Epictetus And Eros Analysis

Self Control by Epictetus and Eros by Plato are philosophical pieces that teach of various subjects, but most notably the path to happiness. While Epictetus primarily concerns himself with advising on what to avoid to ensure one is not unhappy, Plato offers advice on what to seek out in order to attain true happiness. According to Self Control and Eros, one must find beauty in the otherworldly in order to be happy because worldly possessions and people have an expiration date, but deeper forms of beauty are everlasting.
Epictetus’s Self Control states early on a practice that should be avoided in order to prevent unhappiness. Epictetus states that one must concern himself only with his own affairs in order to prevent harm from others, which

In this section, Epictetus builds upon his prevailing idea of accepting the inevitable when he discusses what one must do with their will to avoid and obtain. Epictetus states that, "...he who fails to get what he wills is unfortunate, and he who does not escape what he wills to avoid is miserable....Therefore let your will to avoid have no concern with what is not in man's power.... But for the moment you must utterly avoid the will to get...." (Epictetus 478). With this statement, he is conveying that one will be miserable if they strive to avoid the inevitable or obtain the unobtainable, and that one must only strive to avoid what is possible and not strive to obtain anything. With these words, Epictetus explicitly states that there are events that are inevitable, and trying to avoid them will only result in further distress. This advice for preventing distress is a tip on preserving happiness in and of itself, but it primarily serves as another precursor of Epictetus’s main claim. Having laid the theme of accepting the inevitable, Epictetus would almost immediately after reveal the main point that he was trying to