Manuel d'Épictète (Enchiridion)

Overview

The Enchiridion ("handbook", in French the Manuel) is a short compendium of Stoic ethical advice compiled by Arrian, a disciple of the Greek Stoic Epictetus (c. 50 - c. 135 AD) in the second century. Most of its content derives from Epictetus's Discourses, but it is a selection of practical precepts rather than a summary; it avoids metaphysics and teaches how to reach mental freedom by distinguishing what is "up to us" (judgements, desires, will) from what is not (body, property, reputation, others) (Wikipedia, "Enchiridion of Epictetus"). In nineteenth-century France it circulated in several translations; French Wikisource offers the translations of Jean-Marie Guyau (1875), Jean-François Thurot (1889) and Henri Joly (1915).

The author entry is Epictetus; the older stub `people/mentioned/EPICTETE.md` also stands for him. This entry is the book that Marie holds in her hands.

Marie and the Manuel

Marie turns to the Manuel in moments of private distress, as a self-administered treatment.

• 10 June 1876 (062.0313): "Vous me voyez en admiration devant Épictète. C'est une lecture qui me fait un bien immense." She quotes two passages from the Manuel: the one on illness and lameness as hindrances to the body but not to the will ("La maladie est une contrariété pour le corps, mais non pour la volonté, si elle ne veut pas...", Enchiridion 9) and the one on the raven's ill-omened cry ("Quand un corbeau pousse un cri de mauvais augure, ne te laisse pas emporter par ton idée...", Enchiridion 18). The existing footnote in the diary names Epictetus and the Enchiridion.
• 13 June 1876 (062.0338): she tells her mother and aunt, upset by her being unwell, to "suivre les préceptes d'Épictète", acting as peacemaker in front of a visiting general.
• 1 April 1879 (084.0591): "Réminiscences du manuel d'Épictète, très commode": her argument for training herself to find boredom pleasant, which she immediately doubts: first impressions are involuntary.
• 23 July 1880 (089.0222): in pain, after seeing the wealthy Madame de Rothschild, she calls "à son aide Épictète ou on prie".
• 5 October 1880 (090.0060): "Vaincre ses sensations et se dire avec Épictète qu'on est maître de prendre le mal pour le bien, ou plutôt de rester indifférent à ce qui arrive."

Marie also lists Epictetus, with Aristophanes, Plutarch, Herodotus and a little Xenophon and Plato, among the Greek authors she knows (082.0442, 23 September 1878).

Notes and doubts

• The passage numbers 9 and 18 are the standard section numbers of the Enchiridion; the match is by content, since Marie quotes a French translation that the project has not yet identified (neither Guyau's text nor Thurot's was collated for this entry).

Sources

• Wikipedia, "Enchiridion of Epictetus": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enchiridion_of_Epictetus
• French Wikisource, "Manuel d'Épictète" (translations Guyau, Thurot, Joly).