Epictetus

Epictetus was a Stoic philosopher born into slavery at Hierapolis (in modern Turkey) around 50 AD; freed as an adult, he taught in Rome and later at Nicopolis in Greece. He wrote nothing himself — his teaching survives because his pupil Arrian transcribed it as the Discourses and the Enchiridion (Handbook). A cluster of shorter maxims, of very uneven authenticity, was later gathered under his name by the anthologist Stobaeus; the line quoted here belongs to that doubtful outer layer, not to the works Arrian recorded.