Epictetus · c. 50 – c. 135 CE
Discourses 1.18 ¶3 — Epictetus
From “That We Ought Not to Be Angry with the Errors (Faults) of Others”
Translation by George Long (1877)
Epictetus, Discourses 1.18 ¶3
But the tyrant will chain—what? the leg. He will take away—what? the neck. What then will he not chain and not take away? the will. This is why the ancients taught the maxim, “Know thyself.” Therefore we ought to exercise ourselves in small things, and beginning with them to proceed to the greater. I have pain in the head. Do not say, alas! I have pain in the ear. Do not say, alas! And I do not say that you are not allowed to groan, but do not groan inwardly; and if your slave is slow in bringing a bandage, do not cry out and torment yourself, and say, “Everybody hates me”: for who would not hate such a man? For the future, relying on these opinions, walk about upright, free; not trusting to the size of your body, as an athlete, for a man ought not to be invincible in the way that an ass is.
Cite this passage
Epictetus, Discourses 1.18 ¶3, tr. George Long (1877)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/discourses/1.18.3
Epictetus, Discourses (as recorded by Arrian), tr. George Long (1877). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesA tyrant can chain your leg but not your power to choose, so train that inner freedom on small things first, such as a headache or a slow helper. You may groan out loud if you must, but do not groan inwardly, and do not spiral into self-pity and the belief that everyone hates you.
Older wording
- “tyrant”
- — an absolute ruler who governs by force
Themes and situations
- What is in our control
- Resilience and endurance
- Pleasure and pain
- Illness and the body
- Self-discipline and habit
- Illness or diagnosis
- Everyday irritations
Quote cards
The opening line of this passage as an image, with its citation — for sharing or keeping.