o utter these verses:--

"Lead me, O Zeus, and thou, too, Destiny."

He vindicates Providence against injustice. "The unjust man has the
advantage,--in what? In money. But the just man has the advantage in
that he is faithful and modest."

"We ought to have these two principles in readiness, that except the will
nothing is good nor bad; and that we ought not to lead events, but to
follow them. My brother ought not to have behaved thus to me. No, but
he will see to that; and, however he may behave, I will conduct myself
toward him as I ought."

"As a mark is not set up for the purpose of missing the aim, so neither
does the nature of evil exist in the world."

That is, it is inconceivable that the universe is a blunder. This is one
of the fundamental ideas of Epictetus. The inference is, that man has
only to define his true end and pursue it, which is the right action of
the will, or as we should say, right character. Pursuing this, he never
finds himself thwarted or unfriended, never rebels or mistrusts the gods.

The substance of his message is: "On the occasion of every accident
(event) that befalls you, remember to turn to yourself and inquire what
power you have for turning it to use."

"God has delivered yourself to your own care, and says, 'I had no fitter
one to intrust him to than yourself; keep him for me such as he is by
nature, modest, faithful, erect, unterrified, free from passion and
perturbation.'"

God, says Epictetus, has made me his witness to men. "For this purpose
he leads me at one time hither, at another time sends me thither; shows
me to men as poor, without authority and sick; sends me to Gyara, leads
me into prison, not because he hates me,--far from him be such a meaning,
for who hates the best of his servants? nor yet because he cares not for
me, for he does not neglect any, even of the smallest things; but he does
this for the purpose of exercising me and making use of me as a witness
to others. Being appointed to such a service, do I still care about the
place in which I am, or with whom I am, or what men say about me? and do
I not entirely direct my thoughts to God, and to his instructions and
commands?"

Thus he falls back on the life of the spirit,--simple, sure, victorious.
To place all good in character is the secret. From virtue grows piety.
It is desire set on externals, and so disappointed, that brings
discontent, repining, impiety.

Yet Epictetus has disti