Epictetus · Complete work
Chapter 14
Chapter 14 of 53. Read it here for reference, or continue through the entire work without leaving the reader.
Open the complete readerOriginal Ancient Greek
[14.1] ἐὰν θέλῃς τὰ τέκνα σου καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τοὺς φίλους σου πάντοτε ζῆν, ἠλίθιος εἶ· τὰ γὰρ μὴ ἐπὶ σοὶ θέλεις ἐπὶ σοὶ εἶναι καὶ τὰ ἀλλότρια σὰ εἶναι. οὕτω κἂν τὸν παῖδα θέλῃς μὴ ἁμαρτάνειν, μωρὸς εἶ· θέλεις γὰρ τὴν κακίαν μὴ εἶναι κακίαν, ἀλλʼ ἄλλο τι. ἐὰν δὲ θέλῃς ὀρεγόμενος μὴ ἀποτυγχάνειν, τοῦτο δύνασαι. τοῦτο οὖν ἄσκει, ὃ δύνασαι.
[14.2] κύριος ἑκάστου ἐστὶν ὁ τῶν ὑπʼ ἐκείνου θελομένων ἢ μὴ θελομένων ἔχων τὴν ἐξουσίαν εἰς τὸ περιποιῆσαι ἢ ἀφελέσθαι. ὅστις οὖν ἐλεύθερος εἶναι βούλεται, μήτε θελέτω τι μήτε φευγέτω τι τῶν ἐπʼ ἄλλοις· εἰ δὲ μή, δουλεύειν ἀνάγκη.
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from all 53 Ancient Greek chapters and 105 sections for fidelity, Stoic precision, clarity, structure, and cadence.
[14.1] If you wish your children, your wife, and your friends to live forever, you are foolish; for you wish things not under your control to be under your control, and things belonging to others to be your own. In the same way, if you wish your servant never to do wrong, you are a fool; for you wish vice not to be vice, but something else. Yet if you wish never to fail in attaining what you desire, that is within your power. Practice, then, what is within your power.
[14.2] The master of each person is whoever has the power to secure or take away the things that person desires or wishes to avoid. Whoever, then, wishes to be free must neither desire nor seek to avoid anything that is under the control of others; otherwise, he must necessarily be a slave.
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from all 53 Ancient Greek chapters and 105 sections.
[14.1] If you want your children, your wife, and your friends to live forever, you are foolish, for you want things that are not up to you to be up to you, and things that belong to others to be your own. In the same way, if you want your servant never to do wrong, you are a fool, for you want vice not to be vice but something else. But if you want never to fail in getting what you desire, that is within your power. Practice, then, what is within your power.
[14.2] Anyone who has the power to secure or take away the things another person wants or does not want is that person’s master. So whoever wants to be free must neither want nor avoid anything that is under the control of others. Otherwise, he is bound to be a slave.