Work · Hellenistic, Roman & Late Antique
Enchiridion (Handbook)
Compiled by his pupil Arrian from his teaching: some things are in our control and others not.
Introduction
A short summary of Epictetus’ teaching in 53 brief sections, compiled by his pupil Arrian from the lectures he had recorded in the Discourses. The Greek title encheiridion means something held “in the hand”, a handbook, but also a dagger: a weapon to be kept ready for the moments when one needs it. It opens with the distinction between what is up to us and what is not and turns this into practical exercises, for instance reminding oneself, when kissing a child, that one is kissing a human being who can die. In late antiquity the Neoplatonist Simplicius wrote a commentary on it, and Christian monks adapted it as a rule of life.
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Connections
Taken up in
- Meditationsc. 175 · Marcus Aurelius
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