请记住，总是像在研讨会上一样行事。当食物或饮料出现时，伸出手和礼貌地拿走。如果它通过您，请不要尝试将其拉回。而且，如果尚未到达您，请不要让您的愿望前进，要耐心等到轮到您。就儿童，妻子，财富和地位采取类似的态度，随着时间的流逝，您将有权与众神一起用餐。走得更远，即使在提供这些商品的情况下也拒绝这些商品，您将在众神的力量及其公司中享有份额。这就是第根，赫拉克利特人和像他们这样的哲学家的方式，被称为神圣。
(Remember to act always as if you were at a symposium. When the food or drink comes around, reach out and take some politely; if it passes you by don't try pulling it back. And if it has not reached you yet, don't let your desire run ahead of you, be patient until your turn comes. Adopt a similar attitude with regard to children, wife, wealth and status, and in time, you will be entitled to dine with the gods. Go further and decline these goods even when they are on offer and you will have a share in the gods' power as well as their company. That is how Diogenes, Heraclitus and philosophers like them came to be called, and considered, divine.)
Epictetus建议我们保持一个组成的耐心举止，好像我们正在参加正式的研讨会一样。当面对诸如食物或饮料之类的机会时，如果他们走上我们的路，我们应该优雅地接受它们，但如果他们还没有到达，则不要强行伸手去拿。该原则扩展到我们对儿童，财富和地位的愿望。通过练习耐心和自我约束，我们将自己与美德生活保持一致。
此外，Epictetus认为，真正的智慧在于即使很容易获得这些世俗的乐趣的能力。通过这样做，我们不仅可以更深入地了解生活的短暂性质，而且还将自己与神联系起来。这种哲学是由第基因斯和赫拉克里特（Heraclitus）等思想家举例说明的，强调了节制的力量以及内在力量对物质收益的价值。