Odnośniki
|
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
hate such a man? For the future, relying on these opinions, walk about
upright, free; not trusting to the size of your body, as an athlete,
for a man ought not to be invincible in the way that an ass is.
Who then is the invincible? It is he whom none of the things disturb
which are independent of the will. Then examining one circumstance
after another I observe, as in the case of an athlete; he has come
off victorious in the first contest: well then, as to the second?
and what if there should be great heat? and what, if it should be
at Olympia? And the same I say in this case: if you should throw money
in his way, he will despise it. Well, suppose you put a young girl
in his way, what then? and what, if it is in the dark? what if it
should be a little reputation, or abuse; and what, if it should be
praise; and what if it should be death? He is able to overcome all.
What then if it be in heat, and what if it is in the rain, and what
if he be in a melancholy mood, and what if he be asleep? He will still
conquer. This is my invincible athlete.
Chapter 19
How we should behave to tyrants
If a man possesses any superiority, or thinks that he does, when he
does not, such a man, if he is uninstructed, will of necessity be
puffed up through it. For instance, the tyrant says, "I am master
of all." And what can you do for me? Can you give me desire which
shall have no hindrance? How can you? Have you the infallible power
of avoiding what you would avoid? Have you the power of moving toward
an object without error? And how do you possess this power? Come,
when you are in a ship, do you trust to yourself or to the helmsman?
And when you are in a chariot, to whom do you trust but to the driver?
And how is it in all other arts? Just the same. In what then lies
your power? "All men pay respect to me." Well, I also pay respect
to my platter, and I wash it and wipe it; and for the sake of my oil
flask, I drive a peg into the wall. Well then, are these things superior
to me? No, but they supply some of my wants, and for this reason I
take care of them. Well, do I not attend to my ass? Do I not wash
his feet? Do I not clean him? Do you not know that every man has regard
to himself, and to you just the same as he has regard to his ass?
For who has regard to you as a man? Show me. Who wishes to become
like you? Who imitates you, as he imitates Socrates? "But I can cut
off your head." You say right. I had forgotten that I must have regard
13 of 15 7/14/2004 2:08 PM
http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/discourses.mb.txt
to you, as I would to a fever and the bile, and raise an altar to
you, as there is at Rome an altar to fever.
What is it then that disturbs and terrifies the multitude? is it the
tyrant and his guards? I hope that it is not so. It is not possible
that what is by nature free can be disturbed by anything else, or
hindered by any other thing than by itself. But it is a man's own
opinions which disturb him: for when the tyrant says to a man, "I
will chain your leg," he who values his leg says, "Do not; have pity":
but he who values his own will says, "If it appears more advantageous
to you, chain it." "Do you not care?" I do not care. "I will show
you that I am master." You cannot do that. Zeus has set me free: do
you think that he intended to allow his own son to be enslaved? But
you are master of my carcass: take it. "So when you approach me, you
have no regard to me?" No, but I have regard to myself; and if you
wish me to say that I have regard to you also, I tell you that I have
the same regard to you that I have to my pipkin.
This is not a perverse self-regard, for the animal is constituted
so as to do all things for itself. For even the sun does all things
for itself; nay, even Zeus himself. But when he chooses to be the
Giver of rain and the Giver of fruits, and the Father of gods and
men, you see that he cannot obtain these functions and these names,
if he is not useful to man; and, universally, he has made the nature
of the rational animal such that it cannot obtain any one of its own
proper interests, if it does not contribute something to the common
interest. In this manner and sense it is not unsociable for a man
to do everything, for the sake of himself. For what do you expect?
that a man should neglect himself and his own interest? And how in
that case can there be one and the same principle in all animals,
the principle of attachment to themselves?
What then? when absurd notions about things independent of our will,
as if they were good and bad, lie at the bottom of our opinions, we
must of necessity pay regard to tyrants; for I wish that men would
pay regard to tyrants only, and not also to the bedchamber men. How
is it that the man becomes all at once wise, when Caesar has made
him superintendent of the close stool? How is it that we say immediately,
"Felicion spoke sensibly to me." I wish he were ejected from the bedchamber,
that he might again appear to you to be a fool.
Epaphroditus had a shoemaker whom he sold because he was good for
nothing. This fellow by some good luck was bought by one of Caesar's
men, and became Caesar's shoemaker. You should have seen what respect
Epaphroditus paid to him: "How does the good Felicion do, I pray?"
Then if any of us asked, "What is master doing?" the answer "He is
consulting about something with Felicion." Had he not sold the man
as good for nothing? Who then made him wise all at once? This is an
instance of valuing something else than the things which depend on
the will.
Has a man been exalted to the tribuneship? All who meet him offer
their congratulations; one kisses his eyes, another the neck, and
the slaves kiss his hands. He goes to his house, he finds torches
lighted. He ascends the Capitol: he offers a sacrifice of the occasion.
Now who ever sacrificed for having had good desires? for having acted
conformably to nature? For in fact we thank the gods for those things
in which we place our good.
A person was talking to me to-day about the priesthood of Augustus.
I say to him: "Man, let the thing alone: you will spend much for no
purpose." But he replies, "Those who draw up agreements will write
any name." Do you then stand by those who read them, and say to such
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pldoc.pisz.plpdf.pisz.plblacksoulman.xlx.pl
|
