+
+In piety towards the gods, I would have you know, the chief element is this, to
+have right opinions about them—as existing and as administering the universe
+well and justly—and to have set yourself to obey them and to submit to
+everything that happens, and to follow it voluntarily, in the belief that it is
+being fulfilled by the highest intelligence. For if you act in this way, you
+will never blame the gods, nor find fault with them for neglecting you. But
+this result cannot be secured in any other way than by withdrawing your idea of
+the good and the evil from the things which are not under our control, and
+placing it in those which are under our control, and in those alone. Because,
+if you think any of those former things to be good or evil, then, when you fail
+to get what you want and fall into what you do not want, it is altogether
+inevitable that you will blame and hate those who are responsible for these
+results. For this is the nature of every living creature, to flee from and to
+turn aside from the things that appear harmful, and all that produces them, and
+to pursue after and to admire the things that are helpful, and all that
+produces them. Therefore, it is impossible for a man who thinks that he is
+being hurt to take pleasure in that which he thinks is hurting him, just as it
+is also impossible for him to take pleasure in the hurt itself. Hence it
+follows that even a father is reviled by a son when he does not give his child
+some share in the things that seem to be good; and this it was which made
+Polyneices and Eteocles enemies of one another, the thought that the royal
+power was a good thing. That is why the farmer reviles the gods, and so also
+the sailor, and the merchant, and those who have lost their wives and their
+children. For where a man's interest lies, there is also his piety. Wherefore,
+whoever is careful to exercise desire and aversion as he should, is at the same
+time careful also about piety. But it is always appropriate to make libations,
+and sacrifices, and to give of the firstfruits after the manner of our fathers,
+and to do all this with purity, and not in a slovenly or careless fashion, nor,
+indeed, in a niggardly way, nor yet beyond our means.
+
+## 32
+
+When you have recourse to divination, remember that you do not know what the
+issue is going to be, but that you have come in order to find this out from the
+diviner; yet if you are indeed a philosopher, you know, when you arrive, what
+the nature of it is. For if it is one of the things which are not under our
+control, it is altogether necessary that what is going to take place is neither
+good nor evil. Do not, therefore, bring to the diviner desire or aversion, and
+do not approach him with trembling, but having first made up your mind that
+every issue is indifferent and nothing to you, but that, whatever it may be, it
+will be possible for you to turn it to good use, and that no one will prevent
+this. Go, then, with confidence to the gods as to counsellors; and after that,
+when some counsel has been given you, remember whom you have taken as
+counsellors, and whom you will be disregarding if you disobey. But go to
+divination as Socrates thought that men should go, that is, in cases where the
+whole inquiry has reference to the outcome, and where neither from reason nor
+from any other technical art are means vouchsafed for discovering the matter in
+question. Hence, when it is your duty to share the danger of a friend or of
+your country, do not ask of the diviner whether you ought to share that danger.
+For if the diviner forewarns you that the omens of sacrifice have been
+unfavourable, it is clear that death is portended, or the injury of some member
+of your body, or exile; yet reason requires that even at this risk you are to
+stand by your friend, and share the danger with your country. Wherefore, give
+heed to the greater diviner, the Pythian Apollo, who cast out of his temple the
+man who had not helped his friend when he was being murdered.
+
+## 33
+
+Lay down for yourself, at the outset, a certain stamp and type of character for
+yourself, which you are to maintain whether you are by yourself or are meeting
+with people. And be silent for the most part, or else make only the most
+necessary remarks, and express these in few words. But rarely, and when
+occasion requires you to talk, talk, indeed, but about no ordinary topics. Do
+not talk about gladiators, or horse-races, or athletes, or things to eat or
+drink—topics that arise on all occasions; but above all, do not talk about
+people, either blaming, or praising, or comparing them. If, then, you can, by
+your own conversation bring over that of your companions to what is seemly. But
+if you happen to be left alone in the presence of aliens, keep silence.
+
+Do not laugh much, nor at many things, nor boisterously.
+
+Refuse, if you can, to take an oath at all, but if that is impossible, refuse
+as far as circumstances allow.
+
+Avoid entertainments given by outsiders and by persons ignorant of philosophy;
+but if an appropriate occasion arises for you to attend, be on the alert to
+avoid lapsing into the behaviour of such laymen. For you may rest assured,
+that, if a man's companion be dirty, the person who keeps close company with
+him must of necessity get a share of his dirt, even though he himself happens
+to be clean.
+
+In things that pertain to the body take only as much as your bare need
+requires, I mean such things as food, drink, clothing, shelter, and household
+slaves; but cut down everything which is for outward show or luxury.
+
+In your sex-life preserve purity, as far as you can, before marriage, and, if
+you indulge, take only those privileges which are lawful. However, do not make
+yourself offensive, or censorious, to those who do indulge, and do not make
+frequent mention of the fact that you do not yourself indulge.
+
+If someone brings you word that So-and-so is speaking ill of you, do not defend
+yourself against what has been said, but answer, "Yes, indeed, for he did not
+know the rest of the faults that attach to me; if he had, these would not have
+been the only ones he mentioned."
+
+It is not necessary, for the most part, to go to the public shows. If, however,
+a suitable occasion ever arises, show that your principal concern is for none
+other than yourself, which means, wish only for that to happen which does
+happen, and for him only to win who does win; for so you will suffer no
+hindrance. But refrain utterly from shouting, or laughter at anyone, or great
+excitement. And after you have left, do not talk a great deal about what took
+place, except in so far as it contributes to your own improvement; for such
+behaviour indicates that the spectacle has aroused your admiration.
+
+Do not go rashly or readily to people's public readings, but when you do go,
+maintain your own dignity and gravity, and at the same time be careful not to
+make yourself disagreeable.
+
+When you are about to meet somebody, in particular when it is one of those men
+who are held in very high esteem, propose to yourself the question, "What would
+Socrates or Zeno have done under these circumstances?" and then you will not be
+at a loss to make proper use of the occasion. When you go to see one of those
+men who have great power, propose to yourself the thought, that you will not
+find him at home, that you will be shut out, that the door will be slammed in
+your face, that he will pay no attention to you. And if, despite all this, it
+is your duty to go, go and take what comes, and never say to yourself, "It was
+not worth all the trouble." For this is characteristic of the layman, that is,
+a man who is vexed at externals.
+
+In your conversation avoid making mention at great length and excessively of
+your own deeds or dangers, because it is not as pleasant for others to hear
+about your adventures, as it is for you to call to mind your own dangers.
+
+Avoid also raising a laugh, for this is a kind of behaviour that slips easily
+into vulgarity, and at the same time is calculated to lessen the respect which
+your neighbours have of you. It is dangerous also to lapse into foul language.
+When, therefore, anything of the sort occurs, if the occasion be suitable, go
+even so far as to reprove the person who has made such a lapse; if, however,
+the occasion does not arise, at all events show by keeping silence, and
+blushing, and frowning, that you are displeased by what has been said.
+
+## 34
+
+When you get an external impression of some pleasure, guard yourself, as with
+impressions in general, against being carried away by it; nay, let the matter
+wait upon your leisure, and give yourself a little delay. Next think of the two
+periods of time, first, that in which you will enjoy your pleasure, and second,
+that in which, after the enjoyment is over, you will later repent and revile
+your own self; and set over against these two periods of time how much joy and
+self-satisfaction you will get if you refrain. However, if you feel that a
+suitable occasion has arisen to do the deed, be careful not to allow its
+enticement, and sweetness, and attractiveness to overcome you; but set over
+against all this the thought, how much better is the consciousness of having
+won a victory over it.
+
+## 35
+
+When you do a thing which you have made up your mind ought to be done, never
+try not to be seen doing it, even though most people are likely to think
+unfavourably about it. If, however, what you are doing is not right, avoid the
+deed itself altogether; but if it is right, why fear those who are going to
+rebuke you wrongly?
+
+## 36
+
+Just as the propositions, "It is day," and "It is night," are full of meaning
+when separated, but meaningless if united; so also, granted that for you to
+take the larger share at a dinner is good for your body, still, it is bad for
+the maintenance of the proper kind of social feeling. When, therefore, you are
+eating with another person, remember to regard, not merely the value for your
+body of what lies before you, but also to maintain your respect for your host.
+
+## 37
+
+If you undertake a rôle which is beyond your powers, you both disgrace yourself
+in that one, and at the same time neglect the rôle which you might have filled
+with success.
+
+## 38
+
+Just as you are careful, in walking about, not to step on a nail or to sprain
+your ankle, so be careful also not to hurt your governing principle. And if we
+observe this rule in every action, we shall be more secure in setting about it.
+
+## 39
+
+Each man's body is a measure for his property, just as the foot is a measure
+for his shoe. If, then, you abide by this principle, you will maintain the
+proper measure, but if you go beyond it, you cannot help but fall headlong over
+a precipice, as it were, in the end. So also in the case of your shoe; if once
+you go beyond the foot, you get first a gilded shoe, then a purple one, then an
+embroidered one. For once you go beyond the measure there is no limit.
+
+## 40
+
+Immediately after they are fourteen, women are called "ladies" by men. And so
+when they see that they have nothing else but only to be the bed-fellows of
+men, they begin to beautify themselves, and put all their hopes in that. It is
+worth while for us to take pains, therefore, to make them understand that they
+are honoured for nothing else but only for appearing modest and
+self-respecting.
+
+## 41
+
+It is a mark of an ungifted man to spend a great deal of time in what concerns
+his body, as in much exercise, much eating, much drinking, much evacuating of
+the bowels, much copulating. But these things are to be done in passing; and
+let your whole attention be devoted to the mind.
+
+## 42
+
+When someone treats you ill or speaks ill of you, remember that he acts or
+speaks thus because he thinks it is incumbent upon him. That being the case, it
+is impossible for him to follow what appears good to you, but what appears good
+to himself; whence it follows, that, if he gets a wrong view of things, the man
+that suffers is the man that has been deceived. For if a person thinks a true
+composite judgement to be false, the composite judgement does not suffer, but
+the person who has been deceived. If, therefore, you start from this point of
+view, you will be gentle with the man who reviles you. For you should say on
+each occasion, "He thought that way about it."
+
+## 43
+
+Everything has two handles, by one of which it ought to be carried and by the
+other not. If your brother wrongs you, do not lay hold of the matter by the
+handle of the wrong that he is doing, because this is the handle by which the
+matter ought not to be carried; but rather by the other handle—that he is your
+brother, that you were brought up together, and then you will be laying hold of
+the matter by the handle by which it ought to be carried.
+
+## 44
+
+The following statements constitute a non sequitur: "I am richer than you are,
+therefore I am superior to you"; or, "I am more eloquent than you are,
+therefore I am superior to you." But the following conclusions are better: "I
+am richer than you are, therefore my property is superior to yours"; or, "I am
+more eloquent than you are, therefore my elocution is superior to yours." But
+you are neither property nor elocution.
+
+## 45
+
+Somebody is hasty about bathing; do not say that he bathes badly, but that he
+is hasty about bathing. Somebody drinks a good deal of wine; do not say that he
+drinks badly, but that he drinks a good deal. For until you have decided what
+judgement prompts him, how do you know that what he is doing is bad? And thus
+the final result will not be that you receive convincing sense-impressions of
+some things, but give your assent to others.
+
+## 46
+
+On no occasion call yourself a philosopher, and do not, for the most part, talk
+among laymen about your philosophic principles, but do what follows from your
+principles. For example, at a banquet do not say how people ought to eat, but
+eat as a man ought. For remember how Socrates had so completely eliminated the
+thought of ostentation, that people came to him when they wanted him to
+introduce them to philosophers, and he used to bring them along. So well did he
+submit to being overlooked. And if talk about some philosophic principle arises
+among laymen, keep silence for the most part, for there is great danger that
+you will spew up immediately what you have not digested. So when a man tells
+you that you know nothing, and you, like Socrates, are not hurt, then rest
+assured that you are making a beginning with the business you have undertaken.
+For sheep, too, do not bring their fodder to the shepherds and show how much
+they have eaten, but they digest their food within them, and on the outside
+produce wool and milk. And so do you, therefore, make no display to the laymen
+of your philosophical principles, but let them see the results which come from
+these principles when digested.
+
+## 47
+
+When you have become adjusted to simple living in regard to your bodily wants,
+do not preen yourself about the accomplishment; and so likewise, if you are a
+water-drinker, do not on every occasion say that you are a water-drinker. And
+if ever you want to train to develop physical endurance, do it by yourself and
+not for outsiders to behold; do not throw your arms around statues, but on
+occasion, when you are very thirsty, take cold water into your mouth, and then
+spit it out, without telling anybody.
+
+## 48
+
+This is the position and character of a layman: He never looks for either help
+or harm from himself, but only from externals. This is the position and
+character of the philosopher: He looks for all his help or harm from himself.
+
+Signs of one who is making progress are: He censures no one, praises no one,
+blames no one, finds fault with no one, says nothing about himself as though he
+were somebody or knew something. When he is hampered or prevented, he blames
+himself. And if anyone compliments him, he smiles to himself at the person
+complimenting; while if anyone censures him, he makes no defence. He goes about
+like an invalid, being careful not to disturb, before it has grown firm, any
+part which is getting well. He has put away from himself his every desire, and
+has transferred his aversion to those things only, of what is under our
+control, which are contrary to nature. He exercises no pronounced choice in
+regard to anything. If he gives the appearance of being foolish or ignorant he
+does not care. In a word, he keeps guard against himself as though he were his
+own enemy lying in wait.
+
+## 49
+
+When a person gives himself airs because he can understand and interpret the
+books of Chrysippus, say to yourself, "If Chrysippus had not written obscurely,
+this man would have nothing about which to give himself airs."
+
+But what is it I want? To learn nature and to follow her. I seek, therefore,
+someone to interpret her; and having heard that Chrysippus does so, I go to
+him. But I do not understand what he has written; I seek, therefore, the person
+who interprets Chrysippus. And down to this point there is nothing to justify
+pride. But when I find the interpreter, what remains is to put his precepts
+into practice; this is the only thing to be proud about. If, however, I admire
+the mere act of interpretation, what have I done but turned into a grammarian
+instead of a philosopher? The only difference, indeed, is that I interpret
+Chrysippus instead of Homer. Far from being proud, therefore, when somebody
+says to me, "Read me Chrysippus," I blush the rather, when I am unable to show
+him such deeds as match and harmonize with his words.
+
+## 50
+
+Whatever principles are set before you, stand fast by these like laws, feeling
+that it would be impiety for you to transgress them. But pay no attention to
+what somebody says about you, for this is, at length, not under your control.
+
+## 51
+
+How long will you still wait to think yourself worthy of the best things, and
+in nothing to transgress against the distinctions set up by the reason? You
+have received the philosophical principles which you ought to accept, and you
+have accepted them. What sort of a teacher, then, do you still wait for, that
+you should put off reforming yourself until he arrives? You are no longer a
+lad, but already a full-grown man. If you are now neglectful and easy-going,
+and always making one delay after another, and fixing first one day and then
+another, after which you will pay attention to yourself, then without realizing
+it you will make no progress, but, living and dying, will continue to be a
+layman throughout. Make up your mind, therefore, before it is too late, that
+the fitting thing for you to do is to live as a mature man who is making
+progress, and let everything which seems to you to be best be for you a law
+that must not be transgressed. And if you meet anything that is laborious, or
+sweet, or held in high repute, or in no repute, remember that now is the
+contest, and here before you are the Olympic games, and that it is impossible
+to delay any longer, and that it depends on a single day and a single action,
+whether progress is lost or saved. This is the way Socrates became what he was,
+by paying attention to nothing but his reason in everything that he
+encountered. And even if you are not yet a Socrates, still you ought to live as
+one who wishes to be a Socrates.
+
+## 52
+
+The first and most necessary division in philosophy is that which has to do
+with the application of the principles, as, for example, Do not lie. The second
+deals with the demonstrations, as, for example. How comes it that we ought not
+to lie? The third confirms and discriminates between these processes, as, for
+example, How does it come that this is a proof? For what is a proof, what is
+logical consequence, what contradiction, what truth, what falsehood? Therefore,
+the third division is necessary because of the second, and the second because
+of the first; while the most necessary of all, and the one in which we ought to
+rest, is the first. But we do the opposite; for we spend our time in the third
+division, and all our zeal is devoted to it, while we utterly neglect the
+first. Wherefore, we lie, indeed, but are ready with the arguments which prove
+that one ought not to lie.
+
+## 53
+
+Upon every occasion we ought to have the following thoughts at our command:
+
+Lead thou me on, O Zeus, and Destiny,  
+To that goal long ago to me assigned.  
+I'll follow and not falter; if my will  
+Prove weak and craven, still I'll follow on.
+
+"Whoso has rightly with necessity complied,  
+We count him wise, and skilled in things divine."
+
+"Well, O Crito, if so it is pleasing to the gods, so let it be."
+
+"Anytus and Meletus can kill me, but they cannot hurt me."

source/content/enchiridion/1997-stephen-walton.md

@@ -0,0 +1,702 @@
+Author:     Epictetus  
+Title:      The Manual  
+Translator: Stephen Walton  
+Date:       1997  
+Source:     [ideonautics.net](http://www.ideonautics.net/manual2.htm)  
+Code:       sw  
+
+## 1
+
+Some things we can control, some we can't. We can control our attitudes,
+opinions, goals and desires – choices of our own. We can't control health,
+wealth, fame or power – things we can't have by choosing them.
+
+What we can control naturally is not governed, restricted or constrained by
+others; what we can't control is naturally governed, restricted and constrained
+by others. If you mistake what's constrained for what's free, and what others
+control for what you control, you're in for it: you won't get your way, you'll
+be unhappy, you'll be disturbed, and you'll be spewing blame in every
+direction. But if you take for your own only what really is your own, and
+what's not up to you as exactly that, then you've got it made: no one will ever
+make you do what you don't want to, no one will ever thwart you, you won't find
+fault with anyone, you'll have no enemies and you'll never come to harm.
+
+With this much to aim for, you'd better believe it won't be attained without
+effort. There'll be things you'll have to give up for good, and others to put
+on the shelf. For instance, if you want what we're talking about, and you still
+want power and money too, then you probably won't get them because you've
+compromised your pursuit of them with this philosophy stuff, and you definitely
+won't get the things we're discussing here that are the sole basis for freedom
+and happiness. Practice a new attitude toward events that seem unpleasant,
+telling yourself that the way they seem isn't the way they have to be for you.
+Analyze each event according to the rules you're learning, especially this: Is
+it something you can control or not? If not, be ready to say it's not your
+concern.
+
+## 2
+
+If you think you've got to have something, and you don't get it, you're
+miserable. If you think you've got to avoid something, and you wind up in the
+middle of it anyway, you're miserable. That's what happens, sooner or later,
+when you want something or want to avoid something. If the only things you try
+to avoid are things that really are under your own control, then you'll never
+have to take what you wanted to avoid. But if you try to avoid illness or
+poverty or death, you're bound to be miserable, sooner or later. So stop trying
+to avoid things you have no power to keep out of your life. Avoid instead the
+undesirable attitudes that are within your power to shun.
+
+For now, put all desires on the shelf. If you pursue what you can't control,
+you'll be disappointed. And you don't yet understand the things you can control
+that will be appropriate for you to pursue later.
+
+As daily life requires simple selections and refusals of you, perform these
+gently and moderately, not desperately; go easy.
+
+## 3
+
+With regard to everything that you enjoy, find useful, or love, keep their
+nature in mind, starting with the smallest things. If you have a favorite
+coffee cup, remember that it's a cup; then if it's broken, you can stand it.
+When you hug your child or your spouse, remember that it's a mortal human being
+you're hugging; then if that person dies, you can stand it.
+
+## 4
+
+When you're going to do something, keep the full nature of the activity in
+mind. If you're going to a show, picture the way people behave at the theater –
+pushing, cutting in on lines, arriving late, talking. You'll be better off if
+you say to yourself, "I'm going to see this show and I'm going to keep my
+attitudes under control." And so with everything you do. Then if anything gets
+in the way of your enjoyment of the show, for example, you can say: "My goal
+wasn't just to see this show, but to keep my attitudes under control, and I
+won't keep them that way if I get irritated at what happens."
+
+## 5
+
+Events don't disturb us; it's the attitudes we take toward events that disturb
+us. For example, death isn't terrible, or it would have seemed that way to
+Socrates; it's the idea that death is terrible that's terrible. So when we're
+hindered or disturbed or saddened, let's not blame others but rather our own
+opinions. It's the ignorant person who blames others for her or his troubles,
+the person with a little training who blames only herself or himself, and the
+well-instructed person who blames no one.
+
+## 6
+
+Don't take pride in any merit that isn't your own. If a car got excited and
+said, "I'm a great-looking car!" that might be acceptable, if only for its
+novelty value. But if you get excited and say "I have a great-looking car,"
+then you're getting puffed up over merit that belongs only to the car.
+
+What's really yours, then? What you make of what happens in your life. And if
+you use events well, you can be proud – and you'll be proud of something good
+that's all yours.
+
+## 7
+
+It's like a short rest stop on a bus trip. You can get some food, use the
+bathroom or play some video games. But you'd better watch the time, and keep an
+ear on the public-address system, so that you don't miss your departure. And if
+you have to leave a bowl of soup or a game unfinished, that's the way it is.
+
+Same way with life. Instead of a bowl of soup or a video game, you may have a
+spouse or a career – and no reason not to. But when that whistle blows, it's
+back on the bus, and you'll have to leave them behind without a second thought.
+But if you're old, stay right by the bus.
+
+## 8
+
+Don't demand your own way. Instead, want things to turn out the way they do
+turn out. Then you can relax.
+
+## 9
+
+Sickness impedes the body, but not the will unless the will so chooses.
+Lameness impedes the leg, not the will. Say it to yourself whatever happens –
+it impedes something else, but not you.
+
+## 10
+
+Whatever happens, ask yourself how you can deal with it. If you see a sexy
+person, you can restrain lust. If you have heavy work to do, you can find
+stamina. If you're insulted, you can exercise patience.
+
+If you form good habits, you won't be abducted by appearances.
+
+## 11
+
+Never say you've lost anything, only that you've returned it. A dead child?
+Returned. A dead spouse? Returned. A home taken away? Returned, too. "But the
+people who took it away are no good!" It's not your business what agents the
+original giver used to get it back. While he leaves things in your keeping,
+take care of them – not as your own, but the way a civilized traveler treats a
+hotel room.
+
+## 12
+
+If you want to get better, give up thinking like this: "If I don't take care of
+business, I won't make a living." "If I don't reprimand my employee, he'll be
+useless." Because it's better to starve while free from grief and fear than to
+live with abundance but be disturbed. Better your employee should be bad than
+you should be unhappy.
+
+Start small. There's minor breakage, or petty theft of paper clips? Say to
+yourself: "This is the price of not being disturbed, the price of
+tranquillity." There's no free lunch. So when you summon your subordinate,
+remember that he may not come, and if he does he still may not do what you
+want. But he's not so powerful that your peace of mind depends on him.
+
+## 13
+
+If you want to get better, let yourself seem foolish and uncaring about
+externals. Don't try to seem knowledgeable. If anyone thinks you're important,
+you're doing it wrong.
+
+It's difficult to keep your will on track and simultaneously go after external
+things. Take care of one and you'll surely neglect the other.
+
+## 14
+
+If you want your family and friends to live forever, you're a fool, because
+you're trying to control what you can't, and insisting that what's up to others
+be within your will. Likewise, if you want your subordinate to perform
+perfectly, you're a fool, because you're deciding that his attitudes must be
+subject to yours. If you want to avoid disappointment, that you can do. Pay
+attention to what's really up to you. Your master is whoever controls the
+things you want, or want to avoid. If you want to be free, don't wish for
+anything, or try to avoid anything, that others control; otherwise you're a
+slave.
+
+## 15
+
+It's like a banquet, with dishes going around. If something tasty stops in
+front of you, take some if you want. If it hasn't reached you yet, don't grab
+for it. If it misses you entirely, don't make a fuss.
+
+Take the same attitude toward family, money and position. Partake of them as
+they come to you and there's no blame. But if you scorn them when you could
+easily have them, that's better – even divine. It's for this behavior that
+Diogenes and Heraclitus were rightly called godlike.
+
+## 16
+
+When someone else is upset – problems with children, maybe, or a business
+difficulty – watch out that you don't get upset too, by thinking that these
+events themselves are really evil. Remember that what bothers your friend isn't
+these events themselves – since someone else would be completely unmoved by
+them – but the attitude she takes toward them, considering them so awful.
+Commiserate with her, of course. Even sigh or groan, if that's what she's
+doing. But don't let yourself sigh or groan inwardly.
+
+## 17
+
+Remember that you're acting in a play. It will go the way its author, not you,
+wants – short if it's going to be short, long if it's going to be long. If your
+role is nothing more than a walk-on as a panhandler, try to perform it well.
+Likewise if your part is that of a cripple, a politician or just John or Jane
+Q. Public. What's up to you is playing your given part well. The casting is up
+to another.
+
+## 18
+
+When an expert renders bad news, don't let the sense of doom foreseen run away
+with you, but make the essential distinction and tell yourself: "This has
+nothing to do with ME. It may be the worse for my measly body, or my measly
+property or my measly family. But any news is good, if I decide it is, because
+I can make good use of it, whatever it is."
+
+## 19
+
+You never have to lose, as long as you stay out of competitions in which you
+can't control the outcome. Look out when you see someone who's doing well in
+externals (prospering, powerful or just generally well liked), in case you're
+fooled by appearances and decide he's happy.
+
+If the true good pertains only to what we control, there's no point at all in
+envy, and you needn't be desperate to be someone important – you can just want
+to be a free person. And the only way to do that is to stop trying to control
+what you can't control.
+
+## 20
+
+Remember: It's not the person who calls you names or hits you who insults you –
+it's your own conclusion that these things are insulting. Therefore, when
+someone annoys you, it's your own attitude that's annoying you. So don't be
+hypnotized by the seeming significance of the event; buy yourself some time,
+and it'll be easier to get your attitudes back into line.
+
+## 21
+
+Think about awful-seeming things, especially death, every day. Then you can be
+grateful to be alive, and you won't make unreasonable demands.
+
+## 22
+
+If you really want to pursue philosophy, be ready to take flak from people
+who'll say "Here comes Mr. Philosopher again," and "Where'd he get the snotty
+look?" As for you, skip the snotty look and stick to your job, just as though
+God Himself had given it to you. Make these principles part of your life and
+the people who jeered will eventually respect you. If you let them get to you
+instead, they'll get to laugh at you twice.
+
+## 23
+
+If you concentrate on externals in order to please someone, then you've lost
+the way. Be a full-time philosopher in all aspects of your life, and if you've
+got to look like one, just convince yourself, and that will be enough.
+
+## 24
+
+Ideas not to worry about:
+
+"I'll live without recognition, and be nobody." If obscurity is evil, you can't
+be left in obscurity by someone else, any more than you can be involved in
+anything disgraceful by someone else. Is it your business to get a powerful
+job, or to be invited to dinner parties? No way. So how does lacking these
+things add up to being nobody? Your job is to be somebody in exactly those
+areas that you can control – and there you can become as great a person as you
+want.
+
+"But I won't be able to assist my friends." What kind of assistance? Do you
+mean you won't be able to give them money or get them political favors? Who
+told you that things like that are under our control? How can you give anyone
+things that you don't have yourself? They want you to make money, so they can
+share in your prosperity. If they can tell you how to make money, and still be
+modest and honest and principled, let them tell you, and go to it. But if they
+want you to give up what's really yours and worth having, to chase after what's
+not worth having, they are obviously unfair and uncaring of your interest.
+Besides, which are they better off having, money or an honest friend? Better
+they should help you develop your character than ask you to do things that
+endanger it.
+
+"But the public interest will suffer from the lack of my attention." Here
+again, what kind attention is involved? You won't be endowing an animal
+hospital, or pressuring your Congressman on some burning issue? What does that
+mean? The community doesn't get shoes from a lawyer; the army doesn't get
+bullets from a farmer. It's enough if everyone does his own work well, and if
+you're providing nothing more than one honest citizen, you're making a
+contribution. Your own growth is in the public interest.
+
+"What position should I hold, then?" Any position you can, as long as you can
+also hold your honesty and modesty. But if your desire to be useful costs you
+those, what good can you possibly be to the community?
+
+## 25
+
+Was another the guest of honor at a party? Was another asked for expert
+counsel? Was another on the cover of Time or People this week? If these are
+good things, rejoice for the people who got them. If they're not good things,
+you shouldn't mind missing them. Remember that if you don't do the things
+others do in chasing after what we can't control, you've got no claim to a
+piece of that action. If you don't kowtow to the powerful and flatter them, you
+can't expect to get the same rewards as someone who does. You're unfair and
+impossible to please if you won't pay the going price for advantages and think
+you should get them for nothing.
+
+What's the price of a hamburger? A dollar, say. If someone else pays her dollar
+and gets her hamburger, and you don't, she's no better off than you – she has
+her hamburger, and you still have the dollar you didn't give.
+
+There's no free dinner, either. If you weren't asked to a dinner party, you
+didn't buy your invitation with the currency the host sells them for: attention
+and praise. Pay the price, if it serves a purpose for you. But if you want to
+withhold the praise and still get the invitation, you're a fool. If you don't
+buy, what do you have? The pleasure of not having flattered, and exemption from
+having to endure the airs that the host puts on.
+
+## 26
+
+Learn nature's will from the ways in which we're alike. An example: Your
+neighbor's car gets hit in a parking lot, and you're quick to say "Things like
+that happen." When it's your own car's fender that gets crumpled, you should be
+as quick to say the same thing.
+
+Ditto bigger things. Someone else's spouse or parent or child dies, and we say
+it's ordinary human mortality. When one's own spouse or parent or child dies,
+one says "Oh, no! I can't stand it!" But we should remember how we react to the
+news of someone else's similar misfortune.
+
+## 27
+
+No one establishes a goal in order not to achieve it. The same way, the purpose
+of the universe isn't chaos or evil, and whatever happens can be used wisely
+and well.
+
+## 28
+
+If someone put you in chains and put you in the custody of some random
+passerby, you would be angry. But if you give control of your mind to any
+random person who curses you, leaving you flustered, shouldn't you be ashamed
+of that?
+
+## 29
+
+In any project, consider the entire process and the steps it requires before
+you begin it. Otherwise you'll start off eagerly enough, but quit when it's
+time for the gritty work.
+
+Say you want to win a gold medal at the Olympics. That's certainly a fine
+ambition. But first review the full sequence of events, and then go for it if
+you still want to. There's tremendous discipline required, a careful diet,
+rigorous training on a schedule, regardless of weather; your large or small
+vices must be given up; you have to turn yourself over to your coach as a sick
+man would to his doctor. And this is a matter of years, not hours or days. Then
+in each stage of competition you may sustain painful injuries, eat a lot of
+dust, take verbal abuse – and still lose. Taken all that into account? If you
+have, and you still want to go for the gold, go for it. Otherwise, you'll act
+like a child who plays at being a detective one minute, an astronaut or a
+musician the next, depending on what he's seen on television recently. The same
+way you're a businessman one day, an artist the next, maybe a philosopher today
+– but absolutely nothing with your whole being.  You ape the motions of
+whatever you've seen, and one thing after another catches your fancy. You've
+never begun anything with careful deliberation, after carefully reviewing the
+entire process involved, but rather you've started rashly, with what you
+thought was a cool determination.
+
+Similarly, some have been exposed to philosophy, and want to be philosophers
+too – instant philosophers. Friend, consider the entire process and what it
+requires, and then decide whether you're up to it. If you wanted to enter the
+pentathlon, you would have to consider the strength of your limbs and your
+wind; different persons are cut out for different things. Do you think you can
+go on acting the way you have, and be a philosopher? Do you think you can eat
+and drink the way you have, and be angry and quick to take offense? You'll have
+to forego your ease, work hard, leave people behind, be despised by menials, be
+laughed at, and get crumbs at best when it comes to recognition and position –
+in all affairs. Consider these costs, and see if you're willing to pay them to
+gain peace, freedom and tranquillity. If you're not willing, stay away from
+philosophy.
+
+Don't be like a child who's a philosopher one minute, then a movie star, then a
+bureaucrat. That's inconsistent. You've got to be one person, good or bad. You
+take care of your own will and attitudes, or you take care of external things.
+You apply yourself to what's inside you, or to things outside. You're a
+philosopher, or you're not.
+
+## 30
+
+Relations define duties. You've got a father? Then you have duties – helping
+him, taking care of him when he's in need, listening to his advice even when
+it's reproachful.
+
+You object that you've got a bad father. Are you necessarily related to a good
+father? No, only to a father.
+
+Is your brother unfair to you? Don't dwell on his unfairness, but remember that
+he's your brother. Instead of analyzing what he does, analyze how you can keep
+your attitude calm. No one can harm you unless you let him, and then you're
+harmed because you think you are.
+
+Use this method to discover your duties to a neighbor, to the community, to
+your boss, and so forth. They're all implicit in the relations.
+
+People aren't Kleenex, and you can't wish away your responsibilities just
+because the people involved don't please you all the time.
+
+## 31
+
+As for religion, you can take this position: that God exists, that He runs the
+universe well and fairly, that you should obey and yield to His will in
+everything, and do so voluntarily, as following the wisest leader. Do this, and
+you'll never blame God or feel He's neglected you. The only way to do this is
+to stop trying to control things you can't control, and to see good and evil
+only in those things that are truly up to you.
+
+If you think any of the things you can't control is good or evil, then you'll
+certainly, sooner or later, miss your good or encounter your evil, and then
+you'll find fault and hate the cause of the circumstance. Nature makes all
+animals avoid what seems harmful and what causes it, and seek what seems useful
+and what causes that. It's impossible then for a rational person who thinks
+she's been hurt to take pleasure in either the hurt itself or its cause.
+
+A child resents the parent who gives nothing of the apparently good. That's
+what made Polynices and Eteocles enemies: each had the idea that ruling Thebes
+– by himself – was good. So it is with those who think God is holding out on
+them: farmers, sailors, businessmen and those who've lost loved ones, all
+sometimes curse God. It's not surprising; their interests determine their piety
+or lack of it.
+
+By contrast, one who looks after her attitudes, seeking and avoiding only
+what's actually in her control, has no trouble maintaining a relationship with
+God. And to worship according to the traditions of your family and community is
+proper.
+
+## 32
+
+When you seek expert opinion, remember that you don't know exactly what it will
+be (or you wouldn't be making the consultation), but that you've come to ask.
+If the result is something you can't control, then it's neither good nor evil.
+So leave your longings and loathings behind when you consult the expert, or
+you'll go in a state of fear. Instead, decide beforehand that the result will
+be acceptable, because you will make good use of it – and no one can stop you.
+Then you can approach the expert with confidence. Let God work through the
+expert, and remember whose advice you're neglecting if you ignore the opinion
+rendered.
+
+Seek out experts, as Socrates might have advised, when the entire question is
+the outcome, and your own reason and expertise can produce no answer. When duty
+is clear – to put yourself at risk to help a friend or the community – there's
+no need to get an expert to tell it to you. You'd probably be told that doing
+the right thing will cost you money, time, trouble or danger. But reason tells
+you to do your duty in any event. The greatest expert of ancient times, the
+oracle at Delphi, made no bones about it when throwing out a questioner who had
+failed to do his duty and ran when his friend was being murdered on the road.
+
+## 33
+
+Right now, assume a character and a way of behaving that you can follow
+consistently both when alone and when with others.
+
+- Keep silent as much as possible, saying only what you must say, and that
+  briefly. Join a conversation when the occasion requires it, but not on the
+  common subjects of sports, entertainment or dining; and especially not about
+  persons, allotting them blame or praise or comparing them. If you can bring
+  such a conversation around to better topics, fine, but if you're among
+  strangers, keep quiet.
+- Keep your laughter moderate and infrequent.
+- As much as possible, avoid swearing oaths.
+- Don't party with the unenlightened. If you do find yourself in such a
+  situation, be alert that you don't slip into the manners of the uninformed.
+  Hang out with dogs, and you're likely to get fleas.
+- Keep to the basics in bodily things: food, drink, clothing, residence and
+  conveniences. Eliminate everything that's only for show or luxury.
+- As for sex: abstain, if possible, outside marriage. If you do not abstain,
+  take care to remain honorable and self- respecting. Don't be unpleasant,
+  though, to others who are more self-indulgent, or try to correct them. And
+  don't boast about your own absolute (or relative) chastity.
+- If you hear that someone has criticized you, don't try to defend yourself,
+  but say instead: "He doesn't know all my faults, or he would have had more to
+  say."
+- Rarely attend sporting events, but when you do attend, don't be anyone's fan
+  but your own. Just wish for things to go as they go, and for the winner to be
+  just whatever person or team wins. Don't yell; don't get yourself worked up.
+  Afterward, don't dwell on what you've seen, unless it offers something for
+  the development of your character. If you talk too much about the event, it
+  will be apparent that you paid it too much attention.
+- Keep away from lectures, but if you do go, keep your manner composed, without
+  being unpleasant.
+- When you're going to meet someone, particularly the exalted, ask yourself
+  what Socrates or Zeno would have done in your place, and you'll have no
+  trouble making good use of the situation.
+- When your quarry is someone very powerful, keep in mind the possibilities
+  that the person won't be in, that you won't be allowed in, and that the great
+  personage won't be interested in what you say. If you still have good reason
+  to go, then go, and accept whatever happens, never saying to yourself, "It
+  wasn't worth the trouble." That is the vulgar attitude of someone who's upset
+  by externals.
+- Minimize your recounting of your own adventures and hazards. They're not
+  nearly as entertaining to others as they are to you.
+- Don't try to make others laugh. Vulgarity follows too readily.
+- Foul talk is also to be avoided. Correct others who use it, if there's a
+  suitable opportunity. Otherwise, simply show your disapproval by your silence
+  and your expression.
+
+## 34
+
+If you have some possible pleasure in mind, don't get carried away with it. Let
+it wait for you, while you think about how you'll feel when you're enjoying it,
+and how you'll feel afterward, when you reproach yourself for it. Compare those
+moments to the joy of having abstained and the congratulations you can then
+properly give yourself. And if the prospective pleasure seems appropriate to
+you, beware of the allure, the sweet promises it may be using on you, and think
+again how much better an awareness of victory can be.
+
+## 35
+
+When you're certain that something should be done, don't try to avoid being
+seen doing it, even though many will disapprove. If the deed is wrong, don't do
+it. If it's right, why fear those who'll rebuke you unjustly?
+
+## 36
+
+The sentences "It is day" and "It is night" can have meaning separately but
+have very little meaning together. Similarly, when you take the largest portion
+at dinner, that may be very good for your body, but it's no good at all for
+maintaining social feeling. When dining with others, remember not only the
+value to your body of a large helping, but also the value of good manners.
+
+## 37
+
+If you have assumed a character that's beyond your powers to carry out, then
+you have not only made a botch of that, making a fool or worse of yourself, but
+you have also neglected some more modest character that you could have carried
+out well.
+
+## 38
+
+When you're walking you take care not to step on glass or turn your ankle. Take
+similar care of your attitudes. Remember this in everything you do, and you can
+proceed with confidence.
+
+## 39
+
+The body is the measure of material needs, just as the foot is the measure of
+the shoe. Once you go beyond the measure, it's like falling off a cliff. With
+the shoe, when it exceeds the needs of the foot, it can be made of the finest
+leather, then fashionably colored, then garishly ornamented. Once the proper
+measure has been passed, there are no limits.
+
+## 40
+
+From an early age, women are taught to believe that everything they'll ever get
+will come from relationships with men. So they start with make-up and all the
+other exterior trappings.  Men should show women instead that what they're
+really valued for is integrity and self-respect.
+
+## 41
+
+It's vulgar to give too much time and attention to affairs of the body, whether
+exercise, eating, drinking, defecating or sex. Don't be driven by your stomach,
+bowel or glands, but do these things along the way and give your attention to
+your attitudes.
+
+## 42
+
+When anyone treats you badly, or attacks you verbally, it's because he thinks
+it's the right thing to do. It's not possible for him to do what seems right to
+you – only what seems right to him. And if he's wrong, he's the only one who's
+harmed. When someone thinks a true statement is false, the statement isn't
+damaged, only the person who's mistaken about it. Using these principles,
+you'll be mild with someone who criticizes you, and say, "That's the way he saw
+it."
+
+## 43
+
+Everything has two handles, one you can bear it with and one you can't. If your
+brother is unfair, and you try to grasp the situation by the handle of his
+unfairness, you're using the handle that won't work. Grasp the situation by the
+other handle, that he's your brother and the two of you were reared together,
+and you can carry it well.
+
+## 44
+
+These do not follow logically: "I'm richer than you, therefore I'm better than
+you," and "I'm more eloquent than you, therefore I'm better than you." Instead
+the logical reasonings are: "I'm richer than you, therefore I have more money
+than you," and "I'm more eloquent than you, therefore my style is better than
+yours." But you, friend, are neither money nor speaking.
+
+## 45
+
+Does someone wash quickly? Don't say he washes badly, just that he washes
+quickly. Does someone drink a lot? Don't say that he drinks badly, just that he
+drinks a lot. Unless you know exactly what's behind a person's actions, you
+can't determine whether he's doing anything badly. This way you can avoid
+making judgements in cases that you don't really understand.
+
+## 46
+
+Never call yourself wise, or talk much about your principles to civilians. Act
+on your principles instead. At a party, for example, don't blather about how
+people should behave; just behave as you should.
+
+Socrates made no show of his wisdom. People came to him and asked to be
+introduced to philosophers. He took them to philosophers, and didn't mind being
+overlooked.
+
+There's danger in regurgitating what you've only partly digested. And if
+someone tells you that you don't know anything, and you aren't bothered, then
+you've made a beginning at wisdom. Sheep don't throw up their grass to show the
+shepherd how much they've eaten; they digest it internally, and then produce
+milk and wool externally. So don't show off your thoughts to the ignorant, but
+show them the actions your thoughts produce after they've been digested.
+
+## 47
+
+When you've learned to take care of basic bodily needs with very little, don't
+make a point of pride of it. If you drink only water, don't be constantly
+telling everyone that you drink only water. (People who are really poor get by
+on even less, and aren't always talking about it.) If you want to acquire
+stamina and endurance, do your exercises in private, and don't make a boring
+fetish of your ability to finish a marathon. If you are very thirsty, take a
+mouthful of cold water, spit it out, and tell no one.
+
+## 48
+
+It's typical of a vulgar person that he never looks to himself for help or
+harm, but to externals. The sage instead looks only himself for help or harm.
+The marks of someone who's making progress are the following: he criticizes no
+one, praises no one, blames no one, says nothing about himself as being anyone
+or knowing anything; when he's held back, he blames himself; if he's praised,
+he inwardly laughs at the praiser, and if he's censured, he makes no defense.
+He acts like someone who's recovering from an injury, taking care to put no
+pressure on anything that's not yet firmly healed. He stops making demands, and
+moderates his desires. He tries to avoid only what he can avoid that might
+interfere with his principles. If he looks stupid or ignorant, he doesn't mind,
+and he keeps a close eye on himself as though he were an enemy waiting in
+ambush.
+
+## 49
+
+When someone is proud because he can explain the writings of Chrysippus, say to
+yourself, "If Chrysippus had written more clearly, this person would have
+nothing to boast about."
+
+What's my wish? To understand nature and live in harmony with it. I hear that
+Chrysippus explains nature, so I want to understand him. I find his writings
+obscure, so I seek someone to explain them.  So far, there's nothing I can take
+pride in. When I find someone to explain Chrysippus to me, what counts is to
+make use of his principles – that's the thing I can take pride in. If I merely
+admire the interpretation, I'm using my teacher as a literary critic rather
+than as a philosopher, and we might as well be studying Homer instead of
+Chrysippus.
+
+When anyone asks me to explain Chrysippus, I'm embarrassed when I can't show my
+own actions to be in keeping with his words.
+
+## 50
+
+Whatever rules have been put before you, that you begin to understand and can
+agree to, stick to them as though they were law and it would be sacrilege if
+you broke any of them. Ignore what anyone says about you, because it's not
+yours to control.
+
+## 51
+
+How long will you wait before you consider yourself capable of the best, and of
+living in accord with reason? You've been through the reasoning and accepted
+the principles. What great master are you waiting for, so that you can stall
+your improvement until his arrival? You're no longer a child, but an adult. If
+you're negligent and lazy, keep delaying and making a collection of one good
+intention after another, naming day after day on which you'll start to take
+care of yourself, you'll just go on without getting better, and you'll live and
+die miserable.
+
+Right now, consider yourself worthy of living like a grownup, and someone who's
+getting better. Let what seems right to you be an iron law. And if anything
+comes your way that seems like work, or seems tempting or glorious or
+disgraceful, remember that the struggle is on already, that the Olympics have
+begun and can't be delayed, that what you do today – this minute – will
+determine whether progress is made or lost. Socrates became perfect this way,
+making everything an opportunity for his improvement, following only reason.
+Though you're not yet a Socrates, you should live as though you intend to
+become a Socrates.
+
+## 52
+
+The first and most necessary part of philosophy is practical principles; for
+example: don't lie. The second part is proofs, as of why we shouldn't lie. The
+third, which validates the other two, is logical theory, answering such
+questions as, how do we know that this is a valid proof? What is a logical
+demonstration? What does it mean when we say something follows something else?
+What is contradiction? What is truth? What is falsehood? The third part of
+philosophy is necessary for the sake of the second, and the second for the sake
+of the first. But the most necessary part, where we should linger, is the
+first. Of course we do exactly the opposite. We spend our time on the third
+part, becoming enthusiasts in that, and utterly neglect the first. So we lie
+through our teeth, but we certainly can demonstrate why one shouldn't lie.
+
+## 53
+
+At all times, we should keep these ideas ready:
+
+Lead me, God and destiny,  
+To the place you've planned for me,  
+I'll follow cheerfully; if I didn't,  
+Bad and unhappy, I must go there anyway.
+
+Whoever surrenders to necessity,  
+We call him wise and skilled with heaven.
+
+Well, Crito, if the gods like it this way, then let it be.
+
+Anytus and Melitus may kill me, but they can't hurt me.

source/content/enchiridion/2008-robert_dobbin.md

@@ -0,0 +1,306 @@
+Author:     Epictetus  
+Title:      Discourses and Selected Writings (Penguin Classics)
+Translator: Robert Dobbin
+Date:       2008
+Source:     [book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0140449464)
+Code:       rd
+
+## 1
+
+We are responsible for some things, while there are others for which we cannot be held responsible. The former include our judgement, our impulse, our desire, aversion and our mental faculties in general; the latter include the body, material possessions, our reputation, status – in a word, anything not in our power to control. The former are naturally free, unconstrained and unimpeded, while the latter are frail, inferior, subject to restraint – and none of our affair.
+
+Remember that if you mistake what is naturally inferior for what is sovereign and free, and what is not your business for your own, you’ll meet with disappointment, grief and worry and be at odds with God and man. But if you have the right idea about what really belongs to you and what does not, you will never be subject to force or hindrance, you will never blame or criticize anyone, and everything you do will be done willingly. You won’t have a single rival, no one to hurt you, because you will be proof against harm of any kind.
+
+With rewards this substantial, be aware that a casual effort is not sufficient. Other ambitions will have to be sacrificed, altogether or at least for now. If you want these rewards at the same time that you are striving for power and riches, chances are you will not get to be rich and powerful while you aim for the other goal; and the rewards of freedom and happiness will elude you altogether.
+
+So make a practice at once of saying to every strong impression: ‘An impression is all you are, not the source of the impression.’ Then test and assess it with your criteria, but one primarily: ask, ‘Is this something that is, or is not, in my control?’ And if it’s not one of the things that you control, be ready with the reaction, ‘Then it’s none of my concern.’
+
+## 2
+
+The faculty of desire purports to aim at securing what you want, while a version purports to shield you from what you don’t. If you fail in your desire, you are unfortunate, if you experience what you would rather avoid you are unhappy. So direct aversion only towards things that are under your control and alien to your nature, and you will not fall victim to any of the things that you dislike. But if your resentment is directed at illness, death or poverty, you are headed for disappointment.
+
+Remove it from anything not in our power to control, and direct it instead toward things contrary to our nature that we do control. As for desire, suspend it completely for now. Because if you desire something outside your control, you are bound to be disappointed; and even things we do control, which under other circumstances would be deserving of our desire, are not yet within our power to attain. Restrict yourself to choice and refusal; and exercise them carefully, with discipline and detachment.
+
+## 3
+
+In the case of particular things that delight you, or benefit you, or to which you have grown attached, remind yourself of what they are. Start with things of little value. If it is china you like, for instance, say, ‘I am fond of a piece of china.’ When it breaks, then you won’t be as disconcerted. When giving your wife or child a kiss, repeat to yourself, ‘I am kissing a mortal.’ Then you won’t be so distraught if they are taken from you.
+
+## 4
+
+Whenever planning an action, mentally rehearse what the plan entails. If you are heading out to bathe, picture to yourself the typical scene at the bathhouse – people splashing, pushing, yelling and pinching your clothes. You will complete the act with more composure if you say at the outset, ‘I want a bath, but at the same time I want to keep my will aligned with nature.’ Do it with every act. That way if something occurs to spoil your bath, you will have ready the thought, ‘Well, this was not my only intention, I also meant to keep my will in line with nature – which is impossible if I go all to pieces whenever anything bad happens.’
+
+## 5
+
+It is not events that disturb people, it is their judgements concerning them. Death, for example, is nothing frightening, otherwise it would have frightened Socrates. But the judgement that death is frightening – now, that is something to be afraid of. So when we are frustrated, angry or unhappy, never hold anyone except ourselves – that is, our judgements – accountable. An ignorant person is inclined to blame others for his own misfortune. To blame oneself is proof of progress. But the wise man never has to blame another or himself.
+
+## 6
+
+Don’t pride yourself on any assets but your own. We could put up with a horse if it bragged of its beauty. But don’t you see that when you boast of having a beautiful horse, you are taking credit for the horse’s traits? What quality belongs to you? The intelligent use of impressions. If you use impressions as nature enchiridion prescribes, go ahead and indulge your pride, because then you will be celebrating a quality distinctly your own.
+
+## 7
+
+If you are a sailor on board a ship that makes port, you may decide to go ashore to bring back water. Along the way you may stop to collect shellfish, or pick greens. But you always have to remember the ship and listen for the captain’s signal to return. When he calls, you have to drop everything, otherwise you could be bound and thrown on board like the livestock.
+
+So it is in life. If, instead of greens and shellfish, you have taken on a wife and child, so much the better. But when the captain calls, you must be prepared to leave them behind, and not give them another thought. If you are advanced in years, don’t wander too far, or you won’t make it back in time when the summons reaches you.
+
+## 8
+
+Don’t hope that events will turn out the way you want, welcome events in whichever way they happen: this is the path to peace.
+
+## 9
+
+Sickness is a problem for the body, not the mind – unless the mind decides that it is a problem. Lameness, too, is the body’s problem, not the mind’s. Say this to yourself whatever the circumstance and you will find without fail that the problem pertains to something else, not to you.
+
+## 10
+
+For every challenge, remember the resources you have within you to cope with it. Provoked by the sight of a handsome man or a beautiful woman, you will discover within you the contrary power of self-restraint. Faced with pain, you will discover the power of endurance. If you are insulted, you will discover patience. In time, you will grow to be confident that there is not a single impression that you will not have the moral means to tolerate.
+
+## 11
+
+Under no circumstances ever say ‘I have lost something,’ only ‘I returned it.’ Did a child of yours die? No, it was returned. Your wife died? No, she was returned. ‘My land was confiscated.’ No, it too was returned.
+
+‘But the person who took it was a thief.’
+
+Why concern yourself with the means by which the original giver effects its return? As long as he entrusts it to you, look after it as something yours to enjoy only for a time – the way a traveller regards a hotel.
+
+## 12
+
+If you want to make progress, drop reflections like: ‘I will end up destitute if I don’t take better care of my affairs,’ or, ‘Unless I discipline my slave, he’ll wind up good for nothing.’ It is better to die of hunger free of grief and apprehension than to live affluent and uneasy. Better that your slave should be bad than that you should be unhappy.
+
+For that reason, starting with things of little value – a bit of spilled oil, a little stolen wine – repeat to yourself: ‘For such a small price I buy tranquillity and peace of mind.’ But nothing is completely free. So when you call your slave, be prepared for the possibility that he might ignore you, or if he does answer, that he won’t do what he’s told. He is not worth entrusting with your peace of mind.
+
+## 13
+
+If you want to make progress, put up with being perceived as ignorant or naive in worldly matters, don’t aspire to a reputation for sagacity. If you do impress others as somebody, don’t altogether believe it. You have to realize, it isn’t easy to keep your will in agreement with nature, as well as externals. Caring about the one inevitably means you are going to shortchange the other.
+
+## 14
+
+You are a fool to want your children, wife or friends to be immortal; it calls for powers beyond you, and gifts not yours to either own or give. It is equally naive to ask that your slave be honest; it amounts to asking that vice be not vice but something different.2 You can, however, avoid meeting with disappointment in your desires; focus on this, then, since it is in the scope of your capacities. We are at the mercy of whoever wields authority over the things we either desire or detest. If you would be free, then, do not wish to have, or avoid, things that other people control, because then you must serve as their slave.
+
+## 15
+
+Remember to act always as if you were at a symposium. When the food or drink comes around, reach out and take some politely; if it passes you by don’t try pulling it back. And if it has not reached you yet, don’t let your desire run ahead of you, be patient until your turn comes. Adopt a similar attitude with regard to children, wife, wealth and status, and in time, you will be entitled to dine with the gods. Go further and decline these goods even when they are on offer and you will have a share in the gods’ power as well as their company. That is how Diogenes, Heraclitus3 and philosophers like them came to be called, and considered, divine.
+
+## 16
+
+Whenever you see someone in tears, distraught because they are parted from a child, or have met with some material loss, be careful lest the impression move you to believe that their circumstances are truly bad. Have ready the reflection that they are not upset by what happened – because other people are not upset when the same thing happens to them – but by their own view of the matter. Nevertheless, you should not disdain to sympathize with them, at least with comforting words, or even to the extent of sharing outwardly in their grief. But do not commiserate with your whole heart and soul.
+
+## 17
+
+Remember that you are an actor in a play, the nature of which is up to the director to decide. If he wants the play to be short, it will be short, if he wants it long, it will be long. And if he casts you as one of the poor, or as a cripple, as a king or as a commoner – whatever role is assigned, the accomplished actor will accept and perform it with impartial skill. But the assignment of roles belongs to another.4
+
+## 18
+
+If you hear a raven croak inauspiciously,5 do not be alarmed by the impression. Make a mental distinction at once, and say, ‘These omens hold no significance for me; they only pertain to my body, property, family, or reputation. For me every sign is auspicious, if I want it to be, because, whatever happens, I can derive some benefit from it.’
+
+## 19
+
+You will never have to experience defeat if you avoid contests whose outcome is outside your control. Don’t let outward appearances mislead you into thinking that someone with more prestige, power or some other distinction must on that account be happy. If the essence of the good lies within us, then there is no place for jealousy or envy, and you will not care about being a general, a senator or a consul – only about being free. And the way to be free is to look down on externals.
+
+## 20
+
+Remember, it is not enough to be hit or insulted to be harmed, you must believe that you are being harmed. If someone succeeds in provoking you, realize that your mind is complicit in the provocation. Whichis whyit is essential that wenot respond impulsively to impressions; take a moment before reacting, and you will find it is easier to maintain control.
+
+## 21
+
+Keep the prospect of death, exile and all such apparent tragedies before you every day – especially death – and you will never have an abject thought, or desire anything to excess.
+
+## 22
+
+If you commit to philosophy, be prepared at once to be laughed at and made the butt of many snide remarks, like, ‘Suddenly there’s a philosopher among us!’ and ‘What makes him so pretentious now?’ Only don’t be pretentious: just stick to your principles as if God had made you accept the role of philosopher. And rest assured that, if you remain true to them, the same people who made fun of you will come to admire you in time; whereas, if you let these people dissuade you from your choice, you will earn their derision twice over.
+
+## 23
+
+If you are ever tempted to look for outside approval, realize that you have compromised your integrity. So be satisfied just being a philosopher, and if you need a witness in addition, be your own; and you will be all the witness you could desire.
+
+## 24
+
+Don’t let thoughts like the following disturb you: ‘I am going to live a life of no distinction, a nobody in complete obscurity.’ Is lack of distinction bad?∗ Because if it is, other people cannot be the cause of it, any more than they can be the cause of another’s disgrace. Is it solely at your discretion that you are elevated to office, or invited to a party? No; so it cannot be a dishonour if you are not. And how can you be ‘a nobody in obscurity’ when you only have to be somebody in the areas you control – the areas, that is, where you have the ability to shine?
+
+But your friends, you say, will be helpless. If by ‘helpless’ you mean that they won’t get money from you, and you won’t be able to make them Roman citizens – well, whoever told you that responsibility for such things belongs to us? Besides, who can give another what he does not have himself? ‘Make money,’ someone says, ‘so that we can all share in it.’ If I can make money while remaining honest, trustworthy and dignified, show me how and I will do it. But if you expect me to sacrifice my own values, just so you can get your hands on things that aren’t even good – well, you can see yourself how thoughtless and unfair you’re being. Which would you rather have, anyway – money, or a worthy and faithful friend? So why not support me to that end, rather than asking me to engage in behaviour that involves the loss of these qualities?
+
+‘But my community will be helpless – to the extent that I can help.’ Again, what kind of help do you have in mind? You can’t give it buildings or baths, true, but so what? The blacksmith can’t give it shoes, nor can the cobbler supply it with arms. It’s enough if everyone plays their respective part. I mean, wouldn’t you benefit your community by adding another lawful and loyal citizen to its rolls?
+
+‘Yes.’
+
+Then evidently you have it in you to benefit it all on your own.
+
+‘Well, what will my profession in the community be?’ Whatever position you are equipped to fill, so long as you preserve the man of trust and integrity. If you lose that in your zeal to be a public benefactor, what use in the end will you betothe community onceyouhave beenrenderedshameless and corrupt?
+
+## 25
+
+Someone was preferred above you at a formal dinner or awards banquet, and their advice was solicited before yours. If such marks of esteem are good, you should be pleased for the other person; if they are not, don’t chafe because you did not get them. And remember, if you do not engage in the same acts as others with a view to gaining such honours, you cannot expect the same results. A person who will not stoop to flattery does not get to have the flatterer’s advantages. One who dances attendance on a superior is rewarded differently from someone who sits out. Refuse to praise someone and you cannot expect the same compensation as a flatterer. It would be unfair and greedy on your part, then, to decline to pay the price that these privileges entail and hope to get them free.
+
+How much is a head of lettuce worth? One obol, perhaps? Now if someone pays an obol and gets the head of lettuce, while you will not pay this much and therefore go without, don’t imagine that you necessarily come off second best. As he has the lettuce, you still have the money. And it’s much the same in our case. You were not invited to someone’s party, because you wouldn’t pay the host the price of admission, namely paying her court and singing her praises. So pay the bill, if you expect to gain by it, and give no further thought to the expense. But if you won’t pay the bill and still want the benefits, you are not only greedy but a fool. If you forgo the meal, however, must it mean that you leave empty-handed? You have the advantage of not having to praise the host, which you find disagreeable (and won’t have to put up with the insolence of his slaves).
+
+## 26
+
+We can familiarize ourselves with the will of nature by calling to mind our common experiences. When a friend breaks a glass, we are quick to say, ‘Oh, bad luck.’ It’s only reasonable, then, that when a glass of your own breaks, you accept it in the same patient spirit. Moving on to graver things: when somebody’s wife or child dies, to a man we all routinely say, ‘Well, that’s part of life.’ But if one of our own family is involved, then right away it’s ‘Poor, poor me!’ We would do better to remember how we react when a similar loss afflicts others.
+
+## 27
+
+Just as a target is not set up in order to be missed, so evil is no natural part of the world’s design.
+
+## 28
+
+If your body was turned over to just anyone, you would doubtless take exception. Why aren’t you ashamed that you have made your mind vulnerable to anyone who happens to criticize you, so that it automatically becomes confused and upset?
+
+## 29
+
+Reflect on what every project entails in both its initial and subsequent stages before taking it up. Otherwise you will likely tackle it enthusiastically at first, since you haven’t given thought to what comes next; but when things get difficult you’ll wind up quitting the project in disgrace. You want to win at the Olympics? So do I – who doesn’t? It’s a glorious achievement; but reflect on what’s entailed both now and later on before committing to it. You have to submit to discipline, maintain a strict diet, abstain from rich foods, exercise under compulsion at set times in weather hot and cold, refrain from drinking water or wine whenever you want – in short, you have to hand yourself over to your trainer as if he were your doctor. And then there are digging contests to endure, and times when you will dislocate your wrist, turn your ankle, swallow quantities of sand, be whipped – and end up losing all the same.
+
+Consider all this, and if you still want to, then give athletics a go. If you don’t pause to think, though, you’ll end up doing what children do, playing at wrestler one minute, then gladiator, then actor, then musician. And you – you’re an athlete now, next a gladiator, an orator, a philosopher – but nothing with all your heart. You’re like a monkey who imitates whatever it happens to see, infatuated with one thing after another. You haven’t approached anything attentively, or thought things through; your approach to projects is casual and capricious.
+
+Some people, likewise, see a philosopher or hear someone like Euphrates lecture (only, who can lecture like him?) and get it in their heads to become philosophers too. Listen, friend, research the role, then assess your capacity to fill it, just as you assess your arms, thighs and back if you hope to be a wrestler or pentathlete. We are not all cut out for the same thing. Do you think that as a philosopher you can eat and drink, or exercise desire and aversion, as you do at present? You have to stay up nights, put up with pain, leave your family, be looked down on by slaves, suffer ridicule from strangers, be outdone in status, in power, in legal matters – get the worst of it, in other words, down to the last little thing. Ponder whether you’re prepared to pay this price for serenity, freedom and calm. If not, then don’t go near it – don’t, like children, be a philosopher now, a tax officer later, then an orator or politician. These roles don’t mix; you have to be one person, good or bad. You have to care either for your mind or for material things; specialize in what is within you or without – which is to say, you have to stick to the role of philosopher or layman.
+
+## 30
+
+Duties are broadly defined by social roles. This man is your father: the relationship demands from you support, constant deference and tolerance for his verbal, even his physical, abuse.
+
+‘But he’s a bad father.’
+
+Look, nature has endeared you to a father, not necessarily a good one.
+
+‘My brother is unfair to me.’
+
+Well then, keep up your side of the relationship; don’t concern yourself with his behaviour, only with what you must do to keep your will in tune with nature. Another person will not hurt you without your cooperation; you are hurt the moment you believe yourself to be.
+
+The titles of neighbour, citizen and general will likewise suggest to you what functions they entail, once you begin to give social relationships their due in your daily deliberations.
+
+## 31
+
+Realize that the chief duty we owe the gods is to hold the correct beliefs about them: that they exist, that they govern the world justly and well, and that they have put you here∗ for one purpose – to obey them and welcome whatever happens, in the conviction that it is a product of the highest intelligence. This way you won’t ever blame the gods or charge them with neglect. And this cannot happen unless you stop applying ‘good’ and ‘bad’ to externals and only describe things under our control that way. Because, if you regard any external as good or bad, and fail to get what you want or get what you don’t want instead, you will blame the gods and inevitably hate them for being the cause of your trouble.
+
+Every living thing by nature shrinks and turns away from whatever it considers harmful or malicious, just as it loves and gravitates toward what is helpful and sympathetic. Anyone who imagines that they are being wronged can no more love the offender than the offence. And so we find even fathers being blamed by their children, when they fail to give them what the child regards as good. It is the same reason Polyneices and Eteocles became enemies – the idea each had that it would be better to rule alone. It is why farmers curse the gods; why sailors, traders and men who have lost wives or children curse them too. Piety cannot exist apart from self-interest. The upshot is, when you practise using desire and aversion correctly, you practise being pious.
+
+At the same time, it is never wrong to make sacrifice, pour libations, or offer first fruits in the traditional manner, as long as it is done attentively and not carelessly or by rote, and you neither offer too little nor spend beyond your means.
+
+## 32
+
+In your approach to divination, bear in mind that you don’t know what will happen, you go in order to learn it from the prophet. A philosopher, however, arrives already knowing the value of what’s to come. If it’s anything outside his sphere of influence, he knows it can be neither good nor bad. So if you consult a prophet, leave desire, fear, and aversion behind, in the assurance that the future, per se, is indifferent, and nothing to you. You can make use of it, whatever it is, and there’s not a soul who can stop you. Approach the gods with a dignified attitude, think of them as your advisers. But once their advice has been given, remember the source and consider who you would be slighting if you were to set that advice aside.
+
+Make use of divination the way Socrates thought it should be used,6 i.e. solely when it’s a matter of learning the future – not when there’s a problem that can be resolved by the application of reason (another human resource). Don’t, for example, resort to divination if you are duty-bound to come to the defence of your country or share in some danger threatening a friend. Suppose the seer declares the omens unfavourable – which, in cases like this, could spell exile for you, physical injury, even death. And still reason demands that you stick by your friend, or help defend your country. On that score we have only to consult the greatest prophet of all, Apollo: he refused to let someone enter his temple who had once ignored cries for help from a friend under assault from robbers.
+
+## 33
+
+Settle on the type of person you want to be and stick to it, whether alone or in company.
+
+Let silence be your goal for the most part; say only what is necessary, and be brief about it. On the rare occasions when you’re called upon to speak, then speak, but never about banalities like gladiators, horses, sports, food and drink – commonplace stuff. Above all don’t gossip about people, praising, blaming or comparing them. Try to influence your friends to speak appropriately by your example. If you find yourself in unfamiliar company, however, keep quiet.
+
+Keep laughter to a minimum; do not laugh too often or too loud.
+
+If possible, refuse altogether to take an oath; resist, in any case, as far as circumstances will permit.
+
+Avoid fraternizing with non-philosophers. If you must, though, be careful not to sink to their level; because, you know, if a companion is dirty, his friends cannot help but get a little dirty too, no matter how clean they started out.
+
+Where the body is concerned, take only what is strictly necessary in the way of food, drink, clothing, shelter and household slaves. Cut out luxury and ostentation altogether.
+
+Concerning sex, stay as chaste as you can before marriage. If you do indulge, engage only in licit liaisons. Don’t be harsh or judgemental towards others who have sex; if you are celibate yourself, don’t advertise the fact.
+
+If you learn that someone is speaking ill of you, don’t try to defend yourself against the rumours; respond instead with, ‘Yes, and he doesn’t know the half of it, because he could have said more.’
+
+There is no call to be a regular at the public games. But if the occasion should arise and you go, don’t be seen siding with anyone except yourself; which is to say, hope only for what happens to happen, and for the actual winner to win; then you won’t be unhappy. Yelling, jeering and excessive agitation should be avoided completely. Don’t talk much about the event afterwards, or any more than is necessary to get it out of your system. Otherwise it becomes obvious that the experience captivated you.
+
+Don’t too soon, or too lightly, attend other people’s lectures; when you do go remain serious and reserved, without being disagreeable.
+
+When you are going to meet someone, especially someone deemed important, imagine to yourself what Socrates or Zeno would have done in the situation and you won’t fail to get on, whatever happens. When you are going to the house of someone influential, tell yourself that you won’t find them in, that you will be locked out, that the door will be slammed in your face, that they won’t give you the time of day. And, despite that, if it’s the right thing to go, then go and face the consequences. Don’t say to yourself later, ‘It wasn’t worth it.’ That’s the mark of a conventional person at odds with life.
+
+In your conversation, don’t dwell at excessive length on your own deeds or adventures. Just because you enjoy recounting your exploits doesn’t mean that others derive the same pleasure from hearing about them.
+
+And avoid trying to be funny. That way vulgarity lies, and at the same time it’s likely to lower you in your friends’ estimation.
+
+It is also not a good idea to venture on profanity. If it happens, and you aren’t out of line, you may even criticize a person who indulges in it. Otherwise, signal your dislike of his language by falling silent, showing unease or giving him a sharp look.
+
+## 34
+
+As with impressions generally, if you get an impression of something pleasurable, watch yourself so that you are not carried away by it. Take a minute and let the matter wait on you. Then reflect on both intervals of time: the time you will have to experience the pleasure, and the time after its enjoyment that you will beat yourself up over it. Contrast that with how happy and pleased you’ll be if you abstain. If the chance to do the deed presents itself, take extra care that you are not overcome by its seductiveness, pleasure and allure. Counter temptation by remembering how much better will be the knowledge that you resisted.
+
+## 35
+
+If you decide to do something, don’t shrink from being seen doing it, even if the majority of people disapprove. If you’re wrong to do it, then you should shrink from doing it altogether; but if you’re right, then why worry how people will judge you?
+
+## 36
+
+Just as the propositions ‘It is day’ and ‘It is night’ together contribute much to disjunctive propositions, but nothing to conjunctive ones,7 so, even allowing that taking the largest portion of a dish contributes to the health of the body, it contributes nothing to the communal spirit that a dinner party should typify. So when you dine in company, remember not only to consider what the food on offer can do for your health, have some consideration for your host’s good health too.
+
+## 37
+
+If you undertake a role beyond your means, you will not only embarrass yourself in that, you miss the chance of a role that you might have filled successfully.
+
+## 38
+
+As you are careful when you walk not to step on a nail or turn your ankle, so you should take care not to do any injury to your character at the same time.8 Exercise such caution whenever we act, and we will perform the act with less risk of injury.
+
+## 39
+
+Each man’s body defines the limit of his material needs, as, on a small scale, the foot does with regard to shoes. Observe this principle, and you will never be in any confusion as to what those limits are. Exceed them, and you inevitably fall off a virtual cliff. As with shoes – if you don’t limit yourself to what the foot needs, you wind up with gold heels, purple pumps or even embroidered slippers. There’s no end once the natural limit has been exceeded.
+
+## 40
+
+At the age of fourteen girls begin to be addressed by men as ‘ladies’. From this they infer that the world honours them for nothing so much fpras their potential as sexual partners. Consequently, they become preoccupied with their appearance to the exclusion of everything else. They must be made to realize that they are entitled to be called ‘ladies’ only insofar as they cultivate modesty and self-respect.
+
+## 41
+
+It shows a lack of refinement to spend a lot of time exercising, eating, drinking, defecating or copulating. Tending to the body’s needs should be done incidentally, as it were; the mind and its functions require the bulk of our attention.
+
+## 42
+
+Whenever anyone criticizes or wrongs you, remember that they are only doing or saying what they think is right. They cannot be guided by your views, only their own; so if their views are wrong, they are the ones who suffer insofar as they are misguided. I mean, if someone declares a true conjunctive proposition to be false, the proposition is unaffected, it is they who come off worse for having their ignorance exposed. With this in mind you will treat your critic with more compassion. Say to yourself each time, ‘He did what he believed was right.’
+
+## 43
+
+Every circumstance comes with two handles, with one of which you can hold it, while with the other conditions are insupportable. If your brother mistreats you, don’t try to come to grips with it by dwelling on the wrong he’s done (because that approach makes it unbearable); remind yourself that he’s your brother, that you two grew up together; then you’ll find that you can bear it.
+
+## 44
+
+The following are non-sequiturs: ‘I am richer, therefore superior to you’; or ‘I am a better speaker, therefore a better person, than you.’ These statements, on the other hand, are cogent: ‘I am richer than you, therefore my wealth is superior to yours’; and ‘I am a better speaker, therefore my diction is better than yours.’ But you are neither wealth nor diction.
+
+## 45
+
+Someone bathes in haste; don’t say he bathes badly, but in haste. Someone drinks a lot of wine; don’t say he drinks badly, but a lot. Until you know their reasons, how do you know that their actions are vicious? This will save you from perceiving one thing clearly, but then assenting to something different.
+
+## 46
+
+Never identify yourself as a philosopher or speak much to non-philosophers about your principles; act in line with those principles. At a dinner party, for instance, don’t tell people the right way to eat, just eat the right way. Remember how Socrates so effaced himself that people used to approach him seeking an introduction to philosophers, and he would graciously escort them; that’s how careless he was of the slight. If conversation turns to a philosophical topic, keep silent for the most part, since you run the risk of spewing forth a lot of ill-digested information. If your silence is taken for ignorance, but it doesn’t upset you – well, that’s the real sign that you have begun to be a philosopher. Sheep don’t bring their owners grass to prove to them how much they’ve eaten, they digest it inwardly and outwardly bring forth milk and wool. So don’t make a show of your philosophical learning to the uninitiated, show them by your actions what you have absorbed.
+
+## 47
+
+When your body gets used to simple living, don’t preen over it; if you’re a water drinker, don’t take every opportunity to announce it. If you want to train for physical austerities, do it for yourself, not for outsiders. Don’t embrace marble statues;9 but if you happen to be very thirsty, try taking some cold water in your mouth and spitting it out – and don’t tell anyone.
+
+## 48
+
+The mark and attitude of the ordinary man: never look for help or harm from yourself, only from outsiders. The mark and attitude of the philosopher: look for help and harm exclusively from yourself.
+
+And the signs of a person making progress: he never criticizes, praises, blames or points the finger, or represents himself as knowing or amounting to anything. If he experiences frustration or disappointment, he points the finger at himself. If he’s praised, he’s more amused than elated. And if he’s criticized, he won’t bother to respond. He walks around as if he were an invalid, careful not to move a healing limb before it’s at full strength. He has expunged all desire, and made the things that are contrary to nature and in his control the sole target of his aversion. Impulse he only uses with detachment. He does not care if he comes across as stupid or naive. In a word, he keeps an eye on himself as if he were his own enemy lying in ambush.
+
+## 49
+
+Whenever someone prides himself on being able to understand and comment on Chrysippus’ books, think to yourself, ‘If Chrysippus had written more clearly, this person would have nothing to be proud of.’ As for me, I care only about understanding nature, and following its leads. So I look for someone to interpret nature for me, and after hearing that Chrysippus can, I turn to him. So far, I have no cause for conceit. When I find that Chrysippus really can interpret nature, it still remains for me to act on his suggestions – which is the only thing one can be proud of. If I admire the interpretation, I have turned into a literary critic instead of a philosopher, the only difference being that, instead of Homer, I’m interpreting Chrysippus. But whenever people ask me to interpret Chrysippus for them, I only feel shame that my actions don’t meet or measure up to what he says.
+
+## 50
+
+Whatever your mission, stick by it as if it were a law and you would be committing sacrilege to betray it. Pay no attention to whatever people might say; this no longer should influence you.
+
+## 51
+
+How long will you wait before you demand the best of yourself, and trust reason to determine what is best? You have been introduced to the essential doctrines, and claim to understand them. So what kind of teacher are you waiting for that you delay putting these principles into practice until he comes? You’re a grown man already, not a child any more. If you remain careless and lazy, making excuse after excuse, fixing one day after another when you will finally take yourself in hand, your lack of progress will go unnoticed, and in the end you will have lived and died unenlightened.
+
+Finally decide that you are an adult who is going to devote the rest of your life to making progress. Abide by what seems best as if it were an inviolable law. When faced with anything painful or pleasurable, anything bringing glory or disrepute, realize that the crisis is now, that the Olympics have started, and waiting is no longer an option; that the chance for progress, to keep or lose, turns on the events of a single day. That’s how Socrates got to be the person he was, by depending on reason to meet his every challenge. You’re not yet Socrates, but you can still live as if you want to be him.
+
+## 52
+
+The first and most important field of philosophy is the application of principles such as ‘Do not lie.’ Next come the proofs, such as why we should not lie. The third field supports and articulates the proofs, by asking, for example, ‘How does this prove it? What exactly is a proof, what is logical inference, what is contradiction, what is truth, what is falsehood?’ Thus, the third field is necessary because of the second, and the second because of the first. The most important, though, the one that should occupy most of our time, is the first. But we do just the opposite. We are preoccupied with the third field and give that all our attention, passing the first by altogether. The result is that we lie – but have no difficulty proving why we shouldn’t.
+
+## 53
+
+In every circumstance we should have the following sentiments handy:
+
+Lead me, Zeus, lead me, Destiny, To the goal I was long ago assigned
+
+And I will follow without hesitation. Even should I resist, In a spirit of perversity, I will have to follow nonetheless.
+
+Whoever yields to necessity graciously We account wise in God’s ways.10
+
+‘Dear Crito if it pleases the gods, so be it.’
+
+‘Anytus and Meletus can kill me, but they cannot harm me.’

source/content/enchiridion/2018-anthony-long.md

@@ -0,0 +1,281 @@
+Author:     Epictetus
+Title:      How to be Free
+Translator: Anthony Long
+Date:       2008
+Source:     [book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0691177717)
+Code:       al
+
+## 1
+
+Some things in the world are up to us, while others are not. Up to us are our faculties of judgment, *motivation, *desire, and *aversion—in short, everything that is our own doing. Not up to us are our body and property, our reputations, and our official positions—in short, everything that is not our own doing. Moreover, the things up to us are naturally free, unimpeded, and unconstrained, while the things not up to us are powerless, servile, impeded, and not our own. Keep this in mind then: if you think things naturally servile are free and that things not our own are ours, you will be frustrated, pained, and troubled, and you will find fault with gods and men. But if you think you own only what is yours, and that you do not own what is not yours, as you really don’t, no one will ever put pressure on you, no one will impede you, you will not reproach anyone, you will not blame anyone, you will not do a single thing reluctantly, +no one will harm you, you will have no enemy,+ because nothing harmful will happen to you.
+
+Keep in mind, then, that you have to be highly motivated if you want to achieve such great goals. You will have to forego some things completely, and postpone others for the present. But if you want both at the same time—the things that are really yours plus prominence and wealth in addition—you will probably not get even the latter because of wanting the former as well, and you certainly will not get the former, which are the only way to secure freedom and happiness.
+
+Right now, then, make it your habit to tell every jarring thought or *impression: “You are just an appearance and in no way the real thing.” Next, examine it and test it by these rules that you have. First and foremost: does it involve the things up to us, or the things not up to us? And if it involves one of the things not up to us, have the following response to hand: “Not my business.”
+
+## 2
+
+Keep in mind that desire presumes your getting what you want and that aversion presumes your avoiding what you don’t want, and that not getting what we want makes us unfortunate, while encountering what we don’t want makes us miserable. So if, among the *things contrary to nature *you restrict aversion to those that are up to you, you will experience none of the things you don’t want, but if you are averse to sickness or death or poverty, you will be miserable. So move aversion away from everything that is not up to us and transfer it to the things contrary to nature that are up to us. As for desire, give it up completely for the time being. Otherwise, if you desire any of the things that are not up to us, you are bound to be unfortunate, while none of the things up to us, which it would be fine to desire, will be available to you. Confine yourself to motivation and disinclination, and apply these attitudes lightly, with *reservation and without straining.
+
+## 3
+
+In the case of everything that attracts you or has its uses or that you are fond of, keep in mind to tell yourself what it is like, starting with the most trivial things. If you are fond of a jug, say: “I am fond of a jug.” Then, if it is broken, you will not be troubled. When you kiss your little child or your wife, say that you are kissing a human being. Then, if one of them dies, you will not be troubled.
+
+## 4
+
+Whenever you are about to start on some activity, remind yourself what the activity is like. If you go out to bathe, picture what happens at a bathhouse—the people there who splash you or jostle you or talk rudely or steal your things. In this way you will be more prepared to start on the activity, by telling yourself at the outset: “I want to bathe, and I also want to keep my *will *in harmony with nature.” Make this your practice in every activity. Then, if anything happens that gets in the way of your bathing, you will have the following response available: “Well, this was not the only thing I wanted; I also wanted to keep my will in harmony with nature. I shall not do that if I get angry about what is happening.”
+
+## 5
+
+It is not things themselves that trouble people, but their opinions about things. Death, for instance, is nothing terrible (otherwise, it would have appeared that way to *Socrates as well), but the terrible thing is the opinion that death is terrible. So whenever we are frustrated, or troubled, or pained, let us never hold anyone responsible except ourselves, meaning our own opinions. Uneducated people blame others when they are doing badly. Those whose education is underway blame themselves. But a fully educated person blames no one, neither himself nor anyone else.
+
+## 6
+
+Don’t preen yourself on any distinction that is not your own. If the preening horse should say “I am beautiful,” it would be acceptable. But when you are preening and say, “I have a beautiful horse,” admit that you are preening yourself on a good quality that belongs to the horse. What, then, is your own? The management of *impressions. So whenever you are in harmony with nature in the way you perform this function, that’s the time to preen yourself; for then you will have a good thing that is your own to preen yourself on.
+
+## 7
+
+When you are on a voyage and the boat is at anchor, if you disembark to get water, you may pick up a little shellfish and vegetable on the way, but you need to keep your mind fixed on the boat and keep turning around in case the *captain calls; and if he does call, you must drop all those things, to avoid being tied up and stowed on board like the sheep. That’s how it is in life too. If you are given a little wife and child, instead of a little vegetable and shellfish, that will not be a problem. But if the captain calls you, run to the boat and leave all those things without even turning around. And if you are old, never go far from the boat in case you are missing when he calls.
+
+## 8
+
+Don’t ask for things to happen as you would like them to, but wish them to happen as they actually do, and you will be all right.
+
+## 9
+
+Sickness is an impediment to the body, but not to the will unless the will wants to be impeded. Lameness is an impediment to the leg, but not to the will. If you tell yourself this at every occurrence, you will find the impediment is to something else but not to yourself.
+
+## 10
+
+In all circumstances keep in mind to turn in to yourself and ask what resources you have for dealing with these things. If you see a good-looking man or woman, you will find self-control the appropriate power; if pain afflicts you, you will find endurance; if rudeness, you will find patience. By developing these habits, you will not be carried away by your first impressions.
+
+## 11
+
+Never say about anything, “I have lost it”; but say, “I have returned it.” Has your little child died? “It has been returned.” Has your wife died? “She has been returned.” “I have been robbed of my land.” No, that has been returned as well. “But it was a bad person who stole it.” Why are you bothered about the individual the *donor used to demand its return? As long as these things +are given+ to you, take care of them as +things that are not your own, + just as travelers treat their lodging.
+
+## 12
+
+If you want to make *progress, dismiss this kind of reasoning: “If I neglect my business, I will have nothing to live on,” or “If I don’t punish my slave, he will be no good.” It is better to starve to death in a calm and confident state of mind than to live anxiously amidst abundance. And it is better +also+ for your slave to be bad than for you to be unhappy. So make a start with the little things, like some oil being spilled or some wine being stolen. Then tell yourself: “This is the price one pays for not getting worked up, the price for *tranquility. Nothing comes free of charge.” When you summon your slave, reflect that he is quite capable of not responding, or if he does respond that he may do none of the things you want. In any case he is too unimportant for your own tranquility to depend on him.
+
+## 13
+
+If you want to make progress, don’t mind appearing foolish and silly where outward things are concerned, and don’t wish to appear an expert. Even if some people think you are somebody, distrust yourself. It is not easy, you can be sure, to keep your own will in harmony with nature and simultaneously secure outward things. If you care about the one, you are completely bound to neglect the other.
+
+## 14
+
+If you want your children and your wife and friends to survive +no matter what, + you are silly; for you are wanting things to be up to you that are not up to you, and things to be your own that are not your own. You are just as foolish if you want your slave to make no mistakes; for you are wanting inferiority not to be a flaw but something else. But if your wish is not to be frustrated in your desires, this is in your power. Train yourself, then, in this power that you do have. Our master is anyone who has the power to implement or prevent the things that we want or don’t want. Whoever wants to be free, therefore, should wish for nothing or avoid nothing that is up to other people. Failing that, one is bound to be a slave.
+
+## 15
+
+Keep in mind that you should always behave as you would do at a banquet. Something comes around to you; stretch out your hand and politely take a portion. It passes on; don’t try to stop it. It has not come yet; don’t let your appetite run ahead, but wait till the portion reaches you. If you act like this toward your children, your wife, your public positions, and your wealth, you will be worthy one day to dine with the *gods. And if you don’t even take things, when they are put before you, but pass them by, you will not only dine with the gods but also share their rule. It was by acting like that that *Diogenes and *Heracles and others like them were deservedly divine and called so.
+
+## 16
+
+Whenever you see someone grieving at the departure of their child or the loss of their property, take care not to be carried away by the impression that they are in dire external straits, but at once have the following thought available: “What is crushing these people is not the event (since there are other people it does not crush) but their opinion about it.” Don’t hesitate, however, to sympathize with them in words and even maybe share their groans, but take care not to groan inwardly as well.
+
+## 17
+
+Keep in mind that you are an actor in a play that is just the way the *producer wants it to be. It is short, if that is his wish, or long, if he wants it long. If he wants you to act the part of a beggar, see that you play it skillfully; and similarly if the part is to be a cripple, or an official, or a private person. Your job is to put on a splendid performance of the role you have been given, but selecting the role is the job of someone else.
+
+## 18
+
+Whenever a raven croaks ominously, don’t let the impression carry you away, but straightaway discriminate within yourself, and say: “None of this is a warning to me; it only concerns my feeble body or my tiny estate or my paltry reputation or my children or my wife. But to myself all predictions are favorable if I wish them to be, since it is up to me to benefit from the outcome, whatever it may be.”
+
+## 19
+
+You can always win if you only enter competitions where winning is up to you. When you see someone honored ahead of you or holding great power or being highly esteemed in another way, be careful never to be carried away by the impression and judge the person to be happy. For if the essence of goodness consists in things that are up to us, there is room for neither envy nor jealousy, and you yourself will not want to be a *praetor or a senator or a consul, but to be free. The only way to achieve this is by despising the things that are not up to us.
+
+## 20
+
+Keep in mind that what injures you is not people who are rude or aggressive but your opinion that they are injuring you. So whenever someone provokes you, be aware that the provocation really comes from your own judgment. Start, then, by trying not to get carried away by the impression. Once you pause and give yourself time, you will more easily control yourself.
+
+## 21
+
+Set before your eyes every day death and exile and everything +else+ that looks terrible, especially death. Then you will never have any mean thought or be too keen on anything.
+
+## 22
+
+If you are keen on philosophy, be ready at the outset to be laughed at and mocked by many people with words like “What do you know, he’s come back to us as a philosopher!” and “Where did he get that superior look from?” Don’t look that way, then, but stick to your views of what is best, as one who has been appointed to this place by God. And keep in mind that if you stick to those same views, the people who used to laugh at you will admire you later, but if you lapse from them, you will be a laughingstock for a second time.
+
+## 23
+
+If you ever find yourself looking for outside approval in order to curry favor, you can be sure that you have lost your way. Be satisfied, then, simply to be a philosopher, and if you want people to think of you that way as well, appear so to yourself, and that will be +sufficient.+
+
+## 24
+
+Don’t let yourself be worried by thinking, “My life is going to be without honor, and I will be a nobody everywhere.” If lack of honor is something bad +(as it is),+ no one but yourself could be responsible, any more than others could put you in a shameful position. You don’t really think it’s your job to secure a public office, do you, or be invited to a banquet? “Of course not.” How, then, is this still a lack of honor? And how will you be a nobody everywhere, since you need to be somebody only in the things that are up to you, and in them you can be a top person?
+
+“But your friends will lack support?” What do you mean by “lack support”? They won’t get a cash handout from you, and you won’t make them Roman citizens. But who told you that these things are up to us and not the business of other people? Who can give to another what he doesn’t have himself?
+
+“Get money, then,” someone says, “so we can have it too.” If I can get it and preserve my honor and integrity and moral principles, show me the way, and I will get it. But if you are asking me to lose the *good things that are mine just for you to acquire things that are not good, you can see how unfair you are and how ungenerous. What would you rather have—money or a trustworthy and honorable friend? Help me, rather, to maintain this character and do not ask me to do the very things that will make me lose it.
+
+“But my country,” someone says, “will lack such support as I could have given.” I repeat the question of what support you have in mind. Your country will not have colonnades or public baths because of you. But what does that mean? Your country does not have shoes because of the blacksmith or weapons because of the cobbler? It is enough if each person performs his own job. And if you were to supply your country with another trustworthy and honorable citizen, would you not be doing it a benefit? “Yes, I would.” So you yourself would not be of no benefit to your community.
+
+“What position, then, will I hold in it?” Whichever one you can have and still preserve your trustworthy and honorable character. But if you lose this character in wanting to benefit your country, and you end up dishonorable and untrustworthy, what benefit would you be?
+
+## 25
+
++If+ someone has been placed ahead of you at a banquet or in a reception line or in being called on as a consultant, you should be pleased that he has got these things, if they are good. But if they are bad, don’t be upset because you didn’t get them. Keep in mind that you cannot expect to get an equal share of the things that are not up to us without doing the same things others have done. If you don’t hang out at someone’s door or go around with him or flatter him, how can you have the same share of his regard as the person who does these things? If you don’t pay the price these things are sold at, and want to get them for free, you would be unfair and greedy.
+
+What’s the cost of lettuces? An *obol maybe. If someone pays an obol and gets the lettuces, don’t think you have less than he has. While he has the lettuces, you have the unspent obol. It’s just the same in the cases we are considering. You were not invited to someone’s dinner party. That’s because you didn’t pay the host the price of the dinner. He sells it for flattery, for getting attention. Pay the price it’s sold for, then, if you think it’s worth it. But if you want to get it without paying up, you are being greedy and stupid. Do you have nothing instead of the dinner? Of course you do. You don’t have to flatter the man you didn’t want to flatter or to deal with the crowd around his door.
+
+## 26
+
+*Nature’s purpose can be learned from situations that we all agree about. When, for instance, someone else’s slave breaks his master’s drinking cup, one is instantly ready to say, “It’s just an accident.” So when your own cup gets broken, acknowledge that you should be just the way you were when that happened to the other person’s cup. Now apply this rule to more serious things. When someone’s child or wife dies, it’s normal to say “That’s just life.” Yet whenever it’s one’s own family member who dies, the immediate response is “Alas” and “Poor me!” We should remember how we feel when we hear of this happening to other people.
+
+## 27
+
+No target is set up simply to be missed, and in the same way nothing that occurs in the world is *bad in its own nature as such.
+
+## 28
+
+If someone in the street were entrusted with your body, you would be furious. Yet you entrust your mind to anyone around who happens to insult you, and allow it to be troubled and confused. Aren’t you ashamed of that?
+
+## 29
+
+In every undertaking, examine its *antecedents and their consequences, and only then proceed to the act itself. If you don’t do that, you will start enthusiastically, because you have not thought about any of the next stages; then, when difficulties appear, you will give up and be put to shame. Do you want to win at the Olympics? I do too, of course, because it’s a splendid thing. But examine the project from start to finish, and only go in for it after that. You must train, keep a strict diet, stay off pastries, submit to a regular exercise regime each day, summer or winter, drink no cold water and no wine except at appropriate times; in other words, you have to surrender yourself to the trainer just as you would to your doctor. Then in the actual contest you have to *dig in alongside the other contestants, and perhaps dislocate your hand or twist your ankle, swallow a lot of sand, get flogged, and with all of this lose the fight.
+
+When you have thought about this, go and compete if you still want to. But if you don’t think first, you will be acting like children who play at wrestling for a while, then at being gladiators, then trumpeters, and then stage performers. That’s what you are like too, now an athlete, next a gladiator, then an orator, now a philosopher but nothing in your self as a whole. You are like a monkey mimicking whatever you see, as one thing after another takes your fancy. You haven’t pursued anything with due consideration or after thorough review; you mess about and don’t put your heart into things.
+
+It’s the way some people who have seen a philosopher and heard one speak like *Euphrates (though no one can really speak like him) want to go in for philosophy themselves. Dear man, think first about what the thing is like, and then study your own nature to see whether you are up to it. Do you really want to compete in the pentathlon or the wrestling? If so, you had better study your arms and your thighs and your hips. People differ in what they are naturally suited to. Do you suppose you can go in for philosophy and eat and drink just as you do now or get angry and +irritated+ in the same way? You are going to have to go without sleep, work really hard, stay away from friends and family, be disrespected by a young slave, get mocked by people in the street, and come off worse in rank, office, or courtroom, everywhere in fact. Think about all this and then see whether you want to exchange it for calm, freedom, and tranquility. If not, don’t go near philosophy; don’t be like children playing first a philosopher, and after that a tax collector, then an orator, and then an imperial official. These professions don’t match. You have to be one person, either good or bad. You have to work either on your *commanding-faculty or on external things. Either the inner or the outer should be the focus of your efforts, which means adopting the role either of a philosopher or of an ordinary person.
+
+## 30
+
+*Appropriate actions are largely set by our social relationships. In the case of one’s father, this involves looking after him, letting him have his way in everything, and not making a fuss if he is abusive or violent. “But what if he’s a bad father? ” Do you think you have a *natural affinity only to a good father? “No, just to a father.” Suppose your brother treats you badly. In that case, maintain your fraternal relationship to him. Don’t think about why he behaves that way but about what you need to do to keep your will in harmony with nature. No one else, in fact, will harm you without your consent; you will be harmed only when you think you are being harmed. So make a habit of studying your social relationships – with neighbors, citizens, or army officers – and then you will discover the appropriate thing to do.
+
+## 31
+
+The essence of reverence concerning the gods is, first, to hold correct beliefs concerning their existence and their fine and just administration of the universe, and, second, to position yourself to obey them and accept whatever happens, complying with it willingly, on the understanding that what comes to pass has been ordained by their most excellent decision. In this way, you will never find fault with the gods, nor will you charge them with neglect. But such reverence is not possible unless you remove goodness and badness from the things not up to us and ascribe it only to the things that are up to us; for if you judge any of those other things to be good or bad, whenever you fail to get what you want and encounter what you don’t want, you will be bound to blame the gods and hate them for being responsible.
+
+It is every creature’s nature, you see, to shun things that look harmful or cause harm, and to admire and pursue things that are beneficial or bring benefit. If you think you are being injured, you can no more enjoy what seems to be injuring you than you can enjoy the injury itself. Even fathers are maligned by their sons when they deprive them of things they think are good; and it was this, the belief that holding exclusive power is good, that created hostility between *Eteocles and Polyneices. For the same reason, farmers malign the gods, and sailors do so too, and merchants, and men who have lost their wives and children. Wherever people’s interest lies, that’s also the site of their reverence. If you are careful, then, to focus your desires and aversions where you should, you will be equally careful about reverence. Nevertheless, it is fitting for +everyone+ to perform religious rituals and make customary offerings as long as they act with a pure heart, not mechanically or carelessly, and not meanly or extravagantly.
+
+## 32
+
+Whenever you have your fortune taken, keep in mind that you don’t know precisely what’s going to happen (that’s why you came to consult the fortune-teller), but if you are really a philosopher, you already know the sort of thing it is. For if it is one of the things not up to us, it must absolutely be neither good nor bad. So don’t project your desire or aversion onto the fortune-teller +(otherwise you will come to him in great anxiety),+ but go in the understanding that every outcome is *indifferent—nothing that bears on you except as an opportunity, whatever it is like, to be put to excellent use and with no one to get in your way.
+
+Go to the gods then, as your advisers, and go confidently. And next, when you have been given some advice, keep in mind whom you have taken as your advisers and whom you will be ignoring if you don’t heed them. Proceed to fortune-telling in the way Socrates judged to be right for handling situations where the whole point of the inquiry is to learn what’s going to happen, and where neither reason nor any other procedure can tell you what you are facing. And so, when there’s a need for you to put yourself at risk on behalf of a friend or your country, those are not topics to consult a fortune-teller about. For even if the fortune-teller reports that the omens are inauspicious, what is clearly forecast is no more than death or bodily injury or exile. But reason requires that even under these circumstances you should support your friend and run risks for your country. So pay attention to the greater fortune-teller, *Pythian Apollo. He threw out of the temple the man who gave no help to his friend when he was being killed.
+
+## 33
+
+Draw up right now a definite character and identity for yourself, one that you intend to stick to whether you are by yourself or in company.
+
+Stay mainly silent or keep your conversation to the necessary minimum. On rare occasions, though, when the situation calls for it, engage in talk, but not about trite topics, like gladiators or horse races or athletes or food or drink—the things that come up all the time; and above all don’t talk critically or flatteringly or judgmentally about people. By your own conversation, if you can, guide your friends’ talk in a fitting direction, but if you find yourself all alone among strangers, stay silent.
+
+Don’t laugh much or often, and keep it down.
+
+Refuse completely to take an oath, or if that is out of the question, refuse to the extent that you can.
+
+Excuse yourself from attending dinner parties given by *people outside your circle. But if you have to, be very careful not to slip into their ways. A companion’s crudeness is bound to rub off on the one he is with, no matter how refined that person may be.
+
+In things to do with the body—food, drink, clothes, housing, and servants—take only what you need, and cut out everything that is for show or luxury.
+
+As for sex, abstain as far as possible before marriage, and if you do go in for it, do nothing that is socially unacceptable. But don’t interfere with other people on account of their sex lives or criticize them, and don’t broadcast your own abstinence.
+
+If you are told that someone is talking badly of you, don’t defend yourself against the story but reply: “Obviously he didn’t know my other faults, or he would have mentioned them as well.”
+
+There is no need for you to put in much of an appearance at the public games, but if the occasion arises don’t let people see you supporting anyone’s side except your own—I mean you should want the result to be exactly what it is and for the winner to be exactly the one who wins. In this way you won’t be disappointed. Restrain yourself completely from shouting or laughing at anyone or getting strongly involved. After coming away, confine your account of the events to the experiences that bear on your own improvement. Otherwise people will think that you were impressed by the spectacle.
+
+Don’t show up casually or thoughtlessly at *public lectures, but when you do go behave decently and seriously and without causing offence.
+
+Whenever you are going to meet anyone, especially someone thought to be important, ask yourself what Socrates or *Zeno would have done in this case, and then you will have no difficulty in handling the situation appropriately. And when you call on some high official, imagine that you will not find him at home, that you will be shut out, that the door will be slammed in your face, and that he will ignore you. But if, in spite of all this, you really have to go, accept it and go without ever telling yourself, “It was not worth all that.” That’s what an ordinary person would do, someone upset by mere circumstances.
+
+In company don’t go on at length about your own deeds or adventures. It may be pleasant for you to recount them, but others are less eager to hear about what has happened to you. And don’t try to be funny; it’s behavior that easily lapses into vulgarity, and it is also liable to make your neighbors think less well of you. Be warned, too, against encouraging lewd conversation. If and when anything of the sort happens, chide the person who has started it if you can find the right moment, and if not, show your dislike of the talk by staying silent, blushing and frowning.
+
+## 34
+
+Whenever the impression of some pleasure comes into your mind, guard yourself against being carried away by it, just as you should do with impressions in general. Let the thing wait a bit, and give yourself a pause. Then think of both times—first the one when you will enjoy the pleasure, and then the one after that when you will be sorry and be angry with yourself. Now contrast them with your joy and self-satisfaction if you abstain. But if you find this the right moment to embark on the affair, do beware that you are not being overwhelmed by its charm and sweetness and allure. Think how much better it is to realize that you have won this victory.
+
+## 35
+
+Whenever you do something you have decided ought to be done, never try to avoid being seen doing it, even if people in general may disapprove of it. If, of course, your action is wrong, just don’t do it at all; but if it’s right, why be afraid of people whose criticism is off the mark?
+
+## 36
+
+You can form a valid *disjunctive statement from the propositions “It is day” and “It is night” taken separately {“Either it is day, or it is night”}, but the *conjunctive statement {“Both it is day and it is night”} is completely invalid. Similarly, at a dinner party, choosing the larger share could have positive value for the body, but it has negative value for maintaining the sociability the occasion requires. So when you are dining with someone, be mindful not only to note the value of the dishes for your body but also to show respect for your host.
+
+## 37
+
+If you have taken on a *role beyond your capacity, you have demeaned yourself in it, and you have also passed up the role you could have filled creditably.
+
+## 38
+
+You are careful in walking not to step on a nail or twist your ankle, and you should be just as careful to do no harm to your commanding-faculty. If we stick to this rule in every action, we shall perform what we are doing more securely.
+
+## 39
+
+The body is the proper measure for each person’s acquisitive needs, just as the foot is the measure for a shoe. If you stick to this rule, you will keep the measure, but if you go beyond it, you are bound in the end to go over a cliff, so to speak. It’s the same with the shoe if you exceed the foot; first comes a gilded shoe, and next one embroidered with purple. Once you exceed the measure, there is no limit.
+
+## 40
+
+As soon as they are fourteen, women are called “ladies” by men. So when they see that their only prospect is to go to bed with them, they begin to make themselves up and place all their hopes on their looks. They need to understand that the true basis for being respected is to appear refined and modest.
+
+## 41
+
+It is the mark of a crude disposition to spend most of one’s time on bodily functions such as exercise, eating, drinking, defecating, and copulating. These are things to be done just incidentally. All your attention should be on your mind.
+
+## 42
+
+Whenever people treat you badly or criticize you, remember that they are only doing and saying what they think is appropriate for them. They cannot take their lead from your opinion but only from their own. So if their opinion is incorrect, they are the people who suffer harm because they are the ones who got it wrong. When someone takes a true *conjunctive statement to be false, no harm is done to the statement but only to the person making the mistake. If you start out from this position, you will be indulgent to your critics, and tell yourself each time, “That’s what they thought.”
+
+## 43
+
+Every situation has two handles, as it were, one making it supportable and the other insupportable. If your brother mistreats you, don’t fasten on the mistreatment—that is the insupportable handle of the situation—but on the other handle instead—that he is your brother, the boy you were raised with—and then you will fasten onto the situation in the way that makes it supportable.
+
+## 44
+
+These inferences are invalid: “I am richer than you, therefore I am better than you,” and “I am more eloquent than you, therefore I am better than you.” But the following inferences are more cogent: “I am richer than you, therefore my property is better than yours,” or “I am more eloquent than you, therefore my diction is better than yours.” But you yourself are neither property nor diction.
+
+## 45
+
+If people take a bath in a hurry, don’t criticize them for their bathing, but say that they do it hurriedly. If they drink a lot of wine, don’t criticize them for their drinking, but say that they drink a lot. Until you know their reasons, how do you know whether they acted wrongly. This way you will not combine *indubitable impressions of a situation with an *endorsement of something else that lacks this certainty.
+
+## 46
+
+Don’t ever describe yourself as a philosopher or talk much among ordinary people about your philosophical principles; simply do what the principles prescribe. At a dinner party, for instance, don’t discuss table manners, just eat nicely. Keep in mind that Socrates was so unostentatious that people came to him when they wanted him to introduce them to philosophers, and he took them along, so little did he mind being unacknowledged himself. If the conversation turns to a philosophical point, stay mainly silent, since there’s a great risk that you will immediately spew up what you haven’t fully absorbed. When your silence is taken for ignorance and you don’t react, then believe me, you have made a real start on the philosophical enterprise. Sheep don’t show how much they have eaten by bringing their fodder to the shepherds; they digest it inside their bodies, and on the outside produce wool and milk. Don’t then, in your case, show off your philosophical principles to ordinary people, but show the actions that come from them once the principles have been absorbed.
+
+## 47
+
+When you have accustomed your body to a frugal regime, don’t put on airs about it, and if you only drink water, don’t broadcast the fact all the time. And if ever you want to go in for endurance training, do it for yourself and not for the world to see. Don’t [be seen outside] *embracing statues. If you are very thirsty, you can suck cold water and spit it out, but without telling anyone.
+
+## 48
+
+The stance and hallmark of ordinary persons is never looking for help or harm from themselves, but only from things that are on the outside. The stance and hallmark of philosophers is only looking for help and harm from themselves.
+
+The signs of a person making progress are these: criticizing nobody, praising nobody, blaming nobody, accusing nobody, and saying nothing about oneself to indicate being someone or knowing something. Whenever such a person is frustrated or impeded, he accuses himself. If he’s complimented, he laughs to himself at the one paying the compliment, and if he’s criticized, he doesn’t defend himself. He goes around like a patient, taking care not to injure any of his recovering limbs before they are fully firm. He has banished all desire, and he has transferred his aversion to the naturally disagreeable things that are up to us. He is relaxed in all his motivations. He doesn’t care if he appears simple-minded or ignorant. In a word, he keeps watch on himself as though he were his own enemy plotting an attack.
+
+## 49
+
+Whenever people take pride in their ability to understand and explain *Chrysippus’s books, say to yourself: “If Chrysippus had not written obscurely, they would have nothing to be proud of.” What do I want then for myself? I want to understand nature and follow its lead. So I look for someone to interpret nature for me, and on hearing that Chrysippus can do that I go to him. But I don’t understand his writings, so I look for an interpreter of them. Thus far there is nothing for me to take pride in. After I have found the interpreter, I still have to put the precepts into practice—that’s the only thing to be proud of. But if what impresses me is just the interpreting itself, I have ended up as a literary scholar and not a philosopher, except that I am interpreting Chrysippus instead of Homer. Rather than showing pride, therefore, when I am asked to expound Chrysippus, I blush at my inability to exhibit the sort of actions that would match his statements.
+
+## 50
+
+In all your projects, keep to them as laws that it would be totally wrong to transgress. And as to anything that people may say about you, ignore it because it doesn’t belong to you.
+
+## 51
+
+How long will you delay thinking yourself worthy of the best and making reason your decisive principle in everything? You have received the principles you ought to endorse, and you have endorsed them. What sort of teacher, then, are you still waiting for, so you that can transfer the correction of yourself to him? You are not a boy anymore, but already a full-grown man. If you are negligent now and lazy and always procrastinating, and settling on the day after tomorrow and the next as when you will take yourself in hand, you will fail to see that you are making no progress but spending your entire life as an ordinary person until you die. Right now, then, think yourself worthy to live as a grown-up making progress; and take your view of the best to be the rule that you never transgress. And whatever you encounter that is painful or pleasant or popular or unpopular, keep in mind that now is the contest, and here right now are the Olympic games, and that postponement is no longer an option, and that your progress is saved or ruined by a single day and a single action. That’s how Socrates perfected himself, by attending to nothing except reason in everything he encountered. You yourself too, even though you are not yet Socrates, ought to live as someone who wants to be a Socrates.
+
+## 52
+
+The first and most necessary area of philosophy is application of the principles, such as not to lie. The second area treats their proofs, such as the grounds for the principle that one should not lie. Third comes the field that confirms and analyzes the proofs, such as investigating what makes this a proof, what proof is as such, and what validity, contradiction, truth and falsehood are. Therefore, the third area is necessary because of the second, and the second because of the first, but it is the first that is the most necessary and the one where we ought to stay. In fact, though, we do the opposite. We spend our time on the third area, concentrating all our enthusiasm on it and neglecting the first one completely. The result is that we do tell lies, while we are ready to advance the proofs that we shouldn’t.
+
+## 53
+
+On every occasion we should have the following *quotations to hand:
+
+Lead me, O Zeus, and you, O Destiny,
+
+Wherever you have ordained for me.
+
+I will follow unflinching. But if, grown bad,
+
+I should refuse, I will follow none the less.
+
+Whosoever complies nobly with necessity
+
+We count as wise and knowing things divine.
+
+Well, Crito, if it [my death] is pleasing to the gods, so let it be.
+
+Anytus and Meletus [Socrates’ Athenian prosecutors] can kill me, but they cannot harm me.
+

source/content/enchiridion/2022-robin-waterfield.md

@@ -0,0 +1,296 @@
+Author:     Epictetus
+Title:      The Complete Works: Handbook, Discourses, and Fragments
+Translator: Robin Waterfield
+Date:       2022  
+Source:     [book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0226769479)
+Code:       rw
+
+## 1
+
+Some things are up to us and some are not. Up to us are judgment, inclination, desire, aversion—in short, whatever is our own doing. Not up to us are our bodies, possessions, reputations, public offices—in short, whatever isn’t our own doing. Moreover, the things that are up to us are naturally free, unimpeded, and unobstructed, while the things that aren’t up to us are weak, enslaved, subject to impediment, and not ours. So remember this: if you regard things that are naturally enslaved as free, if you regard things that are not yours as yours, you’ll be obstructed, dejected, and troubled, and you’ll blame both gods and men. But if you regard as yours only what is yours, and as not yours only what is not yours, which is the way things are in reality, no one will ever constrain you, no one will impede you, you’ll blame no one, you’ll reproach no one, you’ll never act reluctantly, no one will harm you, and you’ll have no enemies, because you’ll never suffer harm.
+
+In setting yourself such great goals, then, bear in mind that no moderate effort is required as you set about attaining them. You’ll have to let some things go altogether and postpone others for the time being. But if you want not only these great goals but also political power and wealth, the chances are that, in aiming at the former, you won’t get even the latter; and you’ll certainly fail to get the former, which are the only things from which we get freedom and happiness. So take up the practice right now of telling every disagreeable impression, ‘You’re an impression, and not at all what you appear to be.’ Then go on to examine it and assess it by these criteria of yours, and first and foremost by this one: whether it has to do with the things that are up to us or the things that are not up to us. And if it has to do with the things that are not up to us, have at hand the reminder that it’s nothing to you.
+
+## 2
+
+Remember that desire holds out the prospect of getting what you desire, and aversion the prospect of not experiencing what you want to avoid, and that the person who fails in his desire suffers disappointment, while the one who experiences what he wants to avoid suffers misfortune. So if you try to avoid only things that are contrary to nature among the things that are up to you, you’ll meet with none of the things you want to avoid, while if you try to avoid illness or death or poverty, you’ll be miserable. Withdraw aversion, then, from everything that isn’t up to us and redirect it to things that are contrary to nature among the things that are up to us. As for desire, abolish it altogether for the time being, because if you desire something that isn’t up to us, you’re bound to become miserable, and because none of the things that are up to us, that it would be right for you to desire, are yet within your reach. Make use only of inclination and disinclination, but do so with a light touch, with reservation, and with detachment.
+
+## 3
+
+When faced with anything you find attractive, useful, or lovable, remember to tell yourself what kind of thing it is. Start with the least important things. If it’s a jug you like, say, ‘I like a jug,’ because then you won’t be upset if it gets broken. If you kiss a child of yours or your wife, tell yourself that you’re kissing a human being, because then you won’t be upset if they die.
+
+## 4
+
+Whenever you’re about to start on some activity or other, remind yourself of its characteristic features. If you’re going out to bathe, rehearse in your mind what typically happens in a bathhouse—getting splashed and jostled and abused and robbed. It’s safer to set about an activity if you tell yourself: ‘I want to bathe and to keep my will in accord with nature’—and so on for every activity. Then, if something happens that obstructs your bathing, you’ll have at hand the reminder that ‘That wasn’t the only thing I wanted; I also wanted to keep my will in accord with nature. And I won’t be doing that if I resent what’s happening.’
+
+## 5
+
+People are troubled not by things but by their judgments about things. Death, for example, isn’t frightening, or else Socrates would have thought it so. No, what frightens people is their judgment about death, that it’s something to fear. So whenever we’re obstructed or troubled or distressed, let’s blame no one but ourselves—that is, our judgments.
+
+5b
+
+Blaming others when things are going badly for him is what an uneducated person does. Blaming himself is what a partially educated person does. Blaming neither others nor himself is what a fully educated person does.
+
+## 6
+
+Don’t take pride in any distinction that isn’t your own. If a horse were proudly to say ‘I’m beautiful,’ that would be acceptable. But when you proudly say, ‘I own a beautiful horse,’ you must realize that what you’re taking pride in is a horse’s good quality. So what is yours? Making use of impressions. And so, when you’re in accord with nature in the use you make of impressions, that can be a source of pride, because then you’ll be taking pride in something good that’s yours.
+
+## 7
+
+Suppose you’re traveling by sea and the boat puts in somewhere, and you disembark to get some water. While you’re at it you might also pick up a bit of shellfish and a few bulbs, but you have to keep your mind fixed on the boat and pay constant attention in case the captain calls you back, and, if the call comes, you have to leave all those things behind to avoid being tied up and hoisted on board like the sheep. The same goes for life too. Suppose you’ve been given, not bulbs and shellfish, but a wife and child. All well and good, but if the captain calls, run to the boat, leaving all those things behind, without paying them any mind. And, if you’re elderly, you also shouldn’t ever stray far from the boat, in case the call comes and you get left behind.
+
+## 8
+
+Instead of wishing that things would happen as you’d like, wish that they would happen as they do, and then you’ll be content.
+
+## 9
+
+Illness may impair the body, but it doesn’t impair the will unless the will wishes it. Lameness is an impairment of the leg, but it doesn’t impair the will. Whatever happens to you, tell yourself this and you’ll find that it’s always something else that’s impaired, not yourself.
+
+## 10
+
+In every situation, remember to turn to yourself and try to find what means you have for dealing with it. If you see an attractive man or woman, you’ll find that self-control is the appropriate faculty. If you’re in pain, you’ll find it to be fortitude. If someone’s maligning you, you’ll find it to be patience. If you make this your habitual practice, you won’t be carried away by your impressions.
+
+## 11
+
+Never say ‘I’ve lost it’ about anything, but ‘I’ve returned it.’ Has your child died? It has been returned. Has your wife died? She has been returned. Has your estate been confiscated? So that too has been returned. ‘But the person who confiscated it is a bad man.’ What difference does it make to you whom the donor used as the agent of its return? As long as they’re in your charge, treat them as things that belong to someone else, as travelers treat an inn.
+
+## 12
+
+If you want to make progress, discard thoughts such as ‘If I neglect my affairs, I’ll have nothing to eat’ and ‘If I don’t punish my slave, he’ll turn out badly.’ It’s better to starve to death without distress and fear than to live in affluence with a troubled mind, and it’s better for your slave to be bad than for you to be unhappy. Start with trivial things, then. A little olive oil is spilled, a little wine is stolen. Tell yourself: ‘This is the price I pay for equanimity and peace of mind. Nothing comes for free.’ And when you call for your slave, bear in mind the possibility that he might not respond, or that he might respond but do something quite different from what you want. But he’s not important enough for your peace of mind to depend on him.
+
+## 13
+
+If you want to make progress, put up with being thought foolish and simpleminded about outward things. Don’t yearn to be regarded as any kind of expert. Even if others take you to be a person of some importance, doubt yourself. For it’s not easy, believe me, to keep your will in compliance with nature and also to secure external things for yourself. If you care about the one, you’re bound to neglect the other.
+
+## 14
+
+It’s foolish to want your children, your wife, and your friends to live no matter what, because you’re wanting things that aren’t up to you to be up to you, and things that aren’t yours to be yours. By the same token, it’s stupid to want your slave not to do wrong, because that’s wanting badness not to be badness but something else. But if you want to get what you desire, that’s in your power. So confine your efforts to what’s in your power.
+
+14b
+
+An individual’s master is the person who has the power of procuring for him or denying to him what he wants or doesn’t want. So anyone who wants to be free must neither want nor try to avoid anything that’s up to others. Otherwise, he’s bound to be unfree.
+
+## 15
+
+Remember that you ought to behave in life as you do at a dinner party. Something is making the rounds and comes to you: reach out your hand and modestly take some of it. It moves on: don’t hold it back. It hasn’t arrived yet: don’t project your desire onto it in advance, but wait your turn. That’s how to behave toward children, wife, high offices, wealth. Then you’ll deserve to dine with the gods someday. And if you don’t even take these things when they’re offered to you but scorn them, then you won’t only dine with the gods but share their rule. It was by acting like this that Diogenes, Heraclitus, and others like them earned the right to be and be recognized as godlike men.
+
+## 16
+
+Whenever you see someone†1 weeping out of grief for the departure of a child or because he’s lost some property, make sure you don’t get carried away by the impression that his external circumstances really are bad. Instead, have at hand the reminder that ‘It’s not what’s happened that’s distressing him (otherwise it would distress everyone), but his judgment about what’s happened.’ Don’t hesitate, however, to sympathize with him verbally, and even to mourn along with him, if that is what the occasion calls for. But make sure that you don’t mourn inwardly as well.
+
+## 17
+
+Remember that you’re an actor in a play that is just as the producer wants it to be. If he wants it short, it’s short; if he wants it long, it’s long. If he wants you to play a beggar, see that you play even this part proficiently—or a cripple, or a ruler, or a nobody. It’s your job to act the role you’ve been assigned well, but the role was chosen by someone else.
+
+## 18
+
+When a raven croaks ominously, don’t let the impression carry you away, but immediately draw a distinction in your mind and say: ‘None of these omens have any significance for me, but only for my body, my property, my reputation, my children, or my wife. But every omen is propitious for me if I so wish, because, whatever the outcome, it’s up to me to benefit from it.’
+
+## 19
+
+You have the potential to be invincible. All you have to do is never enter a contest where victory isn’t up to you.
+
+19b
+
+When you see someone being preferred for an official position ahead of you, or possessing great power, or in general enjoying high status, make sure that you never get carried away by the impression and think him fortunate. If the essence of goodness is one of the things that’s up to us, there’s no room for envy or jealousy, and you won’t wish yourself to be a praetor, a senator, or a consul, but a free man. And there’s only one route to that, which is regarding things that aren’t up to us as unimportant.
+
+## 20
+
+Remember that what’s making you feel insulted isn’t this person’s rudeness or that one’s blows, but your judgment that they’re insulting you. Whenever someone irritates you, then, realize that it’s the belief that’s irritating you. It follows that the first thing to do is to try not to be carried away by the impression. Once you pause and bide your time, you’ll find it easier to control yourself.
+
+## 21
+
+Make it a daily practice to picture to yourself death, exile, and everything else that seems terrifying—especially death. Then you’ll never have a contemptible thought or crave anything too much.
+
+## 22
+
+Anyone with philosophical aspirations must immediately accept the fact that he’s going to meet with a lot of ridicule and mockery. ‘Look who’s back!’ they’ll say. ‘And now he’s a philosopher all of a sudden!’ And ‘How did he get so hoity-toity?’ You mustn’t act superior, then, but hold fast to the things that seem best to you, knowing that where you are is where you’ve been assigned by God. And remember that if you keep this up, the people who formerly mocked you will come to admire you. But if you let them get the better of you, you’ll make yourself doubly ridiculous.
+
+## 23
+
+If you should ever find yourself turning outward because you want someone to think well of you, you can be sure that you’ve lost your bearings. Be satisfied, then, with always being a philosopher. And if you also want to be thought to be one, you don’t need anyone else but yourself to think so.
+
+## 24
+
+Don’t distress yourself with thoughts such as ‘I shall live a life without public honors, a complete nobody.’ Even supposing that lack of honor is a bad thing . . .
+
+Which it is.†2
+
+. . . no one other than yourself can be responsible for your being in a bad state, just as only you can be responsible for your being in a shameful state. Now, it’s not up to you to be appointed to public office or invited to a banquet, is it?
+
+Of course not.
+
+Therefore, if dishonor is bad, this can’t constitute being dishonored, can it? Moreover, you won’t, of course, be a nobody everywhere, seeing that the only place where you have to be is where things are up to you, and there it’s possible for you to be number one.
+
+But I won’t be in a position to help my friends.†3
+
+What do you mean by that? They won’t receive any cash handouts from you and you won’t get them Roman citizenship. But from where did you get the idea that these are among the things that are up to us, not someone else’s doing? And can anyone give anyone else something that he himself doesn’t have? ‘Get money, then,’ someone says, ‘so that we can have some too.’ If I can get it while retaining my self-respect, trustworthiness, and high-mindedness, show me the way and I’ll get some. But if you’re asking me to lose my good qualities so that you can get things that aren’t good, you can see how unfair and unfeeling you’re being. What would you rather have, money or a trustworthy and self-respecting friend? Better for you to take me as I am, without asking me to act in ways that will cause me to lose these qualities.
+
+But my country will be deprived of all the help I could have given it, he said.
+
+Again, in this regard too, what kind of help do you mean? You won’t have provided it with porticoes or bathhouses, but so what? I mean, the blacksmith doesn’t supply its footwear or the cobbler its weaponry. It’s enough if everyone does their own job. And if you were to equip it with another trustworthy and self-respecting citizen, wouldn’t you be doing it good?
+
+Yes.
+
+So you wouldn’t be of no use to it either.
+
+So what position shall I hold in it?
+
+Any position you can hold while at the same time preserving your trustworthiness and self-respect. But if in your desire to do it some good you lose those qualities and end up untrustworthy and with no sense of shame, what use would you be to it?
+
+## 25
+
+If someone has been preferred to you at a banquet or a reception line or in being called on for advice, you should be pleased at his success, if these accolades are good to have. And if they’re bad, don’t be angry that the success wasn’t yours. And remember that you can’t think you deserve an equal share unless you act the same way as others do in pursuit of things that aren’t up to us. If someone doesn’t regularly make his way to a patron’s door, or join his retinue, or sing his praises, how can he have the same share as someone who does all these things? It would be unfair and greedy of you not to pay the going price for these distinctions and to want to get them for nothing. How much does a head of lettuce cost? Let’s say an obol. So if someone pays the obol and gets a lettuce, while you don’t have a lettuce because you haven’t paid for it, you shouldn’t think that you have less than him. After all, although he has the lettuce, you have the unspent obol. It’s the same for the accolades we’re talking about. You weren’t invited to someone’s banquet? That’s because you didn’t give the host the price he demands for the meal. He sells it for flattery, for service. Pay the going price, if it’s in your interest to do so. But if you want to have the goods without paying for them, you’re being greedy and stupid. Do you have nothing, then, in place of the dinner? Well, what you’ve gained is that you didn’t flatter the man you didn’t want to flatter, and didn’t have to suffer the people at his doorway.
+
+## 26
+
+It’s possible to understand what nature wants from situations where we’re no different from other people. For example, when a slave breaks someone else’s cup, we’re instantly ready to say ‘These things happen.’ So when it’s a cup of yours that gets broken, appreciate that you should have the same attitude as when it’s someone else’s cup. Transfer the principle to things of greater importance. Has someone else’s child or wife died? There’s no one who wouldn’t say ‘So it goes.’ But when it’s one’s own child or wife who’s died, the automatic response is ‘Oh, no!’ and ‘Poor me!’ It’s essential to remember how we feel when we hear of this happening to others.
+
+## 27
+
+Just as a target isn’t set up in order to be missed, so also badness isn’t a natural feature of the world.
+
+## 28
+
+If someone gave your body into the keeping of a passerby, you’d be furious. But you give your mind into the keeping of any random person, so that, if he maligns you, it becomes troubled and confused. Doesn’t this make you feel ashamed?
+
+## 29
+
+In every project you undertake, consider what preliminaries are required and the consequences before proceeding to act. Otherwise, you’ll make an enthusiastic start, because you won’t have given any thought to what comes next, and then later you’ll shamefully†4 abandon the project when faced with some of the consequences. You’d like to be a victor at the Olympic Games? Good heavens, so would I! That would really be fine! But consider the project from start to finish before setting about it. You have to be disciplined, maintain a strict diet, give up sweet pastries, undergo a strict training regime, exercise regularly every day however hot or cold it may be, refrain from cold drinks, drink no wine except when prescribed. In short, you have to submit to a trainer as you would to a doctor. Then, during the contest, you have to wield a spade,†5 risk dislocating a wrist or spraining an ankle, swallow a lot of sand, possibly get flogged, and, as if all that wasn’t enough, possibly suffer defeat as well.
+
+Once you’ve taken all this into consideration, go and compete if you still want to. If you don’t, your behavior will be comparable to that of children, who at one moment pretend they’re wrestlers and at another gladiators, then they’re blowing trumpets, and then they’re actors in a play. That’s what you’re like as well: at one moment an athlete, at the next a gladiator, then an orator, then a philosopher—without committing yourself wholeheartedly to anything. Like an ape, you imitate every passing thing you see, and one thing after another attracts you. You don’t think through any of your projects or look at them in the round; you act without purpose and without really wanting anything.
+
+This is no different from how some people, after seeing a philosopher and hearing one of them speaking as persuasively as Euphrates (not that anyone can really speak like him), want to take up philosophy themselves. Man, first consider what kind of venture it is and then your own nature, to see if you’ve got what it takes. You’d like to be a pentathlete or a wrestler? Look at your arms, your thighs, your loins. Different people are naturally suited for different things. Do you think that, doing what you do now, you can be a philosopher? Do you think you can eat and drink as you do now, or get angry or irritated as you do now? As a philosopher, you have to go without sleep, work hard, and withdraw from friends and family; you’ll find yourself sneered at by slaves, mocked by everyone, and inferior in everything—in honor, in political power, in the courts, and in every worldly enterprise. Once you’ve taken all this into consideration, see if you want to exchange these external things for equanimity, freedom, and peace of mind. And if you don’t, steer clear of philosophy. Don’t act as children do and be a philosopher today, a tax collector tomorrow, then an orator, and then an imperial procurator. These things don’t fit well together. You must be one person, whether good or bad. You have to choose between cultivating your†6 command center or the outside world—between exercising your ingenuity on inner things or outer things, or in other words between taking up a stance as a philosopher or as a man of the world.
+
+## 30
+
+The actions it’s appropriate for us to take are generally given by our relationships. He’s a father: this means that we have to look after him, let him have his way in everything, and put up with his rebukes and beatings. ‘But he’s a bad father.’ Do you really think you have affinity only for a good father, and not just for a father? Is your brother doing you wrong? Then don’t let that affect your stance toward him. Don’t think about his behavior but about what you can do to keep your will in accord with nature. After all, no one can harm you unless you let him; you’ll have been harmed only when you believe yourself to be harmed. In this way, then, if you get into the habit of considering your relationships, you’ll learn from a fellow citizen, from a neighbor, from a commanding officer what actions it’s appropriate for you to take.
+
+## 31
+
+You should know that the most important aspect of piety toward the gods is having correct beliefs about them—that they exist, and that they govern the universe well and justly—and the second most important thing is to have set yourself to obey them, or in other words to submit and willingly accommodate yourself to everything that happens, knowing that it’s being brought about by a flawless intelligence. In this way, you’ll never either criticize the gods or accuse them of neglecting you. But it’s impossible for this to happen unless you detach goodness and badness from things that aren’t up to us and locate them only in things that are up to us. You can be sure that if you believe anything that isn’t up to you to be good or bad, it’s absolutely inevitable that, when you fail to get what you want and meet with what you don’t want, you’ll blame and curse those who are responsible. The point is that it’s natural for every creature to flee and turn away from things that it takes to be harmful and what is responsible for them, and to pursue and value beneficial things and what is responsible for them. So it’s as inconceivable for anyone who thinks he’s being harmed to welcome what he believes is harming him as it is impossible for him to welcome the harm itself. That’s why even a father is maligned by a son when he doesn’t let the boy have something that he judges to be good; and Eteocles and Poly nices were the product of the belief that sole rule is a good thing. It is also why farmers curse the gods, as do sailors, traders, and men who’ve lost their wives and children. Self-interest and piety are inextricably linked. So whoever takes care to have the proper desires and aversions is at the same time taking care to be pious. But there’s no one for whom the traditional practices of pouring libations, performing sacrifices, and offering first fruits are inappropriate, if he carries them out after purifying himself, not in a perfunctory or slipshod manner, and without either being stingy or spending beyond his means.
+
+## 32
+
+Whenever you consult a seer, remember that, although you don’t know what future will be predicted (that’s what you’ve gone to find out from the seer), you’re already in a position, if you’re a philosopher, to know what kind of future it will be. I mean, since it’s something that isn’t up to us, there can be absolutely no doubt that it’ll be neither good nor bad. So don’t bring your desires and aversions to the seer (otherwise you’ll approach him trembling with anxiety), but go to him in the knowledge that any outcome, whatever it may be, will be a matter of indifference and nothing to you. The point is that you’ll be able to make good use of it and no one can stop you doing so. Approach the gods with confidence, then, regarding them as counselors, and from now on, whenever you’ve been given a piece of advice, remember whom you’ve accepted as your counselors and whom you’ll be ignoring if you don’t take the advice.
+
+Have recourse to divination in a way that would meet Socrates’s approval—that is, for cases where the whole purpose of the inquiry is to learn what the future holds, and neither reason nor skill of any kind supplies one with the resources to find out about the matter in question. So, when you have to share the risk faced by a friend or your country, don’t expect divination to tell you whether you should share the risk. I mean, even if the seer warns you that the omens are unfavorable, clearly portending death, the mutilation of some part of your body, or exile—nevertheless, reason requires that, even in the face of such risks, you should stand by your friend and play your part at this time of danger for your country. Pay attention, then, to the greatest seer, Pythian Apollo, who threw out of his temple the man who failed to help when his friend was being killed.
+
+## 33
+
+Starting now, prescribe a certain character and form for yourself which you’ll maintain both when you’re by yourself and when you’re with other people.
+
+Keep silence for the most part, or speak only when necessary and briefly. On those rare occasions when the situation requires you to say something, speak,†7 but not about just anything—not about gladiatorial shows, horse races, athletes, food, or drink, the ubiquitous topics of conversation. Above all, don’t talk about other people: don’t criticize them, praise them, or compare them to others. If you can, redirect your conversation and that of the people you’re with onto an appropriate topic, but if you happen to find yourself alone among people who are of a different kind than you, remain silent.
+
+Laugh little—that is, at few things and discreetly. Avoid swearing oaths altogether, if that’s possible, or at least as much as you can. Steer clear of parties where the guests are outsiders and non-philosophers. But if you find yourself at one, take great care not to slip back into unphilosophical ways. After all, you can be certain that anyone who brushes against a companion who’s dirty is bound to get dirty, even if he happens to be clean.
+
+In things relating to the body, such as food, drink, clothing, housing, and household staff, limit yourself to what satisfies your basic needs, and cut out everything that’s pretentious or self-indulgent. As for sex, keep yourself as chaste as possible before marriage, and if you do engage in it, keep it within conventional bounds. But don’t abuse or criticize those who are sexually active, and don’t advertise your own abstinence all over the place.
+
+If you’re informed that someone or other is speaking ill of you, don’t defend yourself against the allegations, but respond by saying: ‘Well, he must be unaware of my other faults, otherwise these wouldn’t have been the only ones he mentioned.’
+
+[10] You shouldn’t feel obliged to go often to the public games, but if you find yourself there, make it clear that you favor no one except yourself. By this I mean that you should want only what happens to happen and want only the winner to win, because then you won’t be frustrated. But refrain altogether from shouting and laughing at anyone, or getting overexcited. And after you’ve left, don’t discuss what happened at any length, because that kind of thing makes people think that you found the show admirable. Confine yourself to bringing up those experiences that were relevant to your own moral improvement.
+
+[11] Don’t go casually, without having some purpose, to people’s public readings and lectures, but if you do go, preserve your dignity and self-possession, while making sure at the same time that you don’t give offense.
+
+[12] When you’re about to meet someone, especially someone thought to be important, ask yourself what Socrates or Zeno would have done in this situation, and then you won’t be at a loss as to how to make appropriate use of the occasion. [13] And when you go to call on someone high and mighty, tell yourself that you won’t find him at home, that you’ll be shut out, that the door will be slammed in your face, and that he won’t take any notice of you. If, despite all this, it’s appropriate for you to go, then go; put up with what happens and never tell yourself that it wasn’t worth so much aggravation. That’s what a non-philosopher would do, someone who misconceives the external world.
+
+[14] In company, avoid frequent and excessive mention of your own activities and ventures. It may be enjoyable for you to talk about your ventures, but it’s less enjoyable for others to hear what’s happened to you. [15] Also, don’t try to be funny. It’s a slippery slope that easily descends into vulgarity, and at the same time it’s a good way to lessen the respect you receive from those around you. [16] It’s also dangerous to lapse into lewdness. When anything like that occurs, if the opportunity arises, you should even scold the person who introduced it into the conversation. If you can’t do that, you should at least demonstrate by your silence, blushing, and frowning that you find what’s been said distasteful.
+
+## 34
+
+Whenever an impression of a pleasure occurs to you, make sure, just as with all other impressions, that you don’t get carried away by it. Let the thing wait; allow yourself a pause. Then think about both times—the time when you’ll be enjoying the pleasant feeling, and the time after that, the time of subsequent regret and self-criticism—and compare them to the gratification and self-satisfaction you’ll feel if you abstain. But if you do think that it’s the right time for that particular action, be careful not to be overwhelmed by its charm and allure. Set against its attractions how much better it is to be conscious of having won this victory.
+
+## 35
+
+When you’ve decided that something needs to be done and you do it, never try to conceal the fact that you’re doing it, even if it’s something that most people are going to have a negative opinion about. I mean, if what you’re doing is wrong, avoid doing it altogether, but if it’s right, why worry about misplaced criticism?
+
+## 36
+
+Just as the propositions ‘It is day’ and ‘It is night’ are valuable for asserting a disjunction but have negative value for a conjunction, so likewise taking a larger portion of food may have value for your body, but it has disvalue for preserving the friendly atmosphere of a dinner party as one should. So when you’re dining in company, remember to consider not only the value for your body of the dishes but also the value for your host of your being properly restrained.†8
+
+## 37
+
+If you take on a role that’s beyond your capabilities, you not only disgrace yourself in that one, but you’ve also passed up the role that you were capable of performing well.
+
+## 38
+
+When you go for a walk, you’re careful not to step on a nail or twist your ankle, and you should be just as careful to avoid harming your command center. If we’re on our guard in this respect, we’ll set about whatever we do in greater safety.
+
+## 39
+
+Everyone’s body is the measure of his property, just as a foot is the measure of a shoe. If you abide by this rule, you’ll preserve due measure, but if you transgress it, you’re bound to end up walking off a cliff, so to speak. It’s the same as with a shoe: if you go beyond the requirements of the foot, you get a gilded shoe, and then one dyed purple, and then an embroidered one. Once you go beyond the measure, there’s no end to it.
+
+## 40
+
+Women are addressed by men as ‘mistress’ as soon as they’re fourteen years old, and so, when they see that their only lot is to become men’s bedfellows, they begin to beautify themselves and pin all their hopes on their looks. So it’s worth making sure that they realize that the only thing that will earn them men’s esteem is their appearing modest and self-respecting.
+
+## 41
+
+It’s a sign of coarseness to spend a lot of time on bodily functions such as exercising, eating, drinking, defecating, and copulating. These are things to be done incidentally; all your attention should be on your intellect.
+
+## 42
+
+Whenever anyone does you wrong or speaks ill of you, remember that he acts and speaks as he does because he thinks it’s appropriate for him. He can only conform to his own views, not to yours. So if his views are wrong, he’s the one who’s harmed, because he’s also been deceived. If someone takes a true conjunctive statement to be false, it’s not the conjunctive statement that has been harmed but the person who’s mistaken. If your inclinations to act are based on these principles, you’ll be gentler with anyone who maligns you, because whenever that happens you’ll tell yourself: ‘That’s what he thought it best to do.’
+
+## 43
+
+Everything has two handles, one of which makes it bearable, the other unbearable. If your brother’s treating you badly, don’t take hold of the fact that he’s mistreating you, because that’s the handle that makes it unbearable, but take hold rather of the fact that he’s your brother, that you grew up together. Then you’ll be holding the situation by what makes it bearable.
+
+## 44
+
+These statements are invalid: ‘I’m richer than you, and that means I’m superior to you’; ‘I’m more eloquent than you, and that means I’m superior to you.’ On the other hand, the following inferences are valid: ‘I’m richer than you, and that means my property is superior to yours’; ‘I’m more eloquent than you, and that means my diction is superior to yours.’ But you yourself are neither your property nor your diction.
+
+## 45
+
+Someone is bathing hurriedly: don’t say that he’s bathing ‘badly,’ only ‘hurriedly.’ Someone is drinking a lot of wine: don’t say that he’s drinking ‘badly,’ only ‘a lot.’ Until you know how he judges things, how can you know if he’s acting badly? Then the upshot will be that you won’t be receiving cognitive impressions of some things while giving your assent to others.
+
+## 46
+
+Under no circumstances call yourself a philosopher, and when you’re among non-philosophers, talk little about philosophical theories. Just act in accordance with those theories. At a dinner party, for instance, don’t talk about the proper way of eating, but just eat properly. Remember that Socrates had so thoroughly eliminated display that people used to come to him because they wanted him to introduce them to philosophers, and he would effect the introduction in person. That’s how little it bothered him to be unrecognized himself. If, when you’re among non-philosophers, a philosophical theory crops up in the conversation, say very little, because there’s a good chance that before very long you’ll be spewing up undigested material. And when someone accuses you of ignorance, if it doesn’t bother you, then, believe me, you’ve made a start on the work. Sheep don’t produce grass to show their shepherds how much they’ve eaten, but they digest their food inwardly, and produce wool and milk outwardly. You too, then, shouldn’t flaunt your theoretical views to nonphilosophers, but show them only the actions that result from those theories once they’ve been digested.
+
+## 47
+
+When you’ve become accustomed to reducing your bodily needs, don’t flaunt it. If you’re a teetotaler, don’t seize every opportunity to let people know that you’re a teetotaler. If you want to train yourself to endure physical hardship, do so for yourself, not for others. Don’t hug statues! Instead, when you’re parched with thirst, take cold water into your mouth and spit it out again—without telling anyone.
+
+## 48
+
+The position and character of a non-philosopher: never expect benefit or harm to come from oneself, but only from the outside world. The position and character of a philosopher: only ever expect benefit and harm to come from oneself.
+
+48b
+
+The signs that a person is making progress: no criticism of others, no praise of others, no blaming others, no reproaching others, and no talking about himself as though he had any standing or knowledge. When he’s obstructed or impeded, he finds fault with himself. If someone praises him, he laughs inwardly at the person doing so. If he’s criticized, he doesn’t defend himself. He treats himself like an invalid, taking care not to move any of his healing limbs before they’ve set. He has rid himself of every desire and has transferred his aversion entirely onto things that are contrary to nature and up to us. He manages all his inclinations with a light touch. If people take him to be simpleminded or ignorant, he doesn’t care. In a word, he treats himself with circumspection, as though he were an enemy intriguing against himself.
+
+## 49
+
+When someone prides himself on his ability to understand and explain Chrysippus’s works, tell yourself: ‘If Chrysippus hadn’t written so unclearly, this person wouldn’t have anything to feel proud about.’ But let’s look at my case. What is it that I want? To understand nature and make it my guide. So I look for someone to explain things to me, and because I’ve heard that Chrysippus does that, I turn to him. But I don’t understand what he’s written, so I look for someone to interpret it. So far, nothing to be proud of. But when I’ve found an interpreter, there’s still the matter of putting the precepts into practice; that’s the only thing to be proud of. But if what I prize is just the interpreting itself, haven’t I ended up as a literary critic rather than a philosopher, with the only difference being that I explicate Chrysippus rather than Homer? So when someone asks me to expound some passage of Chrysippus, I blush at my inability to show him that my actions reflect and are consistent with the words I’m reading.
+
+## 50
+
+Stick with every goal you set yourself as you would abide by laws—that is, regarding it as wicked to transgress any of them. Don’t worry about what people will say about you, because that’s no longer your business.
+
+## 51
+
+For how long will you go on deferring the time when you demand the best of yourself and put an end to transgressing right reason? You’ve accepted the theories. You’ve subscribed to the views to which you ought to subscribe. What kind of teacher are you still expecting, that you postpone the correction of yourself until he’s there to do it for you? You’re not a child anymore but a grown man. If you’re remiss and lazy now—if you constantly find one reason after another for delay and make each successive day the day when you’ll start working on yourself—you’ll imperceptibly fail to make progress, and in the end you’ll have lived and died without committing yourself to philosophy. Now is the time, then, for you to choose to live as an adult and as one who is making progress as a philosopher. Now is the time for you to regard everything you know to be best as a law that you’re bound to obey. And, in the event that you’re faced with something painful or pleasant, or something that will enhance or damage your reputation, remember that the contest is on—that here, now, are the Olympic Games, that procrastination is no longer an option, and that just one defeat and surrender determines whether your progress is ruined or remains intact. That’s how Socrates got to be the person he was, by urging himself under all circumstances to pay attention to nothing other than reason. You may not yet be Socrates, but you ought to live as someone who wants to be Socrates.
+
+## 52
+
+The first and most necessary aspect of philosophy is the one that has to do with the application of theories such as ‘Don’t tell lies.’ The second has to do with proofs, such as why one shouldn’t lie. The third confirms and analyzes the proofs by asking what makes this particular argument a proof: what is it to be a proof, what is entailment, incompatibility, truth, falsehood? So the third aspect is necessary because of the second, and the second because of the first, and the one that’s most necessary, and is therefore the one over which we should be spending time, is the first. But we get it all back to front. We linger over the third aspect and put all our efforts into that, while utterly neglecting the first. And the upshot is that we tell lies, while being thoroughly conversant with how to prove that we shouldn’t lie.
+
+## 53
+
+We must always have at hand the following sentiments:
+
+‘Lead me, Zeus, both you and Destiny,
+
+Wheresoe’r you have ordained for me,
+
+And I shall gladly follow. And if I am unwilling
+
+Out of wickedness, still I shall follow.’
+
+‘Whoever complies nobly with necessity
+
+We count as wise and expert in the ways of the gods.’
+
+‘Well, Crito, if this is pleasing to the gods, so be it.’ ‘Anytus and Meletus may be able to kill me, but they cannot harm me.’

source/content/enchiridion/config.json

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+    "description": "Some things we can control, some we can’t. We can control our attitudes, opinions, goals and desires – choices of our own. We can’t control health, wealth, fame or power – things we can’t have by choosing them.",
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+        "1997-stephen-walton.md",
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+        "Date",
+        "Source"
+    ]
+}