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
[p. 2238]
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."
The Works of Epictetus: His Discourses, in Four Books, the Enchiridion, and Fragments. Epictetus. Thomas Wentworth Higginson. translator. New York. Thomas Nelson and Sons. 1890.
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