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The Enchiridion

By Epictetus

<p>Born a slave and lamed by his master, <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/epictetus">Epictetus</a> studied Stoic philosophy while in captivity. Once freed, he survived Domitian’s banishment of all philosophers from Rome to settle in Greece, where he founded a school of philosophy.

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Project Gutenberg eBook #45109 — Thomas Wentworth Higginson English translation
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The Enchiridion

Epictetus

Remember that you must behave as at a banquet. Is anything brought round to you? Put out your hand and take a moderate share. Does it pass by you? Do not stop it. Is it not yet come? Do not yearn in desire toward it, but wait till it reaches you. So with regard to children, wife, office, riches; and you will some time or other be worthy to feast with the gods. And if you do not so much as take the things which are set before you, but are able even to forego them, then you will not only be worthy to feast with the gods, but to rule with them also. For, by thus doing, Diogenes and Heraclitus, and others like them, deservedly became divine, and were so recognized.

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