Read The Enchiridion by email.
Fifty-three fragments, under a minute each.
The handbook. Epictetus's teaching boiled down by his student Arrian into fifty-three short rules you could carry in a pocket — and people have been carrying it for nineteen centuries. One rule a day, done in under two months.
Under a minute a day, and each installment stands alone.
Eight weeks from now, you will have read Epictetus.
53 installments, one an email
- First published
- c. 125 AD
- Translation
- George Long
- Installments
- 53
- Each installment
- under a minute
How long it takes
- Words
- 8,149
- Reading time
- 34 minutes
- At 5 minutes a day
- 7 days
- At 10 minutes a day
- 3 days
- At 20 minutes a day
- 2 days
At 240 words a minute, the average for adult silent reading. Use your own speed
Why read The Enchiridion?
Enchiridion means "something held in the hand," and that is the whole design: not a book to study but a manual to keep within reach. Arrian took the Discourses he had already recorded and compressed them into the fifty-three things you would actually need to remember under pressure. It has been used that way ever since — by Roman soldiers, by Renaissance humanists, by a US Navy pilot who credited it with getting him through seven years as a prisoner of war.
Section I is the most consequential paragraph in Stoicism: some things are up to us, and some are not, and nearly all human misery comes from confusing the two. The other fifty-two work out what follows.
The sections are short — most under a hundred words — so each arrives on its own, exactly as written, one per email. This is our shortest serial after the Sonnets, and the best place to start if you have never read any philosophy at all.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to read the Enchiridion?
About thirty-five minutes straight through (8,149 words) — which is why almost nobody remembers any of it. By email it's 53 daily installments of under a minute each, finished in under two months, and the point is that it stays with you.
Is this a good first book of philosophy?
It's the best one we carry for that. There is no argument to follow, no background required, and no installment longer than a couple of paragraphs. If Seneca and Marcus feel like a commitment, start here.
How is this different from the Discourses?
Same teacher, same student writing it down. The Discourses are the classroom — long, digressive, argumentative. The Enchiridion is the summary Arrian made afterward, stripped to the rules. Many readers do the handbook first, then the classroom.
Which translation is this?
George Long's classic public-domain translation, in the Standard Ebooks edition — the same translator as our Meditations and Discourses.
How does it arrive?
One numbered section per email, one email a day, at the hour you pick. Never split, never abridged. Free. Unsubscribe or pause anytime.
George Long translation, Standard Ebooks edition, public domain. Texts from Standard Ebooks and Project Gutenberg editions. Not affiliated with either.