Notes

The Discourses of Epictetus, tr. by P.E Matheson, [1916], at sacred-texts.com

The Discourses.

Book II. Notes.

2-1 These were used by beaters in hunting.

2-2 This refers to the ceremony of manumission. Epictetus may mention this so frequently because he himself was a freedman.

2-3 'It is not certain whether in this sentence and the next Epictetus is thinking of Jews or of Christians, who at this time were often confused with them.' (Matheson)

2-4 'Three campaigns in the cavalry or six in the infantry were the period laid down in the so-called Municipal Law of Caesar as a qualification for a seat in a municipal Senate.' (Matheson)

2-5 The ancient cure for insanity.

2-6 I.e., from the Marcian aqueduct at Rome.

2-7 Cf. Book I, note 7.

2-8 'The best-known instance of this sophism is "Epimenides says the Cretans are always liars, but he is himself a Cretan. Does he lie or tell the truth?"' (Matheson)

2-9 Cf. Book II, chap. XIX.

2-10 The text is corrupt here.

2-11 Cf. Book II, note 8.

2-12 'According to the Stoics the "spirit" of vision connected the central mind with the pupil of the eye and similarly with other senses.' (Matheson)

2-13 Cf. Epicurus, fragment 30.