1
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
afterwards, when certain base (ugly) things have shewn
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 every thing 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 every thing that you see, and one
thing after another pleases you. For you have not undertaken any thing 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 every thing have the
inferior part, in honour, in office, in the courts of justice,
in every little matter. Consider these things, if you
would exchange for them, freedom from passions, liberty,
tranquillity. 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, for 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.
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1 ' Compare iii. 15, from which all this passage has been transferred to the Encheiridion by the copyists.' Upton. On which Schweighaeuser remarks, 'Why should we not say by Arrian, who composed the Encheiridion from the Discourses of Epictetus?' See the notes of Upton and Schweig. on some differences in the readings of the passage in iii. 15, and in this passage.
The Discourses of Epictetus, with the Encheridion and Fragments. Epictetus. George Long. translator. London. George Bell and Sons. 1890.
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