vi

PREFACE.

controllable, we may properly direct our desire or aversion toward them, though always cautiously and moderately. If they are uncontrollable, they are nothing to us, and we are simply to accept them—not with resignation alone, but joyfully—knowing that an all-wise Father rules the whole.* According to Epictetus, all success comes from obeying this rule; all failure results from placing a false value on the events of life, from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power. "We should always have two rules ready: first, that there is nothing good or evil except in the Will; and second, that we are not to lead events, but to follow them" (p. 221). This second rule is remarkably similar to the wise Quaker motto on which Elizabeth Fry Elizabeth Fry (1780–1845) was a celebrated English Quaker and prison reformer. based her notable practical successes: "to follow, not force, Providence."

These simple principles are developed concisely in the Enchiridion original: "Enchiridion"; Greek for "handbook" or "manual." or Manual, and more elaborately in the Discourses. Neither work was written by Epictetus himself; instead, both were transcribed from his spoken words They were recorded by his student, the historian Arrian.. In the sixth century, the Enchiridion became the subject of an elaborate Greek commentary by Simplicius, which was later translated into English by Stanhope. It also served as the basis for a commentary longer than the original text by Salmasius, who was famously an intellectual opponent of the poet John Milton.

There is no flaw in the consistent nobility of these Discourses. One might point out certain omissions, or instances where our complex human nature...

• Compare pages 12, 22, 29, 40, 44, 147, 255, 265, 288, etc.