Despite his severely compromised physical condition, Epictetus's philosophy is unfailingly positive. According to Epictetus, all men have the capacity for virtue. God has given to all men the means of becoming happy, which requires steadfast character and self-control. The kind of self-control he stresses has two chief parts: the control of your own attitude toward reality and the control of your senses.

The Stoics sought happiness through embracing the wisdom to accept whatever happens in life. Centuries after Socrates met his death with courage and equanimity, Epictetus wrote, “I cannot escape death, but I can escape the dread of it.” You cannot control all events but you can control your attitude toward what happens. It is possible by an act of will to control your fear.

Epictetus revealed this part of his philosophy in several portions of the handbook:

5. It is not things that upset people but rather ideas about things. For example, death is nothing terrible, else it would have seemed so even to Socrates; rather it is the idea that death is terrible that is terrible. So whenever we are frustrated or upset or grieved, let us not blame others, but ourselves — that is, our ideas. It is the act of a philosophically ignorant person to blame others for his own troubles. One who is beginning to learn blames himself. An educated person blames neither anyone else nor himself.

In a similar vein he said,

8. Don't seek for things to happen as you wish, but wish for things to happen as they do, and you will get on well.

And again,

10. Whatever occasion befalls you, remember to turn around and look into yourself to see what power you have to make use of it. If you see a handsome boy or a beautiful girl, you will find the relevant power to be self-controlled. If labor is heaped on you, end; endurance is what you need; if abuse, forbearance. And thus habituating yourself, you will not be carried away by impressions.

41. It is the sign of a weak mind to spend too much time on things having to do with the body, such as exercising a lot, eating a lot, drinking a lot, excreting, sex. Such things should be done incidentally; let your attention be concentrated on your mind.

Epictetus's basic ideas keep getting repeated. People have the necessary degree of self-control to not be overwhelmed by events, even ultimate events like death. Regarding the control of the senses, individuals also have the strength to refrain from the pleasures of food, drink, and sex. You can see how Epictetus's underlying philosophy of “bear and forbear” keeps appearing in his ethic.

Ethics and the Human Drama

According to Epictetus moral philosophy rested upon a simple insight, wherein each person is an actor in a drama. What Epictetus meant when he used this image was that an actor does not choose a role, but on the contrary it is the author or director of the drama who selects people to play the various roles. God determines what each person shall be and how he or she will be situated in history. The Stoics thought it was wise for people to recognize their role in the drama.

The Stoics tell you that as an actor, you may not be able to tell the story. You can sulk because you play only bit parts or be consumed with jealousy if someone else is chosen to be the hero in the drama. But if you can control your attitude and emotions and remain free from these feelings, or develop what the Stoics call apathy, you will achieve a serenity and happiness that are the mark of a wise person.

The Problem of Freedom

If actors do not choose their roles in whatever drama they are acting out, how can they know that they will choose their attitudes? The Stoics held to the notion that attitudes are under the control of a person's choice, but this may be a mere hope. For if providence rules everything, how can it not rule a person's attitudes? The closest Stoics came to accounting for this is to say that while everything in the universe behaves according to divine law, happiness is not a by-product of choice; rather, it is a quality of existence, which follows from agreeing to what has to be. Freedom, therefore, is not the power to alter your destiny but rather the absence of emotional disturbance.

For Epicurus freedom was especially problematic. This is because Epicurus, like Democritus (460-371 B.C.) before him, was an atomist who believed the finest components of things were atoms that moved regularly in parallel lines.

Democritus contended that all things are composed of atoms and the void. He maintained that reality was composed of being (itself composed of atoms) and not-being (the void), which must exist for any motion of atoms to be possible. Democritus distinguished between “obscure knowledge” obtained by the senses, and “genuine knowledge,” which, if it were attainable by humans, would be knowledge of atoms and the void. Democritus thought that sense perception and even thought itself depended on the movements and amassing of atoms.

But Epicurus changed Democritus's materialism by insisting that some atoms “swerved in the void” from their course by a spontaneous act of free will. This random swerve allowed Epicurus to accept the world as mechanistic but still reject determinism as an explanation of human behavior. Free will was preserved.