Sutta advice on obstacles and insults, similar to Epictetus' (Stoic) advice? Lately, I have been reading (again!), more and more, the workings of the roman stoic philosopher Epictetus: and I think Buddhism and Epictetan Stoicism share a bunch of similarities; and I would now like to ask:

Are there any sutta references in how to deal with negative events?

If I may give you some examples of that Stoic advice:


  
  "If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you but answer, "He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone."
  "Bear and forbear"
  "What ought one to say then as each hardship comes? I was practising for this, I was training for this".
  "If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid"
  


I have missed this kind of advice in Buddhism: is there similar advice in Buddhism?
OP: "If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you but answer, "He was ignorant of
  my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone."


Please see the Akkosa Sutta. It's similar. If you don't react to insults, it goes back to the originator.

Also from the Kalama Sutta:


  "Now, Kalamas, one who is a disciple of the noble ones — thus devoid
  of greed, devoid of ill will, undeluded, alert, &amp; resolute — keeps
  pervading the first direction [the east] — as well as the second
  direction, the third, &amp; the fourth — with an awareness imbued with
  good will. Thus he keeps pervading above, below, &amp; all around,
  everywhere &amp; in every respect the all-encompassing cosmos with an
  awareness imbued with good will: abundant, expansive, immeasurable,
  free from hostility, free from ill will."


Be free from hostility and ill will, and be imbued with good will.


  OP: "Bear and forbear"


Please see the Nakulapita Sutta:


  "When this was said, the Blessed One said to me, 'So it is,
  householder. So it is. The body is afflicted, weak, &amp; encumbered. For
  who, looking after this body, would claim even a moment of true
  health, except through sheer foolishness? So you should train
  yourself: "Even though I may be afflicted in body, my mind will be
  unafflicted." That is how you should train yourself.'


Let your mind be unafflicted.


  OP: "What ought one to say then as each hardship comes? I was practising for this, I was training for this".


Please see the Maha-Saccaka Sutta:


  "And how is one developed in body and developed in mind? There is the
  case where a pleasant feeling arises in a well-educated disciple of
  the noble ones. On being touched by the pleasant feeling, he doesn't
  become impassioned with pleasure, and is not reduced to being
  impassioned with pleasure. His pleasant feeling ceases. With the
  cessation of the pleasant feeling there arises a painful feeling. On
  being touched with the painful feeling, he doesn't sorrow, grieve, or
  lament, beat his breast or becomes distraught. When that pleasant
  feeling had arisen in him, it didn't invade his mind and remain
  because of his development of the body. When that painful feeling had
  arisen in him, it didn't invade his mind and remain because of his
  development of the mind. This is how one is developed in body and
  developed in mind."


When you face hardship, if you are developed in body and mind, you would not suffer from it.