Quintus Junius Silanus, born 90 a.d., goes from Rome at the suggestion of his old friend Marcus Æmilius Scaurus, to attend the lectures of Epictetus in Nicopolis about 118 a.d. Scaurus (like Silanus, an imaginary character) born about 50 a.d., is a disabled soldier, and has been for many years a student of miscellaneous Greek literature, including Christian writings. In reply to a letter from Silanus, extolling his new teacher, Scaurus expresses his belief that Epictetus has passed through a stage of infection with “the Christian superstition,” from which he has borrowed some parts of the superstructure while rejecting its foundation.

Edwin Abbott Abbott, (20 December 1838 – 12 October 1926) was an English schoolmaster and theologian, best known as the author of the novella Flatland (1884).