Page:Encheiridion of Epictetus - Rolleston 1881.pdf/23

PREFACE. then, is simply the soul delighting in these things, and to pursue them is said to be, in the words of the old, yet never outworn formula, 'to live according to Nature'—to follow the course suggested to the conscious mind by experience (its own or others') of the facts of life. And what does this experience tell us? Universally it tells us that in Righteousness and Love lie the paths of our peace. That this is so every man must verify for himself. 'The gods' with Epictetus are the sources of this law, and, so far as explicit statement goes, they are little more.

Now, keeping this notion of the real self before us, let us turn to Epictetus and see how he applies it. 'Of things that exist,' he says, 'some depend upon ourselves, others do not depend upon ourselves.' That is to say, some things centre upon the real self, are within its domain and power, and have their existence through it; while others are independent of it, are outside the sphere