Epictetus · c. 50 – c. 135 CE
Discourses 3.22 ¶14 — Epictetus
From “About Cynism”
Translation by George Long (1877)
Epictetus, Discourses 3.22 ¶14
If you please, ask me also if a Cynic shall engage in the administration of the state. Fool, do you seek a greater form of administration than that in which he is engaged? Do you ask if he shall appear among the Athenians and say something about the revenues and the supplies, he who must talk with all men, alike with Athenians, alike with Corinthians, alike with Romans, not about supplies, nor yet about revenues, nor about peace or war, but about happiness and unhappiness, about good fortune and bad fortune, about slavery and freedom? When a man has undertaken the administration of such a state, do you ask me if he shall engage in the administration of a state? Ask me also if he shall govern (hold a magisterial office); again I will say to you: Fool, what greater government shall he exercise than that which he exercises now?
Cite this passage
Epictetus, Discourses 3.22 ¶14, tr. George Long (1877)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/discourses/3.22.14
Epictetus, Discourses (as recorded by Arrian), tr. George Long (1877). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesA Cynic does not need to enter politics, because his work is more basic than budgets or war: he talks to people everywhere about happiness, fortune and freedom. Guiding people toward a good life is itself a kind of government.
Older wording
- “revenues”
- — government income
- “magisterial office”
- — a position as a public official
Themes and situations
- Duty and roles
- Community and our duty to others
- Leadership and power
- Virtue and character
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