Epictetus

For Republicans, freedom does not mean, as Epictetus said, that "No man is free who is not master of himself."

Epictetus is well-known for articulating this concept in his "Enchiridion" and "Discourses."

Epictetus, a formerly enslaved Greek, became a highly influential Stoic philosopher studied by Marcus Aurelius.

“When you imagine some pleasure,” the Stoic philosopher Epictetus wrote to his students, “wait a while, and give yourself pause.”

Both Epictetus, a former slave whose name means “owned,” and Seneca used the metaphor with an intent to startle.