Remember that you ought to behave in life as you should at a banquet. As something is being passed around it comes to you; stretch out your hand, take a portion of it politely. It passes on; do not detain it. Or it has not come to you yet; do not project your desire to meet it, but wait until it comes in front of you. So act toward children, so toward a wife, so toward office, so toward wealth.
μέμνησο, ὅτι ὡς ἐν συμποσίῳ σε δεῖ ἀναστρέφεσθαι. περιφερόμενον γέγονέ τι κατὰ σέ: ἐκτείνας τὴν χεῖρα κοσμίως μετάλαβε. παρέρχεται: μὴ κάτεχε. οὔπω ἥκει: μὴ ἐπίβαλλε πόρρω τὴν ὄρεξιν, ἀλλὰ περίμενε, μέχρις ἂν γένηται κατὰ σέ. οὕτω πρὸς τέκνα, οὕτω πρὸς γυναῖκα, οὕτω πρὸς ἀρχάς, οὕτω πρὸς πλοῦτον
Quoted in The Enchiridion, by Arrian
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Original Citation
Epictetus. Ἐγχειρίδιον Ἐπικτήτου, Enkheirídion Epiktḗtou [Enchiridion of Epictetus]. c. 125 CE, ch. 15.
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Current Citation
Epictetus. Enchiridion, translated by George Long. Dover Publications, 2004, ch. 15.
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