The voices / 189 fragments

Epictetus

Life dates uncertain · Stoicism

Stoic teacher concerned with judgment, choice and how to live with others. His teachings survive through Arrian; the short Enchiridion is a guide into a larger discussion.

Author and source reference ↗

▷ Play this voice Search within this voice ↗Place in time ↗truth faith death time mind life wisdom knowledge

Historical source references

Discourses
That we ought not to be angry with Mankind
Of Courage
That Courage is not inconsistent with Caution
How Nobleness of Mind may be consistent with Prudence
Wherein consists the Essence of Good
That we do not study to make Use of the established Principles concerning Good and Evil
How to apply general Principles to particular Cases
How the Semblances of Things are to be combated
Concerning the Epicureans
Of Inconsistency
Concerning a Person whom he treated with Disregard
In what Manner we ought to bear Sickness
That Everything is to be undertaken with Circumspection
Of the Cynic Philosophy
Concerning such as read and dispute ostentatiously
That we ought not to be affected by Things not in our own Power
Enchiridion
Duty · anthology attribution: Epictetus
Pleasure · anthology attribution: Epictetus
Repentance · anthology attribution: Epictetus
Resignation · anthology attribution: Epictetus
Printed citation: Epictetus
Page 168 · printed citation: Epictetus · subject: Manners
Page 194 · printed citation: Epictetus · subject: Patience
Page 276 · printed citation: Epictetus · subject: Will
Complete signed selection 211; printed byline: Epictetus; New York: Dodge Publishing Company, 1901
Complete signed selection 303; printed byline: Epictetus; New York: Dodge Publishing Company, 1901
Complete signed selection 58; printed byline: Epictetus; Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1911; printed copyright 1907
Complete signed selection 326; printed byline: Epictetus; Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1911; printed copyright 1907

Life and writing

Epictetus taught Stoic philosophy after gaining freedom from slavery. He later established a school at Nicopolis. His account of ethical life asks people to examine the judgments through which they respond to events, while taking their responsibilities toward others seriously. The surviving teaching has a practical setting: a student must learn to use an idea in conduct, rather than merely repeat it.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Epictetus ↗ Life and Works; Main contentions 4.3, 4.6 and 4.7; Educational method

Arrian preserved the Discourses associated with Epictetus’s teaching. The Enchiridion condenses that material into a shorter handbook, so a brief instruction can lose some of the reasoning supplied by the longer discussions. The linked reading edition uses Thomas Wentworth Higginson’s English translation. It is related reading; it does not establish the translation or exact wording of every anthology passage on this page.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Epictetus ↗Project Gutenberg — The Enchiridion, PG 45109 ↗ Life and Works: Discourses and Enchiridion; PG45109 translator; original edition comparison

Reading this voice

Begin with the selected passages about judgment and gradual growth, then read an entire numbered section of the handbook. Ask what response the passage invites and what responsibilities remain. Life years stay uncertain here: the reference places his birth in the 50s CE and death around 135, rather than giving two exact years. The archive’s circa-60 coordinate comes from its anthology, not a date of composition. The linked translation and anthology wording can differ.

Subjects to explore

Editorial reading connections, distinct from the archive’s word matching.

character mind patience wisdom

A work to read

The Enchiridion — edition and free reading options ↗

Begin with these archive passages

Editorial starting points from this author’s existing entries.

Profile sources and editorial status

Original agent-assisted editorial profile, checked 2026-10-05. No human review is recorded. Life dates remain uncertain; no lifespan or quotation composition date is inferred.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Epictetus ↗
Limited original paraphrase of teaching, approximate life dates and transmission through Arrian; no article text or modern translation reproduced. Reference checked 2026-10-05.
Project Gutenberg — The Enchiridion, PG 45109 ↗
Catalogue confirms Epictetus, translator Thomas Wentworth Higginson and US public-domain notice; automatic summary not used as biographical evidence. Reference checked 2026-10-05.

Archive entries

01c. 60 AD

To a reasonable creature, that alone is insupportable which is unreasonable; but everything reasonable may be supported.

Epictetus

Life and writing

Reading this voice

Subjects to explore

A work to read

Begin with these archive passages

Archive entries

Read further

The Enchiridion

Meditations

The Republic