work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
3414,"","Reading Charles Taylor's Sources of Self . Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1989. p. 137. ",2004-01-14 00:00:00 UTC,"What then should a man have in readiness in such circumstances? What else than ""What is mine, and what is not mine; and permitted to me, and what is not permitted to me."" I must die. Must I then die lamenting? I must be put in chains. Must I then also lament? I must go into exile. Does any man then hinder me from going with smiles and cheerfulness and contentment? ""Tell me the secret which you possess."" I will not, for this is in my power. ""But I will put you in chains."" Man, what are you talking about? Me in chains? You may fetter my leg, but my will not even Zeus himself can overpower. ""I will throw you into prison."" My poor body, you mean. ""I will cut your head off."" When, then, have I told you that my head alone cannot be cut off? These are the things which philosophers should meditate on, which they should write daily, in which they should exercise themselves.
(I.i)",2011-05-26,8705,"","""You may fetter my leg, but my will not even Zeus himself can overpower.""",Fetters,2011-05-26 21:13:48 UTC,""
3414,"",Reading,2004-01-14 00:00:00 UTC,"What then does Chrysippus teach us? The reply is, to know that these things are not false, from which happiness comes and tranquillity arises. Take my books, and you will learn how true and conformable to nature are the things which make me free from perturbations. O great good fortune! O the great benefactor who points out the way! To Triptolemus all men have erected temples and altars, because he gave us food by cultivation; but to him who discovered truth and brought it to light and communicated it to all, not the truth which shows us how to live, but how to live well, who of you for this reason has built an altar, or a temple, or has dedicated a statue, or who worships God for this? Because the gods have given the vine, or wheat, we sacrifice to them: but because they have produced in the human mind that fruit by which they designed to show us the truth which relates to happiness, shall we not thank God for this?
(I.4)",2011-06-06,8706,Updated from MIT e-text to Perseus. Corrected second O (appeared as 0 in original text at Perseus).,"""Because the gods have given the vine, or wheat, we sacrifice to them: but because they have produced in the human mind that fruit by which they designed to show us the truth which relates to happiness, shall we not thank God for this?""","",2011-06-06 19:40:23 UTC,"Book I, Chapter iv"
3414,"",Reading,2004-01-14 00:00:00 UTC,"I indeed think that the old man ought to be sitting here, not to contrive how you may have no mean thoughts nor mean and ignoble talk about yourselves, but to take care that there be not among us any young men of such a mind that, when they have recognized their kinship to God, and that we are fettered by these bonds, the body, I mean, and its possessions, and whatever else on account of them is necessary to us for the economy and commerce of life, they should intend to throw off these things as if they were burdens painful and intolerable, and to depart to their kinsmen. But this is the labour that your teacher and instructor ought to be employed upon, if he really were what he should be. You should come to him and say, ""Epictetus, we can no longer endure being bound to this poor body, and feeding it and giving it drink, and rest, and cleaning it, and for the sake of the body complying with the wishes of these and of those. Are not these things indifferent and nothing to us, and is not death no evil? And are we not in a manner kinsmen of God, and did we not come from Him? Allow us to depart to the place from which we came; allow us to be released at last from these bonds by which we are bound and weighed down. Here there are robbers and thieves and courts of justice, and those who are named tyrants, and think that they have some power over us by means of the body and its possessions. Permit us to show them that they have no power over any man."" And I on my part would say, ""Friends, wait for God; when He shall give the signal and release you from this service, then go to Him; but for the present endure to dwell in this place where He has put you: short indeed is this time of your dwelling here, and easy to bear for those who are so disposed: for what tyrant or what thief, or what courts of justice, are formidable to those who have thus considered as things of no value the body and the possessions of the body? Wait then, do not depart without a reason.""
(I.ix)",2011-05-23,8707,"","""I indeed think that the old man ought to be sitting here, not to contrive how you may have no mean thoughts nor mean and ignoble talk about yourselves, but to take care that there be not among us any young men of such a mind that, when they have recognized their kinship to God, and that we are fettered by these bonds, the body, I mean, and its possessions, and whatever else on account of them is necessary to us for the economy and commerce of life, they should intend to throw off these things as if they were burdens painful and intolerable, and to depart to their kinsmen.""",Fetters,2011-06-06 19:40:03 UTC,""
3414,"",Reading,2004-01-14 00:00:00 UTC,"When the man, who was consulting him, said, ""I seek to know this -- how, even if my brother is not reconciled to me, shall I maintain myself in a state conformable to nature?"" Nothing great, said Epictetus, is produced suddenly, since not even the grape or the fig is. If you say to me now that you want a fig, I will answer to you that it requires time: let it flower first, then put forth fruit, and then ripen. Is, then, the fruit of a fig-tree not perfected suddenly and in one hour, and would you possess the fruit of a man's mind in so short a time and so easily? Do not expect it, even if I tell you.
(I.xv)",2009-12-12,8708,"","""Is, then, the fruit of a fig-tree not perfected suddenly and in one hour, and would you possess the fruit of a man's mind in so short a time and so easily?""","",2011-06-06 19:21:29 UTC,"Book I, Chapter xv"
3414,"",Reading,2004-01-14 00:00:00 UTC,"It is not easy to exhort weak young men; for neither is it easy to hold cheese with a hook. But those who have a good natural disposition, even if you try to turn them aside, cling still more to reason. Wherefore Rufus generally attempted to discourage, and he used this method as a test of those who had a good natural disposition and those who had not. ""For,"" it was his habit to say, ""as a stone, if you cast it upward, will be brought down to the earth by its own nature, so the man whose mind is naturally good, the more you repel him, the more he turns toward that to which he is naturally inclined.""
(III.vi)",,8709,•I've included this entry twice: 'Minerals' and 'Physics',"""'For,' it was his habit to say, 'as a stone, if you cast it upward, will be brought down to the earth by its own nature, so the man whose mind is naturally good, the more you repel him, the more he turns toward that to which he is naturally inclined.'""","",2011-06-06 19:22:07 UTC,"Book III, Chapter vi"
3414,"",Reading,2004-01-14 00:00:00 UTC,"If a man has frequent intercourse with others, either for talk, or drinking together, or generally for social purposes, he must either become like them, or change them to his own fashion. For if a man places a piece of quenched charcoal close to a piece that is burning, either the quenched charcoal will quench the other, or the burning charcoal will light that which is quenched. Since, then, the danger is so great, we must cautiously enter into such intimacies with those of the common sort, and remember that it is impossible that a man can keep company with one who is covered with soot without being partaker of the soot himself. For what will you do if a man speaks about gladiators, about horses, about athletes, or, what is worse, about men? ""Such a person is bad,"" ""Such a person is good"": ""This was well done,"" ""This was done badly."" Further, if he scoff, or ridicule, or show an ill-natured disposition? Is any man among us prepared like a lute-player when he takes a lute, so that as soon as he has touched the strings, he discovers which are discordant, and tunes the instrument? such a power as Socrates had who in all his social intercourse could lead his companions to his own purpose? How should you have this power? It is therefore a necessary consequence that you are carried about by the common kind of people.
(III.xvi)",2010-07-01,8711,"","One should be cautious in his intimacies because, ""[f]or if a man places a piece of quenched charcoal close to a piece that is burning, either the quenched charcoal will quench the other, or the burning charcoal will light that which is quenched.""","",2011-06-06 19:23:03 UTC,"Book III, Chapter xvi: That we ought with caution to enter, into familiar intercourse with men "
3414,"",Reading,2004-01-14 00:00:00 UTC,"Why then are they more powerful than you? Because they utter these useless words from their real opinions: but you utter your elegant words only from your lips; for this reason they are without strength and dead, and it is nauseous1 to listen to your exhortations and your miserable virtue, which is talked of every where (up and down). In this way the vulgar have the advantage over you: for every opinion (δόγμα) is strong and invincible. Until then the good (κομψαί) sentiments (ὑπολήψεις) are fixed in you, and you shall have acquired a certain power for your security, I advise you to be careful in your association with common persons: if you are not, every day like wax in the sun there will be melted away whatever you inscribe on your minds in the school. Withdraw then yourselves far from the sun so long as you have these waxen sentiments. For this reason also philosophers advise men to leave their native country, because antient habits distract them and do not allow a beginning to be made of a different habit; nor can we tolerate those who meet us and say: See such a one is now a philosopher, who was once so and so. Thus also physicians send those who have lingering diseases to a different country and a different air; and they do right. Do you also introduce other habits than those which you have: fix your opinions and exercise yourselves in them. But you do not so: you go hence to a spectacle, to a show of gladiators, to a place of exercise (ξυστόν), to a circus; then you come back hither, and again from this place you go to those places, and still the same persons. And there is no pleasing (good) habit, nor attention, nor care about self and observation of this kind, How shall I use the appearances presented to me? according to nature, or contrary to nature? how do I answer to them? as I ought, or as I ought not? Do I say to those things which are independent of the will, that they do not concern me? For if you are not yet in this state, fly from your former habits, fly from the common sort, if you intend ever to begin to be something.
(III.xvi)",,8712,"•Is there a misprint here (the syntax is strange). REVISIT.
• Revisited. The MIT text is riddled with errors... REVISIT and fix.","""Until then the good sentiments are fixed in you, and you shall have acquired a certain power for your security, I advise you to be careful in your association with common persons: if you are not, every day like wax in the sun there will be melted away whatever you inscribe on your minds in the school.""","",2011-06-06 19:27:22 UTC,"Book III, Chapter xvi: That we ought with caution to enter, into familiar intercourse with men "
3414,"",Reading,2004-01-14 00:00:00 UTC,"How, then, is there left any place for fighting, to a man who has this opinion? Is he surprised at anything which happens, and does it appear new to him? Does he not expect that which comes from the bad to be worse and more grievous than what actually befalls him? And does he not reckon as pure gain whatever they may do which falls short of extreme wickedness? ""Such a person has reviled you."" Great thanks to him for not having, struck you. ""But he has struck me also."" Great thanks that he did not wound you ""But he wounded me also."" Great thanks that he did not kill you. For when did he learn or in what school that man is a tame animal, that men love one another, that an act of injustice is a great harm to him who does it. Since then he has not to him who does it. Since then he has not learned this and is not convinced of it, why shall he not follow that which seems to be for his own ""Your neighbour has thrown stones."" Have you then done anything wrong? ""But the things in the house have been broken."" Are you then a utensil? No; but a free power of will. What, then, is given to you in answer to this? If you are like a wolf, you must bite in return, and throw more stones. But if you consider what is proper for a man, examine your store-house, see with what faculties you came into the world. Have you the disposition of a wild beast, Have you the disposition of revenge for an injury? When is a horse wretched? When he is deprived of his natural faculties; not when he cannot crow like a cock, but when he cannot run. When is a dog wretched? Not when he cannot fly, but when he cannot track his game. Is, then, a man also unhappy in this way, not because he cannot strangle lions or embrace statues, for he did not come into the world in the possession of certain powers from nature for this purpose, but because he has lost his probity and his fidelity? People ought to meet and lament such a man for the misfortunes into which he has fallen; not indeed to lament because a man has been born or has died, but because it has happened to him in his lifetime to have lost the things which are his own, not that which he received from his father, not his land and house, and his inn, and his slaves; for not one of these things is a man's own, but all belong to others, are servile and subject to account, at different times given to different persons by those who have them in their power: but I mean the things which belong to him as a man, the marks in his mind with which he came into the world, such as we seek also on coins, and if we find them, we approve of the coins, and if we do not find the marks, we reject them. What is the stamp on this Sestertius? ""The stamp of Trajan."" Present it. ""It is the stamp of Nero."" Throw it away: it cannot be accepted, it is counterfeit. So also in this case. What is the stamp of his opinions? ""It is gentleness, a sociable disposition, a tolerant temper, a disposition to mutual affection."" Produce these qualities. I accept them: I consider this man a citizen, I accept him as a neighbour, a companion in my voyages. Only see that he has not Nero's stamp. Is he passionate, is he full of resentment, is he faultfinding? If the whim seizes him, does he break the heads of those who come in his way? Why, then did you say that he is a man? Is everything judged by the bare form? If that is so, say that the form in wax is all apple and has the smell and the taste of an apple. But the external figure is not enough: neither then is the nose enough and the eyes to make the man, but he must have the opinions of a man. Here is a man who does not listen to reason, who does not know when he is refuted: he is an ass: in another man the sense of shame is become dead: he is good for nothing, he is anything rather than a man. This man seeks whom he may meet and kick or bite, so that he is not even a sheep or an ass, but a kind of wild beast.
(IV.v)",2011-06-06,8713,"Caught a typo: ""see with at faculties"" should read (and now does) ""see with what faculties."" Perseus may be a better text. ","""But if you consider what is proper for a man, examine your store-house, see with what faculties you came into the world.""","",2011-06-06 19:12:58 UTC,"Book IV, Chapter 5: Against the quarrelsome and ferocious "
3414,"",Reading,2004-01-14 00:00:00 UTC,"How then is there left any place for fighting (quarrelling) to a man who has this opinion (which he ought to have)? Is he surprised at any thing which happens, and does it appear new to him? Does he not expect that which comes from the bad to be worse and more grievous than what actually befals him? And does he not reckon as pure gain whatever they (the bad) may do which falls short of extreme wickedness? Such a person has reviled you. Great thanks to him for not having struck you. But he has struck me also. Great thanks that he did not wound you. But he wounded me also. Great thanks that he did not kill you. For when did he learn or in what school that man is a tame animal, that men love one another, that an act of injustice is a great harm to him who does it. Since then he has not learned this and is not convinced of it, why shall he not follow that which seems to be for his own interest? Your neighbour has thrown stones. Have you then done any thing wrong? But the things in the house have been broken. Are you then a utensil? No; but a free power of will. What then is given to you (to do) in answer to this? If you are like a wolf, you must bite in return, and throw more stones. But if you consider what is proper for a man, examine your storehouse, see with what faculties you came into the world. Have you the disposition of a wild beast, have you the disposition of revenge for an injury? When is a horse wretched? When he is deprived of his natural faculties, not when he cannot crow like a cock, but when he cannot run. When is a dog wretched? Not when he cannot fly, but when he cannot track his game. Is then a man also unhappy in this way, not because he cannot strangle lions or embrace statues, for he did not come into the world in the possession of certain powers from nature for this purpose, but because he has lost his probity and his fidelity? People ought to meet and lament such a man for the misfortunes into which he has fallen; not indeed to lament because a man has been born or has died, but because it has happened to him in his life time to have lost the things which are his own, not that which he received from his father, not his land and house, and his inn, and his slaves; for not one of these things is a man's own, but all belong to others, are servile, and subject to account (ὑπεύθυνα), at different times given to different persons by those who have them in their power: but I mean the things which belong to him as a man, the marks (stamps) in his mind with which he came into the world, such as we seek also on coins, and if we find them, we approve of the coins, and if we do not find the marks, we reject them. What is the stamp on this Sestertius? The stamp of Trajan. Present it. It is the stamp of Nero. Throw it away: it cannot be accepted, it is counterfeit. So also in this case: What is the stamp of his opinions? It is gentleness, a sociable disposition, a tolerant temper, a disposition to mutual affection. Produce these qualities. I accept them: I consider this man a citizen, I accept him as a neighbour, a com- panion in my voyages. Only see that he has not Nero's stamp. Is he passionate, is he full of resentment, is he fault-finding? If the whim seizes him, does he break the heads of those who come in his way? (If so), why then did you say that he is a man? Is every thing judged (determined) by the bare form? If that is so, say that the form in wax is an apple and has the smell and the taste of an apple. But the external figure is not enough: neither then is the nose enough and the eyes to make the man, but he must have the opinions of a man. Here is a man who does not listen to reason, who does not know when he is refuted: he is an ass: in another man the sense of shame is become dead: he is good for nothing, he is any thing rather than a man. This man seeks whom he may meet and kick or bite, so that he is not even a sheep or an ass, but a kind of wild beast..
(IV.v)",2011-06-06,8714,"Updated from MIT text to Perseus text.
Chapter V: Against the Quarrelsome and Ferocious","""I mean the things which belong to him as a man, the marks (stamps) in his mind with which he came into the world, such as we seek also on coins, and if we find them, we approve of the coins, and if we do not find the marks, we reject them.""",Coinage and Impressions,2013-06-12 13:58:37 UTC,"Book IV, Chapter v "
6660,"",Reading,2010-01-11 19:45:33 UTC,"Right Honourable, it can not be vnknovvne to your selfe, or to any man of a daies experience, that it is thought a small matter to commit a sinne, or, to lie in sinns against a mans ovvne conscience. For many vvhen they are told of their dutie in this point, replie and say, What tell you me of conscience? Conscience was hanged long agoe. But vnles they take better heed, and preuent the danger by repentance, Hanged-conscience vvill revive and become both gibbet and hangman to them either in this life or the life to come. For Conscience is appointed of God to declare and put in execution his iust iudgement against sinners: and as God cannot possibly be ouercome of man, so neither can the iudgement of conscience being the iudgement of God be wholly extinguished. Indeed Satan for his part goes about by al means he can, to benumme the conscience: but all is nothing. For as the sicke man, vvhen he seemes to sleepe and take his rest, is invvardly full of troubles: so the benummed and drousie conscience wants not his secret pangs and terrours; and when it shal be roused by the iudgement of God, it waxeth cruell and fierce like a wild beast. Again, when a man sinnes against his conscience, as much as in him lieth, he plungeth him selfe into the gulfe of desperation: for euery wound of the conscience, though the smart of it be little felt, is a deadly wound: and he that goes on to sinne against his conscience, stabbes and vvounds it often in the same place: and all renewed wounds (as we know) are hardly or neuer cured. Thirdly, he that lieth in sinnes against his conscience, cannot call vpon the name of God: for guiltie conscience makes a man flie from God. And Christ saith, God heareth not sinners, vnderstanding by sinners, such as goe on in their owne waies against conscience: and what can be more dolefull then to be barred of the invocation of Gods name? Lastly, such persons after the last iudgement, shall haue not onely their bodies in torment, but the vvorme in the soule and conscience shall neuer die: and what will it profit a man to gain the whole world by doing things against his owne conscience, and loose his owne soule.
(The Epistle)",,17624,"","""What tell you me of conscience? Conscience was hanged long agoe.""","",2010-01-11 19:45:33 UTC,Epistle