Retreat and vulnerability

From Epicurus - that we value virtue, not because of the gods, but because living virtuously makes us happy (brings pleasure).

From Epictetus - that we cannot escape into "a Garden" - that the only thing we control is our virtue (our aversion and desire) - that the Epicurean path to happiness by retreating into the Garden and focusing on friendship is a formula for anxiety - for friends are externals and thus unpredictable - and we will never know when an intruder is about to scale the walls of the Garden. The quest for Epicurean ataraxia means constant vigilance, constant vulnerability to whoever intrudes, constant slavery to whoever can secure (or invade) our Garden.

Religious foundations of courage

"Your duty is to prepare for death and imprisonment, torture and exile - and all such evils - with confidence, because you have faith in the one who has called on you to face them, having judged your worthy of the role. When you take on the role, you will show the superiority of reason and the mind over forces unconnected with the will."

Two things to note.

1. Epictetus uses the word "reason" to refer to fanatical religious faith.

2. If you don't share that deep faith, what solace does Epictetus' reasoning provide in the face of death, imprisonment, torture, and exile? Epictetus suggests that these misfortunes are bearable because we know them to be part of god's will. But what if we don't believe in Epictetus' highly anthropomorphic, micro-managing god? Aren't these then just terrible, senseless, random things, and if so, from what do we draw courage to bear up?