Skip to content

Epictetus · Discourses

Discourses, "How We Ought to Use Divination" (§2)

A quote
What then leads us to frequent use of divination? Cowardice, the dread of what will happen. This is the reason why we flatter the diviners. Pray, master, shall I succeed to the property of my father? Let us see: let us sacrifice on the occasion. Yes, master, as fortune chooses. When he has said, You shall succeed to the inheritance, we thank him as if we received the inheritance from him. The consequence is that they play upon us.
Epictetus·Discourses, "How We Ought to Use Divination" (§2)·trans. Long
Another quote →