EPICTETUS

A younger contemporary of St. Paul, b. Hicropolis of Phyrigia, c. a.d. 55; d. c. 130. He was taken as a slave boy to Rome by Epaphroditus, a servant of the Emperor Nero, and sent to study under M. Rufus, the Stoic. As a freedman Epictetus opened his own school, but in a.d. 90 he was exiled with all the philosophers of Rome by domitian. He went to Nicopolis of Epirus near the Ionian Sea; and although Hadrian lifted the ban in 117, Epictetus remained in Asia till his death. Arrian, his devoted pupil, prepared and published his class notes as eight Discourses. Four are extant along with a summary, the Enchiridion, and some fragments. There is no trace of Christian influence in his thought although he certainly knew of the "Galileans" (Disc. 4.7). Among the ancients who admired him are M. Aurelius, origen, St. augustine, and St. gregory of nazianzus. His influence on Christian thought has been subtle and profound.

Philosophy begins, for Epictetus, when one realizes the enormous confusion among men about right and happy living. Trained men are unanimous in ideas such as right angles and halftones, to which the ignorant lay no claim. But since everyone is born with some notion of what is good or bad, fine or shameful, right or wrong, each one acts according to his own private impressions as if he knew all. So the philosopher must go in search of what is common to all, the universal basis of judgment, the universal good. He will find it in his own will ultimately, for good and evil are determined by what he can control. Everything else is neutral. The universal good is the truth about human freedom; the essence of good and evil lies in the attitude of the will (Disc. 2.92). Men are slaves while ignorant of the true nature of their psychic impressions and their sphere of power; when they choose according to what seems to be, nature resists them and they are frustrated. Men are free when they choose according to the true nature of things; e.g., they cannot resist death, but they can die in peace.

Epictetus's course was divided into three stages similar to the earlier Stoic division into ethics, physics, and logic. The first teaches how to have one's desires in accord with reason, i.e., the right attitude of mind toward external things and events. The second teaches how to conform one's actions to the order of divine providence manifest in creatures. The third stage, for proficients, is a rigorous training in logic to ensure unerring judgment against sophisms and fallacies.

Bibliography: Works. The Discourses with the Encheiridion and Fragments, tr. g. long (New York 1890); Complete Extant Writings in Stoic and Epicurean Philosophers, ed. w. j. oates (New York 1940). Literature. a. jagu et al., Dictionnaire de spiritualité ascétique et mystique. Doctrine et histoire (Paris 1932) 4.1:822–854. m. spanneut, Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum (Stuttgart 1950) 5:599–681, bibliog. 678–681. r. d. hicks, Stoic and Epicurean (New York 1910). d. s. sharp, Epictetus and the N.T. (London 1914). b. l. hijmans, Askesis: Notes on E.'s Educational System (Assen, Neth. 1959). w. a. oldfather, Contributions toward a Bibliography of Epictetus (Urbana, Ill. 1952).

[m. j. giacchi]