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Audiobook edition · 15 h 3 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if mastering yourself is not enough to show you how to live?
Silanus faces a world he cannot make safe or fair. Wealth, power, learning, and religious traditions offer no escape from suffering. In Edwin Abbott Abbott's philosophical historical novel, this Roman turns toward the teaching of Epictetus and the question of what lies within a person's control.
Christianity places another claim before him: according to its teaching, Christ calls forth trust and love, not simply right conduct. As Silanus moves from Stoic thought toward Christian faith, ideas shape his search. At stake is how he responds to pain, duty, weakness, and the people around him.
What you’ll discover
- The limits of control Explore Epictetus's teaching through the things a person cannot command: events, others, and bodily fortune.
- A Roman's search Follow Silanus as he asks what makes a life good when suffering remains.
- Love beside self-mastery Consider the novel's central question: whether self-command is enough, or love offers something more.
- Ideas that shape conduct See belief matter in responses to pain, weakness, duty, and the needs of others.
- Competing guides to life Enter an ancient setting where Stoicism and Christianity offer distinct answers to human obligation.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you like ideas argued through friendship and letters, or if you wonder how honest doubt and deep faith can share one mind.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Epictetus teaches that the will cannot be chained
- Zeus in the lecture room would help if he could
- Arrian tells of Christians who swear an oath
- Scaurus says Epictetus borrowed from Paul
- Paul's letters offer strength Epictetus cannot
- Epictetus runs out of comfort for death and grief
- Scaurus reads the gospels and finds many flaws
- Clemens answers the cry of forsaking on the cross
- The book sets reason against compelling love
- A memoir of friendships tells the story
Who’s who
- Quintus Junius SilanusA young Roman knight who tells the story as an old man and who searches for a faith that can bear grief.
- EpictetusThe lame Stoic teacher in Nicopolis who preaches self-mastery and a God within, and who is honest enough to admit his failures.
- ArrianSilanus's friend and fellow pupil, who writes down the lectures faithfully and wants a useful life in the service of Rome.
- Marcus Aemilius ScaurusAn aged, lame soldier and historian who writes long letters and tests every claim of the Christians with a critic's eye.
- GlaucusA fellow student from Corinth whose heart is torn by trouble at home and who cannot accept the stone doctrine.
- ClemensAn Athenian Christian of Jewish descent who meets Silanus on a hillside and guides him through the hardest questions.
- Apronius RufusA witty Epicurean student who teases Silanus and holds that nature is on the side of appetite.
- HermasAn old Christian librarian in Scaurus's household whose silent look stays with his master for years.
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Silanus the Christian
by Edwin Abbott Abbott · 1906
A young Roman in Nicopolis trades a Stoic lecture hall for the letters of Paul and a Christian's quiet advice.
Challenging10–20 hours to readEnglish
Excellent
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In short
Picture a lecture room in Nicopolis, in Greece, in the second year of the Emperor Hadrian. A lame old teacher plays an emperor and a senator one after the other, snapping from bully to hero in a breath.
Silanus the Christian at a glance
- Reading time
- About 8 h 45 min6 h 55 min fast, 10 h 25 min slow
- Length
- 125,100 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1906by Edwin Abbott Abbott
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Epictetus teaches that the will cannot be chained
Silanus arrives in Nicopolis on the advice of his father's old friend, Scaurus. The first words he hears are a dialogue between the Emperor Vespasian and the senator Helvidius Priscus. Epictetus acts out both men. The ruler says he will kill the senator, and the senator replies that he can die without fear.
Rulers hold only the body, the property and the good name of their subjects. They have no hold on a person's convictions. Epictetus paints his ideal, the wandering Cynic, who fights the monsters of the world like Hercules and heals sick minds like Socrates. Each of us holds two characters, the Beast and the Man, and the first duty is to keep the Man.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1906
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 9 h 50 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Abbott, Edwin Abbott. Silanus the Christian. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/silanus-the-christian.
Abbott, E. A. (2026). Silanus the Christian. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/silanus-the-christian (Original work published 1906)
Abbott, Edwin Abbott. Silanus the Christian. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/silanus-the-christian.
@book{abbott2026silanus,
author = {Abbott, Edwin Abbott},
title = {Silanus the Christian},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/silanus-the-christian},
note = {First published 1906}
}
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What is Silanus the Christian about?
It follows an imaginary young Roman who studies under the Stoic teacher Epictetus, then reads Paul's letters and the gospels while arguing with a sceptical old friend, and so is drawn toward faith in Christ.
Is Silanus the Christian a true story?
No. Silanus, Scaurus and Clemens are invented. Epictetus and Arrian were real, and the sayings of Epictetus come from records by Arrian and others. Abbott published the novel in 1906 to show that doubt and faith can coexist.
Who is Epictetus in the book?
He was a Stoic philosopher who had been a slave and taught in Nicopolis. He teaches that a person can keep a free will under any tyranny, and Silanus both admires him and finds his comfort too thin.
The author
Edwin Abbott Abbott
1838–1926 · English theologian and novelist
Edwin Abbott Abbott (1838–1926) was an English teacher, theologian and author who was born and died in London. He was headmaster of the City of London School from 1865 to 1889. He wrote Flatland (1884), Onesimus (1882) and Silanus the Christian (1906), as well as works on grammar and religion.
More by Edwin Abbott Abbott
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