**Read Ἐγχειρίδιον at the source, before centuries of translation made its language familiar in other forms.**

## The Work and Its World

Enchiridion, preserved here as Ἐγχειρίδιον, is one of the works through which ancient Greek literature and thought continue to speak to later centuries. A compact Stoic manual distinguishes what depends on us from what does not, turning philosophy into disciplined daily practice.

A short handbook of Stoic moral advice written by Arrian, a student of Epictetus, is known as the Manual. Although the content of the Handbook is derived primarily from the Epictetus Theses, the Handbook is not a more concise record of the Epictetus Theses but rather a collection of practical life advice. Avoiding reference to metaphysics, Arrian focuses his attention on the work of Epictetus applying philosophy to everyday life. Thus, the book is a manual that shows the way to achieve mental freedom and happiness in all circumstances.

The Handbook was a philosophical text that was well known to the ancients, and in the Middle Ages Greek-speaking monasteries used an adapted version of the Handbook. In the 15th century it was translated into Latin and then, with the advent of printing, into many European languages. It reached the height of its popularity in the 17th century, when the Neo-Stoicism movement had developed.

The word "manual" in ancient Greek means something that is in the hand or ready to be handled. It consists of the adverb ἐν and the word χειρ (gen. χειρὸς). The word also means sword or dagger. It has a similar meaning in modern Greek.

The work consists of fifty-three short chapters which usually contain one or two paragraphs of text. It was composed sometime at the beginning of the 2nd century. The 6th century philosopher Simplicius, in his comments on the work, refers to a letter written by Arrian who prefaced the text of the Handbook. In this letter Arrian stated that the text for the Manual was selected from the Theses of Epictetus. In the Manual he placed what he thought most necessary and useful, and most adapted to move the reader. About half of the material in the Handbook has been shown to have come from the surviving four books of the Dissertations, but has been varied from the original source. Scholars argue that part of the Handbook comes from the four lost books of the Diaribes. Some chapters appear to be restatements of ideas presented in the text of the Dissertations.

There are some conundrums surrounding the inclusion of two chapters. Chapter 29 is essentially an exact copy, word for word, of chapter 15 of the Theses. Since this passage was omitted and not included in one of the early Christian editions ( Par ), and was not commented upon by Simplicius, this chapter may not have been part of the original text. Chapter 33 consists of a list of moral instructions, which are "apparently unrelated to the normal Stoic framework of Epictetus."

In 1798, when Johann Schweighäuser published his own edition of the Handbook, the division of the book into 53 chapters that prevails today was used for the first time. Earlier editions tended to break the text into more chapters (eg break chapter 33 into smaller ones). Gérard Boter in his 1999 critical edition retains Schweighäuser's fifty-three chapters, but divides chapters 5, 14, 19, and 48 into two parts.

The Handbook appears to be a loosely structured selection of values. In the 6th-century Commentary, Symplicus divided the text into four distinct sections suggesting a graded approach to philosophy:

## Why It Still Matters

Approaching Enchiridion in its original language brings the reader closer to choices of rhythm, argument, image, and dramatic emphasis that translations must inevitably interpret. The work is not important only because it is old: it remains a living point of reference for writers, philosophers, historians, theatre makers, and readers confronting related questions today.

## Author and Legacy

Epictetus was a Stoic teacher who left no writings; his student Arrian preserved his teaching in the Discourses and the compact Enchiridion.

Epictetus (50 AD - 138 AD) was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He is considered, along with Seneca and Marcus Aurelius, one of the three greatest Stoic philosophers.

Epictetus is mentioned as the child of slaves and is said to have been born in Hierapolis in Phrygia (Izmit, present-day Turkey), hence the nickname Hierapolitan. Arriving in Rome, he was bought by Epaphroditus, who was a freedman of Nero. Epictetus was a victim of Epaphroditus. The second put his foot on a mangano and squeezed it, to make him lose his stoicism and cry out. "You'll break my leg," Epictetus warned him, but Epaphroditus continued to squeeze until the damage was done. "Didn't I tell you how you were going to break my leg?" Epictetus was content to say. In this period it seems that he attended the philosophy lessons of Mousonis Rufus and summed up his philosophy in the words "tolerance and abstinence" (in modern Greek: "Tolerate and abstain"). When he was subsequently freed, he settled for a time in Rome, where he lived in a hut which was always left open. Due to a decree of Domitian in 93, all philosophers are expelled from Italy and Epictetus was forced to leave Rome and move to Nicopolis in Epirus (Preveza Prefecture), where he founded a school of philosophy. Among his students is the historian and prefect of Cappadocia, Flavius Arrianus of Nicomedia, who collected his speeches, under the general title Dissertations, of which only the first four books survive. He then produced from them a collection of thoughts known as the Epictetus Handbook.

Epictetus developed a philosophical system based on foundations from Seneca's ethics and which was mainly a type of religious teaching that closely resembled Christianity. The focus of Epictetus' philosophy is man and his education with an emphasis on ethics. Education for the philosopher is the means by which man can secure his freedom. Through the exercise of philosophy man can distinguish the things that are under his power from those that are not under his power. According to Epictetus, the concept of happiness is based on the knowledge of "ef'imin" (which includes our personal actions, thoughts, etc.) and "uk ef'imin" (which includes wealth, glory, etc.).

In this collection, the author's importance is approached through Enchiridion. The work shows how a particular genre or method could become a durable instrument for examining human action, public life, knowledge, memory, and the demands of justice.