Summary of the Discourses of Epictetus

Epictetus, one of the leading Stoic philosophers of the first century, examined desire as a question of freedom. He taught that the danger of lust lies not in pleasure itself, but in the loss of self-command that follows unexamined impulse. In his Discourses, he described how passion can make the mind its servant, turning reason into an afterthought. Adultery and excess were, for him, symptoms of this deeper enslavement. A fracture of integrity that erodes trust and weakens the soul. Epictetus b