COMMENT.
HE had said just before, that no Ominous Predictions Boded any ill to Men, except they brought the Evil upon themselves, because it is in the power of every one not to be Mi∣serable. And this Chapter I take to be a far∣ther
Epictetus his Morals, with Simplicius his comment made English from the Greek, by George Stanhope ...
About this Item
- Title
- Epictetus his Morals, with Simplicius his comment made English from the Greek, by George Stanhope ...
- Author
- Epictetus.
- Publication
- London :: Printed for Richard Sare ..., and Joseph Hindmarsh ...,
- 1694.
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- Subject terms
- Epictetus. -- Manual.
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"Epictetus his Morals, with Simplicius his comment made English from the Greek, by George Stanhope ..." In the digital collection Early English Books Online. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A38504.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 30, 2024.
Pages
Page 200
Prosecution of that Argument, and added by way of Proof and Confirmation to the for∣mer.
For it is in our own power, never to enter the Lists with any External Accidents, that is, so to restrain our Desires and Aversions, as not to concern our selves with them; for if we stake our Happi∣ness upon the Success of such an Encounter, we must needs retire with Loss; because such Desires will meet with frequent Disappointments, and such Aversions cannot always deliver us from the Dangers we fear. Let all our Combats therefore be consined to our selves, and such things as Nature hath put in the power of our own Wills; for whenyou strive with your own Desires, and Aversions, and Opinions, the Prize is in your own Hands, and you may rest secure of Danger or Disappointment. This he had shewn at large formerly, and this is in effect the same thing, as to say that a Man shall ne∣ver be vanquished, but always come off trium∣phantly.
And if this be true, then it is no less evi∣dently so, that it is in a Man's own Power ne∣ver to be Miserable: For he that is Miserable, is a Subdued Man; and if it depend upon one's own Choice, whether any Evil shall happen to him, then it must needs be in his own Breast too, whe∣ther any Omens or Predictions shall portend Ill to him. So that Epictetus had reason when he pronounced so peremptorily, that no inauspicious Events are signified to any Man, unless himself conspire to make them so: That is, unless he engage in such Disputes as he is not qualified for, and where the Victory is doubtful at least,