There are many books on Stoicism, ancient and modern. But, it you want a quick and excellent 
introduction to Stocism in just one evening, there is no better book than Epictetus’ Encheiridion. There are many excellent translations and they are eminently readable (such as A.A. Long’s How to be Free). So, when I came across Scott Aiken and William O. Stephen’s Epictetus’ Encheridion: A New Translation and Guide to Stoic Ethics, I was curious to find out why they chose to translate it again. Another thing that intrigued me was the length of the book – while Encheiridion would easily fit in about 20 pages, this book is over 300 pages long. 

When I started reading it I found it to be much more than a simple translation of Encheiridion. It is a comprehensive introduction to Stoicism itself. 

What is in this book?

The book is divided into five parts:

Part One provides an introduction to ancient Stoic philosophy. It briefly outlines the entire field of Stoicism, the Stoic paradoxes, the Stoic system, and the six core principles.

Part Two traces the influence of Encheiridion over the centuries, since it was made available by Arrian.

Part Three is a modernized translation of Encheiridion. For example, the authors translate 

“Don’t let it be about any of the common subjects, like horse races, or athletic champions, or food, or drink – the meaningless topics of conversation.” (Chapter 33.2) into

“Don’t chatter about kickboxers, or NASCAR, or sports, or where to wine and dine, the topics that always come up.”  

Epictetus’ examples have changed but not his basic teachings.

Part Four is a detailed commentary on each chapter of Encheiridion. It is this section, more than any other part including the translation itself, that makes this book unique. It is an excellent in-depth analysis of Encheiridion. It is eight times the length of the translation itself and that is not unusual.

Part Five deals with critical responses to Epictetus’s Stoicism with responses: The Inaction Problem, The Ruin Problem, The Practicability Problem, The System Problem,  The Scepticism Problem and The Weaponization Problem.

What makes this book different?

If you are looking for a good translation of Encheiridion, this is a good book. But so are many others. 

So what makes this book different? It is the detailed commentaries that accompany the translation. For me, this is something valuable. It can clarify things for us. I probably have somewhere between six to ten translations of Encheiridion; it is not a difficult book to understand. Yet I find the commentaries in this book useful when I want to gain a deeper understanding of the concepts. 

In Buddhist writings, it is customary for a Sutra to express a concept in summary form followed by an extended explanation. We can view Encheiridion as Epictetus’ Sutras, and Aiken and Stephens’ commentaries as explanations of the Sutras. Together they work well.

The unexpected aspect of the book is its scope. Even though the subtitle of the book A New Translation and Guide to Stoic Ethics implies that the book is more than a translation of Encheiridion, I did not realize how much more the book is than a translation of and commentary on Encheiridion. This book is an excellent primer on the entire field of Stoic ethics, it traces the origin and development of Stoicism, provides a brief overview of Stoic physics and Stoic logic, outlines core principles of Stoicism, presents its pardoxes and solutions, criticisms and responses.

Should you buy this book?

While this is a scholarly book aimed at the academic market, it is highly accessible to anyone who is seriously interested in Stoicism. Also, unlike many other academic books that are incredibly pricey (even online editions) this book is very reasonably priced (Kindle about $14; paperback about $25).

If you are interested in a simple translation of Encheiridion you have many choices, including this one. But if you are looking for a version of Encheiridion with detailed commentaries on each and every chapter, if you are looking for a primer on Stoic ethics, if you are looking for a book that will explain Stoic paradoxes, and if you are looking for critical responses to criticisms, you will be hard put find any other book that comes close to this one – especially in this price range.

Scott Aikin and William O. Stephens. Epictetus’s 'Encheiridion': A New Translation and Guide to Stoic Ethics Bloomsbury Academic, 320 pages. https://amzn.to/3wC5bQ0

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