# Caesar — Discourses character guide > Caesar in Discourses by Epictetus. **Role:** supporting **First appearance:** 0004-i-of-the-things-which-are-in-our-power-and-not-in-our-power ## Snapshot The emperor whose friendship promises security and delivers sleepless nights—Epictetus's sharpest case study in how power enslaves the powerful. ## Who they are Caesar enters the Discourses less as a historical individual than as the ultimate test of whether political proximity can produce happiness. Epictetus imagines Caesar's friend directly and asks him when he slept better, ate with more pleasure, or bathed more freely, and the answer is always the same: the man is a slave at table, afraid he might lose his head. The argument matters because it dismantles the assumption that rank and access equal freedom, and it sets up the middle section's insistence that only the person who lives as he wishes is genuinely free. ## Relationships ### [Zeus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/characters/zeus) _psychological_ Caesar is often compared to Zeus, reflecting a psychological need to legitimize imperial power through divine association. ### [Hercules](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/characters/hercules) _psychological_ Caesar identifies with Hercules to project strength and heroic destiny, a psychological self-mythologizing. ### [Epaphroditus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/characters/epaphroditus) _professional_ Epaphroditus serves as a freedman and advisor to Caesar, a relationship of political dependence and service. ## In the story ### [Book I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/book-i) Mentioned in the context of a man becoming wise when Caesar appoints him to a position, illustrating misplaced value on externals. ### [How a Man Should Proceed from the Principle of God Being the Father of All Men to the Rest](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/iii-how-a-man-should-proceed-from-the-principle-of-god-being-the-father-of-all-men-to-the-rest) Used as an analogy: if adopted by Caesar one would be arrogant, yet knowing one is a son of Zeus should produce even greater elevation. ### [Against Those Who Eagerly Seek Preferment at Rome](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/x-against-those-who-eagerly-seek-preferment-at-rome) The Roman emperor whose letters summon the older man back to political life, symbolizing the pull of worldly power. ### [That the Deity Oversees All Things](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/xiv-that-the-deity-oversees-all-things) Used as an analogy for the oath of loyalty that soldiers swear, compared to the oath one should swear to God. ### [XIX: How We Should Behave to Tyrants](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/xix-how-we-should-behave-to-tyrants) Implied as the tyrant figure whose favor elevates individuals like Felicion, illustrating the folly of valuing externals. ### [On Constancy (Or Firmness)](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/xxix-on-constancy-or-firmness) Mentioned as a symbol of worldly power whose threats (like imprisonment or death) are only over externals, not over the philosopher's will. ### [To Naso](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/xiv-to-naso) Mentioned as someone the Roman visitor knows, indicating his social standing. ### [XIX: Against Those Who Embrace Philosophical Opinions Only in Words](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/xix-against-those-who-embrace-philosophical-opinions-only-in-words) Mentioned as the authority before whom one might tremble, illustrating the gap between philosophical talk and real fear. ### [Against a Person Who Showed His Partisanship in an Unseemly Way in a Theatre](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/iv-against-a-person-who-showed-his-partisanship-in-an-unseemly-way-in-a-theatre) Referenced as the authority whose deputy the governor is, and as one who is abused but does not punish all abusers. ### [To the Administrator of the Free Cities Who Was an Epicurean](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/vii-to-the-administrator-of-the-free-cities-who-was-an-epicurean) Referenced as the authority who appoints judges via codicil, highlighting the superficial basis of political power. ### [VIII: How We Must Exercise Ourselves Against Appearances (Φαντασίας)](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/viii-how-we-must-exercise-ourselves-against-appearances) Mentioned as an example of an external authority whose actions (condemning a person) are beyond the power of the will and therefore not an evil. ### [What Solitude Is, and What Kind of Person a Solitary Man Is](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/xiii-what-solitude-is-and-what-kind-of-person-a-solitary-man-is) Mentioned as a provider of external peace (e.g., safe travel) but unable to grant inner security from passions. ### [Book IV: On Freedom and Familiar Intimacy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/book-iv) Mentioned as a powerful master whose favor is sought by the supposedly free, highlighting the illusion of political freedom. ### [About Freedom](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/i-about-freedom) Mentioned as a powerful master whose nod and motion people obey, illustrating slavery to external authority. ### [To Those Who Are Desirous of Passing Life in Tranquillity](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/iv-to-those-who-are-desirous-of-passing-life-in-tranquillity) Used as an example of an external power that can impede one's tranquility if one values it. ### [VI: Against Those Who Lament Over Being Pitied](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/vi-against-those-who-lament-over-being-pitied) Referenced in the context of those who seek to flatter and gain favor in the house of Caesar. ### [On Freedom from Fear](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/vii-on-freedom-from-fear) Symbol of temporal power whose favors (provinces, offices) are compared to dried figs and nuts. ### [XIII: Against or to Those Who Readily Tell Their Own Affairs](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/xiii-against-or-to-those-who-readily-tell-their-own-affairs) Mentioned in the analogy of a soldier who speaks ill of Caesar to entrap others. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/characters/caesar - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/characters