Original language: Greek.
Epictetus was born in Phrygia, at that time in the Roman Empire, and in the present day in western Turkey.
I read the Penguin Classics edition of Discourses and Selected Writings (2008), translated and edited by Robert Dobbin.
I really enjoyed the book. This is Epictetus speaking to his students, not a dry academic treatise.
Epictetus writes that Zeus says,
“This body does not belong to you, it is only cunningly constructed clay. And since I could not make the body yours, I have given you a portion of myself instead, the power of positive and negative impulse, of desire and aversion – the power, in other words, of making good use of impressions.” [By impressions he means our private thoughts.]
-‘Tell us your secrets.’
-‘I refuse, as this is up to me.’
-‘I will put you in chains.’
-‘What’s that you say, my friend? It’s only my leg you will chain, not even God can conquer my will.’
I found myself often in agreement with Epictetus. I’ve found his philosophy, Stoicism, useful, and to this day I use it in my own life.
Last thoughts on Epictetus
I agree with some of his philosophy, but not every part of it. He expresses what writers including Viktor Frankl (Man’s Search for Meaning, 1946) and Stephen Covey (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, 1989) later expressed in different ways – all we really have control over is our own thoughts, but we have total control over them. So for example, if you let another person get you upset, you have handed over your mind to that person.
The parts I don’t agree with are (1) The dominance of God in his philosophy, and (2) the austerity, the distrust of pleasure, the condemnation of sex.
His lectures were enjoyable and the translation by Robert Dobbin is excellent.
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