Epictetus Works (Discourses, Enchiridion, Fragments)

iv

even if she knew less about philosophy than “the Platonist” Thomas Taylor, mentioned on the previous page, she knew Greek much better. There is no reason to doubt that she was, as her friend Dr. Samuel Johnson declared, the best Greek scholar in England during her time. She certainly surpassed her contemporary, Upton John Upton (1707–1760), an English cleric and scholar whose 1741 edition of Epictetus was the primary scholarly reference of the time, who translated the work into Latin and whose edition of Epictetus was deservedly the standard one until that of Schweighäuser Johann Schweighäuser (1742–1830), a German scholar who published a definitive six-volume edition of Epictetus between 1799 and 1800. I have rarely examined a point of dispute between her and Schweighäuser without eventually siding with her. After saying this, it is no great stretch of humility to admit my own inferiority; I claim only the advantage of writing more than a century later, and therefore having the benefit of more resources and a more modern style.

I hesitated for some time whether to call this book simply a revision of Elizabeth Carter’s translation, or a new one based on hers. I finally chose the latter option, not to claim any of her credit for myself, but rather to save her from sharing any blame for my own mistakes. This project began simply as a revision. However, revising a translation made a century ago is like inspecting an underwater telegraph cable: one may examine a large portion and find only minor repairs are needed, but then one reaches a point where an entirely new section must be inserted. These substitutions multiplied so quickly—and even where the changes were small, they affected such vital words and phrases—that the description I have chosen is the most honest one possible. Ultimately, this process shows the thoroughness of Elizabeth Carter’s