Ancient Roman Stoic Philosopher, a Practical Ethicist Born a Slave
Epictetus (c. 55–135) was a Stoic philosopher of the ancient Roman period, in his early years a slave, said to have been left permanently lame by his master’s cruel abuse; after gaining his freedom he opened philosophical schools in Rome and Nicopolis, left no writings of his own, and his teachings were compiled by his disciple Arrian into the Discourses and the Enchiridion. He distilled the core of Stoic philosophy into an extremely clear practical method — the "dichotomy of control": dividing all things into "those within our control" (our own judgments, will, and actions) and "those not within our control" (the words and deeds of others, outward fame and wealth, even our own bodily health), holding that true freedom and inner peace can be attained only by focusing all one’s energy on the former and keeping a detached acceptance of the latter — a plain yet profound practical wisdom that thereafter became an important source of modern cognitive behavioral therapy.
Legend says that while Epictetus was still a slave, his master cruelly twisted his leg, and he said calmly and without fear, "You will break it." The master, heedless, kept up the pressure and indeed broke his leg, and he said only, "Did I not tell you so?" — an anecdote hard to verify but vividly illustrating the extreme practice of his "dichotomy of control" philosophy, keeping a detached attitude toward "things not in our control" such as the body.
Epictetus opened the Enchiridion by proposing: "Of things in the world, some are within our power, and some are not… Within our power are our judgment, will, desire, and aversion — in a word, all our own doings; not within our power are our body, property, reputation, and office — in a word, all that is not our own doing." This concise framework of dichotomy is still the core methodology by which Stoicism is widely applied in the modern fields of self-help and psychology.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.
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