# Chapter XXV explained — Short Works

> Chapter companion for Short Works by Epictetus.

## What happens

Epictetus addresses envy and the desire for social preference, arguing that external honors like precedence at a banquet or special salutations have a price. If they are good, one should be glad for the person who obtains them; if they are bad, one should not grieve at lacking them. He uses the analogy of buying lettuces: one must pay the price (flattery, personal attention) to receive the commodity (social favor). If one refuses to pay that price, one should not expect the reward, and should instead value what they have retained—their own integrity and freedom from servile behavior.

## Themes in this chapter

### Dichotomy of Control

Central to the argument: obtaining social preference is not within our control if we refuse to perform the requisite flattering actions. Our choice to pay or not pay the 'price' is within our control.

### Moderation and Simplicity

Critique of insatiability and foolishness in wanting rewards without giving what they cost, advocating for contentment with what one has chosen to keep (one's own principled behavior).

## Character check-ins

### Epictetus

The narrator and teacher, delivering the core argument about the transactional nature of social favors and the importance of not desiring what requires the payment of one's integrity.

## Key lines

> If these things are good, you ought to rejoice that he has obtained them: but if bad, be not grieved because you have not obtained them

If social honors are truly good, be happy for the person who gets them. If they are actually bad, don't be upset that you missed out.

_Applies Stoic value judgment to social competition, redirecting emotional response from envy to rational assessment._

> You will be unjust then and insatiable, if you do not part with the price, in return for which those things are sold, and if you wish to obtain them for nothing.

It is unfair and greedy to want the benefits without paying the required cost.

_Frames social ambition as a transaction, establishing a moral and practical argument against envy._

> for as he has the lettuces, so you have the obolus which you did not give.

Just as the buyer has the lettuce, you still have the coin you chose not to spend.

_Uses a simple market analogy to show that refusing to pay for social favors leaves you with something valuable: your own principle and self-respect._

## Links

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