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Discourses

Epictetus

Stop wearing yourself out over what is not yours. The lessons of a slave who became a teacher of freedom, as his student wrote them down: blunt, uncomfortable and useful.

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About the book

A work to return to, not to consume.

Epictetus never wrote anything. What we have are the notes of his student Arrian, who copied his classes almost word for word. That is why the Discourses sound like a living classroom: direct questions, irony, street examples and the occasional scolding. Everything turns on one practical distinction: what is yours and what is not. Your judgments, your choices and how you respond are up to you; your body, your reputation, your possessions and what others do are not. From there Epictetus examines anger, stubbornness, fear of the powerful, longing for what is not in your hands and the difference between showing off what you have learned and training it. This selection includes a biographical note, a dozen discourses and, at the end, the Encheiridion, the manual that sums up his teaching.

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Answers from this edition and says when it interprets beyond a quote.

What is mine, and what is not mine; and what is permitted to me, and what is not permitted to me.

Epictetus · — Chapter 2

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Inside the book

Chapters

01
Biographical Note5 min read
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02
A Selection from the Discourses of Epictetus4 min read
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03
How a Man Should Proceed from the Principle of God Being the Father of Us12 min read
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04
How from the Fact That We Are Akin to God a Man May Proceed to the Consequences24 min read
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05
In How Many Ways Appearances Exist, and What Aids We Should Provide4 min read
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06
That We Ought Not to Be Angry with Men; and What Are the Small and the Great Things in Men32 min read
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07
That When We Cannot Fulfil That Which the Character of a Man Promises, We Assume That of a Philosopher21 min read
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08
To or Against Those Who Obstinately Persist in What They Have Determined28 min read
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09
To (or Against) a Person Who Was One of Those Who Were Not Valued in the Senate5 min read
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10
In What a Man Ought to Be Exercised Who Has Made Proficiency; and That We Neglect the Chief Things4 min read
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11
What Is the Matter on Which a Good Man Should Be Employed, and in What We Ought Chiefly to Practise26 min read
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12
That We Ought with Caution to Enter into Familiar Intercourse with Men11 min read
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13
That We Ought Not to Be Moved by a Desire of Those Things Which Are Not in Our Power67 min read
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14
The Encheiridion, or Manual37 min read
Included

The author

Epictetus

Epictetus (c. 50–135) was born a slave in Hierapolis, in Phrygia, and lived in Rome in the household of one of Nero's freedmen. He studied Stoic philosophy with Musonius Rufus and, once free, taught in Rome until the emperor Domitian banished the philosophers. He then founded a school in Nicopolis, in Greece. He left no writings: his student Arrian recorded his lessons in the Discourses and the Encheiridion.

Questions

How is it different from the Enchiridion?

The Enchiridion is the summary in maxims. The Discourses are the full classes, with questions, examples and argument. This selection includes both.

Am I really talking with Epictetus?

No. The conversation is an AI recreation* inspired by the text: it is not Epictetus and it can be wrong. Use it to think the book through, not as the author's own word.

How much does it cost?

The book costs US$4.99, or it comes included in ChaTutor Plus. You can read the opening of chapter 2 without signing up. A free account unlocks the whole chapter, the tutor and a full book free every week.

Is the book complete?

Yes: the complete text, chapter by chapter, in English and Spanish.

* AI recreation. Not the author; it may contain errors.