Epictetus, Discourses 1.19.1

Chapter 19: How one should behave towards tyrants. 

 

If a man possesses some advantage, or thinks he does though he does not, he is bound, if he be uneducated, to be puffed up because of it. 

 

The tyrant, for instance, says, “I am mightiest of all men.” 

 

Well, and what can you give me? Can you enable me to get what I will to get? How can you? Can you avoid what you will to avoid, independent of circumstances? Is your impulse free from error? How can you claim any such power?

 

Tell me, on shipboard, do you put confidence in yourself or in the man who knows? 

 

And in a chariot? Surely in him who knows. 

 

How is it in other arts? Exactly the same. 

 

What does your power come to then? 

—from Epictetus, Discourses 1.19

 

Let me add up how many of my problems arise from wanting to have power over anything more than myself. It is a rather uncomfortable but enlightening exercise. 

 

In order to be good, why must I come across as better than anyone else? In order to be happy, why must I demand that others be at my beck and call? 

 

Whenever I feel the need to increase my status in the world, it likely means I am neglecting the importance of my inner character; the attention is entirely misdirected. 

 

I often hear people say that tyranny is a thing of the past, at least in our supposedly enlightened land, and I fear that their view is far too narrow. Dictators come in many degrees, not just the grotesque political strongmen. 

 

Where might I come across a tyrant, big or small, today? The cop who gets excited by yelling? The boss who likes to make people cry? The teacher who wishes to create a flock of obedient followers? 

 

Such despots all share a craving for recognition, because they are unable to find any peace within their souls. I will only encourage them further if I grow fearful or angry, and they can’t bear it if I calmly refuse to acknowledge their alleged authority. 

 

What, pray tell, do they have to offer? For all their bullying, they are unable to control my will. Indeed, for all their bragging about their influence, they have great difficulty even controlling their own wills. I see much pretension in them, and very little prudence. I would be impressed if they could turn to explaining instead of imposing. 

 

As Socrates suggested in the Apology, if you want to train your horse, go to the rare man who is skilled in equitation, not to the common blowhard who has only his conceit. 

 

It is a sad thing when a man who is confused about how to live must compensate by commanding his neighbors how to live. He would do better for himself by cultivating his own virtues, and then he would be liberated from feeling inferior. 

—Reflection written in 2/2001