Simplicius on Epictetus': "Handbook 1-26" (Ancient Commentators on Aristotle) [Hardcover]

Simplicius (Author), Charles Brittain (Translator), Tad Brennan (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"These two volumes would make a splendid focus for an advanced undergraduate or graduate course in ancient philosophy." Lloyd Gerson -- Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2003.11.14

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Greek

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr (October 31, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801439043
• ISBN-13: 978-0801439049
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,262,445 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars A highly recommended survival manual, August 1, 2011

By 

J. Kalomiris "JK" (Fresno, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Simplicius on Epictetus': "Handbook 1-26" (Ancient Commentators on Aristotle) (Hardcover)

Simplicius was one of the last great pagan platonists, one of the last teachers at Plato's Academy before Justinian closed it down. This book is a running commentary of the first twenty six chapters of the Handbook of Epictetus. Written at a time of great turmoil and change -- the pagan world was ending and the Christian world was beginning -- this book, Simplicius' commentary is a testament of wisdom. While not containing the grand metaphysical flourishes of Plato or Aristotle, it contains gems of practical wisdom on how to lead a life at peace with oneself and with one's world. Here are the highlights:

1. Pleasure is always preceded by and accompanied with pain.
2. A genuine human being lives in accordance with his rational soul, does not consider his or her body soul, but transcends it, using it as its instrument.
3. What disturbs people are not the external things they come into contact, but their beliefs about those external things.
4. Whenever you lose something, be personal property or another person, the reaction should not be "I lost my son," but "I have given him back."
5. If you want to be happy, you must not seek for what happens to happen as you wish, but wish for it to happen as it happens.
6. A rational person is not enticed by pleasant external things nor repulsed by unpleasant external things, but is constantly in a state of conscious self-control.
7. Treat external possessions as if you did not own them.
8. Some people are enslaved by their internal thoughts Freedom is a state of mind.
9. A rational person is not expected to ignore grief, but to provide comfort and support to the grieving person.

And, yes, one thousand years before these words were uttered by Shakespeare:

10. Life is a stage, and the people who dwell in it are the actors, and God is the director and producer.

Epictetus spoke in his handbook was to determine what "is up to you." Simplicius explains that this is another way to determine what is within a person's control and what is not. External things are not within a person's control; the person's beliefs about those external things, and reactions thereto, are.

Both Epictetus and Simplicius lived in times of great social upheavals, fueled by political and military leaders with raging egos. The words in this book provide a survival handbook to live through those -- and perhaps our own -- times.