The Enchiridion is a 53-chapter compilation of Epictetus's teaching by his pupil Arrian, drawn from the longer Discourses and organised as a portable manual — the Greek title means "in the hand," a ready-to-hand handbook. The opening dichotomy of control — that some things are within our power (opinion, desire, aversion, our own actions) and others are not (body, property, reputation, command) — is the book's structural and ethical foundation. Less than fifty pages in most modern editions, it is the most concentrated single statement of Stoic practice in the ancient corpus.
Read continuously since antiquity, the Enchiridion was central to the early modern Stoic revival (Justus Lipsius, Montaigne, Pascal as critic) and is now central again to the modern Stoic and cognitive-behavioural movements. Albert Ellis cited Epictetus directly as a source for Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy; Aaron Beck's CBT inherits the same dichotomy. Within classical philosophy the Enchiridion is sometimes treated as too compressed to substitute for the Discourses; in self-help and practitioner contexts it has largely displaced them. The Elizabeth Carter (1758) and Nicholas White (Hackett, 1983) translations remain the most-cited English versions.
Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions; things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions.
p. 1 · Chapter 1 (Elizabeth Carter translation, 1758)
First lines
Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions.
Reception
Read continuously since antiquity, central to early modern Stoic revival (Justus Lipsius, Montaigne, Pascal as critic) and to the present-day cognitive-behavioural and Modern Stoicism movements. Albert Ellis cited Epictetus directly as the source for REBT; Aaron Beck's CBT inherits the same dichotomy. Within classical philosophy the Enchiridion is sometimes treated as too compressed to substitute for the Discourses; for working purposes, particularly in self-help contexts, it has displaced them.
Frequently asked
What is the Enchiridion?
A 53-chapter compilation of Epictetus's Stoic teaching, assembled by his pupil Arrian from the longer Discourses and arranged as a portable manual. The Greek title means "in the hand": a handbook of Stoic practice. The text opens with the dichotomy of control — that some things are within our power and others are not — which is its structural and ethical foundation.
Did Epictetus write the Enchiridion himself?
No. Epictetus did not write any of the surviving works attributed to him; he taught orally. The Enchiridion and the longer Discourses were both compiled by his pupil Arrian (Lucius Flavius Arrianus), the same historian known for the Anabasis of Alexander. The Enchiridion distils material from the Discourses into about fifty pages.
How is the Enchiridion related to modern CBT?
Albert Ellis cited Epictetus directly as a source for Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy, and Aaron Beck's cognitive therapy inherits the same dichotomy: it is judgments about things, not things themselves, that disturb us. The Modern Stoicism community (Pigliucci, Robertson, Holiday) treats the Enchiridion as a primary practitioner text.