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Epictetus
Fragments Attributed to Epictetus Fragment 17
Fragment 18 of 31
Canonical reference 17
Ancient Greek
Heinrich Schenkl, Epicteti dissertationes ab Arriano digestae (1916)
Ἐπικτήτου. εἰς συμπόσιον μὲν οὖν παρακληθέντες τῷ παρόντι χρώμεθα· εἰ δέ τις κελεύοι τὸν ὑποδεχόμενον ἰχθῦς αὐτῷ παρατιθέναι ἢ πλακοῦντας, ἄτοπος ἂν δόξειεν. ἐν δὲ τῷ κόσμῳ αἰτοῦμεν τοὺς θεούς, ἃ μὴ διδόασι, καὶ ταῦτα πολλῶν ὄντων, ἅ γε ἡμῖν δεδώκασι.
English
W. A. Oldfather · W. A. Oldfather, Epictetus: The Discourses as Reported by Arrian, the Manual, and Fragments, volume II (1928)
From Epictetus Now when we have been invited to a banquet, we take what is set before us; and if a person should bid his host to set before him fish or cakes, he would be regarded as eccentric. Yet in the world at large we ask the gods for things which they do not give us, and that too when there are many things which they actually have given us.
French AI-generated translation, non-official
Codex gpt-5.6-sol · Non-official working translation · 2026-09-11
D'Épictète
Lorsque nous sommes invités à un banquet, nous prenons ce qui est placé devant nous ; et si quelqu'un ordonnait à son hôte de lui servir du poisson ou des gâteaux, on le trouverait extravagant. Pourtant, dans le monde en général, nous demandons aux dieux des choses qu'ils ne nous donnent pas, alors même qu'ils nous en ont réellement donné beaucoup.