Discourses, How We Ought to Use Divination

Epictetus — The Slave

Think about it this way. If you were a statue made by Phidias — say, Athena or Zeus — you would think about yourself and the artist who made you. If you had any awareness, you'd try not to do anything unworthy of your creator or yourself. You'd try not to look bad to people who see you. But now Zeus has made you. So why don't you care how you appear? Is the artist in your case any less skilled than Phidias? Is the artwork any less important? What work of art has the abilities that the artist shows while making it? A statue is just marble or bronze or gold or ivory. Phidias's statue of Athena holds up her hand with Victory in it, and stays that way forever. But God's works can move. They breathe. They can see things and think about what they see. You're the work of such an artist. So why do you dishonor him?

Epictetus — The Slave Original

If you were a statue of Phidias, either Athena or Zeus, you would think both of yourself and of the artist, and if you had any understanding (power of perception) you would try to do nothing unworthy of him who made you or of yourself, and try not to appear in an unbecoming dress (attitude) to those who look upon you. But now because Zeus has made you, for this reason do you care not how you shall appear? And yet is the artist (in the one case) like the artist in the other? or the work in the one case like the other? And what work of an artist, for instance, has in itself the faculties, which the artist shows in making it? Is it not marble or bronze, or gold or ivory? and the Athena of Phidias, when she has once extended the hand and received in it the figure of Victory, stands in that attitude for ever. But the works of God have power of motion, they breathe, they have the faculty of using the appearances of things and the power of examining them. Being the work of such an artist do you dishonor him?