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

days, submission to Zeus (who was God, to them) allowed a man to have a belief that they were in harmony with the universe. That they were acting as they were supposed to be one with the world. Everyone in life had a certain part to play and going against that thought process would only bring a person misery and a terrible life. It is when you refuse to accept that something in your life has happened that the most pain also happens, in its worst form. The events themselves are not what is exactly the painful thing; It’s the helpless feeling of not understand the ‘why’ behind what we are experiencing. If you break your leg, it will stop you from walking, yes, but is the leg itself the reason why you feel unhappy? Epictetus felt that no situation ever required one specific reaction. If we simply accept that God’s workings are rational, then we can feel safe in the fact that all things happen for a reason – even if we can’t see it at the time.
We have control over some things and some things we don’t, according to Epictetus. We can’t control the hand that life is going to play. What we do control is what we do with that hand once the cards are on the table. Not being able to recognize the difference between these things is sure to lead us to all kinds of stress and anxiety. If you spend all your time trying to avoid death, and sickness, and poverty, you’re going to be unhappy because you don’t control a single one of those things – esp. death. You can only be happy by exercising your attention to things you can control – and that is the type of person you are. Your thoughts, actions, and how you handle your life as it comes at you. A peaceful life comes disciplining our thoughts and mind to have cut out the aversions. The Enchiridion states that if you keep dreadful things in the forefront of your mind; you’d change your attitude about a lot of things. People love to say “These things happen!” That phrase is usually used when someone needs to put a situation into perspective. To generalize it for someone else when they don’t understand the ‘why.’ When it happens to ourselves though, it’s all: “How could this have happened to me?” It’s a double standard – one for you and one for your fellow man. A wise person should be able to take that remark and apply it to themselves – that no matter how bad it is, that event was supposed to happen just as the universe planned it to be.
Stoic philosophy can seem a little unobtainable – to just accept everything the way it is and never question it.

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

Enchiridion.