Page:Discourses of Epictetus.djvu/31

Rh that he views marriage not only as the sole right and natural satisfaction of the sexual feelings, but also as the foundation of family, of a state, and of the continuation of the human race; and accordingly he declares himself against the exposure of children as an unnatural practice; and he often recommends beneficence."

Epictetus was a pupil of this noble Roman teacher, whose name occurs several times in the Discourses. Ritter conjectures that Epictetus also heard Euphrates, whom he highly commends. It has been justly said that, though Epictetus is named a Stoic, and that his principles are Stoical, he is not purely a Stoic. He learned from other teachers as well as the Stoic. He quotes the teaching and example of Socrates continually, and the example of Diogenes the Cynic, both of whom he mentions more frequently than Zeno the founder of the Stoic philosophy. He also valued Plato, who accepted from Socrates many of his principles, and developed and expanded them. Epictetus learned that the beginning of philosophy is man's knowledge of himself, and the acknowledgment of his own ignorance and weakness. He teaches (i. c. 17; ii. c. 14; ii. c. 10) that the examination of names, the understanding of the notion, of the conception of a thing, is the beginning of education: he consistently teaches that we ought to pity those who do wrong, for they err in ignorance (i. c. 18; ii. c. 22, p. 181); and, as Plato says, every mind is deprived of truth unwillingly. Epictetus strongly opposes the doctrines of Epicurus, of the newer Academics, and of Pyrrho, the great leader of the Sceptical school (i. c. 5, c. 23; ii. c. 20). He has no taste for the subtle discussions of these men. He says (p. 81), "Let the followers of Pyrrho and the Academics come and make their objections. For I, as to my part, have no leisure for these disputes, nor am I able to undertake the defence of common consent (opinion)."