Glossary

Key terms from this volume, plainly defined.

Arete The Greek word for goodness of character, or excellence. For Epictetus, arete is not about following rules. It is about being the best version of what a human being is. It is developed through practice, not achieved through knowledge alone.

Arrian The student of Epictetus who recorded his lectures and compiled them into the Discourses and the Enchiridion. Without Arrian, we would have nothing of Epictetus' teaching.

Daimon Your inner voice, the truest part of who you are. Epictetus called it the will or the part of the mind that rules. It is the part of you that chooses, judges, and responds. It is the only part that is fully yours.

Discourses The longer collection of Epictetus' lectures recorded by Arrian. Where the Enchiridion gives you the summary, the Discourses give you the reasoning behind it and the answers to the most common objections.

Enchiridion The Greek word for handbook or manual. The Enchiridion of Epictetus is a short collection of his most important principles, compiled by Arrian for easy reference. The word suggests something you carry with you and use.

Epaphroditus The owner of Epictetus. A freedman who served as secretary to the Emperor Nero. His treatment of Epictetus, including reportedly causing him physical harm, became part of the legend surrounding Epictetus' response to suffering.

Hegemonikon The part of the mind that rules in Stoic philosophy. The part of the mind that judges, chooses, and responds. This is what Epictetus means when he says some things are up to us. He means: this part is up to us.

Impression (Phantasia) The raw mental image or feeling that arises when something happens to you. Epictetus teaches that you cannot control your impressions, but you can control how you respond to them. The pause between impression and response is where freedom lives.

Preferred Indifferents The Stoic term for things that are neither good nor bad in themselves but that we naturally prefer: health over illness, wealth over poverty, friendship over loneliness. The Stoic can want these things without requiring them for a good life.

Prokope The Greek word for progress. In Stoicism, prokope means advancement in philosophy, specifically the growing ability to apply principles in real life rather than just understand them theoretically.

Stoicism The school of philosophy founded in Athens around 300 BC by Zeno of Citium. The name comes from the stoa, a covered walkway where Zeno taught. The core Stoic idea: good character is the only true good, everything else is neither good nor bad, and freedom comes from mastering your own judgments and responses.

Will (Prohairesis) The capacity for rational choice. Epictetus uses this word more than any other. It refers to the part of you that decides: your character, your purpose, your response. It is the seat of freedom. No one can touch your prohairesis without your permission.

Musonius Rufus The Stoic philosopher who taught Epictetus while Epictetus was still a slave. Famous for the saying that you should never say "I lost" something, only "I returned" it. His own teaching survives mostly through fragments.

Nicopolis The city in northwestern Greece where Epictetus opened his school after being expelled from Rome by Emperor Domitian. Students came from across the Roman Empire to study with him there.

Hierapolis Epictetus' birthplace, a city in what is now Turkiye. He was born a slave and taken to Rome as a young man.

Marcus Aurelius The Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD, and one of the most important figures in Stoic history. He read Epictetus obsessively and quoted him often in his own private writings, the Meditations (which appear as Volume 5 of this series).

Zeno of Citium The founder of Stoicism, born around 334 BC. He began teaching in a covered walkway in Athens called the stoa, which gave the school its name. None of his writings survive, but his students and their students built the tradition that eventually reached Epictetus three centuries later.

Paradox (Stoic) A position that sounds contradictory or unreasonable until you understand it. Epictetus teaches several: a slave can be freer than his master, losing something can be easier than owning it, the person who has nothing can want nothing more.