Epictetus · c. 50 – c. 135 CE
Discourses 1.16 ¶1 — Epictetus
From “Of Providence”
Translation by George Long (1877)
Epictetus, Discourses 1.16 ¶1
Do not wonder if for other animals than man all things are provided for the body, not only food and drink, but beds also, and they have no need of shoes nor bed materials, nor clothing; but we require all these additional things. For animals not being made for themselves, but for service, it was not fit for them to be made so as to need other things. For consider what it would be for us to take care not only of ourselves, but also about cattle and asses, how they should be clothed, and how shod, and how they should eat and drink. Now as soldiers are ready for their commander, shod, clothed, and armed: but it would be a hard thing for the chiliarch (tribune) to go round and shoe or clothe his thousand men: so also nature has formed the animals which are made for service, all ready, prepared, and requiring no further care. So one little boy with only a stick drives the cattle.
Cite this passage
Epictetus, Discourses 1.16 ¶1, tr. George Long (1877)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/discourses/1.16.1
Epictetus, Discourses (as recorded by Arrian), tr. George Long (1877). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesAnimals are born ready-equipped, with no need for shoes, beds or clothes, because they exist to serve us, whereas humans have to provide for themselves. It is an argument from design, meant to leave us thankful for our situation rather than resentful that we must work for what we need.
Older wording
- “chiliarch”
- — a commander of a thousand soldiers, a tribune
Themes and situations
- Nature and the cosmos
- Gratitude
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