Volume 1 - Discourses - Books I - II - College of Stoic Philosophers

BOOK I. xi. 1-7CHAPTER XIWHEN an officialmaking some specialOffamily affectioncame to see him, Epictetus, afterenquiries about other matters,asked him if he had children and a wife, and whenthe other replied that he had, Epictetus asked thefurther question, What, then, is your experiencewith marriage? Wretched, he said. To whichEpictetus, How so ? For men do not marry and begetchildren just for this surely, to be wretched, butrather to be happy. And yet, as for me, the otherreplied, I feel so wretched about the little children,that recently when my little daughter was sick andwas thought to be in danger, I could not bear evento stay by her sick bed, but Iup and ran away,until someone brought me word that she was wellagain. What then, do you feel that you were actingright in doing this? I was acting naturally, hesaid. But really, you must first convince me of this,that you were acting naturally, said he, and thenI will convince you that whatever is done in accordancewith nature is rightly done. This is the way,said the man, all, or at least most, of us fathersfeel. And I do not contradict you either, answeredEpictetus, and say that it is not done, but the pointat issue between us is the other, whether it is rightlydone. For by your style of reasoning we shouldhave to say of tumours also that they are producedfor the good of the body, just because they occur, andin brief, that to err is in accordance with nature, justbecause practically all of us, or at least most of us,do err. Do you show me, therefore, how your79