Epictetus · c. 50 – c. 135 CE
Fragments 81 — Epictetus
Translation by George Long (1877)
Epictetus, Fragments 81
You will do the greatest services to the state, if you shall raise not the roofs of the houses, but the souls of the citizens: for it is better that great souls should dwell in small houses than for mean slaves to lurk in great houses.
Cite this passage
Epictetus, Fragments 81, tr. George Long (1877)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/epictetus-fragments/81
Epictetus, Enchiridion and Fragments, tr. George Long (1877). Text: Standard Ebooks (CC0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesThe best service to your community is raising people's character, not building bigger houses. It is better for great-souled people to live in small homes than for petty, servile minds to hide in grand ones.
Older wording
- “lurk”
- — hide away
Themes and situations
- Leadership and power
- Community and our duty to others
- Simplicity and frugality
- Virtue and character
- Leading others
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