The Stoics left us four books that fit in one hand.a Most people never open them, because they do not know where to begin,b or which translation to trust,c or what to read once the four are done.d This site is a reading guide to that shelf:e the text in the middle, and what to make of it in the margins.f
What each page gives you, entry by entry.
The text on the left. The reading on the right. The site keeps them facing.
Source, Epictetus, Enchiridion, 1
Some things are within our power, while others are not. Within our power are opinion, motivation, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever is of our own doing; not within our power are our body, our property, reputation, office, and, in a word, whatever is not of our own doing. The things within our power are by nature free, unhindered, and unimpeded; the things not within our power are weak, servile, subject to hindrance, and not our own.
Reading, the first sentence
Everything else in the Stoic library is a footnote to this sentence. Read it before Marcus, before Seneca, and read it again after them: the later books are what it looks like to try to live by it.
Links to Enchiridion, Where to begin
Cited by Meditations · Letters to Lucilius
The guide picks a first book for you and tells you what to skip.
Where to begin