But, said the young man, shall marriage and the procreation of children as a chief duty be undertaken by the Cynic?[1] If you grant me a community of wise men, Epictetus replies, perhaps no man will readily apply himself to the Cynic practice. For on whose account should he undertake this manner of life? However if we suppose that he does, nothing will prevent him from marrying and begetting children; for his wife will be another like himself, and his father in law another like himself, and his children will be brought up like himself. But in the present state of things which is like that of an army placed in battle order, is it not fit that the Cynic should without any distraction be employed only on the ministration of God,[2] able to go about among men,
- ↑ The Stoics recommended marriage, the procreation of children, the discharge of magisterial offices, and the duties of social life generally.
- ↑ "It is remarkable that Epictetus here uses the same word (ἀπερισπάστως) with St. Paul, 1 Cor. vii. 35, and urges the same consideration, of applying wholly to the service of God, to dissuade from marriage. His observation too that the state of things was then (ὡς ἐν παρατάξει) like that of an army prepared for battle, nearly resembles the Apostle's (ἐνεστῶσα ἀνάγκη) present necessity. St. Paul says 2 Tim. ii. 4 (οὐδεὶς στρατευόμενος ἐμπλέκεται etc.) no man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of life. So Epictetus says here that a Cynic must not be (ἐμπεπλεγμένον) in relations etc. From these and many other passages of Epictetus one would be inclined to think that he was not unacquainted with St. Paul's Epistles or that he had heard something of the Christian doctrine." Mrs. Carter.
I do not find any evidence of Epictetus being acquainted with the Epistles of Paul. It is possible that he had heard something of the Christian doctrine, but I have not observed any evidence of the fact. Epictetus and Paul have not the same opinion about marriage, for Paul says that 'if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.' Accordingly his doctrine is 'to avoid fornication let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.' He does not directly say what a man should do when he is not able to maintain a wife; but the inference is plain what he will do (1 Cor. vii. 2). Paul's view of marriage differs from that of Epictetus, who recommends marriage. Paul does not: he writes, 'I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I.' He does not acknowledge marriage and the begetting of children as a duty; which Epictetus did.
In the present condition of the world Epictetus says that the 'minister of God' should not marry, because the cares of a family would distract him and make him unable to discharge his duties.
