Epictetus · c. 50 – c. 135 CE
Fragments 95 — Epictetus
Translation by George Long (1877)
Epictetus, Fragments 95
When a man dies young, he blames the gods. When he is old and does not die, he blames the gods because he suffers when he ought to have already ceased from suffering. And nevertheless, when death approaches, he wishes to live, and sends to the physician and intreats him to omit no care or trouble. Wonderful, he said, are men, who are neither willing to live nor to die.
Cite this passage
Epictetus, Fragments 95, tr. George Long (1877)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/epictetus-fragments/95
Epictetus, Enchiridion and Fragments, tr. George Long (1877). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesPeople blame the gods when someone dies young, and blame them again when someone lives on into suffering old age, yet beg the doctor to spare no effort when death arrives. We are oddly unwilling either to live or to die, which exposes how inconsistent our complaints about timing are.
Older wording
- “intreats”
- — begs, pleads with
- “physician”
- — doctor
Themes and situations
- Death and mortality
- Ageing
- Acceptance and fate
- Fear and anxiety
- Fear of death
- Getting older
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