Epictetus · c. 50 – c. 135 CE
Discourses 2.5 ¶3 — Epictetus
From “How Magnanimity Is Consistent with Care”
Translation by George Long (1877)
Epictetus, Discourses 2.5 ¶3
This is just what you will see those doing who play at ball skillfully. No one cares about the ball as being good or bad, but about throwing and catching it. In this therefore is the skill, in this the art, the quickness, the judgment, so that even if I spread out my lap I may not be able to catch it, and another, if I throw, may catch the ball. But if with perturbation and fear we receive or throw the ball, what kind of play is it then, and wherein shall a man be steady, and how shall a man see the order in the game? But one will say, “Throw;” or “Do not throw;” and another will say, “You have thrown once.” This is quarrelling, not play.
Cite this passage
Epictetus, Discourses 2.5 ¶3, tr. George Long (1877)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/discourses/2.5.3
Epictetus, Discourses (as recorded by Arrian), tr. George Long (1877). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesSkilled ball players do not treat the ball as good or bad; they care about throwing and catching well, even if it slips through their hands. Playing with fear and agitation, or arguing over every throw, turns the game into a quarrel, and the same applies to any task whose result is not wholly yours.
Older wording
- “perturbation”
- — emotional agitation
Themes and situations
- Peace of mind
- What is in our control
- Self-discipline and habit
- Fear of failure
- Nerves before a big moment
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