"He will be finely disappointed when he comes again," quietly observed Epictetus.

"for he will only find an earthenware lamp next time." At his death the little earthenware lamp was bought by some genuine hero-worshipper for 3,000 drachmas.

"The purchaser hoped," says the satirical Lucian, "that if he read philosophy at night by that lamp, he would at once acquire in dreams the wisdom of the admirable old man who once possessed it." But, in spite of his deep poverty, it must not be supposed that there was anything eccentric or ostentatious in the life of Epictetus.

On the contrary, his writings abound in directions as to the proper bearing of a philosopher in life.

He warns his students that they may have ridicule to endure.