25. What Did You Pay for Your Rank

Someone else was chosen over you. Epictetus turns the rank into arithmetic. What did you pay? What did they pay? Now the score is even.

Is someone preferred above you at a dinner, in a greeting, in being asked for his advice?

If these things are good, you ought to be glad that he got them. If they are evil, you should not grieve that you did not get them.

Remember that you cannot expect an equal share of things not in our own power without using the same means that others use to get them.

How can the person who does not show up at a great man's door, does not attend him, does not praise him, expect to have an equal share with the one who does?

You are being unfair and greedy, then, if you are not willing to pay the price these things are sold for and still want them for nothing.

How much is a head of lettuce sold for? A halfpenny, let's say.

If someone pays his halfpenny and takes the lettuce, and you, not paying, walk off without it, do not think he has gained an advantage over you. He has the lettuce. You have the halfpenny you did not give away.

So it is in this case. You were not invited to someone's dinner. You did not pay the price a dinner is sold for. It is sold for praise. It is sold for attendance.

Pay the price if it is worth it to you.

If you want the dinner without paying the one and receiving the other, you are both greedy and a fool.

Do you, then, have nothing in place of the dinner? Yes, you do.

You have the freedom of not praising the person you did not want to praise. You have the freedom of not putting up with his manner at the door.

What this means. Every thing people get is paid for with something. If you did not pay, do not be sore you did not get it. That pay was yours to keep, or spend, as you chose.