# Chapter LIX explained — Short Works

> Chapter companion for Short Works by Epictetus.

## What happens

A brief, aphoristic statement comparing the self-sufficiency of a straight line to the self-sufficiency of justice, suggesting that a just person or act does not require external validation or a separate standard of justice.

## Themes in this chapter

### Virtue as the Only Good

The excerpt implies justice, a key virtue, is inherently complete and self-validating, needing nothing external to justify or define it.

## Key lines

> As that which is straight does not need that which is straight, so neither does the just need that which is just.

A straight line is defined by its own nature and doesn't require another straight line to prove it is straight. In the same way, a just person or action is inherently just and does not require an external standard or another just thing to validate it.

_This uses a geometric analogy to argue for the intrinsic and self-sufficient nature of virtue, specifically justice._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/lix
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/epictetus_short_works_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters