Epictetus · c. 50 – c. 135 CE
Fragments 8 — Epictetus
Translation by George Long (1877)
Epictetus, Fragments 8
Freedom and slavery, the one is the name of virtue, and the other of vice: and both are acts of the will. But where there is no will, neither of them touches (affects) these things. But the soul is accustomed to be master of the body, and the things which belong to the body have no share in the will. For no man is a slave who is free in his will.
Cite this passage
Epictetus, Fragments 8, tr. George Long (1877)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/epictetus-fragments/8
Epictetus, Enchiridion and Fragments, tr. George Long (1877). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesTrue freedom and slavery are matters of character and choice and not of social position. If your will is free and your mind rules your body, nobody can enslave you, because the circumstances of the body do not touch your will.
Older wording
- “vice”
- — bad character, moral fault
Themes and situations
- Freedom
- What is in our control
- Virtue and character
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