L

A MODEL OF LATE STOIC PRACTICE AND

GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS AND PASSAGES

ate Stoic thought of the second century, as articulated in the writings of Epictetus and Marcus
Aurelius, paints a vivid picture of the work of philosophy in producing both self-coherence and
progress on the path to virtue. As suggested in the work of Pierre Hadot and A. A. Long (see Suggestions
for Further Reading), we have developed and formalized Epictetus’s three disciplines into a chart that
presents the progressive nature of the late Stoic prescription for handling ourselves and our actions in the
world. This chart brings together the three topoi (topics, or fields of study) and three different levels of
training (askêsis) suggested by Epictetus and shows how they correlate (noted in Hadot) to the pursuit of
virtue as expressed by Marcus Aurelius. The chart itself comes from these key passages in Epictetus:

“There  are three   areas   in  which   the person  who would   be  wise    and good    must    be  trained.    The

first   has to  do  with    desires and aversions—that  a   person  may never   miss    the mark    in  desires

nor fall    into    what    repels  them.   The second  has to  do  with    impulses    to  act and not to  act—and

more    broadly,    with    duty—that   a   person  may act deliberately    for good    reasons and not

carelessly. The third   has to  do  with    freedom from    deception   and composure   and the whole

area    of  judgment,   the assent  our mind    gives   to  its perceptions.    Of  these   areas,  the chief   and

most    urgent  is  the first   which   has to  do  with    the passions,   for strong  emotions    arise   only    when

we  fail    in  our desires and aversions.”

—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 3.2.1–3a

“That’s why the philosophers    warn    us  not to  be  satisfied   with    mere    learning,   but to  add practice

and then    training.   For as  time    passes  we  forget  what    we  learned and end up  doing   the opposite,

and hold    opinions    the opposite    of  what    we  should.”

—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 2.9.13–14

We have placed key terms in each level of the chart. There is progress (prokopê) upward out of
deception, false opinion, and error—through impulse control—to more clear judgments and knowledge
(self-coherence); and there is progress across the levels of training (study/manthanô, practice/meletaô,
hard training/askeô) through the remediation of habit, acting more appropriately, and improving judgment
toward living the virtues. We offer an annotated glossary of key Stoic terms and passages following the
chart.