Epictetus · c. 50 – c. 135 CE
Discourses 1.2 ¶5 — Epictetus
From “How a Man on Every Occasion Can Maintain His Proper Character”
Translation by George Long (1877)
Epictetus, Discourses 1.2 ¶5
What good then did Priscus do, who was only a single person? And what good does the purple do for the toga? Why, what else than this, that it is conspicuous in the toga as purple, and is displayed also as a fine example to all other things? But in such circumstances another would have replied to Caesar who forbade him to enter the senate, “I thank you for sparing me.” But such a man Vespasian would not even have forbidden to enter the senate, for he knew that he would either sit there like an earthen vessel, or, if he spoke, he would say what Caesar wished, and add even more.
Cite this passage
Epictetus, Discourses 1.2 ¶5, tr. George Long (1877)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/discourses/1.2.5
Epictetus, Discourses (as recorded by Arrian), tr. George Long (1877). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesOne person of integrity is like the purple stripe on a toga: conspicuous and an example to everything around it. Someone who would instead thank the ruler for sparing him would never have been forbidden anything, since such a man would sit silent like a clay pot or say whatever the ruler wanted.
Older wording
- “toga”
- — the Roman citizen's formal outer garment
- “earthen vessel”
- — a clay pot, silent and useless
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
- Courage
- Community and our duty to others
- Pride and humility
- An ethical dilemma
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