Discourses and Selected Writings

Epictetus (c. 55–135 CE) was a teacher and Stoic philosopher. Originally a slave from Hierapolis in Anatolia (modern Turkey), he moved to Nicopolis on the Adriatic coast of Greece after gaining his freedom and opened a school of philosophy there. His informal lectures (the Discourses) were transcribed and published by his student Arrian, who also composed a digest of Epictetus’ teaching known as the Manual (or Enchiridion). Late in life Epictetus retired from teaching, adopted an orphan child and lived out his remaining years in domestic obscurity. His influence has been deep and enduring, from Marcus Aurelius in his Meditations to the contemporary psychologist Albert Ellis, who has acknowledged his debt to Epictetus in devising the school of Rational-Emotive Behavioural Therapy.

Robert Dobbin received a PhD in classics from the University of California, Berkeley, and taught history and classics at the college level. He is the translator and editor of Epictetus’s Discourses and Selected Writings for Penguin Classics, as well as an author of articles on Virgil, Plato, and Pythagoras. He works as a book editor in Northern California.