Epictetus · c. 50 – c. 135 CE
Discourses 1.2 ¶1 — Epictetus
From “How a Man on Every Occasion Can Maintain His Proper Character”
Translation by George Long (1877)
Epictetus, Discourses 1.2 ¶1
To the rational animal only is the irrational intolerable; but that which is rational is tolerable. Blows are not naturally intolerable. How is that? See how the Lacedaemonians endure whipping when they have learned that whipping is consistent with reason. To hang yourself is not intolerable. When then you have the opinion that it is rational, you go and hang yourself. In short, if we observe, we shall find that the animal man is pained by nothing so much as by that which is irrational; and, on the contrary, attracted to nothing so much as to that which is rational.
Cite this passage
Epictetus, Discourses 1.2 ¶1, tr. George Long (1877)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/discourses/1.2.1
Epictetus, Discourses (as recorded by Arrian), tr. George Long (1877). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesWhether something feels unbearable depends on whether our reasoning approves of putting up with it. Spartans endure whipping once they judge it fitting, so blows are not intolerable by nature, and a person who has judged a desperate act to be reasonable will go through with it. What pains a human most is what seems irrational, and what attracts us most is what seems rational.
Older wording
- “Lacedaemonians”
- — Spartans
Themes and situations
- Judgements and impressions
- Emotions and the passions
- Resilience and endurance
- Virtue and character