XXX

You must know that it is no easy thing for a principle to
become a man's own, unless each day he maintain it and hear it
maintained, as well as work it out in life.

XXXI

You must know that it is no easy thing for a principle to
become a man's own, unless each day he maintain it and hear it
maintained, as well as work it out in life.

XXXII


What then is the chastisement of those who accept it not? To
be as they are. Is any discontented with being alone? let him be
in solitude. Is any discontented with his parents? let him be a
bad son, and lament. Is any discontented with his children? let
him be a bad father.--"Throw him into prision!"--What prision?--
Where he is already: for he is there against his will; and
wherever a man is against his will, that to him is a prision.
Thus Socrates was not in prision, since he was there with his own
consent.

XXXIII

Knowest thou what a speck thou art in comparison with the
Universe?---That is, with respect to the body; since with respect
to Reason, thou art not inferior to the Gods, nor less than they.
For the greatness of Reason is not measured by length or height,
but by the resolves of the mind. Place then thy happiness in that
wherein thou art equal to the Gods.

XXXIV

Asked how a man might eat acceptably to the Gods, Epictetus
replied:--If when he eats, he can be just, cheerful, equable,
temperate, and orderly, can he not thus eat acceptably to the
Gods? But when you call for warm water, and your slave does not
answer, or when he answers brings it lukewarm, or is not even
found to be in the house at all, then not to be vexed nor burst
with anger, is not that acceptable to the Gods?
"But how can one endure such people?"
Slave, will you not endure your own brother, that has God to
his forefather, even as a son sprung from the same stock, and of
the same high descent as yourself? And if you are stationed in a
high position, are you therefor forthwith set up for a tyrant?
Remember who you are, and whom you rule, that they are by nature