Epictetus

(in A. Grafton, G. Most, S. Settis, eds, The Classical Tradition

(Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2010), 319-20)
JOHN SELLARS
The slave-turned-Stoic philosopher Epictetus (ca. 50-130 CE) lectured at
Nicopolis in Western Greece around 100 CE. The Discourses that now
circulate under his name are prefaced with a letter from Arrian of
Nicomedia, who presents them as his lecture notes from Epictetus
classroom. The Handbook of Epictetus is Arrians epitome of the Discourses.
Although Stoicism declined in influence in late antiquity, Epictetus still
attracted readers. In the sixth century the Neoplatonist Simplicius devoted
an entire commentary to the Handbook and his compatriot Olympiodorus
mentions Epictetus in his commentary on Platos Gorgias. Their master
Damascius refers to someone as from the school of Epictetus, suggesting
that our Stoic still had his admirers.
Epictetus works continued to circulate in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Photius knew them, as did Arethas, Archbishop of Caeserea. It is possible
that the Handbook was one of the Greek philosophical texts translated into
Arabic during this period; passages echoing Epictetus have been found in
al-Kindis On the Art of Dispelling Sorrows.
Epictetus practical exercises for a moral life also found their Christian
admirers. Three adaptations of the Handbook were made for use in
monasteries and in one of these Epictetus references to Socrates are
replaced with references to Saint Paul.

The Renaissance brought Epictetus new readers. Niccol Perotti

translated Epictetus Handbook into Latin ca. 1450, along with the preface
from Simplicius commentary. A little later, in 1479, Angelo Poliziano also
translated the Handbook, and this was published in 1497. His translation
was accompanied by a prefatory letter to Lorenzo de Medici and a letter to
Bartolemo Scala in defence of Epictetus, and in both of these he makes
clear that he read Epictetus with the aid of Simplicius. Indeed, in the latter,
Poliziano attempted to make Epictetus more palatable to Scala by
suggesting that our Stoic fights boldly, using Platonic arguments as his
shield.
In the late sixteenth century the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci (15521610) produced a Chinese adaptation of the Handbook and argued that
Epictetus Stoicism was close in spirit to Confucianism. In Europe around
the same time Justus Lipsius argued that Stoicism could profitably be
combined with Christianity. As Seneca shaped the Neostoicism of Lipsius,
so Epictetus shaped the Neostoicism of Guillaume Du Vair, who translated
the Handbook into French and produced a number of treatises inspired by
his reading of Epictetus. Vair indeed claimed that his Moral Philosophy of
the Stoics was merely an attempt to rearrange Epictetus Handbook into a
more systematic form.
As Neostoicism exerted its influence, it soon found its critics. In his
Discussion with M. de Sacy, Blaise Pascal objected that Epictetus Stoicism
assumed far too much power for the individual. The Epictetean claim that
it is possible for us to have complete control over our happiness was, for
Pascal, wickedly proud. Although Epictetus may do much to attack the
vice of laziness, by denying the need for the grace of God he does not offer
a genuine path to virtue.

In the next century Anthony Ashley Cooper, Third Earl of Shaftesbury,

produced a series of notes inspired by Epictetus, posthumously published
under the title The Philosophical Regimen, while his scholarly annotations
on the text of Epictetus were included by John Upton in his 1741 edition of
Epictetus works. Shaftesburys own philosophy drew upon his admiration
of Epictetus, leading one commentator to proclaim him the greatest Stoic
of modern times.
As is true of the rest of Hellenistic philosophy, interest in Epictetus
declined during the nineteenth century, although Nietzsche acknowledged
him as one of the great moralists of antiquity, whose quiet slave nobility
compared favourably with Christian slave morality. More recently
Epictetus has benefited from a renewed scholarly interest in Hellenistic
philosophy.
BIBL.: Gerard Boter, The Encheiridion of Epictetus and its Three Christian
Adaptations (Leiden, 1999). A. A. Long, Epictetus (Oxford, 2002), esp. 259274. John Sellars, Stoicism (Berkeley, 2006), esp. 135-57. Michel Spanneut,
Permanence du Stocisme (Gembloux, 1973).