14: Anyone who has power to give or deny what you want, is your master. Avoid wanting anything that is up to others.
It's foolish to want your children, your wife, and your friends to live no matter what, because you're wanting things that aren't up to you to be up to you, and things that aren't yours to be yours. By the same token, it's stupid to want your slave not to do wrong, because that's wanting badness not to be badness but something else. But if you want to get what you desire, that's in your power. So confine your efforts to what's in your power;
An individual's master is the person who has the power of procuring for him or denying to him what he wants or doesn't want. So anyone who wants to be free must neither want nor try to avoid anything that's up to others. Otherwise, he's bound to be unfree.
GPT Translation
If you wish for your children, your wife, and your friends to always live, you are foolish: for you wish to control things that are not within your control and to possess what belongs to others. Similarly, if you wish that your child does not make mistakes, you are misguided: for you are expecting perfection where it is natural to err. However, if you wish to not fail in your desires, that is possible. Therefore, practice what is achievable.
The master of each person is the one who has the power over what he wishes or does not wish to happen or to be taken away. Thus, anyone who wishes to be free should neither desire nor avoid anything that depends on others: if not, he is necessarily a slave."
Ancient Greek
ἐὰν θέλῃς τὰ τέκνα σου καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τοὺς φίλους σου πάντοτε ζῆν, ἠλίθιος εἶ: τὰ γὰρ μὴ ἐπὶ σοὶ θέλεις ἐπὶ σοὶ εἶναι καὶ τὰ ἀλλότρια σὰ εἶναι. οὕτω κἂν τὸν παῖδα θέλῃς μὴ ἁμαρτάνειν, μωρὸς εἶ: θέλεις γὰρ τὴν κακίαν μὴ εἶναι κακίαν, ἀλλ᾽ ἄλλο τι. ἐὰν δὲ θέλῃς ὀρεγόμενος μὴ ἀποτυγχάνειν, τοῦτο δύνασαι. τοῦτο οὖν ἄσκει, ὃ δύνασαι. [2] κύριος ἑκάστου ἐστὶν ὁ τῶν ὑπ᾽ ἐκείνου θελομένων ἢ μὴ θελομένων ἔχων τὴν ἐξουσίαν εἰς τὸ περιποιῆσαι ἢ ἀφελέσθαι. ὅστις οὖν ἐλεύθερος εἶναι βούλεται, μήτε θελέτω τι μήτε φευγέτω τι τῶν ἐπ᾽ ἄλλοις: εἰ δὲ μή, δουλεύειν ἀνάγκη.
Notes
Its not people who have inherent value, its the relationship that have value.
If your are anxious about someone leaving or dying then your relationship will be affected by it.
You are a slave to anything that you think has value.
Other people inform the roles that we take. You cannot be a teacher without students.
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