PTypes - What Forlornness Is, and What Kind of Person a Forlorn Man Is

What Forlornness Is, and What Kind of Person a Forlorn Man Is

From Epictetus, Discourses: Book 3, Chapter 13

Translated by George Long, modified

Forlornness (eremia) is a certain condition of a helpless man. For because a man is alone, he is not for that reason also forlorn (eremos); just as though a man is among numbers, he is not therefore not forlorn. When then we have lost either a brother, or a son, or a friend on whom we were accustomed to repose, we say that we are left forlorn, though we are often in Rome, though such a crowd meet us, though so many live in the same place, and sometimes we have a great number of slaves. For the man who is forlorn, as it is conceived, is considered to be a helpless person and exposed to those who wish to harm him. For this reason when we travel, then especially do we say that we are lonely when we fall among robbers, for it is not the sight of a human creature which removes us from forlornness, but the sight of one who is faithful and modest and helpful to us. For if being alone is enough to make forlornness, you may say that even Zeus is forlorn in the conflagration and bewails himself saying, "Unhappy that I am who have neither Hera, nor Athena, nor Apollo, nor brother, nor son, nor descendant nor kinsman." This is what some say that he does when he is alone at the conflagration. For they do not understand how a man passes his life when he is alone, because they set out from a certain natural principle, from the natural desire of community and mutual love and from the pleasure of conversation among men. But none the less a man ought to be prepared in a manner for this also, to be able to be sufficient for himself and to be his own companion. For as Zeus dwells with himself, and is tranquil by himself, and thinks of his own administration and of its nature, and is employed in thoughts suitable to himself; so ought we also to be able to talk with ourselves, not to feel the want of others also, not to be unprovided with the means of passing our time; to observe the divine administration and the relation of ourselves to everything else; to consider how we formerly were affected toward things that happen and how at present; what are still the things which give us pain; how these also can be cured and how removed; if any things require improvement, to improve them according to reason.

For you see that Caesar appears to furnish us with great peace, that there are no longer enemies nor battles nor great associations of robbers nor of pirates, but we can travel at every hour and sail from east to west. But can Caesar give us security from fever also, can he from shipwreck, from fire, from earthquake or from lightning? well, I will say, can he give us security against love? He cannot. From sorrow? He cannot. From envy? He cannot. In a word then he cannot protect us from any of these things. But the doctrine of philosophers promises to give us security even against these things. And what does it say? "Men, if you will attend to me, wherever you are, whatever you are doing, you will not feel sorrow, nor anger, nor compulsion, nor hindrance, but you will pass your time without perturbations and free from everything." When a man has this peace, not proclaimed by Caesar (for how should he be able to proclaim it?), but by God through reason, is he not content when he is alone? when he sees and reflects, "Now no evil can happen to me; for me there is no robber, no earthquake, everything is full of peace, full of tranquillity: every way, every city, every meeting, neighbor, companion is harmless. One person whose business it is, supplies me with food; another with raiment; another with perceptions, and preconceptions. And if he does not supply what is necessary, He gives the signal for retreat, opens the door, and says to you, 'Go.' Go whither? To nothing terrible, but to the place from which you came, to your friends and kinsmen, to the elements: what there was in you of fire goes to fire; of earth, to earth; of air, to air; of water to water: no Hades, nor Acheron, nor Cocytus, nor Pyriphlegethon, but all is full of Gods and Daemons." When a man has such things to think on, and sees the sun, the moon and stars, and enjoys earth and sea, he is not forlorn nor even helpless. "Well then, if some man should come upon me when I am alone and murder me?" Fool, not murder you, but your poor body.

What kind of forlornness then remains? what want? why do we make ourselves worse than children? and what do children do when they are left alone? They take up shells and ashes, and they build something, then pull it down, and build something else, and so they never want the means of passing the time. Shall I, then, if you sail away, sit down and weep, because I have been left alone and forlorn? Shall I then have no shells, no ashes? But children do what they do through want of thought, and we through knowledge are unhappy.

Eremos - Greek Lexicon

solitary, lonely, desolate, uninhabited
1. used of places
  1. a desert, wilderness
  2. deserted places, lonely regions
  3. an uncultivated region fit for pasturage
2. used of persons
  1. deserted by others
  2. deprived of the aid and protection of others, especially of friends, acquaintances, kindred
  3. bereft
3. of a flock deserted by the shepherd
4. of a woman neglected by her husband, from whom the husband withholds himself

"Forlorn" is William A. Oldfather's translation in the Discourses of eremos.

George Long (1891). The Discourses of Epictetus, with the Encheridion and Fragments. London: George Bell & Sons.

William A. Oldfather (1925). Epictetus: Discourses, Books 3-4 . Loeb Classical Library.

Epictetus, Works (ed. George Long) - Perseus Digital Library.

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