 However, individuals are responsible for their own actions, which they can examine and control through rigorous self-discipline.Epictetus was born AD 50, presumably at Hierapolis, Phrygia.The name his parents gave him is unknown; the word "epíktētos" (ἐπίκτητος) in Greek simply means "gained" or "acquired"; the Greek philosopher Plato, in his "Laws", uses the term as property that is "added to one's hereditary property".