The Stoic Creed - College of Stoic Philosophers

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54 THE STOIC CREED
unlearned (which is only, indeed, the revelation of the
contemner s own inefficiency
as a philosophic teacher)
is well exposed by Epictetus in the words (Diss. ii. 12) :
Yes, indeed, give to any one of us whom you please
a plain man to converse with, and he cannot find out
how to deal with him ; but, when he has moved the
man a little, if he meets him inopportunely, he can no
longer handle him, but henceforth either reviles or
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ridicules him, and says, He is a plain man ;
it is not
a guide, when he finds
possible to deal with him. But
a man wandering about, leads him into the desired
way, and does not ridicule or abuse him and then leave
him. Do you also show him the truth, and you will
see that he follows. But so long as you do not show
him, do not ridicule him, but rather realize your own
incapacity."
Again, the philosopher must know his business, and
have a high idea of his vocation. Hence, he must not
aim at praise, but at benefiting his hearers. Rufus
was wont to say, If you have leisure to praise me,
I am speaking to no purpose. Consequently, he used
to speak in such a way that each of us sitting there
supposed that some one had accused him individually
he so touched on what was doing, he so placed before
the eyes the faults of each. The philosopher s school,
ye men, is a surgery : you ought not to go
out of it
pleased, but pained. For you are not in sound health
when you enter ;
but one has dislocated his shoulder,
another has an abscess, another a fistula, another is
suffering from a headache. Do I then sit and utter to
you small thoughts and witty sayings that you may