Taoist DiaryAll 10 books

The Discourses of Epictetus

Attributed to
Epictetus
Translated by
George Long
Chapters
68

Public-domain translation by George Long, read aloud without rewriting.

Every chapter is free to read in Taoist Diary, with no account and no ads. Listening — the narrated chapters and the daily audio — is the subscription, at $1.99 a month.

Read it in the appThe other 9 books

How it opens

Of all the faculties (except that which I shall soon mention), you will find not one which is capable of contemplating itself, and, consequently, not capable either of approving or disapproving. How far does the grammatic art possess the contemplating power? As far as forming a judgment about what is written and spoken. And how far music? As far as judging about melody. Does either of them then contemplate itself? By no means.

The Discourses of Epictetus · Of the Things which are in Our Power and not in Our Power · translated by George Long

Before you start

Is The Discourses of Epictetus free to read?
Yes — all 68 chapters, with no account and no ads. George Long's translation is out of copyright worldwide, so there is nothing to buy in order to read it. The paid part of Taoist Diary is listening: the narrated chapters and the daily audio, at $1.99 a month.
Which translation is this?
George Long's. It is not modernised, paraphrased or trimmed — the sentences are his. Where his wording is unusual, that is the translation, not an edit.
How long is it?
68 chapters, listed in full below — Of the Things which are in Our Power and not in Our Power through Against or to Those who Readily Tell Their Own Affairs. Most are short enough to read in a sitting, which is how the app serves them: one at a time, one a day.

The 68 chapters

  1. 1Of the Things which are in Our Power and not in Our Power
  2. 2How a Man on Every Occasion Can Maintain His Proper Character
  3. 3How a Man Should Proceed from the Principle of God Being the Father of All Men to the Rest
  4. 4Of Progress or Improvement
  5. 5Against the Academics
  6. 6Of Providence
  7. 7How from the Fact that we are Akin to God a Man May Proceed to the Consequences
  8. 8Of Contentment
  9. 9How Everything May be Done Acceptably to the Gods
  10. 10What Philosophy Promises
  11. 11That we Ought not to be Angry with the Errors (faults) of Others
  12. 12How we Should Behave to Tyrants
  13. 13Against Those who Wish to be Admired
  14. 14On Præcognitions
  15. 15How we Should Struggle with Circumstances
  16. 16On the Same
  17. 17In How Many Ways Appearances Exist, and what Aids we Should Provide Against Them
  18. 18That we Ought not to be Angry with Men; and what are the Small and the Great Things Among Men
  19. 19On Constancy (or Firmness)
  20. 20That Confidence (courage) is not Inconsistent with Caution
  21. 21Of Tranquillity (freedom from Perturbation)
  22. 22How Magnanimity is Consistent with Care
  23. 23Of Indifference
  24. 24How we Ought to Use Divination
  25. 25That When we Cannot Fulfil that which the Character of a Man Promises, we Assume the Character of a Philosopher
  26. 26How we May Discover the Duties of Life from Names
  27. 27What the Beginning of Philosophy is
  28. 28Of Disputation or Discussion
  29. 29On Anxiety (solicitude)
  30. 30To Naso
  31. 31To or Against Those who Obstinately Persist in what They Have Determined
  32. 32That we do not Strive to Use Our Opinions About Good and Evil
  33. 33How we Must Adapt Preconceptions to Particular Cases
  34. 34How we Should Struggle Against Appearances
  35. 35Of Inconsistency
  36. 36On Friendship
  37. 37On the Power of Speaking
  38. 38To (or Against) a Person who Was One of Those who Were not Valued (esteemed) by Him
  39. 39That Logic is Necessary
  40. 40Of Finery in Dress
  41. 41In what a Man Ought to be Exercised who Has Made Proficiency; and that we Neglect the Chief Things
  42. 42What is the Matter on which a Good Man Should be Employed, and in what we Ought Chiefly to Practise Ourselves
  43. 43Miscellaneous
  44. 44To the Administrator of the Free Cities who Was an Epicurean
  45. 45To a Certain Rhetorician who Was Going Up to Rome on a Suit
  46. 46In what Manner we Ought to Bear Sickness
  47. 47About Exercise
  48. 48What Solitude is, and what Kind of Person a Solitary Man is
  49. 49Certain Miscellaneous Matters
  50. 50That we Ought to Proceed with Circumspection to Everything
  51. 51That we Ought with Caution to Enter Into Familiar Intercourse with Men
  52. 52On Providence
  53. 53About Cynicism
  54. 54That we Ought not to be Moved by a Desire of Those Things which are not in Our Power
  55. 55To Those who Fall Off (desist) from Their Purpose
  56. 56To Those who Fear Want
  57. 57About Freedom
  58. 58On Familiar Intimacy
  59. 59What Things we Should Exchange for Other Things
  60. 60To Those who are Desirous of Passing Life in Tranquillity
  61. 61Against the Quarrelsome and Ferocious
  62. 62Against Those who Lament Over Being Pitied
  63. 63On Freedom from Fear
  64. 64To a Person who Had Been Changed to a Character of Shamelessness
  65. 65What Things we Ought to Despise and what Things we Ought to Value
  66. 66About Purity (cleanliness)
  67. 67On Attention
  68. 68Against or to Those who Readily Tell Their Own Affairs

More Stoicism in the library