“Because of these Powerful and Significant Magistracies and Honors, you Kiss the Hands of the Slaves of others”: Epictetus or the (im)possible path to Freedom and Virtue

Abstract

The great existential antitheses challenge the great minds in human history, among which stands Epictetus with extraordinary power. Freedom-non-freedom; truth-untruth; morality-spiritual decline; material-spiritual. For Epictetus non-freedom is a consequence of spiritual degradation of a corrupt mind, which is not free and trades everything against everything. In his world “the thirst for offices and wealth makes you inferior and subordinate to others”. This is the enchanted realm of the seemingly free, who “kiss the hands of the slaves of others”. Is Freedom achievable, how and when, asks Epictetus and his questions, along with his answers sound like a testament to the future people.