Tag: Epictetus

Ἀμήχανον ἦν μύξας μὴ ῥεῖν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τοιοῦτον ἔχοντος τὸ σύγκραμα· διὰ τοῦτο χεῖρας ἐποίησεν ἡ φύσις καὶ αὐτὰς τὰς ῥῖνας ὡς σωλῆνας πρὸς τὸ ἐκδιδόναι τὰ ὑγρά. ἂν οὖν ἀναρροφῇ τις αὐτάς, λέγω ὅτι οὐ ποιεῖ ἔργον ἀνθρωπικόν. ἀμήχανον ἦν μὴ πηλοῦσθαι τοὺς πόδας μηδὲ ὅλως μολύνεσθαι διὰ τοιούτων τινῶν πορευομένους· διὰ τοῦτο ὕδωρ παρεσκεύασεν, διὰ τοῦτο χεῖρας. ἀμήχανον ἦν ἀπὸ τοῦ τρώγειν μὴ ῥυπαρόν τι προσμένειν τοῖς ὀδοῦσι· διὰ τοῦτο “πλῦνον” φησίν “τοὺς ὀδόντας.” διὰ τί; ἵν’ ἄνθρωπος ᾖς καὶ μὴ θηρίον μηδὲ συίδιον. ἀμήχανον μὴ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἱδρῶτος καὶ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἐσθῆτα συνοχῆς ὑπολείπεσθαί τι περὶ τὸ σῶμα ῥυπαρὸν καὶ δεόμενον ἀποκαθάρσεως· διὰ τοῦτο ὕδωρ, ἔλαιον, χεῖρες, ὀθόνιον, ξύστρα, νίτρον, ἔσθ’ ὅθ’ ἡ ἄλλη πᾶσα παρασκευὴ πρὸς τὸ καθῆραι αὐτό. οὔ· ἀλλ’ ὁ μὲν χαλκεὺς ἐξιώσει τὸ σιδήριον καὶ ὄργανα πρὸς τοῦτο ἕξει κατεσκευασμένα καὶ τὸ πινάκιον αὐτὸς σὺ πλυνεῖς, ὅταν μέλλῃς ἐσθίειν, ἐὰν μὴ ᾖς παντελῶς ἀκάθαρτος καὶ ῥυπαρός· τὸ σωμάτιον δ’ οὐ πλυνεῖς οὐδὲ καθαρὸν ποιήσεις; — “διὰ τί;” φησίν. — πάλιν ἐρῶ σοι· πρῶτον μὲν ἵνα τὰ ἀνθρώπου ποιῇς, εἶτα ἵνα μὴ ἀνιᾷς τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας.
(Arrian, Epict. Diatr. 4.11.9-14)

It is impossible that there should not be some flow of mucus from a human being, since he is constituted in the way that he is. For that reason, nature has created hands, and has made our nostrils themselves like tubes to carry away the fluids. So if anyone sniffs them up again, I say that he isn’t acting as is appropriate for a human being. It was impossible that our feet should not get muddy, or dirty at all, when we pass through filth of that kind; nature has thus provided us with water and with hands. It was impossible that some dirt should not get left behind on our teeth when we’ve eaten; and so nature says to us, “Clean your teeth.” Why? So that you may be a human being, and not a wild beast or a pig. It was impossible that through our sweat and the rubbing of our clothes, some uncleanness should not be left behind on our body and need to be cleaned off; for this reason, we have water, oil, hands, a towel, a scraper, and everything else that is used for cleaning the body. Not in your case? But a smith will remove the rust from his iron, and has tools made for that purpose, and you yourself will wash your plate before you eat, unless you’re irredeemably dirty and unclean; and yet when it comes to your poor body, you don’t want to wash it and make it clean? “Why should I?”, the man says. I’ll tell you again: in the first place, to act as is appropriate for a human being, and secondly, so as not to disgust those whom you meet. (tr. Robin Hard)

Διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ Ἀγριππῖνος τί ἔλεγεν; ὅτι “ἐγὼ ἐμαυτῷ ἐμπόδιος οὐ γίνομαι.” ἀπηγγέλη αὐτῷ ὅτι “κρίνῃ ἐν συγκλήτῳ.” — “ἀγαθῇ τύχῃ. ἀλλὰ ἦλθεν ἡ πέμπτη” (ταύτῃ δ’ εἰώθει γυμνασάμενος ψυχρολουτρεῖν)· “ἀπέλθωμεν καὶ γυμνασθῶμεν.” γυμνασαμένῳ λέγει τις αὐτῷ ἐλθὼν ὅτι “κατακέκρισαι.” — “φυγῇ,” φησίν, “ἢ θανάτῳ;” — “φυγῇ.” — “τὰ ὑπάρχοντα τί;” — “οὐκ ἀφῃρέθη.” — “εἰς Ἀρίκειαν οὖν ἀπελθόντες ἀριστήσωμεν.” — τοῦτ’ ἔστι μεμελετηκέναι ἃ δεῖ μελετᾶν, ὄρεξιν ἔκκλισιν ἀκώλυτα ἀπερίπτωτα παρεσκευακέναι. ἀποθανεῖν με δεῖ. εἰ ἤδη, ἀποθνῄσκω· κἂν μετ’ ὀλίγον, νῦν ἀριστῶ τῆς ὥρας ἐλθούσης, εἶτα τότε τεθνήξομαι. πῶς; ὡς προσήκει τὸν τὰ ἀλλότρια ἀποδιδόντα.
(Arrian, Epict. Diatr. 1.1.28-32)

Wherefore, what was it that Agrippinus used to remark? “I am not standing in my own way.” Word was brought him, “Your case is being tried in the Senate.” — “Good luck betide! But it is the fifth hour now” (he was in the habit of taking his exercise and then a cold bath at that hour); “let us be off and take our exercise.” After he had finished his exercise someone came and told him, “You have been condemned.” — “To exile,” says he, “or to death?” — “To exile.” — “What about my property?” — “It has not been confiscated.” — “Well then, let us go to Aricia and take our lunch there.” This is what it means to have rehearsed the lessons one ought to rehearse, to have set desire and aversion free from every hindrance and made them proof against chance. I must die. If forthwith, I die; and if a little later, I will take lunch now, since the hour for lunch has come, and afterwards I will die at the appointed time. How? As becomes the man who is giving back that which was another’s. (tr. William Abbott Oldfather)

Τὰ μέχρι νῦν ἀφῶμεν. ἀρξώμεθα μόνον, πιστεύσατέ μοι, καὶ ὄψεσθε.
(Arrian, Epict. Diatr. 2.19.34)

Let us let bygones be bygones. Only let us begin, and, take my word for it, you shall see. (tr. William Abbott Oldfather)