Chapter 47

Don’t Boast About Practicing Austerities

This continues the theme of avoiding ostentation from the previous chapter. Austerities especially form part of the Cynic ideal, but Epictetus discourages excessive forms of asceticism.

εὐτελῶς ἡρμοσμένος ᾖς: “you have adapted yourself simply,” i.e. to a simple life. > ἁρμόζω, 2 sg. perf. pass. periphrastic subj. (S. 599d)

καλλωπίζου: 2 sg. pres. mid. imper.

μήδ᾽: the negative governs λέγε.

ἐκ πάσης ἀφορμῆς: “on every occasion”

σαυτῷ καὶ μὴ τοῖς ἔξω: Supply ἄσκει (imper.) as the verb. “Do it for yourself and not for an audience” (Smith 2014).

μὴ τοὺς ἀνδριάντας περιλάμβανε: embracing statues in wintertime was a form of asceticism, see Diss. 3.12.2 and 4.5.14. Also see Diogenes Laertius 6.23, where Diogenes of Sinope, founder of the Cynic school, was said to do this. While Diogenes is for the most part a model for Epictetus, here he is an example of excessive asceticism.

διψῶν: conditional or temporal, “if/when you are thirsty”

ἐπίσπασαι: 2 sg. aor. mid. imper.

ἔκπτυσον καὶ μηδενὶ εἴπῃς: in Diss. 3.12.17 this odd advice is attributed to a certain Apollonius, presumably Apollonius of Tyana the Neopythagorean philosopher. εἴπῃς: 2 sg. aor. act. subj. prohibitory subjunctive (G. 473; S. 1840b).