Part I of VI · Sections 1–8

The First Distinction

ἐφ᾽ ἡμῖν eph' hēmin — “up to us”

The manual opens with its one great division — what is up to us and what is not — and runs it through desire, loss, grief, and the daily errand.

Margin

I1 / 51

What is up to us

There are things which are within our powerἐφ᾽ ἡμῖνeph' hēminUp to usThe manual’s hinge: some things depend on our choice — opinion, aim, desire, aversion — and everything else does not: body, property, reputation, office. Freedom is staked entirely on the first class., and there are things which are beyond our power. Within our power are opinion, aim, desireὄρεξιςorexisDesireThe reaching-out toward a thing as good. The beginner is told to suspend it entirely: desire aimed at externals is disappointment on a schedule., aversionἔκκλισιςekklisisAversionThe shrinking from a thing as evil. It is retrained first: moved off sickness, death, and poverty, and onto the only true evils — the will’s own failures., and, in one word, whatever affairs are our own. Beyond our power are body, property, reputation, office, and, in one word, whatever are not properly our own affairs.

Now the things within our power are by nature free, unrestricted, unhindered; but those beyond our power are weak, dependent, restricted, alien. Remember, then, that if you attribute freedom to things by nature dependent and take what belongs to others for your own, you will be hindered, you will lament, you will be disturbed, you will find fault both with gods and men. But if you take for your own only that which is your own and view what belongs to others just as it really is, then no one will ever compel you, no one will restrict you; you will find fault with no one, you will accuse no one, you will do nothing against your will; no one will hurt you, you will not have an enemy, nor will you suffer any harm.

Aiming, therefore, at such great things, remember that you must not allow yourself any inclination, however slight, toward the attainment of the others; but that you must entirely quit some of them, and for the present postpone the rest. But if you would have these, and possess power and wealth likewise, you may miss the latter in seeking the former; and you will certainly fail of that by which alone happiness and freedom are procured.

Seek at once, therefore, to be able to say to every unpleasing semblance, “You are but a semblance and by no means the real thing.” And then examine it by those rules which you have; and first and chiefly by this: whether it concerns the things which are within our own power or those which are not; and if it concerns anything beyond our power, be prepared to say that it is nothing to you.

II2 / 51

Desire and aversion

Remember that desireὄρεξιςorexisDesireThe reaching-out toward a thing as good. The beginner is told to suspend it entirely: desire aimed at externals is disappointment on a schedule. demands the attainment of that of which you are desirous; and aversionἔκκλισιςekklisisAversionThe shrinking from a thing as evil. It is retrained first: moved off sickness, death, and poverty, and onto the only true evils — the will’s own failures. demands the avoidance of that to which you are averse; that he who fails of the object of his desires is disappointed; and he who incurs the object of his aversion is wretched. If, then, you shun only those undesirable things which you can control, you will never incur anything which you shun; but if you shun sickness, or death, or poverty, you will run the risk of wretchedness. Remove [the habit of] aversion, then, from all things that are not within our powerἐφ᾽ ἡμῖνeph' hēminUp to usThe manual’s hinge: some things depend on our choice — opinion, aim, desire, aversion — and everything else does not: body, property, reputation, office. Freedom is staked entirely on the first class., and apply it to things undesirable which are within our power. But for the present, altogether restrain desire; for if you desire any of the things not within our own power, you must necessarily be disappointed; and you are not yet secure of those which are within our power, and so are legitimate objects of desire. Where it is practically necessary for you to pursue or avoid anything, do even this with discretion and gentleness and moderation.

III3 / 51

The cup and the kiss

With regard to whatever objects either delight the mind or contribute to use or are tenderly beloved, remind yourself of what nature they are, beginning with the merest trifles: if you have a favorite cup, that it is but a cup of which you are fond of—for thus, if it is broken, you can bear it; if you embrace your child or your wife, that you embrace a mortal—and thus, if either of them dies, you can bear it.

IV4 / 51

On the way to the bath

When you set about any action, remind yourself of what nature the action is. If you are going to bathe, represent to yourself the incidents usual in the bath—some persons pouring out, others pushing in, others scolding, others pilfering. And thus you will more safely go about this action if you say to yourself, “I will now go to bathe and keep my own willπροαίρεσιςprohairesisThe willThe choosing, ruling faculty — will, moral purpose. For Epictetus it simply is the self: the one thing no tyrant, illness, or accident can compel. This translation renders it ‘the will’ and ‘the ruling faculty.’ in harmony with natureφύσιςphysisNatureThe ordered course of the whole. To keep the will ‘in harmony with nature’ is to want events as the world actually delivers them, not as craving or fear repaint them..” And so with regard to every other action. For thus, if any impediment arises in bathing, you will be able to say, “It was not only to bathe that I desired, but to keep my will in harmony with nature; and I shall not keep it thus if I am out of humor at things that happen.”

V5 / 51

Views, not things

Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of thingsφαντασίαphantasiaImpressionHow a thing appears before you have judged it. The whole discipline begins by pausing here: ‘You are but a semblance, and by no means the real thing.’. Thus death is nothing terrible, else it would have appeared so to Socrates. But the terror consists in our notion of death, that it is terrible. When, therefore, we are hindered or disturbed, or grieved, let us never impute it to others, but to ourselves—that is, to our own views. It is the action of an uninstructed person to reproach others for his own misfortunes; of one entering upon instruction, to reproach himself; and one perfectly instructed, to reproach neither others nor himself.

VI6 / 51

The handsome horse

Be not elated at any excellence not your own. If a horse should be elated, and say, “I am handsome,” it might be endurable. But when you are elated and say, “I have a handsome horse,” know that you are elated only on the merit of the horse. What then is your own? The use of the phenomena of existenceφαντασίαphantasiaImpressionHow a thing appears before you have judged it. The whole discipline begins by pausing here: ‘You are but a semblance, and by no means the real thing.’. So that when you are in harmony with natureφύσιςphysisNatureThe ordered course of the whole. To keep the will ‘in harmony with nature’ is to want events as the world actually delivers them, not as craving or fear repaint them. in this respect, you will be elated with some reason; for you will be elated at some good of your own.

VII7 / 51

The ship at anchor

As in a voyage, when the ship is at anchor, if you go on shore to get water, you may amuse yourself with picking up a shellfish or a truffle in your way, but your thoughts ought to be bent toward the ship, and perpetually attentive, lest the captain should call, and then you must leave all these things, that you may not have to be carried on board the vessel, bound like a sheep; thus likewise in life, if, instead of a truffle or shellfish, such a thing as a wife or a child be granted you, there is no objection; but if the captain calls, run to the ship, leave all these things, and never look behind. But if you are old, never go far from the ship, lest you should be missing when called for.

VIII8 / 51

Wish it as it happens

Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well.