Discourses and Selected Writings (Classics)

by Epictetus

If I cherish my body, I make a slave of myself, if I cherish my property, I make a slave of myself; [24] because I’ve disclosed the means to make me captive.

‘Anytus and Meletus can kill me, but cannot harm me’?

‘Anytus and Meletus can kill me, but they cannot harm me.’

Diogenes says somewhere that one way to guarantee freedom is to be ready to die.

Frei lebt wer sterben kann.

We are responsible for some things, while there are others for which we cannot be held responsible. The former include our judgement, our impulse, our desire, aversion and our mental faculties in general; the latter include the body, material possessions, our reputation, status – in a word, anything not in our power to control.

This is the core principle of Stoicism.

If you would be free, then, do not wish to have, or avoid, things that other people control, because then you must serve as their slave.

‘Anytus and Meletus can kill me, but they cannot harm me.’