Publisher's Synopsis
This special edition of the Discourses of Epictetus contains all four extant books of the Discourses, the Enchiridion or Manual and the few remaining fragments of the lost works of this famous Stoic. As a student of Zeno, the originator of the Stoic system, Epictetus was instrumental in putting a human face on what was otherwise considered a dispassionate philosophy. Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius are the three famous names of the later school of stoicism, and they are all teachers of the conduct of life, in love with inner perfection, and comparatively heedless of mere speculation. The Discourses of Epictetus were not written by Epictetus but by his student, Arrian, who is best remembered for his biography of Alexander the Great. Arrian modestly makes no claim to the wisdom or true authorship of the Discourses, but he was clearly more than a scribe. Without Arrian, the writtten Discourses would never have existed and the philosophy of Epictetus would be all but lost in the fog of ancient history.
