Discourses, How from the Fact That We Are Akin to God a Man May Proceed to the Consequences

Epictetus — The Slave

But this is the work your teacher should be doing, if he were really what he should be. You should come to him and say: Epictetus, we can't stand being tied to this wretched body anymore. We're tired of feeding it, giving it water and rest, washing it, and doing what other people want because of this body. These things don't matter to us, do they? Death isn't evil, is it? We're related to God in a way, and we came from him, didn't we? Let us go back to where we came from. Let us finally break free from these chains that bind us and drag us down. This world has thieves and criminals and courts and tyrants who think they control us through our bodies and possessions. Let us show them they have no power over anyone.

Epictetus — The Slave Original

But this is the labor that your teacher and instructor ought to be employed upon, if he really were what he should be. You should come to him and say: Epictetus, we can no longer endure being bound to this poor body, and feeding it, and giving it drink and rest, and cleaning it, and for the sake of the body complying with the wishes of these and of those. Are not these things indifferent and nothing to us; and is not death no evil? And are we not in a manner kinsmen of God, and did we not come from him? Allow us to depart to the place from which we came; allow us to be released at last from these bonds by which we are bound and weighed down. Here there are robbers and thieves and courts of justice, and those who are named tyrants, and think that they have some power over us by means of the body and its possessions. Permit us to show them that they have no power over any man.