Meditations VIII.47
When thou art vexed at some external cross, it is not the thing itself that troubles thee,45 but thy judgment on it. And this thou canst annul in a moment. But if thou art vexed at something in thine own character, who can prevent thee from rectifying the principle that is to blame?46 So also if thou art vexed47 at not undertaking that which seems to thee a sound act, why not rather undertake it than be vexed? But there is a lion in the path! Be not vexed then, for the blame of inaction rests not with thee. But life is not worth living, this left undone. Depart then from life,48 dying with the same kindly feelings as he who effects his purpose, and accepting with a good grace the obstacles that thwart thee.
- 45.Compare Epictetus’s Manual 5.
The Manual (Enchiridion) is Arrian’s short handbook of Epictetus’s teaching; its fifth chapter begins, “Men are disturbed not by things, but by the opinions about things.”
- 46.See viii. 40.
- 47.See v. 9, 36; viii. 10; xi. 19.
- 48.iii. 1; v. 29; Epictetus’s Discourses i. 24, § 20.