Epictetus · c. 50 – c. 135 CE
Fragments 44 — Epictetus
Translation by George Long (1877)
Epictetus, Fragments 44
Whoever you are who wish to be not among the number of slaves, release yourself from slavery: and you will be free, if you are released from desire. For neither Aristides nor Epaminondas nor Lycurgus through being rich and served by slaves were named the one just, the other a god, and the third a saviour, but because they were poor and delivered Hellas (Greece) from slavery.
Cite this passage
Epictetus, Fragments 44, tr. George Long (1877)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/epictetus-fragments/44
Epictetus, Enchiridion and Fragments, tr. George Long (1877). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesIf you want to be free, free yourself from craving, since desire is the real master. The famous heroes Aristides, Epaminondas and Lycurgus earned their reputations as just, godlike and a saviour through poverty and through freeing Greece, not through wealth and a household of slaves.
Older wording
- “Hellas”
- — Greece
Themes and situations
- Freedom
- Desire and craving
- Virtue and character
- Wealth and poverty
- Money, status and wanting more
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