Epictetus · c. 50 – c. 135 CE
Discourses 2.7 ¶2 — Epictetus
From “How We Ought to Use Divination”
Translation by George Long (1877)
Epictetus, Discourses 2.7 ¶2
What then leads us to frequent use of divination? Cowardice, the dread of what will happen. This is the reason why we flatter the diviners. Pray, master, shall I succeed to the property of my father? “Let us see: let us sacrifice on the occasion.” Yes, master, as fortune chooses. When he has said, “You shall succeed to the inheritance,” we thank him as if we received the inheritance from him. The consequence is that they play upon us.
Cite this passage
Epictetus, Discourses 2.7 ¶2, tr. George Long (1877)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/discourses/2.7.2
Epictetus, Discourses (as recorded by Arrian), tr. George Long (1877). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesFear of what is coming drives people to fortune-tellers, and they thank these people as though the prediction itself delivered the inheritance. Craving certainty about outcomes is a form of cowardice that others exploit.
Older wording
- “diviners”
- — people who claim to predict the future from sacrifices and omens
Themes and situations
- Fear and anxiety
- Desire and craving
- Wealth and poverty
- What is in our control
- Anxiety about the future
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