Concept
Enchiridion of Epictetus
Overview
The Enchiridion or Handbook of Epictetus (Ancient Greek: Ἐγχειρίδιον Ἐπικτήτου, Enkheirídion Epiktḗtou) is a short manual of Stoic ethical advice compiled by Arrian, a 2nd-century disciple of the Greek philosopher Epictetus. Although the content is mostly derived from the Discourses of Epictetus, it is not a summary of the Discourses but rather a compilation of practical precepts. Eschewing metaphysics, Arrian focuses his attention on Epictetus's work applying philosophy to daily life. Thus, the book is a manual to show the way to achieve mental freedom and happiness in all circumstances.
The Enchiridion was well known in the medieval world and was specially adapted for use in Greek-speaking monasteries. In the 15th century it was translated into Latin, and then, with the advent of printing, into multiple European languages. It reached the height of popularity in the 17th century, in parallel with the Neostoicism movement.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
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As soon as writing came into fashion, wise men, or those who fancied themselves such, would naturally endeavour to increase the number of those established and respected maxims, and to express their own sense of what was either proper or improper conduct, sometimes in the more artificial form of apologues, like what are called the fables of Aesop; and sometimes in the more simple one of apophthegms or wise sayings…
Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
States what Enchiridion of Epictetus is; the author is tied to Enchiridion of Epictetus in the knowledge graph.
All the mortal and changeable beings which people the surface of the earth were formed by those inferior deities; for the revolutions of the heavenly bodies seemed plainly to influence the generation and growth of both plants and animals, whose frail and fading forms bore the too evident marks of the weakness of those inferior causes, which joined their different parts to one another. According to Plato and Timæus…
Adam Smith, The Essays of Adam Smith
States what Enchiridion of Epictetus is; the author is tied to Enchiridion of Epictetus in the knowledge graph.
XIX. But now we must give the likeness of this perfect orator and of this consummate eloquence, and his very name points out that he excels in this one particular, that is to say, in oratory and that other eminent qualities are kept out of sight in him. For it is not by his invention, or by his power of arrangement, or by his action, that he has embraced all these points, but in Greek he is called [Greek: raetor]…
Marcus Tullius Cicero, The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 4
States what Enchiridion of Epictetus is.
Philosophers who discussed Enchiridion of Epictetus
Related ideas
- Edward Gibbon
- Epictetus
- Jesuits
- Latin
- Adam Smith
- Christians
- Metaphysics
- Stoicism
- Manichaeism
- Platonism
- Paganism
- Thomas Jefferson
- Aristotle
- Justus Lipsius
- Walt Whitman
- Benjamin Franklin
- Matteo Ricci
- Simplicius of Cilicia
- Scottish Enlightenment
- Poliziano
- Discourses of Epictetus
- Neostoicism
- Guillaume du Vair
- Nilus of Sinai
Place in the tradition
Part of Stoicism.