a native of Hierapolis, in Phrygia, was born of humble parents, in the first century of the Christian era. In his youth he was the slave of Epaphroditus, the freedman of Nero, an individual of gross and vulgar habits. It is said that he was one day amusing himself in twisting the leg of his slave, when Epictetus exclaimed, "you will break it;" and the event justified the prediction. "I told you so," added the philosopher, without changing a muscle of his countenance. Of his personal history it may be readily imagined that we know but little; even his name is unknown to us, for Epictetus merely marks his condition of life, signifying in Greek a slave (ἐπικτητός). He must, however, have received his freedom; for, when Domitian published his edict about the year 90, banishing philosophers from Italy, Epictetus retired to Nicopolis in Epirus, where it is supposed he passed the rest of his life. Spartanus indeed asserts that he lived at Rome in great intimacy with the Emperor Hadrian; but if this information be correct, he does not seem to have profited much by his intercourse with the rich, for his house is said to have been without a door, and to have had no furniture except a table, a bed, and a miserable mattress.

Epictetus was a Stoic, but possessed none of the vain boastings nor austerity of that sect of philosophy. The virtue which he prized most dearly was modesty. Being an enemy of Epicurus and his doctrines, he admired Socrates, and has left us a magnificent picture of the true cynic. As we might expect from his principles, Epictetus during the whole of his life made war on opinion. All his doctrines were reduced to this point: Our actions depend on ourselves; all other things are independent of us; let us therefore devote our whole attention to the correction and amendment of the first; but it is madness to make any effort to avoid the other, for they are entirely beyond our control. Support pain and fly pleasure, was the grand leading precept of Epictetus. It is indeed beautiful, but difficult to follow. Suidas says he wrote much, but nothing has come down to us. Arrian, the most celebrated of his disciples, collected, with much care and diligence, the discourses and principles of his master, and composed several treatises on them, viz. 1. On the Life and Death of Epictetus; 2. Twelve books of Familiar Discourses of this philosopher (these two works are lost); 3. Eight books of Dissertations on Epictetus and his Philosophy, four of which only remain; 4. Enchiridion, or Manual of Epictetus, which is preserved, and in which he presents a concise view of the moral philosophy of the Phrygian. Arrian dedicated this work to M. Valerius Messalinus, consul in the year of the city 901. There are also in Stobæus many moral sayings of Epictetus, which have been collected by Blancard, Copenhagen, 1629, 12mo. The first Greek edition of the Enchiridion was published at Venice, 1528, 4to. See also Heyne's edition with notes, Dresden, 1776, 8vo.