A slave who lived for many years in Rome, Epictetus was also a Stoic philosopher who taught that wisdom consisted in achieving independence from external circumstances and in learning to meet adversity with patience and fortitude. In a manner that perhaps too openly parallels the life of Socrates, whom he deeply admired, Epictetus left behind no writings. The words that are credited to him to him in the Diatribes, better known in English as the Discourses (late first century/early second century A.D.) are actually sections from the notes made by his student Arrian, who later became the noted historian of Alexander the Great. Around A.D. 108 Arrian attended a school that Epictetus conducted in the town of Nicopolis. In a letter to a friend that prefaces the extant text, Arrian claims that he wrote down Epictetus's words as they were actually spoken and avoided any effort...