Page:All the works of Epictetus - which are now extant; consisting of his Discourses, preserved by Arrian, in four books, the Enchiridion, and fragments (IA allworksofepicte00epic).pdf/128

RV 76 (Chap. 26.) the Art of Music, or Navigation, by Anger? Do you expect then, that your Anger should teach me the Art of Living?"This howverhowever [sic], is allowed to be said only by one who really hath that Intention. But he who reads these Things, and applies to the Philosophers, merely for the sake of shewing, at an Entertainment, that he understands hypothetical Syllogisms; what doth he do it for, but to be admired by some Senator, who happens to sit near him

§. 2. I once saw a Person weeping and embracing the Knees of Epaphroditus; and deploring his hard Fortune, that he had not 50,000l. left. What said Epaphroditus, then? Did he laugh at him, as we should do? No: but cried out with Astonishment, Poor Man! How could you be silent? How could you bear it?

§. 3. The first Step, therefore, towards becoming a Philosopher, is, being sensible in what State the ruling Faculty of the Mind is; for, when a Person knows it to be in a weak one, he will not immediately employ it in great Attempts, But, for want of this, some, who can scarce get down a Morsel, buy, and set themselves to swallow, whole Treatises; and so they throw them up again, or cannot digest them: and then come Cholics, Fluxes, and Fevers. Such Persons ought to consider what they can bear. Indeed, it is easy to convince an ignorant Person in Theory; but in Matters relating to Life, no one offers himself to Conviction; and we hate those who have convinced us. Socrates used to say, that we ought not to live a Life unexamined. 