Epictetus his Morals, with Simplicius his comment made English from the Greek, by George Stanhope ...

CHAP. LVIII.

As this Sentence, It is Day, and, It is Night, if you take it apart, is most true; but if you join it together, is absolutely false: So for a Man, at a publick Entertainment, to carve himself the best and greatest share; though if he consider his own Body singly, it might be well enough; yet in re∣gard of that Common Right which this In∣vitation gives to all that are present, it is most unbecoming and unreasonable. And therefore, when you eat abroad, remember that you are to look farther than the bare satis∣fying of your own Appetite; and to observe all that Decency and Respect, which is due both to the Company you are joined with, and to the Master of the House, that invi∣ted you.

COMMENT.

THe Stoicks are particularly nice and subtile in the illustrating and arguing from Hy∣pothetical Syllogisms: And these are of two forts, one that they call Disjunctive, the other Conjunctive or Complex. The Disjunctive are such as consist of contradictory parts, so that if one be true, the other must needs be false; and if the one be false, the other is as certainly true.

As for instance; when I say, It is either Day or Night, but it is Night, therefore it is not Day. Thus by affirming the one part, you deny the other; and by denying the one, you affirm the other: As when I make my Assumption thus; but it is not Day, and conclude from thence, therefore it is Night; or, but it is not Night, therefore it is Day. And such a Disjunctive Proposition as this, whose parts are inconsistent with one another, (as when we say, It is either Day or Night,) is received as an Axiom; that is, as a Truth self∣evident, such as is plain and agreeable to the Common Sense, and Notions of all Mankind. For such Propositions the Stoicks used to call Axioms.

Now a Complex Proposition consists of two Parts; but these such, as have a necessary con∣nexion with, and dependance upon one another, so that if one be allowed, the other follows in course; for which occasion they are very pro∣perly termed, the Antecedent and the Consequent. And the Condition of these Propositions is this; That if you affirm the Antecedent, you esta∣blish the Consequent; but if you deny the Con∣sequent, you overthrow the Antecedent at the same time. For instance, this is a true Conjun∣ction, If it be Day, it is not Night; because upon this Antecedent It is Day, the Assumption fol∣lows, But if it be Day it is not Night; so that putting this into one Complex Proposition, the Antecedent inferrs the Consequent; for thus you proceed, But it is Day, therefore it is not Night. And so likewise if you deny the Consequent, you deny the Antecedent also; as if you say, But it is not Night (which is as much as to

say that it is, for the two Negatives here make one Affirmative) therefore it is not Day. And this is the Case of a Conjunctive or Complex Proposi∣tion, and the Rule it proceeds upon.

Let us now see, what use Epictetus makes of this, and how he applies it to his present pur∣pose. This Proposition, It is either Day, or Night, in a disjunctive Syllogism, he tells us, carries its own Evidence along with it, and is un∣contestably true. But in a Conjunctive Syllo∣gism the case is much otherwise. For when these two parts are brought into one Complex Propo∣sition, then to affirm the one, we must deny the other; and the Sentence must of necessity run thus, If it be Day, it is not Night. Now then (says he) as this Disjunctive Proposition, in a Disjunctive Syllogism, is most true, because the whole Argument depends upon it, and all the stress lies in the opposition of the parts thus disjoined; but in a Complex Proposition it is most false, for the Conjunction is there torn a∣sunder, by the necessary insertion of the Nega∣tive Particle, If it be Day, it is not Night. So likewise at a publick Entertainment, however it may be for the Advantage of a Man's own Body to carve the best for one's self, and to scramble for the greatest share; yet this is absolutely in∣consistent with that Equity and Common Right of Humane Society at all such publick Meetings. For a Man is not here to look upon himself, as a Disjunctive, and to act as if he stood single; but to consider himself in conjunction with the rest of the Company, and to be guilty of no∣thing, that may break that Conjunction, by in∣fringing the Privileges that lie in common, and

eugrossing any such for his own private Inte∣rest.

When therefore you dine in Company (says he) do not regard the Cravings of your own Appetite, nor pick out the choicest part of the Dinner to gratifie your own Palate; but consider, that there is another Duty, besides what you owe to your own Body, and that is a Duty of mutual participation, and assuming no more, than what you are content to allow to others, who have indeed equal pretensions with your self.

Now nothing can be more manifest, than that by this instance of a Feast, Epictetus meant a great deal more than he hath expressed: And intended no doubt, that we should stretch this Rule to all the Affairs of Humane Life, that concern others as well as our selves, and to all our Commerce and Dealings with one another. For all gree∣diness and grasping at more than belongs to us, loosens and breaks the Bonds of Humane So∣ciety, which can never be maintained otherwise, than by allowing every body the share that is due to him. Of how great efficacy this is towards the uniting Men together, and making that union durable and strong, besides what common Ex∣perience teaches us, we have an instance, even in the worst and vilest Men. For the very Combi∣nations that Thieves and publick Robbers make with one another, though these Men have cast off all the Ties of Justice and Common Honesty, are yet preserved, so long as they keep to the pri∣vate Agreements made among themselves, and are content that the Booty should be divided e∣qually. And sure strict Justice must needs ce∣ment Men very strongly, when even this feeble

imitation of it, can go so far in the confirming and maintaining a Community founded in In∣justice.

So then, after the various Directions and Ex∣hortations in the foregoing parts of this Book, some of which were designed to excite Men to true Freedom, some to recommend Fortitude, others Generosity, and Greatness of Soul, others Prudence, and Temperance: This Chapter is designed to make Men just; and, in order to the effecting this, to remove first of all that greatest obstruction to it, which is Avarice, and inordinate Desire of more than in strictness be∣longs to us.