Epictetus, The Handbook, ed. Heinrich Schenkl, 53

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[1] ἐπὶ παντὸς πρόχειρα ἑκτέον ταῦτα·

ἄγου δέ μʼ, ὦ Ζεῦ, καὶ σύ γʼ ἡ Πεπρωμένη,
ὅποι ποθʼ ὑμῖν εἰμι διατεταγμένος·
ὡς ἕψομαί γʼ ἄοκνος· ἢν δέ γε μὴ θέλω,
κακὸς γενόμενος, οὐδὲν ἧττον ἕψομαι.

[2]

ὅστις δʼ ἀνάγκῃ συγκεχώρηκεν καλῶς,
σοφὸς παρʼ ἡμῖν, καὶ τὰ θεῖʼ ἐπίσταται.

[3] ἀλλʼ, ὦ Κρίτων, εἰ ταύτῃ τοῖς θεοῖς φίλον, ταύτῃ γενέσθω.

[4] ἐμὲ δὲ Ἄνυτος καὶ Μέλιτος ἀποκτεῖναι μὲν δύνανται, βλάψαι δὲ οὔ.

The Handbook. Epictetus. ed. Heinrich Schenkl. Leipzig. 1916.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by Tufts University.

Current edition Perseus

Ἐγχειρίδιον (Greek) (Epictetus. Epicteti dissertationes ab Arriano digestae, editio maior. Schenkl, Heinrich. editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1916.)

Translations (2)

The Encheiridion, or Manual Perseus (Epictetus. The Discourses of Epictetus, with the Encheridion and Fragments. Long, George, translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1887.) — 53 focus

In every thing (circumstance) we should hold these maxims ready to hand:

Lead me, O Zeus, and thou O Destiny,

The way that I am bid by you to go:

To follow I am ready. If I choose not,

I make myself a wretch, and still must follow.

But whoso nobly yields unto necessity,

We hold him wise, and skill’d in things divine.

And the third also: O Crito, if so it pleases the Gods, so let it be; Anytus and Melitus are able indeed to kill me, but they cannot harm me.³

The Enchiridion Perseus (Epictetus. The Works of Epictetus, His Discourses, in Four Books, the Enchiridion, and Fragments. Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, translator. New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons. 1890.) — 53 focus

Upon all occasions we ought to have these maxims ready at hand:—

Conduct me, Zeus, and thou, O Destiny,

Wherever your decrees have fixed my lot.

I follow cheerfully; and, did I not,

Wicked and wretched, I must follow still.

Cleanthes, in Diogenes Laertius, quoted also by Seneca, Epistle 107.- H.

Whoe’er yields properly to Fate is deemed

Wise among men, and knows the laws of Heaven.

Euripides, Fragments. —H. And this third:—

O Crito, if it thus pleases the gods, thus let it be.

Plato, Crito,17 -H.

Anytus and Melitus may kill me indeed; but hurt me they cannot.

Apology, 18. -H.

Epictetus The Handbook 53

ed. Heinrich Schenkl

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