Eph' hēmin
ἐφ' ἡμῖν (eph' hēmin)
*"What depends on us"*: the foundational division in Epictetus’ morality. On one side, our judgments, desires, aversions, impulses—works of *prohairesis*, free and inviolable; on the other, the body, possessions, reputation, honors, slaves to the external. Everything no one can prevent or hinder falls within our own domain; all else lies beyond it. Freedom and happiness consist in desiring only what belongs to this domain, and bidding farewell to the rest.
Parmi les choses, les unes dépendent de nous, les autres n’en dépendent pas. Celles qui dépendent de nous, c’est l’opinion, le vouloir, le désir, l’aversion : en un mot tout ce qui est notre œuvre. Celles qui ne dépendent pas de nous, c’est le corps, les biens, la réputation, les dignités : en un mot tout ce qui n’est pas notre œuvre.
The Greek expression eph’ hēmin (ἐφ’ ἡμῖν) literally means “upon us,” “within our power.” It is with this phrase that the Handbook begins, and it governs all that follows. The world divides in two: what falls under our power and what does not. On the inner side, opinion, volition, desire, aversion—the only acts no one can wrest from us. On the outer side, the body, fortune, rank: things illness, the tyrant, or chance may take from us at will.
The whole of error, for Epictetus, lies in treating as one’s own what is foreign. He who places his good in externals will live shackled, afflicted, ready to blame gods and men; he who places it in the domain proper to him becomes unassailable, for no one can take what he does not surrender. Externals are not denied: one makes use of them, borrows them, without believing them to be one’s own. The discipline of desire—willing only what belongs to this domain, the work of proairesis—is the gateway to ataraxia.
Not to be confused with metaphysical free will: eph’ hēmin decides nothing in the course of the world, only the assent one gives to its representations. The Stoic does not hold the reins of events; he holds the reins of his judgment upon them.