Epictetus · c. 50 – c. 135 CE
Discourses 4.11 ¶5 — Epictetus
From “About Purity (Cleanliness)”
Translation by George Long (1877)
Epictetus, Discourses 4.11 ¶5
For this reason the words of Xenocrates touched Polemon also, since he was a lover of beauty, for he entered (the room) having in him certain incitements (ἐναύσματα) to love of beauty, but he looked for it in the wrong place. For nature has not made even the animals dirty which live with man. Does a horse ever wallow in the mud, or a well bred dog? But the hog, and the dirty geese, and worms and spiders do, which are banished furthest from human intercourse. Do you then being a man choose to be not as one of the animals which live with man, but rather a worm, or a spider? Will you not wash yourself somewhere some time in such manner as you choose? Will you not wash off the dirt from your body? Will you not come clean that those with whom you keep company may have pleasure in being with you? But do you go with us even into the temples in such a state, where it is not permitted to spit or blow the nose, being a heap of spittle and of snot?
Cite this passage
Epictetus, Discourses 4.11 ¶5, tr. George Long (1877)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/discourses/4.11.5
Epictetus, Discourses (as recorded by Arrian), tr. George Long (1877). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesEven animals that live alongside people keep themselves clean, so a person who wants others to enjoy their company should wash and take care of their body, especially before sharing communal spaces. The story of Polemon is told to show how someone can have a real love of beauty but look for it in the wrong place.
Older wording
- “incitements”
- — sparks or inclinations that stir someone to action
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
- Self-discipline and habit
- Community and our duty to others
Quote cards
The opening line of this passage as an image, with its citation — for sharing or keeping.