Page:Encheiridion of Epictetus - Rolleston 1881.pdf/19

PREFACE. in illustration and in practical application, together with its unfailing grasp of principles, it has the merits at once of an abstract, and of a detailed work, and may well be regarded as holding a central position with respect to everything else that goes under the name of Epictetus. The reasons for which Arrian first produced the Encheiridion are those which have induced me to bring out this translation of it. There is no other English translation of it at present in print in a separate form, although the late Mr. Long translated it in the Bohn Series, where it appears bound up with the Discourses and Fragments. Reading it for the first time a year ago, it appeared to me that it ought to exist in English in the form which its name denotes—that of a Handbook, and that in this form it might chance to reach and to serve many who are no students of philosophy, who would never care to purchase Epictetus