Summary
Summary of The Enchiridion
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Keep philosophy close to daily life
Epictetus taught a philosophy meant to be used in ordinary life. His student Arrian recorded his lessons and shaped them into a small handbook. Its name, Enchiridion, means something kept in the hand: advice you can carry like a tool.
The guiding plan is to separate what is up to you from what is not, then direct your effort toward the first. Anger, loss, ambition, illness and other people's opinions all become occasions to practice that distinction, rather than reasons to surrender your peace.
Key idea 2
Separate your choices from your circumstances
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Key idea 3
Want what your will can provide
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Key idea 4
Meet events without demanding different ones
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Key idea 5
Question the judgment behind your distress
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Key idea 6
Keep your integrity among other people
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Key idea 7
Let your conduct show your philosophy
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Key idea 8
Return to the habits of freedom
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The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
For anyone who wants a firm guide for stress, envy or loss, and readers curious about Stoicism at its source.
What this book is
The Enchiridion is a handbook of Stoic advice, taught by Epictetus and written down by his student Arrian. Epictetus was born a slave in Phrygia and later became a free teacher. He lived and taught in Nicopolis in Greece, and he died in the year 135. He wrote nothing himself. Arrian recorded his lessons, then boiled them down into this small manual in Greek, around the second century.
The word Enchiridion means something kept in the hand. The book is meant to be carried and used, like a tool. Its fifty-odd short chapters hold one plan for living: sort what is up to you from what is not, and spend your effort only on the first. You will meet advice on anger, loss, insult, ambition, illness and the opinions of other people. You will also find a stern view of how little you can control. Let us begin with the idea on which every other chapter rests.
In this summary
- 1Sort what is up to youFree
- 2Aim your wants at the right target
- 3See each event for what it is
- 4Opinions disturb us, not events
- 5Live among others without losing yourself
- 6Practice more than talk, and last long
Key point 1 of 6
Sort what is up to you
The book opens with its main claim. Some things are up to us, and some are not. Epictetus names what is ours: our judgments, our impulses, our desires and our aversions. In short, whatever comes from our own will. Everything else is not ours, and that includes our body, our property, our reputation and our office.
This split is the key to the whole manual. Epictetus says that the things in our power are free by nature. Nobody can block them or force them. The things outside our power are weak, and they belong to others. If you treat them as your own, you will be thwarted and disturbed, and you will blame gods and people.
The warning is sharp. If you take as yours what belongs to others, you will be hindered and unhappy. If you take only what is truly yours as your own, nobody can compel you and nobody can harm you. You will have no enemy, because nothing that matters to you can be taken.
For a reader today, the lesson is a daily test. Faced with a worry, ask a simple question. Is this mine to decide, or is it not? You can prepare for a job interview, but you cannot choose the answer. You can speak kindly, but you cannot make others like you. Epictetus asks you to put your effort where it can work and to let the rest be.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
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Check yourself
What does Epictetus say belongs within our control?
Right. “Epictetus names what is ours: our judgments, our impulses, our desires and our aversions.”Not quite. “Epictetus names what is ours: our judgments, our impulses, our desires and our aversions.”
According to Epictetus, what makes events upsetting?
Right. “Another core claim is that people are upset not by events but by their judgments about events.”Not quite. “Another core claim is that people are upset not by events but by their judgments about events.”
How should people show that they have learned philosophy?
Right. “They should show them in how they live.”Not quite. “They should show them in how they live.”
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 11,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 45 min
- Listening time1 h 15 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 13 other languages
Questions about The Enchiridion
What is the Enchiridion about?
It is a short handbook of Stoic advice. Its main lesson is to separate what is in your power, such as your judgments and choices, from what is not, such as other people, fame and fortune, and to focus only on the first.
Did Epictetus write the Enchiridion himself?
No. Epictetus taught by speaking, and his student Arrian wrote down his lessons. Arrian compiled the Enchiridion as a brief digest of those teachings, so the ideas are Epictetus and the arrangement is Arrian.
What does Enchiridion mean?
It is a Greek word meaning something held in the hand, so a handbook or manual. The title fits the book's purpose, which is to give a short set of rules a person can keep close and use daily.
Is the Enchiridion hard to read?
No. It is plain advice. The ideas are simple to state. Many readers take a chapter a day and think about it.
What is the main message of Epictetus?
Be free by caring only for what you control, which is your own will and judgment. Accept everything else calmly. Events do not hurt you so much as your opinions about them, and you can change those opinions.
