Summary |
The Stoic philosopher Epictetus (c. 55 – c. 135 CE)
came originally from Asia Minor and was a slave in Rome under
Epaphroditus, one of Nero’s ministers. He attended the lectures of the Stoic
philosopher Musonius Rufus in Rome, at some point gained his freedom, and initially
lectured in Rome but fled in the wake of Domitian’s ban against philosophers
(c. 92-3 CE). He went on to found his own philosophical school in Nicopolis,
Greece, which attracted many famous visitors, including the emperor Hadrian. Epictetus is regularly referred to as the author of two works, the Dissertationes (Discourses)
and the Enchiridion (Handbook, Manual)
although they are in fact both are the work of his pupil Arrian, the noted historian.
The Dissertationes contains lively
records of discussions with students and visitors that supposedly took place in
Epictetus’s classroom, sometime around 108 CE. The Enchridion is a short summary distilling the central ideas found in
the Dissertationes. Four books of the
Dissertationes survive out of an
original eight or perhaps even twelve (cf. Photius, Bibliotheca cod. 58, who refers to eight books of discourses (Diatribai) and twelve books of
conversations (Homiliai); these could
be different titles for the same work), and there are a number of fragments
from the lost books preserved by other authors. |