Epictetus · c. 50 – c. 135 CE
Discourses 4.1 ¶1 — Epictetus
From “About Freedom”
Translation by George Long (1877)
Epictetus, Discourses 4.1 ¶1
He is free who lives as he wishes to live; who is neither subject to compulsion nor to hindrance, nor to force; whose movements to action (ὁρμαί) are not impeded, whose desires attain their purpose, and who does not fall into that which he would avoid (ἐκκλίσεις ἀπερίπτωτοι). Who then chooses to live in error? No man. Who chooses to live deceived, liable to mistake, unjust, unrestrained, discontented, mean? No man. Not one then of the bad lives as he wishes; nor is he then free. And who chooses to live in sorrow, fear, envy, pity, desiring and failing in his desires, attempting to avoid something and falling into it? Not one. Do we then find any of the bad free from sorrow, free from fear, who does not fall into that which he would avoid, and does not obtain that which he wishes? Not one; nor then do we find any bad man free.
Cite this passage
Epictetus, Discourses 4.1 ¶1, tr. George Long (1877)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/discourses/4.1.1
Epictetus, Discourses (as recorded by Arrian), tr. George Long (1877). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesA free person lives as they wish, unforced and unhindered, with desires that reach their goals and nothing they fear falling on them. Nobody chooses error, sorrow, fear or envy, so no bad person lives as they wish, which means no bad person is truly free.
Older wording
- “movements to action”
- — your impulses to act
Themes and situations
- Freedom
- Desire and craving
- Emotions and the passions
- Virtue and character
- What is in our control
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