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petros
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Member Since Oct 2023
Location: Chicago
Posts: 4
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Default Oct 01, 2023 at 02:26 PM
 
I am Greek and have been reading Epictetus for decades. His collected words are available in one book. It's your dime but beware on line Stoic sites that charge you for access. Best to go to the library or buy a used Epictetus book. Call me a cynic (I'm Greek after all) but Epictetus never charged his students. Did you know he was born a slave in Nero's Rome? His two best pieces of advice are: it is only fitting that we spend our lives as philosophers which means determining what is the the right action in any given situation. And he advises that given a choice: life or death, life is the better one. However he does tell one pupil that for him, Epictetus, to lower himself to entertain Nero is not possible, and therefore in his world making a decision to entertain even at the threat of death is not a decision he can make, that death is the right action here. He also mentions that though others may be content to be ordinary, he wishes to be the "purple" that makes the garment beautiful. Enjoy...
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Thanks for this!
Discombobulated, Samicat, shovelhead