Quotation
Last reviewed:
“Never say of anything, 'I have lost it,' but, 'I have given it back.'”
Epictetus · Stoicism · Ancient · c. 108 CE
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is that what you love is on loan from the order of things, so death and loss are a return, not a theft that should shatter you. A competing reading hears a chilling script for grief, as if the right sentence could make a child's death neat. The chapter uses a jug, and then a wife or child, as the test of remembering what kind of thing you have. It belongs with the discipline of desire in the opening chapters.
Did Epictetus really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. Close to W. A. Oldfather's Loeb translation of Enchiridion 11. Elizabeth Carter has 'restored' rather than 'given back'. Arrian recorded the Handbook from Epictetus's teaching.
Where it comes from
Enchiridion 11
Approximate date: c. 108 CE.
How to use it
A favourite mug smashed on a kitchen floor is his easy case: it was a jug, and jugs break. He then applies the same form to a person, which is where the exercise becomes severe and, for many, unacceptable. You can still say that a death is a loss in every human sense, and the sentence is training in not adding 'stolen from me' to every ending, and it is not a rule for what to say at a funeral.
A mindset reading
The habit is to remember the kind of thing something is while you have it, not to perform calm after it has gone. 'Given back' is a judgement about ownership. If you do not share the theology of a lender, do not pretend the sentence is only common sense, and notice the demand it makes before you adopt it.
Understand the philosophy
Epictetus is answering the cry that something has been taken. What you have, on his view, is held from the whole, and a return is not an injustice against you. The key shift is from 'lost' to 'given back', a change of description rather than a change in the event. He wants the reminder while the person is alive, at the point of delight, and used only afterwards, it can become a way of scolding grief.
- death
- change
FAQ
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is that what you love is on loan from the order of things, so death and loss are a return, not a theft that should shatter you. A competing reading hears a chilling script for grief, as if the right sentence could make a child's death neat. The chapter uses a jug, and then a wife or child, as the test of remembering what kind of thing you have. It belongs with the discipline of desire in the opening chapters.
Did Epictetus really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. Close to W. A. Oldfather's Loeb translation of Enchiridion 11. Elizabeth Carter has 'restored' rather than 'given back'. Arrian recorded the Handbook from Epictetus's teaching.
Which work is it in?
Enchiridion 11 Approximate date: c. 108 CE.