Be Like the Purple Thread

Epictetus, Discourses 1.2:

…that’s why, when Florus was considering whether he should attend Nero’s show to perform some part in it himself, Agrippinus said to him, “Go!” And when Florus asked him, “then why aren’t you going yourself?” he replied, “Because I’ve never even considered it. For as soon as anyone begins to consider such questions, assessing and comparing the values of external things, he comes near to being one of those people who have lost all sense of their proper character.

What are you asking me, then; ‘is death or life to be regarded as preferable?’

I answer: Life.

‘Pain or pleasure?’

I answer: Pleasure.

‘But if I don’t agree to play a role in the tragedy, I’ll lose my head.’

Go and play the role then, but I won’t play one.

‘Why?’

Because you regard yourself as being just one thread among all the threads in the tunic.

‘So what follows?’

You should consider how you can be like other people, just as one thread doesn’t want to be marked out from all the other threads. But for my part, I want to be the purple, the small gleaming ban that makes all the rest appear splendid and beautiful.

‘Why do you tell me, then, to be like everything else? In that case, how shall I still be the purple?’

Helvidius Priscus saw this too, and having seen it, acted upon it. When Vespasian sent word to him to tell him not to attend a meeting of the Senate, he replied, “It lies in your power not to allow me to be a senator, but as long as I remain one, I have to attend its meetings.”

“Well, if you do attend, hold your tongue.”

“If you don’t ask for my opinion, I’ll hold my tongue.”

“But I’m bound to ask you.”

“And I for my part must reply as I think fit.”

“But if you do, I’ll have you executed.”

“Well, when have I ever claimed to you that I’m immortal? You fulfil your role, and I’ll fulfil mine. It is yours to have me killed, and mine to die without a tremor; it is yours to send me into exile, and mine to depart without a qualm.”

What good, you ask, did Priscus achieve, then, being just a single individual? And what does the purple achieve for the tunic? What else than standing out in it as purple, and setting a fine example for all the rest?

This passage can be hard to parse, given the way Epictetus speaks in alternating roles. But it is very rich with moral philosophy, and a lot going on in general. On its face, it blows wide open the charge that Stoics are just conformists and Stoic virtue is just normative morality. Conformists to reality as it is, sure. But go-along-to-get-along? Hardly.

You have some examples of fundamental Stoicism; preferred and dispreferred indifferents, and the dismissal of death as a dispreferred indifferent. I think we can all agree that Priscus is a badass. ‘You play your role and I’ll play mine.’ Just awesome. Heroes are important and a fundamental pedagogical instrument. We can be permitted to admire them as an example of what right looks like, and mythologizing can be okay even if only as a statement of what we admire. Martin Luther King was a terrible husband and did a lot of scummy things, but is that the point?

There’s the question of principled action and futility– but even a seemingly futile action may be appropriate because of the example it provides to others. We always have to consider the example we provide, we can’t escape it. We see this inescapable pressure of the social context repeatedly, like the example of soldiers and sailors in Discourses 3.24:

But you neglect to perform the duties assigned to you by your general, and complain when you’re given an order that’s at all hard, and fail to realize to what state you’re reducing the army, so far as you can; because if everyone follows your example, no one will dig a trench, or build a palisade, or keep watch at night, or expose himself to danger, but everyone will show himself useless as a soldier.

Assume you will be emulated– how does that shape your appropriate actions? Your leadership? How does it moderate your principled nonconformity?

Should I loaf at the fringes of society? Should I expect to be paid to pursue my passions, while subsisting in a society where everyone else has to work a shitty 9-5?

In God’s name, I ask you, can you imagine a city of Epicureans? “I shan’t marry.” “Nor I, for one shouldn’t marry.” “Nor should one have children; nor should one perform any civic duties.” So what will happen, then? Where are the citizens to come from? Who’ll educate them? Who’ll be superintendent of the cadets? Who’ll be director of the gymnasium? And then, what will the young men be taught? (Discourses 3.7.19)

We see the complexity of role ethics. What is appropriate for one may be inappropriate for another. Read as just this excerpt, it may seem like Agrippinus is being sarcastic and that it would clearly be inappropriate for Florus to participate in Nero’s play. But actually, it can be inappropriate for Agrippinus to participate and simultaneously appropriate for Florus to do so, depending on their individual circumstances and roles. That is shown more clearly in a discussion with a proud slave that immediately precedes this passage.

But while we’re reasoning to ourselves about what is appropriate, we have to be honest and recognize when we’re valuing indifferents more than moral integrity. “For as soon as anyone begins to consider such questions, assessing and comparing the values of external things, he comes near to being one of those people who have lost all sense of their proper character.”