Discourses, About Cynicism — In Plain English

Epictetus — The Slave

Agamemnon pulls out clumps of his own hair. And what does he say? "I'm confused," he says, "and disturbed, and my heart is jumping out of my chest." Poor fool, what part of your life is actually going wrong? Your possessions? No. Your body? No. You're rich in gold and bronze. So what's your problem? The part of you that's been neglected and corrupted — the part that wants things, avoids things, moves toward and away from things. How has it been neglected? He doesn't understand what's naturally good for him or what's naturally bad. He doesn't know what belongs to him and what belongs to others. So when something that belongs to others goes badly, he says, "Poor me, the Greeks are in danger!" His mind is wretched, alone, neglected, and uncared for. "The Greeks are going to die, destroyed by the Trojans." And if the Trojans don't kill them, won't they die anyway? Yes, just not all at once. So what difference does it make?

Epictetus — The Slave Original

Much from his head he tore his rooted hair: Iliad, x., 15. and what does he say himself? "I am perplexed," he says, "and Disturb'd I am," and "my heart out of my bosom Is leaping." Iliad, x., 91. Wretch, which of your affairs goes badly? Your possessions? No. Your body? No. But you are rich in gold and copper. What then is the matter with you? That part of you, whatever it is, has been neglected by you and is corrupted, the part with which we desire, with which we avoid, with which we move towards and move from things. How neglected? He knows not the nature of good for which he is made by nature and the nature of evil; and what is his own, and what belongs to another; and when anything that belongs to others goes badly, he says, Woe to me, for the Hellenes are in danger. Wretched is his ruling faculty, and alone neglected and uncared for. The Hellenes are going to die destroyed by the Trojans. And if the Trojans do not kill them, will they not die? Yes; but not all at once. What difference then does it make?