The Gods

Epictetus

Epictetus views the gods as benevolent, rational providential beings with whom one should align one's will.

Socrates

Socrates famously followed his divine sign (daimonion) and was devoted to the god of Delphi.

The Enchiridion

Referenced as the source of what is not in our power, which we must accept without hindrance.

Chapter XV

Presented as the ideal hosts of the banquet of life; the goal is to become a worthy partner at their table through proper conduct.

Chapter XXII

Referenced as the source of the philosopher's appointment and duty to their station.

On Piety Towards the Gods

Central subject of the chapter; described as existing and administering the universe with wisdom and justice, to whom obedience and voluntary submission is due.

Chapter XXXII

Referenced as advisers to be consulted with confidence, and specifically the Pythian God (Apollo) who condemned the failure to assist a friend.

On Prescribing a Character and Social Conduct

Implied as the source of the universal order and fate that one must accept, underlying the advice to desire only what is done.

Chapter LIII

Referenced as the ultimate authority whose will and destiny one must follow.

Chapter XII

Referenced as the givers of reason, the divine faculty that humans are shaming.

Chapter XV

Portrayed as the hosts of the 'banquet' of life, whose provisions we are to accept without making unreasonable demands.

Chapter LVI

Implied as the source of fate or the natural order that Agrippinus accepts without complaint.

Chapter LXVIII

Implied as the source of the rational and gentle nature we are to emulate, in contrast to savagery.

LXXIV

Implied as the source of the natural order and reason that Archimedes, through his dedication to geometry, is aligning himself with.

XCIV

Referenced as the master ('servant of God') whom one serves by enduring the necessary care of the mortal body.

XCV

Blamed by people for both premature death and the prolonged suffering of old age, illustrating a failure to accept fate.

Chapter XCVII

Referenced as the entity who delivers us to our innate conscience for guardianship in adulthood.

CXVIII

The central subject of the recommended daily discourse and reflection.

Chapter CXIX

The central object of contemplation and the source of universal order, to which the reader's mind is to be constantly directed.

CXX

Referenced as the divine inspector whose constant presence guides ethical conduct.

CXXXIII

Implied as the source of the eternal, divine nature of true virtue and good, which outlasts mortal wealth.

CXXXIV

Referenced as participating in the universal change and transmutation, indicating even divine things are subject to the laws of nature.

Universal Obedience and the Futility of Resistance

Implied as the rational, governing force of the universe to which all things, including humans, are subject.

Fragments of Disputed Authorship

Implied in the fragment stating that exercising wisdom is exercising knowledge about God, connecting virtue to divine understanding.

Some Fragments of Epictetus Omitted by Upton and by Meibomius

Referenced as the source of the division of what is and is not in our power, and as the imposer of roles we must perform well.

CLXIX: The Division of What is in Our Power and What is Not

Referenced as the divine force that established the fundamental division of what is and is not within human power.

CLXXV: On the Limits of Philosophical Inquiry

Referenced indirectly through the Delphic precept 'Know thyself,' which Epictetus reinterprets in a practical, self-reflective light.

CLXXXI

Implied context, as the excerpt from Arnobius's 'Adversus Gentes' concerns religious matters and the soul's relation to the divine.

Endnotes

Discussed in the context of piety, divine will, and the nature of events.