"Remember that you are an actor in a play, playing a character according to the will of the playwright--if a short play, then it's short; if long, long. If he wishes you to play the beggar, play even that role well, just as you would if it were a cripple, a honcho, or an everyday person. For this is your duty, to perform well the character assigned you. That selection belongs to another."

After Caesar's victory at Thapsus, Cato the Younger, out of office and out of options, refused to flee or bargain. In Utica, he tended the civic order, read Plato's Phaedo, and chose death rather than serve a regime he judged lawless. He did not choose the times or the part, but he played his assigned role as a defeated statesman steadily to the end.

Epictetus uses theater to force a distinction between assignment and performance. Some aspects are assigned to you by the universe, such as the timing and span of your life, your body, family of origin, history, and economy; whether you are a parent or not, a manager or not, famous or obscure. These forms are external and outside of your control. You do not cast yourself in this play.

What you can control is your performance, such as the judgments you assent to, the choices you make, and the quality of your actions. This is where virtue lives. You can play your part well operating within the virtues: wisdom to see clearly what the role requires now, not what you wish it required; justice to serve the common good within the role's bounds as a colleague, citizen, or neighbor; courage to do the hard, right thing without bargaining for outcome; and discipline to hold status, pleasure, and pain lightly without overacting.

When faced with conflicting roles, order them by nature: human before profession, citizen before faction, conscience before compliance. Reject custom as a moral measure, and understand that duties to humanity bind first. When the role changes or ends, exit without complaint. Nature rings the bell, and you put down the mask. Another actor takes the stage.

Common Errors to Discard

1. "If the playwright decides, then I'm passive." False. The script is circumstance, but the acting is yours. A good actor works any script.
2. Idolizing roles and clinging to titles as if it were the direct embodiment of your self is wrong. Roles change, but character remains.
3. "My job requires unethical behavior." No. If a role demands vice, you resign the role or refuse the scene. Duty to virtue outranks any costume you're asked to wear.

Modern Life

• Layoffs: You don't direct the market (assignment). You do direct honesty, diligence in the search, and steadiness at home (performance).
• Illness: Bodies assign constraints. You assign discipline to treatment, cheerfulness without pretense, and usefulness where you still can be useful.
• Public shaming: Crowds make noise. You make your response to truth stated once, no theater of outrage, and return to your work.

Maxims

• "You were born to do the work of a human being." - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations Book 5 Section 1
• Act with virtue, accept the rest.