Epictetus Discourse Books 1 and 2 (Loeb Classical Library, No 131)

Rating:
Summary: As others have noted.....
Review: reading and understanding the Discourses is not difficult. The points are driven home time after time, with one excellent example after another. There is so much common sense wisdom in these pages that you will find yourself constantly stopping to examine a passage and easily applying it to a situation in your own life.
But as has been said many times, living the Discourses is really tough. As you apply the lessons, if you are anything like me, you will find yourself saying, "Well, there's another way I screw up in life."
But what the hell? You know yourself better as a person and you will also constantly find yourself saying, "That is something that is not in my control, now lets see if I can control the way I respond to what has happened."
I started reading Epictitus shortly after reading "A Man in Full" by Tom Wolfe. I love the notion that we find ourselves in these little prisons, (usually of our own making,) but the door is always open. If we choose to leave, nothing can stop us. But if we choose to stay, well then stop bitching and just get on with it.

Rating:
Summary: Not just the Discourses
Review: This is volume one of a two volume set. The second volume is "Epictetus : Discourses, Books 3 and 4 (Loeb Classical Library, No 218)". The contents for both volumes are as follows:

VOLUME I:

Introduction (editors)

Bibliography

Symbols

Discourses, Book I

Discourses, Book II

Index

VOLUME II:

Discourses, Book III

Discourses, Book IV

Fragments

Encheiridion

The first thing worth noting is that although the titles of the volume refer to just the Discourses, the set is really a complete set of extant works, including fragments from other sources as well as a complete copy of the Encheiridion.

As is typical for the Loeb classical library books, the volumes are physically small, and the original text (Greek, for Epictetus) is given on the left hand page, with the English translation on the right.

The Introduction gives a brief biography of Epictetus and background information concerning Stoic philosophy. The Bibliography (which contains an update note from the original 1925 edition) gives the state of Epictetus scholarship. In the actual texts, footnotes are abundant and explain unfamiliar names, places, difficulties with translation, uncertainties about the source text, and Epictetus' quotes from earlier writers are more fully referenced. In summation, the background material supplied with these books is excellent.

As for the texts themselves, they were not actually written by Epictetus, but were notes taken by Arrian, one of his students (not unlike the Nicomachean Ethics, which were notes taken by a student of Aristotle). The Discourses are quite lively in style; Epictetus' personality and teaching style comes through vividly. This is not true of the Encheiridion, which Arrian abstracted from the Discourses and which had the life wrung out of it in the process.

The Discourses are not a well-organized body of work, as their origin might suggest. They are repetitive, and points that should have been grouped together logically are dispersed throughout.

The content is almost entirely ethical. Epictetus emphasizes the spark of divinity within man - that a man should always behave honourably. External things, such as wealth and power, are not things to be valued - they can be lost at any time, and are not worth a man's honour. Because his teachings are ethical, Epictetus is not concerned with what a man knows, but how he lives. The point isn't to understand his philosophy (which isn't hard), but to live it (which is).

Rating:
Summary: Not just the Discourses
Review: This is volume one of a two volume set. The second volume is "Epictetus : Discourses, Books 3 and 4 (Loeb Classical Library, No 218)". The contents for both volumes are as follows:

VOLUME I:

Introduction (editors)

Bibliography

Symbols

Discourses, Book I

Discourses, Book II

Index

VOLUME II:

Discourses, Book III

Discourses, Book IV

Fragments

Encheiridion

The first thing worth noting is that although the titles of the volume refer to just the Discourses, the set is really a complete set of extant works, including fragments from other sources as well as a complete copy of the Encheiridion.

As is typical for the Loeb classical library books, the volumes are physically small, and the original text (Greek, for Epictetus) is given on the left hand page, with the English translation on the right.

The Introduction gives a brief biography of Epictetus and background information concerning Stoic philosophy. The Bibliography (which contains an update note from the original 1925 edition) gives the state of Epictetus scholarship. In the actual texts, footnotes are abundant and explain unfamiliar names, places, difficulties with translation, uncertainties about the source text, and Epictetus' quotes from earlier writers are more fully referenced. In summation, the background material supplied with these books is excellent.

As for the texts themselves, they were not actually written by Epictetus, but were notes taken by Arrian, one of his students (not unlike the Nicomachean Ethics, which were notes taken by a student of Aristotle). The Discourses are quite lively in style; Epictetus' personality and teaching style comes through vividly. This is not true of the Encheiridion, which Arrian abstracted from the Discourses and which had the life wrung out of it in the process.

The Discourses are not a well-organized body of work, as their origin might suggest. They are repetitive, and points that should have been grouped together logically are dispersed throughout.

The content is almost entirely ethical. Epictetus emphasizes the spark of divinity within man - that a man should always behave honourably. External things, such as wealth and power, are not things to be valued - they can be lost at any time, and are not worth a man's honour. Because his teachings are ethical, Epictetus is not concerned with what a man knows, but how he lives. The point isn't to understand his philosophy (which isn't hard), but to live it (which is).

Rating:
Summary: Taking control of your life
Review: This volume and its companion, listed as Discourses Books 3 and 4, are actually what survives of one work written almost 1900 years ago: the historian Arrian's recording of what he learned from his study with the premier Stoic philosopher of antiquity, Epictetus. The Discourses are, quite simply, a collection of some of the most down-to-earth, practical, beneficial teachings ever spoken: understanding what Epictetus said is easy; he is a lucid and forthright instructor: putting his teachings into practice is the difficulty. But the struggle is worthwhile: practicing Stoicism is not "a denial of the self", but rather a freeing of the self from the dictatorship of things beyond our control. Epictetus teaches us how to see the world as it really is; how to see ourselves as we really are; and to understand how we can live at peace within chaos. [More information under my review of the Everyman's Library edition.