Arr. Epict. I.3.1, 3

Greek Learning Greek
1

There are two things in this section that I am having difficulty with. The first is the meaning of κατ᾽ ἀξίαν. Here is the complete sentence:

εἴ τις τῷ δόγματι τούτῳ συμπαθῆσαι κατ᾽ ἀξίαν δύναιτο, ὅτι γεγόναμεν ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ πάντες προηγουμένως καὶ ὁ θεὸς πατήρ ἐστι τῶν τ᾽ ἀνθρώπων καὶ τῶν θεῶν, οἶμαι ὅτι οὐδὲν ἀγεννὲς οὐδὲ ταπεινὸν ἐνθυμηθήσεται περὶ ἑαυτοῦ.

I take δόγμα to refer to what immediately precedes: that we all spring from God. I see that it can refer to “the estimate of the moral value of actions” (LSJ II) So would the sense be according to the value of this doctrine? When referring to persons, the phrase can mean “according to desert, merit, duly” (also in LSJ)? Perhaps it can be applied to ideas. The doctrine deserves to be given our full assent.

My other difficulty lies with the second κοινὸν in line 3:

[3] νῦν δ᾽ οὐ ποιοῦμεν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπειδὴ δύο ταῦτα ἐν τῇ γενέσει ἡμῶν ἐγκαταμέμικται, τὸ σῶμα μὲν κοινὸν πρὸς τὰ ζῷα, ὁ λόγος δὲ καὶ ἡ γνώμη κοινὸν πρὸς τοὺς θεούς,

The first instance agrees with σῶμα. Shouldn’t the second one be plural to agree with ὁ λόγος δὲ καὶ ἡ γνώμη? Can anyone enlighten me?

2

Hi Charlie,
I can’t improve on your understanding of κατ’αξιαν here. I’m not at all at home with Epictetus’ use of Stoic vocabulary. I even had to look up προηγουμένως.

Your query about κοινον is slighter. ὁ λόγος δὲ καὶ ἡ γνώμη are treated as a single thing, the non-material counterpart of σωμα. We are born with σωμα, like animals, and with λογος (power of reasoning?) and γνωμη (judgment?), like gods. He doesn’t bother disentangling the latter two, which for present purposes constitute a unit.

3

Thank you for that very helpful explanation.