Essay On The Enchiridion Of Epictetus

The Enchiridion of Epictetus

Epictetus started his life as a Roman slave who was owned by a man named Epaphroditus. He became a free man after his master was killed. During the years of his slavery he was allowed to go to philosophy lectures and as such, became a philosopher himself. Epictetus followed what is called Stoic tradition. A man going from a slave to a philosopher in the course of his lifetime is no small feat. His time as a slave surely gave Epictetus a different and unknown picture into the human condition.

The Enchiridion of Epictetus was not actually written by Epictetus himself. He never actually wrote any books of his own. He had a student under him named Arrian (who would go on to become the biographer of Alexander the great) who took all of Epictetus’s thoughts, wrote them down, and created Discourses. This was originally 8 volumes but only 4 survived over time. These 4 volumes were put together in an abridged version that would become Enchiridion. Enchiridion is just the Greek word meaning handbook.

Epictetus’s philosophy followed Stoicism, which is a train of thinking that became a major body of thought in ancient Rome. It basically follows thoughts of universal law, fearlessness of death, an independent mind, and restraint in emotions and life. Epictetus covers all of these things in the handbook.

Epictetus’s largest philosophy was acceptance. Back in those

Everyone is in love with the idea of changing the world, themselves, their stars. I don’t think Epictetus should be seen as a pessimist – in the sense that you can’t fight city hall. He was simply trying to obtain happiness from a different angle – that acceptance. He wants people to stop trying to fight the world – to stop judging it. It’s a very spiritual view of philosophy; living a life according to the will of God and it is very well expressed though the