Discourses
Forthcoming The translation of this work is in preparation and will be published in the library.
Introduction
The Discourses are the classroom talks of Epictetus as recorded by his student Arrian; of eight books, four survive. The Handbook is only a digest of them; in the Discourses we hear Epictetus' own voice as he talks with students and visitors, stern one moment and humorous the next, using everyday examples, the bath, the banquet, the journey, illness, exile, to drive home a single lesson: some things are within our power and some are not, and freedom lies in caring only for the first. It is the liveliest and fullest textbook of Stoic philosophy.