But above all the Cynic's ruling faculty must be purer than the sun; and if it is not, he must necessarily be a cunning scoundrel and an unprincipled fellow, since while he himself is entangled in some vice he will reprove others.
AI put this 1877 translation into today's English. Only the wording changed: each rewrite was checked against the original to keep its exact meaning.
Original translation
“But before all the Cynic's ruling faculty must be purer than the sun; and if it is not, he must necessarily be a cunning knave and a fellow of no principle, since while he himself is entangled in some vice he will reprove others.”
“It is the act of an ill-instructed man to blame others for his own bad condition; it is the act of one who has begun to be instructed, to lay the blame on himself; and of one whose instruction is completed, neither to blame another, nor himself.”
“Remember that it is not the person who insults you or strikes you who offends you, but your opinion about these things as being offensive. When a man then irritates you, you must know that it is your own opinion which has irritated you.”
AI put this 1877 translation into today's English. Only the wording changed: each rewrite was checked against the original to keep its exact meaning.
Original translation
“Remember that it is not he who reviles you or strikes you, who insults you, but it is your opinion about these things as being insulting. When then a man irritates you, you must know that it is your own opinion which has irritated you.”
Translated by George Long, 1877
“The condition and characteristic of an uninstructed person is this: he never expects from himself profit (advantage) nor harm, but from externals. The condition and characteristic of a philosopher is this: he expects all advantage and all harm from himself.”
― EpictetusDiscourses (Book III, Chapter 22)