This episode of Stoicism On Fire kicks off an exploration of the powerful, poignant, and perennially inspiring Encheiridion of Epictetus. The fifty-three chapters of this Stoic handbook will provide the primary content and plan for this exploration of Stoic theory and practice. However, I will incorporate other Stoic texts and the insights of scholars when it’s appropriate for the subject at hand. In this introductory episode, I will provide some background on the Encheiridion. Then, in the next episode of Stoicism On Fire, we will begin the chapter-by-chapter exploration with the frequently quoted chapter one.
About the Encheiridion
Origin and Authorship
The Encheiridion, like the Discourses, was written by Flavius Arrian, who was a student of Epictetus and later became a public servant under Emperor Hadrian, and a respected historian. In a letter to Lucias Gellius, Arrian claims the Discoursesare “word for word” taken “as best I could” from the lectures of Epictetus.[1] The Encheiridion, frequently referred to as the Handbook, is a compilation of passages drawn from those Discourses. As a result, many of the chapters in the Encheiridion can be directly correlated to passages in the Discourses; those that cannot are likely from portions of the Discourses that are lost to us.
History
The Encheiridion, more so than the Discourses, has been the historical gateway into the thought of Epictetus. For example, Simplicius, a sixth-century Neoplatonist, wrote a commentary on the Encheiridion that served as an introduction to Neoplatonist philosophy. Additionally, as Christopher Gill notes in his introduction to the Robin Hard translation of Epictetus,
The Handbook was also adopted, with some modifications (including replacing the name of ‘Socrates’ with ‘St Paul’), by Christian monks, and used for centuries by the Eastern (Greek Orthodox) Church. Through Syriac Christian scholars, Epictetus’ thought spread to the Islamic East, influencing, for instance, the teaching on ‘dispelling sorrow’ by al-Kindī, a major figure in the study of Greek texts in ninth-century Baghdad.[2]
The fact that the Encheiridion served as the sole source of Epictetus’ teaching for many who are not otherwise interested in Stoicism produced a negative side effect. As W. A. Oldfather, the author of the Loeb Classical Library translations of Epictetus points out, the “necessary aridity and formalism” of this condensed version obscures “the more modest, human, and sympathetic aspects of [Epictetus’] character.”[3] Unfortunately, a compendium like this can easily create misunderstanding and result in unwarranted criticism of Epictetus’ thought. This brings up an excellent point. The Encheiridion is not a substitute for the Discourses of Epictetus. Instead, its passages should serve as reminders for those who are already familiar with Stoic teachings.
Purpose
According to Simplicius, Arrian wrote a letter to Messalenus that describes the Encheiridion as a “selection” of those passages from the Discourses that are “most timely and essential to philosophy, and which most stir the soul.” Simplicius further suggests:
The aim of [the Encheiridion]—if it meets with people who are persuaded by it, and do not merely read it but are actually affected by the speeches and bring them into effect—is to make our soul free, as the Demiurge and Father, its maker and generator, intended it to be: not fearing anything, or distressed at anything, or mastered by anything inferior to it.[4]
Because the Encheiridion was created to serve as a handy reminder of Epictetus’ teaching, I waited to address it on the Stoicism In Fire podcast until I covered the essentials of Stoic theory and practice. The Encheiridion is not a standalone text of Stoic doctrine. Instead, it serves to remind us about teachings with which students and practitioners of Stoicism should already be familiar. This podcast series will explore the Encheiridion with that in mind; therefore, I assume the listener is already familiar with basic Stoic doctrines and practices. If you are new to Stoicism, please take the time to listen to Stoicism On Fire podcast episodes 1 through 14 before proceeding. Those episodes will provide a foundation that will allow you to get the most out of this exploration of the Encheiridion.
How to Be Free
This series of podcasts will use A.A. Long’s translation of Encheiridion from his 2018 book, titled How to Be Free: An Ancient Guide to the Stoic Life. A. A. Long is one of the most, if not the most, respected Stoic scholars of our time. His scholarship is always of the highest quality. Therefore, in deference to him, I will use the title Encheiridion instead of Handbook throughout this series and I will spell it, as Long does, with the additional “e” in the middle. I strongly encourage my listeners to purchase a copy of this book. This is an inexpensive hardbound book and is a worthy addition to the library of anyone who is studying and practicing Stoicism. As A. A. Long makes clear by his book title, freedom is a central theme in the teachings of Epictetus. On the front flap of the dust cover, Long writes:
Freedom, for Epictetus, is not a human right or a political prerogative but a psychological and ethical achievement, a gift we alone can bestow on ourselves.
This is consistent with his previous book on Epictetus, where he argues “Four principal concepts give Epictetus’ philosophy its unity and coherence: freedom, judgement, volition, and integrity.” On the principle of freedom, Long wrote:
FREEDOM, underwritten by the theology we have just observed, has nothing to do with liberty in a social or political sense. The freedom that interests Epictetus is entirely psychological logical and attitudinal. It is freedom from being constrained or impeded by any external circumstance or emotional reaction.[5]
We will see each of these four principles—freedom, judgement, volition, and integrity—during our exploration of the Encheiridion. However, freedom will be emphasized because that principle is pervasive in the teachings of Epictetus. This focus on freedom is likely because Epictetus was a slave before being freed and becoming a Stoic teacher. As a result of that experience, where his external circumstances were controlled entirely by the whims of his master, Epictetus developed a profound understanding and appreciation for true freedom, which is naturally free, unimpeded, and unconstrained (Ench. 1). As A.A. Long notes, for Epictetus:
Freedom, according to this notion, is neither legal status nor opportunity to move around at liberty. It is the mental orientation of persons who are impervious to frustration or disappointment because their wants and decisions depend on themselves and involve nothing that they cannot deliver to themselves.[6]
Epictetus reminds us that true slavery has nothing to do with chains, freedom of movement, or the ability to carry out one’s intentions. As a result, he teaches the slave how to be truly free while simultaneously reminding the free person they are enslaved by their desires and aversions. Nevertheless, as Long points out, this conception of freedom is not the invention of Epictetus.
According to Zeno, the original head of the Stoic school, freedom is the exclusive prerogative of those who are wise, while inferior persons, who comprise the majority of people, are not only fools but also slaves.[7]
Therefore, when Epictetus calls his students “slaves” in his lectures, he is not insulting them. Instead, he is reminding them their psyches are controlled by the puppet strings of desires and aversions just as much as the slave’s body is controlled by chains and whips. In other words, he is reminding his students they are not free; he is encouraging them to seek true freedom.
As Stoic practitioners, our goal during this exploration of the Encheiridion is to cut a few more of those puppet strings that bind us like chains to our desires and aversions. By doing this, we will make a little more progress along the Stoic path toward true freedom.
A.A. Long’s Stoic Values Diagram
The diagram below is from A.A. Long’s book, How to Be Free(pg. xxx). The first edition hardbound book included an ERRATA insert to correct this diagram. The version of the diagram below is a recreation that includes the correction.
| Goods | Bads | Indifferents |
| Essentially beneficial | Essentially harmful | Neither essentially beneficial nor harmful |
| up to us | up to us | not up to us |
| virtue, wisdom, happiness | faultiness, folly, unhappiness | e.g., poverty, wealth |
| mind dependent | mind dependent | not mind dependent |
| harmony with nature | disharmony with nature |
Glossary
A.A. Long provides a helpful glossary of terms in the back of his new book How to Be Free. I will provide those definitions as they are in his book. I will not provide a consolidated glossary like that from the book. Again, I encourage all of my listeners who intend to follow this series of podcasts on the Encheiridion to purchase a copy of Long’s excellent book.
Primary Sources
The following sources will be relied upon and quoted from during this exploration of the Encheiridion. Additional sources, if used, will be noted in the Stoicism On Fire episode where they are used.
Brennan, T., & Brittain, C. (2002). Simplicius: On Epictetus Handbook 1-26. Ithica, NY: Cornell University Press.
__________ (2002). Simplicius: On Epictetus’ Handbook 27-53. Ithica, NY: Cornell University Press.
Dobbin, R. (1998). Epictetus: Discourses, Book 1. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
Hard, R. (2014). Epictetus: Discourses, Fragments, Handbook. (C. Gill, Ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Long, A. A. (2002). Epictetus: A Stoic and Socratic Guide to Life. New York: Oxford University Press.
Long, A. (2018). How to Be Free: An Ancient Guide to the Stoic Life. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Oldfather, W. A. (1925). Epictetus: Discourses, Books 1-2. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Oldfather, W. A. (1928). Epictetus: Discourses, Books 3-4. The Encheiridion.Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
Scaltsas, T., & Mason, A. S. (Eds.). (2007). The Philosophy of Epictetus. New York: Oxford University Press.
Seddon, K. (2005). Epictetus’ Handbook and the Tablet of Cebes: Guides to Stoic living. London; New York: Routledge.
ENDNOTES:
[1] Oldfather, W. A. (1925). Epictetus: Discourses, Books 1-2. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, p. 5
[2] Hard, R. (2014). Epictetus: Discourses, Fragments, Handbook. (C. Gill, Ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press, p. xxv
[3] Oldfather, W. A. (1928). Epictetus: Discourses, Books 3-4. The Encheiridion.Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, p. 479
[4] Brennan, T., & Brittain, C. (2002). Simplicius: On Epictetus Handbook 1-26. Ithica, NY: Cornell University Press, p. 37
[5] Long, A. A. (2002). Epictetus: A Stoic and Socratic Guide to Life. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 26
[6] Long, A. (2018). How to Be Free: An Ancient Guide to the Stoic Life. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, p. x
[7] Long, 2018, p. xvii
