# Gaius Musonius Rufus — Discourses character guide

> Gaius Musonius Rufus in Discourses by Epictetus.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Rufus, Musonius Rufus, Rufus 457

**First appearance:** 0004-i-of-the-things-which-are-in-our-power-and-not-in-our-power

## Snapshot

Epictetus's own teacher, a Stoic whose return from exile and immediate relapse into Roman ambition becomes a cautionary tale about how easily philosophy is forgotten.

## Who they are

Musonius Rufus appears in the Discourses as Epictetus's teacher and as a man whose own life illustrates the difficulty of what he taught. Epictetus recalls a conversation in which Rufus swore he would seek only quiet after his exile, and then, before even entering Rome, forgot everything the moment Caesar's letters arrived. The anecdote is not cruel but diagnostic: it shows how ambition reasserts itself, and it gives Epictetus a personal stake in the argument that philosophy must be practiced daily or it evaporates.

## In the story

### [Of the Use of Sophistical Arguments and Hypothetical and the Like](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/vii-of-the-use-of-sophistical-arguments-and-hypothetical-and-the-like)

Mentioned as Rufus; Epictetus recalls a conversation where Rufus corrected him about the seriousness of logical errors.

### [IX: How from the Fact That We Are Akin to God a Man May Proceed to the Consequences](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/ix-how-from-the-fact-that-we-are-akin-to-god-a-man-may-proceed-to-the-consequences)

Epictetus' teacher; used to test Epictetus by suggesting he could obtain greatness of soul from himself rather than external goods.

### [VI: Miscellaneous](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/vi-miscellaneous)

Mentioned as using discouragement to test the natural disposition of his pupils.

### [That We Ought to Proceed with Circumspection to Everything](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/xv-that-we-ought-to-proceed-with-circumspection-to-everything)

Quoted for his response to a question about Providence after Galba's murder.

### [To Those Who Read and Discuss for the Sake of Ostentation](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/xxiii-to-those-who-read-and-discuss-for-the-sake-of-ostentation)

Quoted as saying 'If you have leisure to praise me, I am speaking to no purpose,' emphasizing that philosophy should provoke self-reflection, not applause.

## Links

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