Reflection Of Epictetus

However, for a disabled slave in the Roman Empire, this attitude was what allowed him to stomach his life, and his options. Nowadays, a person with an injury, theoretically, has options to heal and possibly correct it. Epictetus did not. He also did not live in a society where basic human rights were exercised in the way we expect now. Stoic philosophy, for Epictetus, was a set of guidelines he could use to ‘roll with the punches’. Many other people, when in situations where they have very little control, have turned to Stoic, and specifically, Epictetus’, philosophy. James Stockdale was a prisoner of war in Vietnam. He endured years of torture and brutal conditions and survived because of Epictetus’ Stoic

Lucretius in “The Nature of Things” explains that there are only two entities that make up bodies in the universe: matter and void. Matter is ever-present and does not decay while the void is a nothingness that allows for motion and change. Marcus Aurelius in “Meditations” explains that matter and the soul are the components of the universe, with the soul in some sense filling the void. Lucretius’ “void” has a correlation to Aurelius’ “soul.” Both philosophers explain how the concept of the void is responsible and related to death, because it allows for disturbances to the balance within the being. Lucretius believes that the void is the cause of death, yet questions whether the soul travels with it. Aurelius questions how the soul can remain after death. Death is an abstract concept that Lucretius and Aurelius attempt to answer through matter and voids. Lucretius calls the void a nothingness, which is always empty, and matter a solid that is free of any void. Aurelius has an essence of somethingness to his void, the soul, and calls matter a static body. By adding the soul as a third component to reality, the Stoic Marcus Aurelius rejects the binary universe of Lucretius.

In the same way, Epictetus’ claim that men should not fear poverty is senseless in the socioeconomic context of 100 CE. Likewise, Epictetus’ life in poverty causes the philosopher to lose his authority as a speaker. For example, throughout the epistle, an almost arrogant and persecuting tone serves to ridicule the rich for their fates while simultaneously esteeming his own. Epictetus’ audience observes his argument collapses in itself as he unearths his own hypocrisy, “Wretch, are you so blind, and don’t you see the road to which the want of necessaries leads?—Well, where does it lead?—To the same place to which a fever leads, or a stone that falls on you, to death” (537). Moreover, Epictetus mentions a fever as killing people during the time of his writing this epistle—more reason to believe the rich had a valid reason to fear poverty and its deathly results. Accordingly, the fact of the rich fearing the poor is not shameful; in fact, this fear is only natural. A stoic such as Epictetus has the ability to accuse the rich of fearing the poor because he has nothing to fear, his entire life lurking at the nadir of the social hierarchy. He never had anything to lose. Men hold dear their luxuries; equally, Epictetus’ antagonizing tone only undertones his incapability to perceive losing

In the eyes of all the people, Oedipus was looked at as no better than a slave and was treated as no better than one as well. When being led by his older daughter Antigone after 20 years of exile from his homeland Oedipus and Antigone stumble upon the city of Colonus, a beautiful city governed by King Theseus. Oedipus entering the city in old rags, as a blind poor man is a contrast between Oedipus and the beauty of Colonus of which is easily revealed. (145). Here in the cities are where the Furies dwell. Those who commit severe sins, such as murder in Oedipus’ case, are pursued to these Furies. Oedipus, well aware that the Furies must punish him as an act of punishment from the gods, asks the chorus to tell him “their awesome names so I can pray to them.” (Sophocles 285). After all that Oedipus has suffered; after killing his own mother and having wed his mother, after being betrayed by his sons, after exile, after blinding himself so he would not have to look into the eyes of the horrors of life, “why is he merely not an obsessed and vindictive old man?” (Fitzgerald 148). Oedipus was and still is an intelligent man in the play, as wee see him going for the supreme importance of the

Have you ever acted out in retribution for something done to you? Some examples could be if you punched someone for intentionally kicking you, or if someone deliberately hurt the feelings of someone you love and you retaliated in kind. You probably thought the punishment you received for your actions was too harsh or lenient. Many factors went into the decision of what discipline you received for this act and some were fair while others probably were not. This is true for the actions of many people in Aeschylus’s Oresteia. In each of the three plays, someone is seeking vengeance for a wrong done unto them, someone they know/love, or both. For this paper, I will be focusing on the vengeance enacted by Clytemnestra, Orestes, and the Fates. The vengeance that each person enacted was deemed just or unjust depending on many factors including the people who were doing the judging. Vengeance in Aeschylus’s Oresteia is viewed through the social lens of the society that it was enacted in. This lens is made up of the popular values, beliefs, and social conventions of the period as well as the judge’s personal views and/or experiences. These factors (such as gender and relation to the victim, as well as the presence or absence of transgressions on the characters part) lead to different opinions about the guilt of the accused individual and the individual themselves. The view of vengeance in Aeschylus’s Oresteia is very subjective.

Born of different backgrounds, upbringings, and experiences, Epictetus and Seneca are Roman philosophers who outwardly appear very different. Epictetus spent most of his youth as a slave while Seneca was born into money and became a tutor of Nero. Although these two men seem to be very dissimilar, they each shared a common purpose in studying philosophy and teaching people on how to live well. Each suggested different paths for how to do so. Epictetus suggests in his book, The Discourses and The Enchiridion, that living a life in accordance with nature could be achieved by living moderately. Seneca suggests in his work, Letters from a Stoic, that a happy man is self-sufficient and realizes that happiness depends only on interior perfection. Despite the differences, both Epictetus and Seneca are considered Stoics because of their shared belief in the idea that character is the only guarantee of everlasting, carefree happiness. The world outside ourselves will never give us happiness, nor will it be responsible for our unhappiness. It doesn’t matter what’s happening outside ourselves, Epictetus and Seneca claim that the only thing that matters is how we interpret those events. Further evaluating Seneca’s, Letters from a Stoic and Epictetus’s, The Discourses and The Enchiridion, we will clearly be able to differentiate the two in their ideas and opinions regarding stoicism and the keys to living a well, happy life.

First off, Oedipus and his family had really rough times. Oedipus’ sons killed each other for the throne, his daughter killed herself, he killed himself, so it was a very weird family. To start off, Eteocles Oedipus’ son he was heroic because he saved his family and country from the enemies who tried to kill the people of Thebes. Eteocles of course saves them from the ruthless and ferocious Argive army. “Against our seven gates in a yawning ring the famished spears came onward in the night; but before his jaws were sated with our blood, or pine fire took the garland of our towers, he was thrown back, and as he turned, great Thebes no tender victim for his noisy power rose like a dragon behind him, shouting war.” This shows that the priest and chorus were talking about the war and how Thebes won at the end of the battle and Eteocles died with honor fighting for his country men and family. He was brave because he went into war against his own brother and he was not afraid that in the end of the battle he would probably kill his brother. “For God hates utterly The bray of bragging tongues; and when he beheld their

As Epictetus opens his handbook with the line, “Some things are up to us and some are not up to us,” a precedent is set for the entire following of the nature in his teachings (Hackett, 5). We are not merely an individual seeking something better in life, but an individual who can control his/her own path as long as we follow the context of staying true to ourselves and not wandering outside of our own capabilities. “Our bodies are not up to us, nor are our possessions, our reputations, or public offices, or, that is, whatever is not our doing,” is a prime example of what we cannot control, death being one of these (Hackett, 5). Our control is limited to what we can grasp and be in power of, and whatever is out of that reach should not be looked

The concern topic is an essay that concentrates on the fact of living a good life. It is from the reading of Epictetus, the strategy of good living could be introduced to the human being in this world. The teachings of Epictetus has based on the living a happy life such that the human beings are satisfied with their birth and their livelihood on the earth. His teachings mainly dealt with the happiness that is found from doing work and satisfying the life of the people from the earning.

The Epic represents some kind of order in the then chaotic experience of life. Represented in this line of progressive thought, where people are trying to make sense about their momentum in this progressive task of building a society which knew how to perceive itself only by means of myths and symbols.

Epictetus was a Greek Stoic philosopher who was credited with writing the famous quote “No great thing is created suddenly.” Stoicism is a form of ancient Greek philosophy that teaches self-control in order to overcome otherwise destructive moments. In 50 CE, Epictetus was born as a slave in Hierapolis, but in 130 CE, he passed away as one of the best-known philosophers. After being liberated from slavery in 68 CE, Epictetus began teaching Stoicism in Rome. Comparable to the “great thing” that was not created suddenly in Epictetus’ quote, Epictetus’ freedom from slavery was also not granted to him suddenly. Since Epictetus was a slave for eighteen years, he knew that it takes time for great things to happen.

Through his journey to Pylos and Sparta, Telemachus, who was born into a very privileged and high ranking family, learns how to use his inherited social status and connections for his own interests, which will help him mature into manhood. Telemachus was never old enough to remember what it was like when his father was around. Since Odysseus left, he has lived with his mom and nurse. However, for three years, he has been overwhelmed by suitors, who have taken over his house. Odysseus was never able to show Telemachus how to stand up for himself. Telemachus has been less than passive when going about doing things to get what he wants. When Athena comes and tells him that his father is going to come home, he realizes he has been ignoring what he knows is wrong, such as the suitors throwing parties every night, and that he needs to stop them. He doesn’t have any idea of how he is going to find his father when Athena comes, but he along his way finds that he has many resources and connections at hand that will allow him to find out what happened to his dad. Athena, disguised as Mentor, an old friend of Odysseus, encourages Telemachus to talk to Nestor. "Telemachus, no more shyness, this is not the time!/ We sailed the seas for this, for news of your father —// So go right up to Nestor...// Press him yourself to tell the whole truth:/ he'll never lie — the man is far too wise"(3.16-22) Here, Athena is encouraging Telemachus to be assertive, to get what the needs to know to find his father. Telemachus responds, "How can I greet him, Mentor, even approach the king?/ I'm hardly adept at subtle conversation./ Someone my age might feel shy, what's more,/ interrogating an older man."/ (3.23-27) He is intimidated. The irony is that he himself is of the higher class, and if Odysseus had been home, he would be accustomed to these interactions. This is Odysseus learning that he has high social status and can enjoy the privileges he was born with, such as being able to talk to the king. While there, Telemachus learns of the fate of the family of Agamemnon. Agamemnon came home to find his wife in love with Aegisthus, and together they kill him. Orestes, one of Agamemnon’s sons, avenges his father’s murder and kills

Another revealing example of irony intertwining with sight deals with Polyneices. Antigone pleads, begs Polyneices to relent of his hatred of Thebes and call off the war that will destroy so many men, but Polyneices refuses. Antigone cries, “Sweet brother! You go with open eyes to death!” (154)  This is a powerful condemnation, for Polyneices lacks vision in the sense that he cannot discern what is proper.  The Greeks must have considered the act of seeing an the interplay of the mental, spiritual and the physical. Divine sight reveals another aspect of the conceptions of Sophocles and the Greeks.  The gods were thought to have perfect sight.  The analysis of divine sight, the type of vision Sophocles considered admirable, should shed light on his intentions.  The eyes of the gods are unlike those of men; they deal primarily with the spiritual.  “Think: their

Born of different stations, languages and creeds, Epictetus and Seneca are Roman philosophers who externally appear to be very different. Epictetus was born to a slave mother, sold as a slave himself and spent the majority of his youth as a slave in Rome. Seneca was born into money; he became tutor to a boy named Nero who later acquired position of Emperor of Rome in 54 A.D. Though these two men seem to be from very different worlds, they have a shared purpose in studying philosophy. The purpose of their writings was to teach people how to live well. Though they had a shared purpose, they suggested its achievement through different means. Epictetus professed an ‘expect the worst so you wont be disappointed when it happens’

Epictetus was a Stoic philosopher who wrote, The Enchiridion, a manual which instructed people on how to live their life ethically and honorably on a social level. His belief was that regardless of personal conditions, people could live with pride and discipline. Epictetus tells us differentiating between what is in our own power to control and what is not is the key to a noble life (281).