8.1
Enchiridion 8.1 · Wish things as they are
Four lines that hold the heart of the discipline of desire. Do not bend events to your will; bend your will to events — and the result is a life that flows.
· · ·
μὴ1
mḕ
Do not
ζήτει2
zḗtei
seekto seek, look for, demand
τὰ3
tà
the things
γινόμενα4
ginómena
that happento come to be, become
γίνεσθαι5
gínesthai
to happento come to be, become
ὡς6
hōs
ashow, that, so that
θέλεις7
théleis
you wishto wish, want, be willing
, ἀλλὰ8
allà
butyet
θέλε9
théle
wishto wish, want, be willing
τὰ10
tà
the things
γινόμενα11
ginómena
that happento come to be, become
ὡς12
hōs
ashow, that, so that
γίνεται13
gínetai
they happento come to be, become
, καὶ14
kaì
andalso, even
εὐροήσεις15
euroḗseis
you will flow wellto flow well, go smoothly, prosper
. Do not seek the things that happen to happen as you wish, but wish the things that happen to happen as they do, and you will go on well.
Do not seek the things that happen to happen as you wish, but wish the things that happen to happen as they do, and you will go on well.
Interpretation
Do not seek to have the things that happen happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do, and your life will go on well.
Everything Epictetus teaches about desire is compressed into one reversal. The ordinary stance is to want the world rearranged to fit us; he tells us to leave the world as it is and move the wanting instead. Because events are among the things not up to us, demanding that they obey is a standing recipe for being thwarted; aligning the will with what actually happens is the one way to never be thwarted again.
The last word carries the reward: εὐροήσεις, "you will flow well" — from εὔροια βίου, the smooth-flowing life that the Stoics made their name for happiness. It is not resignation he is selling but a kind of frictionless freedom: the person who wants what is already happening is never at war with reality, and so is never, in the deepest sense, obstructed.
17.1
Enchiridion 17.1 · You are an actor in a play
A whole ethic in a stage metaphor. The casting is not yours; the acting is. Epictetus turns the oldest complaint — I didn't choose this role — into the one thing that frees you from it.
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Remember that you are an actor in a play, of whatever kind the director wishes: if a short one, a short part; if a long one, a long part; if he wishes you to play a beggar, play even that one with a good grace; if a cripple, if a magistrate, if a private man. For this is yours: to play well the part you are given; but to choose it belongs to another.