“How often did you boast that you could face death at any rate with a quiet mind!”
Will you realize once for all that it is not death that is the source of all man’s evils, and of a mean and cowardly spirit, but rather the fear of death? Against this fear then I would have you discipline yourself; to this let all your reasonings, your lectures, and your trainings be directed; and then you will know that only so do men achieve their freedom. ~Epictetus
The title of this article is from the opening line of The Discourses of Epictetus, Chapter XXVI To Those Who Fear Want. (The headline and quote are also from that chapter). Epictetus had, as do all philosophers, a lot to teach us.
But I’m not mining for nuggets in his discourse so much as from the mythology about the manner of his death. For Continue…
