EPICTETUS, Stoic philosopher: b. Hiera polis, Phrygia, about 60 A.D. He lived at Rome, where he was the slave of Epaphroditus, a brutal freedman of Nero, whose abuse and mal treatment he bore with fortitude. He was later manumitted. Epictetus himself did not leave any written account of his doctrines, which appear to have been of the most elevated kind. In his discourses he aimed to impress his hearers 110 with the love of practical goodness. The foun dation of philosophy he held to be the percep tion of one's own weakness and inability to do what is needful. His doctrines approach more nearly to Christianity than those of any of the earlier Stoics, and although there is no trace in what is recorded of them of his having been directly acquainted with Christianity, it is at least probable that the ideas diffused by Chris tian teachers may have indirectly influenced them. The excellence of his system was uni versally acknowledged. Banished from Rome by Domitian who hated him on account of his principles, Epictetus settled in Epirus, and al though he possessed the favor of Hadrian, there is no evidence that he returned to Rome. His
pupil Arrian, the historian of Alexander the Great, collected his maxims with affectionate care, in the work entitled (Enchiridion' ('Handbook') and in eight books of