Discourses, To a Certain Rhetorician Who Was Going up to Rome on a Suit

Epictetus — The Slave

Go through your life, stage by stage, by yourself. If you're too embarrassed to do this with me watching, fine. When you were a boy, did you examine your own beliefs? No — you just did whatever you always do now. When you became a young man and went to study with teachers of public speaking, what did you think you were missing? And when you got older and entered politics, arguing cases and building your reputation — who could match you then? When would you have let anyone examine your beliefs and show you they were wrong?

Epictetus — The Slave Original

Go over the times of your life by yourself, if you are ashamed of me (knowing the fact) when you were a boy, did you examine your own opinions? and did you not then, as you do all things now, do as you did do? and when you were become a youth and attended the rhetoricians, and yourself practised rhetoric, what did you imagine that you were deficient in? And when you were a young man and engaged in public matters, and pleaded causes yourself, and were gaining reputation, who then seemed your equal? And when would you have submitted to any man examining and showing that your opinions are bad?