Epictetus
From Philosopedia
Epictetus (c. 50 or 55 = 135 or 138)
Epictetus, a Phrygian Stoic philosopher, wrote nothing, but his disciple Arrian set down his teachings in the Discourses and the Encheiridion.
Joseph McCabe, saying shorthand was known at that time, theorizes that Arrian quoted Epictetus directly. He adds that Epictetus
- belonged to the small religious wing of the Stoic movement and his extravagances of virtue illustrate again the danger of introducing any mysticism into ethics. The absurd suggestion that he borrowed from Christ is refuted by the dates. His chief interest is to remind us that all the moral sentiment attributed to Jesus in the gospels were familiar in the first century.
The brotherhood of man is a key feature in his Stoic outlook, for Epictetus believed mankind on earth is a collection of prisoners in an earthly body. Inasmuch as Epictetus was lame much of his life, and possibly had been a slave, he was somewhat meek, not being negative about government or religion.
As described by Bertrand Russell, Marcus Aurelius wrote that Epictetus “used to say, ‘Thou art a little soul bearing about a corpse,’ that Zeus could not make the body free, but he gave us a portion of his divinity. God is the father of men, and we are all brothers. We should not say, ‘I am an Athenian’ or ‘I am a Roman,’ but ‘I am a citizen of the universe.’ If you were a kinsman of Caesar, you would feel safe; how much more should you feel safe in being a kinsman of God? If we understand that virtue is the only true good, we shall see that no real evil can befall us.”
As for any afterlife, “Where are you going? It cannot be to a place of suffering; there is no Hell.”
He had also written, “I was not, and was conceived; I loved, and did a little work; I am not, and grieve not,” which W. K. Clifford chose as his epitaph. In 1992, James R. Stockdale, the Vice Presidential candidate who ran with Ross Perot, surprised some potential voters by declaring he was a devotee of Epictetus’s philosophy.
