# The Gods — Short Works character guide > The Gods in Short Works by Epictetus. **Role:** supporting **First appearance:** 0000-the-enchiridion ## Snapshot The divine hosts whose banquet Epictetus invokes, asking mortals to take only what is passed to them and to despise nothing that is set before them. ## Who they are The gods function as both hosts and witnesses in Epictetus's moral world, giving humans reason, food, and the many things they never think to request. The tension is one of gratitude versus greed: guests who demand fish or sweet cakes are unreasonable, yet people ask the gods for what they do not give. By imagining the reader as a fellow banqueter, Epictetus makes everyday restraint a way of sharing power with the divine. ## Relationships ### [Epictetus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/characters/epictetus) _psychological_ Epictetus views the gods as benevolent, rational providential beings with whom one should align one's will. ### [Socrates](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/characters/socrates) _psychological_ Socrates famously followed his divine sign (daimonion) and was devoted to the god of Delphi. ## In the story ### [The Enchiridion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/the-enchiridion) Referenced as the source of what is not in our power, which we must accept without hindrance. ### [Chapter XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/xxii) Referenced as the source of the philosopher's appointment and duty to their station. ### [On Piety Towards the Gods](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/xxxi) 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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/xxxiii) 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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/liii) Referenced as the ultimate authority whose will and destiny one must follow. ### [Chapter XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/xii) Referenced as the givers of reason, the divine faculty that humans are shaming. ### [Chapter XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/xv) Portrayed as the hosts of the 'banquet' of life, whose provisions we are to accept without making unreasonable demands. ### [Chapter LVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/lvi) Implied as the source of fate or the natural order that Agrippinus accepts without complaint. ### [Chapter LXVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/lxviii) Implied as the source of the rational and gentle nature we are to emulate, in contrast to savagery. ### [LXXIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/lxxiv) Implied as the source of the natural order and reason that Archimedes, through his dedication to geometry, is aligning himself with. ### [XCIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/xciv) Referenced as the master ('servant of God') whom one serves by enduring the necessary care of the mortal body. ### [XCV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/xcv) Blamed by people for both premature death and the prolonged suffering of old age, illustrating a failure to accept fate. ### [Chapter XCVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/xcvii) Referenced as the entity who delivers us to our innate conscience for guardianship in adulthood. ### [CXVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/cxviii) The central subject of the recommended daily discourse and reflection. ### [Chapter CXIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/cxix) The central object of contemplation and the source of universal order, to which the reader's mind is to be constantly directed. ### [CXX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/cxx) Referenced as the divine inspector whose constant presence guides ethical conduct. ### [CXXXIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/cxxxiii) Implied as the source of the eternal, divine nature of true virtue and good, which outlasts mortal wealth. ### [CXXXIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/cxxxvi) Implied as the rational, governing force of the universe to which all things, including humans, are subject. ### [Fragments of Disputed Authorship](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/clxix) 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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/clxxv) Referenced indirectly through the Delphic precept 'Know thyself,' which Epictetus reinterprets in a practical, self-reflective light. ### [CLXXXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/clxxxi) Implied context, as the excerpt from Arnobius's 'Adversus Gentes' concerns religious matters and the soul's relation to the divine. ### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/chapters/endnotes) Discussed in the context of piety, divine will, and the nature of events. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/characters/the_gods - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/epictetus_short_works_se/characters