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

BOOK II. xiv. i-8CHAPTER XIVTo NasoONCE when a certain Roman citizen * accompaniedby his son had come in and was listening to one ofhis readings j Epictetus said This : is the style of myteaching, and then lapsed into silence. But whenthe other requested to know what came next, hereplied Instruction in the technique of any art is:boring to the layman who has had no experience init. Now the products of the arts show immediatelytheir use towards the purpose for which they aremade, and most of them possess also a certainattractiveness and charm. For example, to stand byand watch the process by which a shoemaker learnshis trade is., indeed, not pleasant., yet the shoe isuseful and not an unpleasant thing to look at either.And the process of education in the case of acarpenter is especially tiresome to the layman whohappens to be watching, but the work which thecarpenter does shows the use of his art. You willfind the same much more true hi the case of music ;when someone istaking afor ifyou arc standing bylesson, the process of instruction will strike you asthe most unpleasant of all, yet the results of musicare sweet and pleasing to the ear of the layman.So also in our own case, we picture the work ofthe philosopher to be something like this : He shouldbring his own will into harmony with what happens,so that neither anything that happens happensagainst our will, nor anything that fails to happenfails to happen when we wish it to happen. Theresult of this for those who have so ordered the work37x2