IS Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, 3, 6: "Truly, philosophy is the medicine of the soul"; cf. Epictetus, Discourses, 2, 2 1 , I S; 22. Chrysippus wrote a Therapeutics of the Passio,,s; cf. S VF, vol. 3, §474. Cf. also the aphorism attributed to Epicurus by Usener (Epicurea, fr. 22 1 = Porphyry Ad Marcel/am, 3 1 , p. 294, 7-8 Nauck):
"Vain is the word of that philosopher which does not heal any suffering of man."
According to H. Chadwick, The Sentences of Sextus, Cambridge 1 959, p. 1 78, n.
336, this sentence is Pythagorean. Cf. Epictetus, Discourses, 3, 23, 30: "The philosopher's school is a clinic."
16 The Epicurean method must be distinguished from that of the Stoics. According to Olympiodorus, CommePltary on tl1e First Aldbiiltles of Plaw, pp. <>, MT; 54, 1 5ff; 1 4S, 1 2ff Wcsterink, the Stoics cure contraries by contraries; the Pyth11gnrc11n11
let the patient taste the passions with hili linger1i1>11; 1md SucrntcH 1 rc11111 hi�
patients by homeopathy, le11Jing them, for ux11n11llc, from t he lnw 111' ll.'rrvN1 ri11l
Spiritual Exercises
1 1 1
beauty to the love of eternal beauty. Cf. also Proclus, In Alcibordtm, p. 1 5 1 , 1 4, vol. 2, p. 2 1 7 Segonds.
17 Cf. below. We find the distinction between what depends on us and what does not depend on us in Epictetus, Discourses, I, 1 , 7; I, 4, 27; I, 22, 9; 2, 5, 4; and Epictetus, Manual, ch. 4.
18 Many Stoic treatises entitled On Exercises have been lost; cf. the list of titles in Diogenes Laertius, 7, 1 66-7. A short treatise entitled On Exercise, by Musonius Rufus, has been preserved (pp. 22-7 Hense). After a general introduction concerning the need for exercises in philosophy, Rufus recommends physical exercises: becoming used to foul weather, hunger, and thirst. These exercises benefit the soul, giving it strength and temperance. He then recommends exercises designed particularly for the soul, which, says Rufus, consist in steeping oneself in the demonstrations and principles bearing on the distinction between real and apparent goods and evils. With the help of these exercises, we will get into the habit of not fearing what most people consider as evils: poverty, suffering, and death. One chapter of Epictetus' Disco1mes is dedicated to askesis (3, 1 2, 1-7). Cf. bc:low . The: treatise 011 Exerdse by the PseudoPlutarch, preserved in Arabic (cf. J. Gildmeister and F. Bilcheler, "PseudoPlutarchos Peri askisefis,"
Rheit1isches Museum NF 27 ( 1 872), pp. 520-38), is of no particular interest in this context.
1 9 Philo Judaeus, Who is the Heir of Divi11e Things, 253.
20 Philo Judaeus, Allegorical lmerpretations, 3, 1 8 .
2 1 The word therapeiai can also mean acts of worship, and this meaning would be entirely possible in Philo's mind. Nevertheless, in the present context it seems to me that it designates the therapeutics of the passions. Cf. Philo Judaeus, On 1/1e Special Laws, I, 1 9 1 ; 1 97; 230; 2, 1 7.
22 Ton kalon 11111emai. Cf. Galen, Gale11 On the Passio11s and Err(!rs of the S<ml, l, 5, 25, pp. 1 9, 8 Marquardt.
23 On this theme, cf. Rabbow, Seelenfiihmmg, pp. 249-50; Hijmans, AIKEEIII, pp. 68-70. Cf. especially Epictetus, Discourses, 4, 1 2, 1 -2 1 .
24 The idea o f tension (tonos) i s particularly in evidence i n Epictetus, Discourses, 4, 1 2, 15 and 19. The concept of tonos is central to Stoicism, as is that of relaxation (a11esis) in Epicureanism . Cf. F. Ravaisson, Essai sur la Metaphysiq11e d 'Austote, Paris, 1 846, repr. Hildesheim 1 963, p. 1 1 7.
25 Epictetus, Discourses, 4, 1 2 , 7; cf. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 3, 1 3; Galen, Gale11 On the Passions and Errors of tl1e Soul, 1, 9, 5 1 , p. 40, 10
Marquardt.
26 Epictetus, Discourses, 4, 1 2, 1 5-18.
27 ' Cf. below.
28 Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 7, 54; cf. 3, 1 2; 8, 36; 9, 6.
29 Only the present depends on us, since our free action cannot be extended either to the post or to the future. Free action is that which either brings about Komething in the present, or else accepts the present event, which has been willed by line; cf. Mnrcu11 Aurelius, Medit11tif111s, 2, 1 4; 4, 26, 5; 1 2, 26; Seneca, On llt'llr/ils, 7, 2, 4: "Rcjoidntc in 1.hcNe 1,reKt•nt evt,n111."
1 12
Spiritual Exercises
30 Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 3, 1 O; 2, 14; 8, 36.
31 Cf., for instance, Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4, 23. Marcus also stresses the cosmic value of the instant in 5, 8, 3: "This event occurred for you, was prescribed for you, and had some kind of relationship to you, having been woven since the beginning, from the most ancient causes."
32 Epictetus, Discourses, 2, 16, 2 3; 3,
-
8, 1-5.
33 Cf. Rabbow, See/enfiihnung, pp. 1 24-30, 334-6; I. Hadot, Seneca und die griuh1"s,h-romiuhe Tradition der Seelenleitung, Berlin 1 969, pp. 57-8. See also Galen, Galen On the Passions and E"ors of the Soul, 1 , 5, 24, p. 18, 19 Marquardt; Seneca, On Benefits, 1, 2, I ; Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 1, 63.
34 Seneca, On Benefits, 1, 2, 1-2; Epictetus, Discourses, 3, 3, 14-16.
35 On the role of rhetoric in spiritual exercises, sec Rabbow, SeelerrfiihnuP1g, pp. 5 5-90; Hijmans, ALKEJ:IX, p. 89; I. Hadot, Seneca, pp. 1 7, 184. For examples in Plutarch, see Ingcnkamp, Plutarchs Schrifien, pp. 99ff.
36 Marcus Aurelius, Medi1a1ior1s, 1, 58: "In every contingency, keep before .vour e.ves those who, when the same thing befell them, were saddened, astonished, resentful. Where are they now? Nowhere." Epictetus, Manual, ch. 2 1 : "Keep before .vour e.ves every day death and exile, and everything that seems terrible, but most of all death; and then you will never have any abject thought, nor excessive desire." On this exercise, see Rabbow, Seelenj'iihrU11g, p. 330.
37 Cf. the passage from Philo cited above. Hijmans, AJ:KEJ:IJ:, p. 69, calls attention to the frequency of the expression "Remember!" in Epictetus. It recurs quite often in Marcus Aurelius, for instance, Meditations, 2, 4; 8, 1 5 ; 29. Cf. Galen, Galer1 On the Passions and E"ors of the So11/, l , 5, 25, p. 1 9, 8- 1 0 Marquardt:
"With the help of memory, keep 'at hand' the ugliness of those who succumb to anger, and the beauty of those who master it."
38 It is only after much hesitation that I have translated mtlete by "meditation." In fact, melett and iL'I Latin equivalent meditatifl designate "preparatory exercises,"
in particular those of rhetoricians. If 1 ha\•e finally resigned myself to adopting the translation "meditation," it is because the exercise designated by mtltte corresponds, in the last analysis, rather well to what we nowadays term meditatio11: an effort to assimilate an idea, notion, or principle, and make them come alive in the soul. We must not, however, lose sight of the term's ambiguity: meditation is exercise, and exercise is meditation. For instance, the "premeditation" of death is a "pre-exercise" of death; the (Oltidiana meditatio cited in the following note could just as well be translated as "daily exercises. "
3 9 See Rabbow, See/enfiihrung, pp. 23- 1 50, 325-8; and Seneca, On Benefits, 1, 2, 1 :
"These are the things that my friend Demetrius says the beginner in philosophy must grasp with both hands, these arc the precepts that he must never let go.
Rather, he must cling fast to them and make them a part of himself, and by daily meditation reach the point where thc.'lc salutary maxims occur to him of their own accord." Cf. also Galen, Ga/e11 011 t/1e Passior1s anti E"nrs 1if tl1t Soul, l , 5, 25, p. 1 9, 13 Marquardt.