The Library of Liberal Arts
OSKAR PIEST, General Editor
[NUMBER EIGHT]
EPICTETUS
The Enchiridion
The Enchiridion
By
EPICTETUS
Translated by
THOMAS W. HIGGINSON
With an Introduction by
ALBERT SALOMON
Professor of Sociology
New School for Social Research
THE LIBERAL ARTS PRESS
NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT, 1948
THE LIBERAL ARTS PRESS, INC.
First Edition, October, 1948
Reprinted
December, 1950; August, 1954
Second Edition, November, 1955
Published at 153 West 72nd Street, New York 23, N. Y.
Printed in the United States of America
NOTE ON THE TEXT
The text of the second edition is a reprint of the firstedition except for a few minor corrections in style, punctuation,and spelling, which have been revised to conform tocurrent American usage.
The editorial staff of the publishers has added a few explanatorynotes which are set in brackets and marked “Ed.”
O.P.
INTRODUCTION
The little book by Epictetus called Enchiridion or “manual”has played a disproportionately large role in the rise ofmodern attitudes and modern philosophy. As soon as it hadbeen translated into the vernacular languages, it became abestseller among independent intellectuals, among anti-Christianthinkers, and among philosophers of a subjectivecast. Montaigne had a copy of the Enchiridion among hisbooks. Pascal violently rejected the megalomaniac pride ofthe Stoic philosopher. Frederick the Great carried the bookwith him on all campaigns. It was a source of inspiration andencouragement to Anthony, Earl of Shaftesbury, in the seriousillness which ended only in his death; many pages of hisdiaries contain passages copied from the Enchiridion. It hasbeen studied and widely quoted by Scottish philosophers likeFrancis Hutcheson, Adam Smith, and Adam Ferguson whovalued Stoic moral philosophy for its reconciliation of socialdependency and personal independence.
That there was a rebirth of Stoicism in the centuries ofrebirth which marked the emergence of the modern age wasnot mere chance. Philosophical, moral, and social conditionsof the time united to cause it. Roman Stoicism had been developedin times of despotism as a philosophy of lonely andcourageous souls who had recognized the redeeming power ofphilosophical reason in all the moral and social purposes oflife. Philosophy as a way of life makes men free. It is the lastditch stand of liberty in a world of servitude. Many el