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

INTRODUCTIONfifty thousand copies had, at a recent date,, beensold, it may safely be asserted that more copiesof portions of his work have been printed in the lasttwo decades than ever existed all told from his ownday down to that time.In concluding one can hardly refrain from translatinga portion of the sincere and stirring passagein which Justus Lipsius, a great man and a distinguishedscholar, paid Epictetus the tribute of hishomage" :So much for Seneca ; another brilliant stararises, Epictetus, his second in time, but not inmerit ; comparable with him in the weight, if notin the bulk, of his writings ; superior in his life.He was a man who relied wholly upon himselfand God, but not on Fortune. In origin low andservile, in body lame and feeble, in mind mostexalted, and brilliant among the lights of everyageCfBut few of his works remain : the Encheiridion,assuredly a noble piece, and as it were the soulof Stoic moral philosophy;besides that, the Discourses,which he delivered on the streets, in hishouse, and in the school, collected and arrangedby Arrian. Nor are these all extant. But, so. , .help me God, what a keen and lofty spirit inthem ! a soul aflame, and burning with love of thehonourable ! There is nothing in Greek their like,unless I am mistaken ;I mean with such notablevigour and A fire. novice or one unacquainted withtrue philosophy he will hardly stir or affect, butwhen a man has made some progress or isalreadyfar advanced, it is amazing how Epictetus stirs himup, and though he isalways touching some tenderxxix