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The same words of Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus in every English translation on the site, side by side.

MeditationsMarcus AureliusDiscoursesEpictetusEnchiridionEpictetus

Enchiridion 13

Epictetus · Open this passage

W. A. Oldfather

1928 · default

If you wish to make progress, then be content to appear senseless and foolish in externals, do not make it your wish to give the appearance of knowing anything; and if some people think you to be an important personage, distrust yourself. For be assured that it is no easy matter to keep your moral purpose in a state of conformity with nature, and, at the same time, to keep externals; but the man who devotes his attention to one of these two things must inevitably neglect the other.

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George Long

1877

If you would improve, submit to be considered without sense and foolish with respect to externals. Wish to be considered to know nothing: and if you shall seem to some to be a person of importance, distrust yourself. For you should know that it is not easy both to keep your will in a condition conformable to nature and (to secure) external things: but if a man is careful about the one, it is an absolute necessity that he will neglect the other.

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P. E. Matheson

1916

If you wish to make progress, you must be content in external matters to seem a fool and a simpleton; do not wish men to think you know anything, and if any should think you to be somebody, distrust yourself. For know that it is not easy to keep your will in accord with nature and at the same time keep outward things; if you attend to one you must needs neglect the other.

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Which translation of the Enchiridion?

Every translation here is complete and free to read in full on this site. They differ in age and in voice. The measurements below are taken from the whole of each translation.

TranslationWordsWords per sentence“Thou” and “thy” per 1,000 wordsIn a sentence
W. A. Oldfather19288,27226.20.1The Loeb Classical Library edition, printed facing the Greek. Smooth, modern prose, and the translation this site uses by default.
George Long18778,14426.40.2The most literal of the three. Long often prints the Greek term or an alternative rendering in brackets, which makes it slow going but useful for checking the others.
P. E. Matheson19167,36125.1 (shortest)0Published by the Clarendon Press, Oxford. The plainest and most concise of the three, and the easiest to read aloud.

Shorter sentences and fewer old forms usually make for an easier read; the older, more literal versions are better for checking what the original says. A good way to use them is to read in one and, when a sentence stops you, look at it here in the others.