Chapter 24

Honor Does Not Depend on Another or Externals

Epictetus argues against people who think that they will live in dishonor if they do not do certain things, such as hold political office or get invited to a feast. These are all linked to our honor and reputation (δόξα), which the Stoics regarded as outside of any individual's control. Nevertheless, in the second sentence, Epictetus states that ἀτιμία is an evil, something that should be in your control. But, as Boter has pointed out, the Stoics also acknowledge that virtue brings honor, while evil brings dishonor; furthermore, this honor and dishonor do not depend upon the opinion of others, but on your opinion of yourself. Within the context of the passage, virtue consists of being trustworthy and self-respecting. You must live up to your expectations or standards in acting and thinking in order to be trustworthy and have self-respect in your own eyes. On this topic, see the excellent article of R. Kamtekar, “Αἰδώς in Epictetus,” Classical Philology 93 (1998): 136–60.

24.1

θλιβέτωσαν: > θλίβω, 3 pl. pres. act. imper.; -τωσαν appears instead of -ντων in later Greek prose, after Thucydides (S. 466.3).

διαβιώσομαι ... οὐδεὶς οὐδαμοῦ: “I will live ... as a nobody everywhere.”

οὐ μᾶλλον ἢ: “any more than”

αἰσχρῷ: “disgrace”

μή … σόν ἐστιν ἔργον: μή introduces a question that implies a negative answer (G. 488a; S. 2651): “it’s not your job ... is it?”

τυχεῖν: > τυγχάνω, aor. act. infin.

παραληφθῆναι: > παραλαμβάνω, aor. pass. infin., “to be invited”

ἔσῃ: > εἰμί, 2 sg. fut. ind.

ὅν: accusative object of δεῖ. The antecedent is the implied subject “you” of the verb ἔσῃ.

πλείστου ἀξίῳ: “worth most,” “of highest importance” in the community; ἀξίῳ is dat. agreeing with the preceding σοι; πλείστου is gen. of price or value (G. 513; S. 1336–37).

24.2

τί λέγεις τὸ ἀβοήθητοι: “What do you mean, ‘helpless?’” τό indicates a quotation.

δοῦναι: > δίδωμι, aor. act. infin.

ἃ μὴ ἔχει αὐτός: the antecedent of the relative has been omitted (G. 614; S. 2509); “(that) which.” Since the antecedent is indefinite, the negative is μή (G. 617 [first example]; S. 2506).

24.3

κτῆσαι οὖν ... ἵνα καὶ ἡμεῖς ἔχωμεν: supply κερμάτιον: “then go get rich so that we can have (a little something), too!” (Smith 2014). κτῆσαι > κτάομαι, 2 sg. aor. mid. imper.

δείκνυε: > δείκνυμι, 2 sg. pres. act. imper. Both δείκνυ (S. 418) and δείκνυε (S. 746a) are valid imperative forms.

ἀπολέσαι: > απόλλυμι, aor. act. infin.

περιποιήσησθε: > περιποιέω, 2 pl. aor. mid. subj. in a purpose clause (G. 642; S. 2196).

καὶ μή … ἀξιοῦτε: “do not expect me to do those things (ἐκεῖνά = τὰ μὴ ἀγαθά), through which I will lose these very things (αὐτὰ ταῦτα = τὰ ἀγαθά).” πράσσειν = πράττειν (-ττω appears as -σσω in Ionic and later Attic [S. 513]).

24.4

ὄσον ἐπ᾽ ἐμοί: “as much as it is in my power” = “insofar as I do help (the state)”

πάλιν: “on the other hand,” “and yet”

βοήθειαν: supple λέγεις: “what (sort of) help do you mean?”

καὶ τί τοῦτο: “what is this?” “what does this amount to?” “so what?”

ἐκπληρώσῃ: > ἐκπληρόω, 3 sg. aor. act. subj. in a present general condition (G. 650; S. 2295.1)

εἰ ... κατασκεύαζες ... ὠφέλεις: a rhetorical question, expecting (and receiving) the answer “yes”: “wouldn’t you be helping ... if you furnished?” The verbs are imperfect indicative, as in a contrary to fact conditional. οὐδὲν: “in some way.”

οὐκοῦν οὐδὲ σὺ αὐτὸς ἀνωφελὴς ἂν εἴης αὐτῇ: οὐκοῦν draws an inference (like οὖν) and asserts a negative (like οὐκ), which is reinforced by οὐδὲ. “Then you yourself would not at all be useless to it (the city).” εἴης: > εἰμί. The opt. reiterates the apodosis of the previous condition.

24.5

τίνα: with χώραν: “what place?” “what role?”

ἣν ἂν δύνῃ: “whatever (place) you can (have).” Understand χώραν as antecedent of the relative. δύνῃ: > δύναμαι, 2 sg. aor. dep. subj., in a relative clause with an indefinite antecedent (G. 616a; S 2506)

φυλάττων: the participle is conditional in force, “if you guard,” “so long as you maintain.”

τὸν πιστὸν καὶ αἰδήμονα: “the trustworthy and respectable person (that you are)”

εἰ δὲ ἐκείνην … τί ὄφελος ἂν αὐτῇ γένοιο ἀναιδὴς: here the protasis has a future indicative in the proposition and, instead of the imperative, the optative and ἄν in the apodosis, asking rhetorically what the student is capable of if the proposition holds. γένοιο: > γίγνομαι, 2 sg. aor. dep. opt.

ἀποτελεσθείς: > ἀποτελέω, aor. pass. part. nom. sg. masc., “having become”