Epictetus · Discourses 16.7
When the tyrant threatens and calls you, ask: whom do you threaten? Chains threaten only your hands and feet. Beheading threatens only your head. Prison threatens only the body. None of it touches what matters.
What this means
A tyrant's threats sound total, but Epictetus makes you itemize exactly what they can reach: hands, feet, neck, body. None of that list includes your judgment, your character, or your choice to remain yourself. Fear shrinks the moment you name its real boundaries.
On fear, control.