Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Epictetus was a celebrated Stoic philosopher of the Roman Imperial era. His precise dates of birth and death are not known, but the years 60 ce and 130 ce cannot be far off the mark. Born into slavery, he spent his youth as a slave in a powerful Roman household, and was freed only as a late teen or young adult. He became the student of Musonius Rufus, a Stoic philosopher who came from Roman nobility, but taught in Greek, as Epictetus did. He was exiled from Rome by the emperor Domitian, and lived the rest of his life in the Greek city of Nicopolis. The parallels between Socrates and Epictetus are striking: the following biographical precis could apply to either. A brilliant and celebrated talker, he wrote nothing. Nearly everything we know of him comes from the writings of a devoted student who depicted him in conversation with others. There are, at the same time, so many contemporary references to him from independent sources that there can be no doubt that he was an historical figure, and that he must have been roughly as the student portrayed him. He was notorious for his poverty and for the simplicity of his life. Young men were attracted to his evident moral integrity; his courage, honesty, modesty, and good cheer. His philosophical activities incurred official displeasure, which ended his philosophical career in his home city. A man of deep piety and unimpeachable moral ... log in or subscribe to read full text