Epictetus · c. 50 – c. 135 CE
Discourses 1.29 ¶13 — Epictetus
From “On Constancy (Or Firmness)”
Translation by George Long (1877)
Epictetus, Discourses 1.29 ¶13
What then, ought we to publish these things to all men? No, but we ought to accommodate ourselves to the ignorant (τοῖς ἰδιώταις) and to say: “This man recommends to me that which he thinks good for himself: I excuse him.” For Socrates also excused the jailor, who had the charge of him in prison and was weeping when Socrates was going to drink the poison, and said, “How generously he laments over us.” Does he then say to the jailor that for this reason we have sent away the women? No, but he says it to his friends who were able to hear (understand) it; and he treats the jailor as a child.
Cite this passage
Epictetus, Discourses 1.29 ¶13, tr. George Long (1877)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/discourses/1.29.13
Epictetus, Discourses (as recorded by Arrian), tr. George Long (1877). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesYou do not have to share your philosophy with everyone. Be patient with people who see things differently and excuse their well-meant reactions, as Socrates did with the jailer who wept over his coming death, saving the deeper conversation for those who can understand it.
Older wording
- “τοῖς ἰδιώταις”
- — the untrained or uninstructed
Themes and situations
- Kindness and forgiveness
- Speech and silence
- Community and our duty to others
- Death and mortality
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