Men shut up tame lions in a cage, and bring them up, and feed them, and some take them around with them. And yet who will call such a lion free? Is it not true that the more softly the lion lives the more slavishly he lives? And what lion, were he to get sense and reason, would care to be one of these lions? Why, yes, and the birds yonder, when they are caught and brought up in cages, what do they suffer in their efforts to escape? And some of them starve to death rather than endure such a life, while even such as live, barely do so, and suffer and pine away, and if ever they find any opening, make their escape. Such is their desire for physical freedom, and a life of independence and freedom from restraint. And what is wrong with you here in your cage? "What a question! My nature is to fly where I please, to live in the open air, to sing when I please. You rob me of all this, and then ask, 'What is wrong with you?'"On advertising
Does a philosopher invite people to a lecture? Is it not rather the case that, as the sun draws its own sustenance to itself, so he also draws to himself those to whom he is to do good?On how to proceed
First, decide who you would be. Then, do what you must do.From Epictetus' Discourses Book IV, Chapter 1; Book III, Chapter 23; and Book III, Chapter 23, respectively. The first two quotes are from Oldfather's translation, and the third is from an unknown source. All four books can be found on Amazon (I-II, III-IV) and Internet Archive (I-II, III-IV).
/misc | Dec 27, 2008