Epictetus · c. 50 – c. 135 CE
Enchiridion 7 — Epictetus
Translation by George Long (1877)
Epictetus, Enchiridion 7
As on a voyage when the vessel has reached a port, if you go out to get water, it is an amusement by the way to pick up a shellfish or some bulb, but your thoughts ought to be directed to the ship, and you ought to be constantly watching if the captain should call, and then you must throw away all those things, that you may not be bound and pitched into the ship like sheep: so in life also, if there be given to you instead of a little bulb and a shell a wife and child, there will be nothing to prevent (you from taking them). But if the captain should call, run to the ship, and leave all those things without regard to them. But if you are old, do not even go far from the ship, lest when you are called you make default.
Cite this passage
Epictetus, Enchiridion 7, tr. George Long (1877)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/enchiridion/7
Epictetus, Enchiridion and Fragments, tr. George Long (1877). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesEnjoy the good things life offers, even a spouse and children, the way a passenger enjoys picking up shells on shore, but keep your mind on the ship. When the captain calls, you must be ready to leave all of it behind, and older people especially should not wander far from the ship.
Older wording
- “make default”
- — fail to answer when called, be absent
- “bulb”
- — an edible root
Themes and situations
- Acceptance and fate
- Death and mortality
- Change and impermanence
- Family and love
- Preparing for difficulty
- Fear of death
- Getting older
- Bereavement
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