Epietetres. Translated by George Long. (Boll and Sons.)—For an old
man past seventy-six, as Mr. Long tells us ho is, the translation of any classic must be a serious undertaking, and what remains to us of Epietetus is often rather difficult and obscure. Mr. Long says that he has done his best, and he has been, we think, perhaps as successful as it was possible to be. A reader who really cares to know the character and drift of the teaching of one of the most remarkable representatives of the Stoic philosophy will soon reconcile himself to a few somewhat awkward phrases and sentences, from which, indeed, it would be too much to expect any translation to be free. One must, however, be of a thoroughly studious turn of mind, to take much interest in such an author as Epictetus. He needs careful reading, or his meaning will be continually missed. His discourses and his " Encheiridion," or "Manual," were not written by himself, but were taken down by his favourite pupil, Arrian, the historian of Alexander the Great, and a writer of no mean ability. Epietetus has an exceptional interest for us among heathen philosophers, as having been a slave, who appears to have found in philosophy a refuge from the wretched- ness of his own condition and from the evils of the terrible days of Domitian. Dr. Farrar numbers him among his "Seekers after God," and there is unquestionably a distinctly Christian tone about his thought, so much so indeed, that it has been surmised that he was acquainted with St. Paul's Epistles. But for this Mr. Long says that he can find no evidence, and he goes as far as to express a decided doubt as to whether he had ever even heard of Christian doctrine. The truth is -that ideas and speculations akin to Christianity, but independent of it, were in the air from the beginning of the first century A.D. Mr. Long has given us an interesting sketch o1 the philosophy of Epictetus, which was, as we see, thoroughly practical and religious. He notes several points of resemblance between him and Bishop Butler. Epictetus, it appears, equally disliked both Epicurus, and Pyrrho, the leader of the sceptical school. What he aimed at was a well-regulated life, and this, along with the happiness flowing from it, he maintained to be universally attainable. He deserves to be read, and Mr. Long, whose book is well furnished with index and notes, deserves our thanks for translating him.
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