The Handbook of Epictetus
Handbook 33.13
Translated by Clint Miller
When you call on a powerful man, put before your mind that you will not find him at home, that you will be shut out, that the doors will be slammed in your face, that he will pay no attention to you. And if, despite all that, it is your duty to go – go, and bear what happens, and never say to yourself, “It wasn’t worth all that.” That is the layman’s line, the mark of someone worked up over externals.
ὅταν φοιτᾷς πρός τινα τῶν μέγα δυναμένων, πρόβαλε, ὅτι οὐχ εὑρήσεις αὐτὸν ἔνδον, ὅτι ἀποκλεισθήσῃ, ὅτι ἐντιναχθήσονταί σοι αἱ θύραι, ὅτι οὐ φροντιεῖ σου. κἂν σὺν τούτοις ἐλθεῖν καθήκῃ, ἐλθὼν φέρε τὰ γινόμενα καὶ μηδέποτε εἴπῃς αὐτὸς πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ὅτι «οὐκ ἦν τοσούτου·» ἰδιωτικὸν γὰρ καὶ διαβεβλημένον πρὸς τὰ ἐκτός.