Nothing like this is revealed in the _Enchiridion_. Gone is the Stoic philosopher as living spirit. What remains is the living spirit of Stoicism. The _Enchiridion_ is a manual for the combat officer. This analogy should be taken seriously. The Roman Stoics coined the formula: _Vivere militare!_ (Life is being a soldier.) The student of philosophy is a private, the advancing Stoic is a non-commissioned officer, and the philosopher is the combat officer. For this reason all Roman Stoics apply metaphors and images derived from military life. Apprentice students of Stoicism are described as messengers, as scouts of God, as representatives of divine nature. The advancing student who is close to the goal of being a philosopher has the rank of an officer. He is already able to establish inner freedom and independence. He understands the basic Stoic truth of subjective consciousness, which is to distinguish what is in our power from what is not in our power. Not in our power are all the elements which constitute our environment, such as wealth, health, reputation, social prestige, power, the lives of those we love, and death. In our power are our thinking, our intentions, our desires, our decisions. These make it possible for us to control ourselves and to make of ourselves elements and parts of the universe of nature. This knowledge of ourselves makes us free in a world of dependencies. This superiority of our powers enables us to live in conformity with nature. The rational philosophy of control of Self and of adjustment to the Whole implies an asceticism of the emotional and the sensitive life. The philosopher must examine and control his passions, his love, his tenderness at all times in order always to be ready for the inevitable moment of farewell. The Stoics practiced a Jesuitism _avant la lettre_. They were able to live in the world as if they did not live in it. To the Stoic, life is a military camp, a play on the stage, a banquet to which we are invited. The _Enchiridion_ briefly indicated the techniques which the philosopher should apply in acting well the diverse roles which God might assign to those whom he loves, the Stoic philosophers. From the rules of social conduct to the recommendations of sexual asceticism before marriage, and the method of true thinking, the advanced Stoic will find all principles of perfection and all precepts for realizing philosophical principles in his conduct in this tiny volume.
Thus the _Enchiridion_ was liberating for all intellectuals who learned from it that there are philosophical ways of self-redemption. From its time, the secular thinker could feel jubilant because he was not in need of a divine grace. Epictetus had taught him that philosophical reason could make him free and that he was capable of redeeming himself by sound reasoning.
In the Stoic distinctions of personality and world, of I and mine, of subjective consciousness and the world of objects, of freedom and dependence, we find implicit the basic elements of modern philosophies of rationalism and of objective idealism or pantheism. For this reason there is a continuous renascence of Stoicism from Descartes, Grotius, and Bishop Butler, to Montesquieu, Adam Smith, and Kant. In this long development in modern times, the tiny _Enchiridion_ of Epictetus played a remarkable part.
The translations of Epictetus and of all other Stoics had the widest effect on philosophers, theologians, and lay thinkers. They were studied by the clergy of the various Christian denominations, by the scientists who were striving for a natural religion, and by the independent philosophers who were eager to separate philosophy from religion. There were many outstanding bishops in the Catholic and Anglican Churches who were eager to transform the traditions of Roman Stoicism into Christian Stoicism. Among the Calvinistic denominations were many thinkers who were in sympathy with Stoic moral principles because of their praise of the austerity of life and of the control of passions. Likewise the adherents of natural religion were propagating Stoicism as the ideal pattern of universally valid and intelligible religion. Renascent Stoicism had three functions in the rise of the modern world. First, it reconciled Christian traditions to modern rationalistic philosophies; secondly, it established an ideal pattern of natural religion; and, thirdly, it opened the way for the autonomy of morals.
ALBERT SALOMON
The New School for Social Research _July, 1948_
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
_Epictetus: Life and Work_
Arnim, Hans V., “Epictetos” in Pauli-Wissowa (ed), _Real-Encyclopaedie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft_, VI, col. 126-131.
Arnold, E. V., “Epictetus” in Hastings, _Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics_, 1912. Vol. V, pp. 323, 324.
Bonhoeffer, A., _Epiktet und die Stoa_. Stuttgart, 1890.
——, _Ethik des Stoikers Epiktet_. Stuttgart, 1894.
——, _Epiktet und das Neue Testament_. Giessen, 1911.
Bruns, Ivo, _De schola Epicteti_. Kiel, 1897.
Bultmann, Rudolf, “Das religiöse Moment in der ethischen Unterweisung des Epiktets und das Neue Testament,” _Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde des Urchristentums_, Vol. XIII, 1912; pp. 97-110; 177-191.
Colardeau, Th., _Etude sur Epictète_. Paris, 1903.
Hartmann, K., “Arrian und Epiktet,” _Neue Jahrbücher für das klassische Altertum_, Vol. XV, 1905.
Jagu, Amand, _Epictète et Platon_. Paris, 1944.
Lagrange, M. J., “La philosophie religieuse d’Epictète et le Christianisme,” _Revue Biblique_, Vol. IX, 1912; pp. 5-21, 192-212.
Oldfather, W. A., “Introduction” to _Epictetus_, “Loeb Classics,” Vol. I.
Souilhé, J., “Introduction” to _Entretiens_. Paris, 1943.
Weber, Louis, “La morale d’Epictète et les besoins présents de l’enseignment moral,” _Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale_, 1905, pp. 830-858; 1906, pp. 342-360; 1907, pp. 327-347; 1909, pp. 203-326.
_Main Works on Stoicism and Related Problems_
Arnold, E. V., _Roman Stoicism_. Cambridge, E., 1911.
Bevan, E., _Stoics and Sceptics_. Oxford, 1913.
Brochard, V., _Etudes de philosophie ancienne et de philosophie moderne_, Paris, 1912.
Hicks, R. D., _Stoic and Epicurean_. New York, 1910.
Martha, C., _Les moralistes sur l’Empire Romain_. Paris, 1886.
Murray, Gilbert, _Stoic, Christian, Humanist_. London, 1940.
Robin, L., _La morale antique_. Paris, 1938, pp. 57, 130, 152, 167.
Wendland, Paul, _Philo und die cynisch-stoische Diatribe_. Berlin, 1895.
——, _Die hellenistische Kultur in ihren Beziehungen zum Judentum und Christentum_. Tübingen, 1912.
Zanta, L., _La renaissance du Stoicisme au XVIième siècle_. Paris, 1914.
Zeller, E., _The Stoics, Epicureans, and Sceptics_. London, 1892.
_Influence of Stoicism_
Busson, Henry, _La pensée religieuse Française de Charron à Pascal_. Paris, 1933. Chap. VIII: Stoiciens et Epicuriens, pp. 379-429.
Dilthey, Wilhelm, _Gesammelte Werke_, Vol. II. “Einfluss der Stoa auf die Ausbildung des natürlichen Systems der Geisteswissenschaften,” pp. 153-162; “Anthropologie, Stoa und natürliches System im XVII. Jahrhundert,” pp. 439-457.
Groethuysen, Bernard, _Philosophische Anthropologie_. München, 1928. (Chap. “Die römisch-griechische Lebensphilosophie.”)
Rand, B., _The Life, Letters, etc. of Anthony, Earl of Shaftesbury_. London, 1900.
Saunders, Jason L., _Justus Lipsius. The Philosophy of Renaissance Stoicism_. New York, 1955.
Wenley, R. M., _Stoicism and Its Influence_. New York, 1927.
THE ENCHIRIDION
I
There are things which are within our power, and there are things which are beyond our power. Within our power are opinion, aim, desire, aversion, 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.