Discourses · Chapter
To a Person Who Had Been Changed to a Character of Shamelessness explained
Epictetus addresses a person who has abandoned modesty and virtue for the pursuit of power, wealth, and sensual pleasures.
What happens
Epictetus addresses a person who has abandoned modesty and virtue for the pursuit of power, wealth, and sensual pleasures. He argues that true loss is not of material possessions but of character—modesty, decency, and liberty. He urges the person to fight against their own decline, restore themselves through will, and not despair, emphasizing that the human soul is tractable and reform is possible from within.
Themes in this chapter
Desire and Aversion
Epictetus contrasts the desire for power, wealth, and sensual pleasure with the freedom of not desiring them, illustrating the Stoic principle of managing desires.
Freedom and Slavery
The loss of modesty and self-control is portrayed as a form of slavery, while restoring virtue is equated with liberty.
Characters to notice
- Epictetus
Speaker of the discourse, urging a person to reclaim their lost modesty and virtue.
- Socrates
Mentioned as a model of virtue that the person has abandoned in favor of corrupting influences.
- Diogenes
Mentioned alongside Socrates as a figure of virtuous simplicity that the person no longer admires.
- Chrysippus
Mentioned as one of the philosophers whose works the person has replaced with frivolous authors.
- Zeno
Mentioned alongside Chrysippus as a philosopher whose teachings the person has abandoned.
Key passages
“When you see another man in the possession of power (magistracy), set against this the fact that you have not the want (desire) of power; when you see another rich, see what you possess in place of riches: for if you possess nothing in place of them you are miserable, but if you have not the want of riches, know that you possess more than this man possesses and what is worth much more.”
When you see someone in power, remind yourself that you lack the desire for power. When you see someone wealthy, consider what you have instead of riches: if you have nothing, you are miserable, but if you lack the desire for wealth, you possess something far greater.
Epictetus teaches the Stoic practice of countering envy by valuing the absence of desire over the possession of externals.
“Do these things appear to you to be small? And how much would these persons give, these very men who are rich, and in possession of power, and live with handsome women, to be able to despise riches, and power, and these very women whom they love and enjoy?”
Do you think these advantages are trivial? The rich and powerful would give anything to be able to despise the very things they love and enjoy.
Epictetus highlights the paradox that those who have externals often envy the freedom of those who do not desire them.
“First of all, condemn what you are doing, and then when you have condemned it, do not despair of yourself, and be not in the condition of those men of mean spirit, who, when they have once given in, surrender themselves completely and are carried away as if by a torrent.”
First, recognize that what you are doing is wrong, but after condemning it, do not lose hope. Do not be like those who give up entirely and let themselves be swept away.
Epictetus encourages self-correction without despair, emphasizing the tractability of the human soul.
“From a shameless man you will become a modest man, from a disorderly you will become an orderly man, from a faithless you will become a faithful man, from a man of unbridled habits a sober man. If you seek anything more than this, go on doing what you are doing: not even a God can now help you.”
You can transform from shameless to modest, disorderly to orderly, faithless to faithful, and unbridled to sober. If you want anything beyond this, continue as you are—no god can help you then.
Epictetus presents the restoration of virtue as the highest good, warning that further decline is beyond divine aid.
