Epictetus · c. 50 – c. 135 CE
Discourses 3.2 ¶4 — Epictetus
From “In What a Man Ought to Be Exercised Who Has Made Proficiency; and That We Neglect the Chief Things”
Translation by George Long (1877)
Epictetus, Discourses 3.2 ¶4
Wretch, will you not dismiss these things that do not concern you at all? These things are suitable to those who are able to learn them without perturbation, to those who can say: “I am not subject to anger, to grief, to envy: I am not hindered, I am not restrained. What remains for me? I have leisure, I am tranquil: let us see how we must deal with sophistical arguments; let us see how when a man has accepted a hypothesis he shall not be led away to anything absurd.” To them such things belong. To those who are happy it is appropriate to light a fire, to dine; if they choose, both to sing and to dance. But when the vessel is sinking, you come to me and hoist the sails.
Cite this passage
Epictetus, Discourses 3.2 ¶4, tr. George Long (1877)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/discourses/3.2.4
Epictetus, Discourses (as recorded by Arrian), tr. George Long (1877). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesClever intellectual games suit people who are already free of anger, grief and envy and have leisure; if your life is in turmoil, do not busy yourself with them. It is like singing and dancing while the ship is sinking: deal with the emergency first.
Older wording
- “perturbation”
- — emotional disturbance
- “hypothesis”
- — an assumed starting point for an argument
Themes and situations
- Learning and progress
- Peace of mind
- Emotions and the passions
- Time and the present
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