Epictetus - Discourses Pt. 2: On Preserving Character

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1:41Welcome to the weekend edition of the Daily Stoic Podcast. On Sundays, we take a deeper dive into these ancient topics with excerpts from the Stoic texts, audiobooks that we like here or recommend here at Daily Stoic and other long form wisdom that you can chew on on this relaxing weekend. We hope this helps shape your understanding of this philosophy and most importantly that you're able to apply it to your actual life. Thank you for listening.

2:24Hey, it's Ryan Holiday. Welcome to another Sunday episode of the Daily Stoic Podcast. I hope everything is going well with all of you. Recently, we brought you a chunk of Epictetus' discourses. You know, it's interesting, right? Epictetus doesn't write anything down. These are his sort of lecture notes. This is what his student Arian is jotting down, trying to record the wisdom of this great teacher. So it's weird that getting it read to you, in this case, we're bringing you an excerpt brought to you by Michael Reed, who's been doing some great voiceover work for us. But in discourses, we're going to get a real sample of what it might have been like to be one of Epictetus's students.

3:11Although Marcus does read Epictetus a generation or so later. He's given notes, probably Arian's, but perhaps Rusticus's notes in the beginning of meditations. Marcus thanks Rusticus for lending him his copy of Epictetus's lectures, which Marcus just absorbs and it changes his life. But again, we can't quite recreate what it must have been like to be in Epictetus's classroom. Rusticus is there. He could have told us. Hadrian, the man who sets in motion Marcus Aurelius' ascension. He was there. He pops into one of Epictetus' classes. So it's just an incredible story to go from. Slave. Epictetus' name literally means acquired one.

3:51And then just a few years later, the emperor of Rome is popping in to listen to him. Rome's greatest families are sending their students to hear from him. And then the most powerful man in Rome, Marcus Aurelius, is quoting him and writing about him, trying to model his life on him. So Epictetus' life is an incredible story, and we're bringing you a chunk of discourses today. This is about how a person can preserve their character in any and all situations. Epictetus would know a bit about that. And I hope you enjoy this reading Epictetus' Discourses from Michael Reed. Talk soon.

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6:20instance, gladly submit to being whipped because they are taught that it is done for good reason. But what about being hanged? Isn't that intolerable? Well, people frequently go and hang themselves whenever they judge that it is a reasonable course of action. In short, reflection will show that people are put off by nothing so much as what they think is unreasonable and attracted to nothing more than what to them seems reasonable. But standards of reasonableness and unreasonableness vary from one person to the next, just as we consider different things good or bad, harmful or beneficial. Which is why education has no goal more important than bringing our preconception of what is reasonable and unreasonable in alignment with nature.

7:15But this not only involves weighing the value of externals, it also means considering what agrees with our own, individual nature. For one person, it is reasonable to be a bathroom attendant, because he only thinks about what punishment and privation lie in wait for him otherwise, and knows that if he accepts the assignment, he will be spared that pain and hardship. someone else not only finds such a job intolerable for him personally but finds it intolerable that anyone should have to perform it but ask me shall I be a bathroom attendant or not and I will tell you that earning a living is better than starving to death so that if you measure your interests by these criteria go ahead and do it but it would be beneath my dignity Well, that is an additional factor that you bring to the question, not me You are the one who knows yourself Which is to say, you know how much you are worth in your own estimation And therefore, at what price you will sell yourself Because people sell themselves at different rates So, for instance, Agrippinus told Florus to go ahead when he was debating whether to attend Nero's festival, maybe even participate.

8:43But when Florus asked him why he was not going himself, Agrippinus answered, I don't even consider the possibility. Taking account of the value of externals, you see, comes at some cost to the value of one's own character. So if you want to know if life or death is better, the answer I give is life. If you ask about pain versus pleasure, I say pleasure is preferable. But if I refuse to participate in Nero's festival, he will kill me. Go ahead and participate then, but I still refuse. Why? Because you think of yourself as no more than a single thread in the robe, whose duty it is to conform to the mass of people, just as a single white thread seemingly has no wish to clash with the remainder of the garment.

9:41But I aspire to be the purple stripe, that is, the garment's brilliant hem. However small a part it may be, it can still manage to make the garment as a whole attractive. Don't tell me, then, be like the rest, because in that case, I cannot be the purple stripe. In his actions, Helvidius Priscus showed his awareness of this principle. When Emperor Vespasian sent him word barring him from the Senate, his response was, You can disqualify me as a senator, but as long as I do remain a member, I must join the assembly. Well, join then, but don't say anything. Don't call on me for my vote, and I won't say anything.

10:33But I must call on you for your vote And I have to give whatever answer I think is right Answer and I will kill you Did I ever say I was immortal? You do your part and I will do mine It is your part to kill me Mine to die without flinching Your part to exile me Mine to leave without protest And what did Priscus accomplish? who was but a single man. Well, what good does the purple stripe do the robe? Its luster is a good example to the rest. If it had been someone else in the same situation, whom the emperor barred from entering the senate, he would have probably said, I am so grateful you can spare me.

11:26In fact, the emperor would not have been bothered to bar him, well aware that the man would either sit there like a blockhead or, if he did speak, would only mouth words he knew that Caesar wanted to hear and would pile additional inanities on besides. A certain athlete, at risk of dying unless his genitals were amputated, made a comparable choice. His brother, a philosopher, went and asked him, Well, my brother, what's it going to be? Will you have them amputated and return to life in the gymnasium? The man refused to submit to the indignity, however, and summoned the will to die. Someone asked, did he choose death as an athlete or as a philosopher?

12:17As a man, Epictetus said, one who had competed at the level of the Olympic Games, where he was a familiar figure and a victor more than once. no occasional visitor to the local gym. Someone else might have even allowed his head to be removed if his life could have been saved thereby. That's what I mean by having consideration for one's character, and it shows how weighty a factor it can be when it is allowed a regular role in one's deliberations. Come, Epictetus, shave off your beard. If I am a philosopher, I will not shave it off, but I will cut off your head. If that will do you any good, then cut it off.

13:07Someone asked, but how do we know what is in keeping with our character? Well, how does the bull realize its own strength, rushing out to protect the whole herd when a lion attacks? The possession of a particular talent is instinctively sensed by its owner, so if any of you are so blessed, you will be the first to know it. It is true, however, that no bull reaches maturity in an instant, nor do men become heroes overnight. We must endure a winter training, and can't be dashing into situations for which we aren't yet prepared. Consider at what price you sell your integrity But please, for God's sake, don't sell it cheap The grand gesture, the ultimate sacrifice That, perhaps, belongs to others To people of Socrates' class But if we are endowed by nature with the potential for greatness Why do only some of us achieve it?

14:15Well, do all horses become stallions? Are all dogs greyhounds? Even if I lack the talent, I will not abandon the effort on that account. Epictetus will not be better than Socrates. But if I am no worse, I am satisfied. I mean, I will never be Milo either. Nevertheless, I don't neglect my body. Nor will I be another Croesus. And still, I don't neglect my property. In short, we do not abandon any discipline for despair of ever being the best in it.

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