Gnomologium (Books 1–2)
Imperial Epictetus Greek- Of Epictetus. Honor the gods with a just and measured disposition, and do not flatter them with extravagant offerings; for the god takes no joy in flattery, nor does the flatterer honor the divine.
Sacrifice to the gods not when you have grown rich, but when you have grown wise; for to be rich belongs even to the ill-fortuned, but to be wise belongs to the happy alone.
Do not ask of the gods unbroken health of body, but rather receive continually self-command of soul; and then you will neither fall sick easily, nor, when sick, be ill content.
Do not ask of the gods the things you desire, but ask of them rather to be rid of the desire itself. The gods hearken to you then, when you pray not for what is pleasant but for what is good; and they give you good things then, when you take joy not in pleasure but in virtue.
Remember to ask great things of the great; for they would not grant petty ones. Nothing is greater or higher than god. When you pray, then, to the gods, ask for divine things, things that no fleshly and earthbound passion touches.
As you do not hate the bee for its sting, but tend it for its fruit, so do not turn away from a friend for his rebuke, but love him for his goodwill.
Flatterers are like drones: idle, stingless, and devouring the toils of others. The envious are like wasps: stinging, helpless, ungiving, and useless. But honest men are like bees: hardworking, self-reliant, good managers of their household, plentiful, gentle, ready to rebuke, and sociable. So, if you wish, being a friend, to pass your life among many friends, imitate the bee: let your hive be kept clean of drones and wasps.
Test those who present themselves to you for friendship, not by what they give to you, but by what they have won, and granted, and pledged, and bestowed upon themselves.
It is not money that makes a friend, but the friend who is money. Money could never produce friendship, any more than earth could produce a god; but friendship could acquire money too in other ways, just as a god could acquire earth.