Epictetus · c. 50 – c. 135 CE
Enchiridion 26 — Epictetus
Translation by George Long (1877)
Epictetus, Enchiridion 26
We may learn the wish (will) of nature from the things in which we do not differ from one another: for instance, when your neighbour’s slave has broken his cup, or anything else, we are ready to say forthwith, that it is one of the things which happen. You must know then that when your cup also is broken, you ought to think as you did when your neighbour’s cup was broken. Transfer this reflection to greater things also. Is another man’s child or wife dead? There is no one who would not say, this is an event incident to man. But when a man’s own child or wife is dead, forthwith he calls out, Woe to me, how wretched I am. But we ought to remember how we feel when we hear that it has happened to others.
Cite this passage
Epictetus, Enchiridion 26, tr. George Long (1877)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/enchiridion/26
Epictetus, Enchiridion and Fragments, tr. George Long (1877). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesNotice how calmly you accept it when a cup breaks or someone dies in another household, because you see it as a normal part of life. Treat your own misfortunes the same way, and remember how you responded when the same thing happened to others.
Older wording
- “incident to man”
- — a normal part of human life
Themes and situations
- Grief and mourning
- Acceptance and fate
- Judgements and impressions
- Change and impermanence
- Bereavement
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