Think about what you're giving up when you sell out your will. If nothing else, don't sell it cheap. The great and superior qualities might belong to Socrates and people like him. So why, if we're naturally capable of this, aren't more of us like him? Is it true that all horses become fast runners? That all dogs become expert trackers? So what if I'm naturally slow — should I give up trying because of that? I hope not. Epictetus is not better than Socrates. But if he's not worse, that's good enough for me. I'll never be Milo the athlete, but I still take care of my body. I'll never be Croesus the rich king, but I still manage my money. We don't stop working on something just because we can't be the absolute best at it.
Only consider at what price you sell your own will: if for no other reason, at least for this, that you sell it not for a small sum. But that which is great and superior perhaps belongs to Socrates and such as are like him. Why then, if we are naturally such, are not a very great number of us like him? Is it true then that all horses become swift, that all dogs are skilled in tracking footprints? What then, since I am naturally dull, shall I, for this reason, take no pains? I hope not. Epictetus is not superior to Socrates; but if he is not inferior, this is enough for me; for I shall never be a Milo, and yet I do not neglect my body; nor shall I be a Croesus, and yet I do not neglect my property; nor, in a word, do we neglect looking after anything because we despair of reaching the highest degree.