Roman Stoicism by Edward Vernon Arnold
CHAPTER III.
9474 words | Chapter 5
THE ACADEMY AND THE PORCH.
[Sidenote: Political changes of the 4th century.]
=58.= Before a hundred years had passed since the death of Socrates,
the face of the Greek world had been completely changed. Athens,
Lacedaemon, Corinth, Thebes, which had been great powers, had sunk into
comparative insignificance; their preeminence was gone, and even of
their independence but little remained. Throughout Greece proper the
Macedonian was master. But if the old-fashioned politician suffered a
bitter disappointment, and the adherents of the old polytheism despaired
of the future, there was rich compensation for the young and the hopeful.
Petty wars between neighbouring cities, with their wearisome refrain
‘and the men they killed, and the women and children they enslaved[1],’
began to be less common; internal and still more murderous strife between
bigoted oligarchs or democrats began to be checked from without. For
the enlightened Greek a new world of enterprise had been opened up in
the East. Alexander the Great had not only conquered Asia Minor, and
established everywhere the Greek language and a Greek bureaucracy; he
had opened the way to the far East, and pointed out India and even China
as fields for the merchant and the colonizer. His work had been partly
frustrated by the disorders that followed his death; but if achievement
was thus hindered, hopes were not so quickly extinguished. These new
hopes were not likely to be accompanied by any lasting regrets for the
disappearance of ancient systems of government now regarded as effete
or ridiculous, or of inherited mythologies which were at every point in
conflict with the moral sense[2].
[Sidenote: East and West.]
=59.= The same historic events which opened the East to Hellenic
adventurers also made the way into Europe easy for the Oriental. As
the soldier and the administrator travelled eastward, so the merchant
and the philosopher pushed his way to the West. Not merely in Persia
had ancient superstitions been swept away by reforming zeal; the Jews
were now spreading from town to town the enthusiasm of a universalized
religion which was ridding itself of bloody sacrifices; and, for the time
at least, the humane philosophy of the Buddha was dominant in India, was
being preached far and wide by self-sacrificing monks, and was inspiring
the policy of great monarchies. We find it hard to picture the clashing
of ideals, enthusiasms, and ambitions which was at this time taking place
in all the great cities of the old world; but it is certain that in the
universal excitement the old distinctions of Greek and barbarian, Jew and
Gentile, rich and poor, free and slave, man and woman were everywhere
becoming weakened, and community of thought and temperament were
beginning to reunite on a new basis individuals who had broken loose from
the ties of ancient society.
[Sidenote: New schools of philosophy.]
=60.= During this fourth century B.C. the foundations were laid of the
four philosophical schools which were destined to vie one with another
for the allegiance of the Roman world. The Socratic schools which we have
already mentioned, those of the Cynics and Cyrenaics, did not perhaps
altogether die out; in particular the Cynic missionaries appear to have
been a social force until the second century B.C. But their intellectual
basis was too narrow to admit of their effective transplantation to
new soil. At the end of the century each gave place to a new school,
which preserved the central doctrines of its predecessor. The Socratic
paradoxes were handed on from the Cynics to the Stoics; the doctrine that
pleasure is the good was accepted by Epicurus. Stoics and Epicureans
disputed with a bitterness as yet unequalled, finding themselves just
as much opposed upon the subjects of logic and physics, which they
introduced anew into popular philosophy, as upon the questions of ethics
on which their antipathies were inherited. Between them stood two schools
which had meanwhile established themselves. Plato, himself a companion of
Socrates, founded the Academy at Athens about 380 B.C.; and if he did not
impress his own teaching upon it with absolute fixity, still the school
flourished under a succession of leaders, always proud of the fame of
its founder, and rendering him at least a nominal allegiance. From the
Academy branched off the school of the Peripatetics, founded by Plato’s
pupil Aristotle about 350 B.C. After Aristotle’s death this school
gravitated towards the Academics, and in later centuries there seemed
little difference, if any, between the two. If Stoicism may be called
the child of Cynism, it largely drew nourishment from these two schools
and their founders. Some account of the teaching of Plato and Aristotle
is therefore needed here, partly because of the great importance of both
in the general history of philosophy, partly because of their direct
influence upon the subject of this book. On account of the much greater
prominence of the Academy in the later history we shall often use this
term to refer to the general teaching of the two allied schools.
[Sidenote: Plato.]
=61.= Of all the companions of Socrates far the most famous is PLATO of
Athens (427-347 B.C.), the founder of the philosophical association known
as the ‘Academy.’ In the general judgment of lovers of Greek letters he
stands out not merely as a great master of Attic prose style, but also
as the ablest exponent of the true mind of Socrates[3], and the most
brilliant light of Greek philosophy[4]. On the first point this judgment
stands unchallenged; for delicate and good-natured wit, felicity of
illustration and suggestiveness of thought the Platonic dialogues are
unrivalled. But it is only in his earlier writings that we can accept
Plato as a representative of Socrates; after the death of his master he
travelled for many years in Egypt, Lower Italy, and Sicily, and absorbed
in particular much of the teaching of the Pythagoreans. The theory
of ‘ideas,’ the special characteristic of Plato’s later work, is not
strictly Socratic. Neither, we must add, is it of first-rate importance
in the history of human thought; from our point of view it lies apart
from the main current both of speculation and of practice. It was a
still-born theory, not accepted even by Plato’s successors in the control
of the Academy[5]. We are therefore very little concerned with the direct
teaching of Plato; but all the more readily it should be acknowledged
that the Stoics were often indebted to him for help in the treatment of
important details, and that the Platonic attitude remained for them a
factor of which they needed continuously to take account.
[Sidenote: Plato’s realism.]
=62.= A striking feature of the Platonic dialogues is that their results
are usually negative. First the opinions of the crowd, then those of
Socrates’ contemporaries the ‘sophists’ and of the other Socratic schools
are subjected to a cross-examination, under which they are one and
all shewn to be unreasonable. This cross-examination is quite in the
Socratic spirit, and is before all things a mental gymnastic, training
the dialectician to observe with keener eye and to discuss with apter
tongue than his fellows. Gradually there emerges from a mass of doubts
something like a positive theory that Plato is prepared to adopt. The
true reasoning is that of induction from the particular to the general,
from the individual to the class. In the class name we come upon the true
being of the individual, and by a right definition of it we discern what
each thing really is. The ‘idea,’ which corresponds to the class name,
is alone really existent; the individual is a more or less imperfect
imitation of it (μίμησις). In this way Plato found what seemed to him a
solution of a difficulty which Socrates hardly felt, that of explaining
the participation (μέθεξις) of the particular in the general (ὑπόθεσις
or ἰδέα). Thus where ordinary men see ‘horses,’ and Antisthenes holds
that they are right, Plato sees ‘horsiness,’ or the idea of ‘horse.’ In
the language of medieval philosophy Plato is a _realist_, that is, one
who holds that our Ideas are more than what men mean when they say ‘mere
ideas’; that they are Realities, and have their being in a truly existing
world; and that in knowing them we know what _is_. But just as Plato
holds that general conceptions are alone true and real, so he necessarily
maintains that objects perceivable by the senses are only half-real, and
that the ordinary man lives in a world of illusions. Thus the thoughts
of the philosopher are separated by an abyss from the world in which men
live and die.
[Sidenote: God and the soul.]
=63.= Upon the basis of the individual ‘ideas’ Plato builds up by a
process of classification and induction higher and smaller classes of
ideas, until we begin to see the vision of a single idea, a class which
includes all classes, a supreme ‘being’ from which all being is derived.
This highest idea is variously suggested by the names ‘the Good,’ ‘the
Beautiful,’ ‘the One.’ By a sudden transformation it becomes the Creator
(δημιουργός) of the universe. Containing in itself all being, it needs
for its operation some kind of formless and inert matter; for this the
name ἄπειρον, ‘the unlimited,’ is taken from Anaximander. The whole
created universe may be considered as the joint production of the ‘idea’
and the ‘unlimited’; and the cosmology of Anaxagoras, ‘all things were
together, and mind came and ordered them,’ is substantially justified.
The world thus created is both good and beautiful, for it is made by a
good Creator on the best of patterns.
The human soul is of triple nature. The highest part, the rational soul
(τὸ λογιστικόν), is seated in the head; the emotional soul (τὸ θυμοειδές)
in the heart; the appetitive soul (τὸ ἐπιθυμητικόν) in the belly. Over
these two lower souls the reasoning part should hold control, as a driver
over two unruly steeds[6]. The rational soul has existed before birth,
and may hope for immortality, for it is knit up with the idea of ‘being.’
Ultimately it may even attain to perfection, if it is purified as by
fire from baser elements that have attached themselves to it.
[Sidenote: Ethics and Politics.]
=64.= Plato himself does not formulate an ethical ideal of the same
precision that his successors used, but we infer from his works a goal
towards which he points. Thus the ethical end for each man is the
greatest possible participation in the idea of the good, the closest
attainable imitation of the deity. The virtue of each part of the
human soul lies in the fit performance of its proper work; that of
the reasoning soul is Wisdom (σοφία); of the emotional soul Courage
(ἀνδρεία); of the appetitive soul Soberness (σοφροσύνη). Over all (it
is hinted rather than stated) rules the supreme virtue of Justice
(δικαιοσύνη), assigning to each part its proper function. Thus the
four cardinal virtues are deduced as a practical application from the
Platonic psychology. The high position assigned to Justice leads up to
the practical doctrine of Moderation (μετριότης); even the virtues are
restricted both in their intensity and in their spheres of work, and if
any virtue passes its proper limit it becomes changed into the vice that
borders on it. Thus the ideal of practical life is the ‘moderate man,’
calm, considerate, and self-respecting, touched with a warm flow of
feeling, but never carried away into excitement; and even this ideal is
strictly subordinate to that of the life of philosophic contemplation.
The ideal State is modelled on the individual man. To the three parts of
the soul correspond three classes of citizens; the rulers, whose virtue
is Wisdom; the guardians, on whom Courage is incumbent; the labourers and
tradesmen, who owe the State Soberness and obedience. Thus the political
system to which Plato leans is that of an Aristocracy; for the middle
class in his state has only an executive part in the government, and the
lower orders are entirely excluded from it.
[Sidenote: Aristotle.]
=65.= By far the greatest of Plato’s pupils was ARISTOTLE of Stagira
(384-322 B.C.), who introduced into philosophy, now convulsed by the
disputes of the disciples of Socrates, a spirit of reconciliation. From
his point of view the various contentions are not so much erroneous as
defective. To attain the truth we need first to collect the various
opinions that are commonly held, and then to seek the reconciling formula
of which each one is a partial statement.
[Sidenote: The ten categories.]
=66.= In his investigation Aristotle did not altogether break with
Plato’s theory of ideas, but brought them from a transcendental world
into touch with common life. He held fast to the method of induction
(ἐπαγωγή) from the particular to the general, and agreed that we
reach the true nature of each thing when we have determined the
class-conception. But the class-conception or idea (ἰδέα), though the
most real existence, does not exist independently, but only in and
through the particulars, which compose the class. Having thus come to
see that there are gradations of existence, we need to inquire what
these are; and to classify the various kinds of judgment with regard to
which we inquire whether they are true or false. Now by observation we
find that judgments or predications have ten different shapes, to which
therefore there must correspond ten kinds of existence. These are the
well-known ‘categories’ of Aristotle, and are as follows:
(i) ‘substance,’ as when we say ‘this is a man,’ ‘a horse’;
(ii) ‘quantity,’ as that he is ‘six feet high’;
(iii) ‘quality,’ as ‘a grammarian’;
(iv) ‘relation,’ as ‘twice as much’;
(v) ‘place,’ as ‘at Athens’;
(vi) ‘time,’ as ‘last year’;
(vii) ‘position,’ as ‘lying down’;
(viii) ‘possession,’ as ‘with a sword’;
(ix) ‘action,’ as ‘cuts’; and
(x) ‘passion,’ as ‘is cut’ or ‘is burned.’
Aristotle thus reinstates the credit of the common man; he it is who
possesses the substance of truth and gives it habitual expression by
speech, even roughly indicating the various kinds of existence by
different forms of words. It is now indicated that a study of grammar is
required as the foundation of logic.
Aristotle also greatly advanced the study of that kind of reasoning which
proceeds from the general to the particular, and which is best expressed
in terms of the ‘syllogism’ (συλλογισμός), of which he defined the
various forms.
[Sidenote: The four causes.]
=67.= In the study of physics Aristotle picks up the thread which
Socrates had dropped deliberately, that is, the teaching of the Ionic
philosophers. Either directly from Empedocles, or from a _consensus_ of
opinion now fairly established, he accepted the doctrine of the four
elements (στοιχεῖα), earth, water, air, and fire; but to these he added a
fifth (πεμπτὸν στοιχεῖον, _quinta essentia_), the aether, which fills the
celestial spaces. Behind this analysis lies the more important problem
of cosmology, the question how this world comes to be. Collecting once
more the opinions commonly held, Aristotle concludes that four questions
are usually asked, and that in them the search is being made for four
‘causes,’ which will solve the respective questions. The four causes are:
(i) the Creator, or ‘efficient cause,’ answering the question;—Who
made the world?
(ii) the Substance, or ‘material cause’;—of what did he make it?
(iii) the Plan, or ‘modal cause’;—according to what design?
(iv) the End, or ‘final cause’;—for what purpose?[7]
Reviewing these ‘causes’ Aristotle concludes that the first, third, and
fourth are ultimately one, the Creator containing in his own nature
both the plan and the purpose of his work[8]. The solution is therefore
dualistic, and agrees substantially with that of Plato; the ultimate
existences are (i) an informing power, and (ii) matter that has the
potentiality of accepting form.
In consequence of this dualism of Aristotle the term ‘matter’ (ὕλη,
_materia_) has ever since possessed associations which did not belong to
it in the time of the hylozoists. Matter now begins to suggest something
lifeless, inert, and unintelligent; and to be sharply contrasted not
only with such conceptions as ‘God’ and ‘mind,’ but also with motion and
force. For this reason the Stoics in reintroducing monism preferred a new
term, as we shall see below[9].
[Sidenote: The microcosm.]
=68.= What God is to the universe, that the soul is to the body, which
is a ‘little universe[10].’ But the reasoning part of the soul only is
entirely distinct; this is of divine nature, and has entered the body
from without; it is at once its formative principle, its plan, and its
end. The lower parts of the soul are knit up with the body, and must
perish with it. So far Aristotle’s teaching differs little from that of
Plato; but a new point of view is introduced when he speaks of the soul
as subject to ‘diseases’ (παθήματα), and thus assigns to the practical
philosopher a social function as the comrade of the physician. Amongst
the diseases he specially names Pity and Fear, which assail the emotional
part of the soul. Their cure is found in ‘purging’ (κάθαρσις), that
is to say in their complete expulsion from the soul, as reason and
circumstances may require; but Aristotle by no means considers that the
analogy between body and soul is complete, or that the emotions should
always be regarded as injurious[11].
[Sidenote: Ethics and Politics.]
=69.= In setting forth an ideal for human activity Aristotle conceives
that other philosophers have differed more in words than in substance,
and he hopes to reconcile them through the new term ‘blessedness’
(εὐδαιμονία). This blessedness is attained when the soul is actively
employed in a virtuous way, and when it is so circumstanced that it
commands the instruments of such action, that is, in a life which is
adequately furnished. On such activity pleasure must assuredly attend,
and it is therefore needless to seek it of set purpose. Further, virtue
appears personified in the ‘true gentleman’ (καλὸς κἀγαθός), who ever
avoids vicious extremes, and finds his highest satisfaction in pure
contemplation, just as the Creator himself lives to contemplate the world
he has produced[12].
In politics Aristotle can find ground for approving in turn of monarchy,
oligarchy, and democracy, according to the circumstances of each state.
We cannot however but feel that his sympathies point most towards
monarchy, and that his personal association with Alexander the Great was
in full harmony with his inmost convictions. As a means of government he
advocates before all things the education of the young.
[Sidenote: Social prepossessions.]
=70.= The philosophies of Plato and Aristotle, comprehensive in their
range, brilliant and varied in their colouring, nevertheless appeal
effectively only to a limited circle. Socrates had been the companion
of rich and poor alike; Plato and Aristotle addressed themselves to
men of wealth, position, and taste. Their sympathies appear clearly in
their political systems, in which the sovereign or the aristocracy is
considered fit to play a part, whilst the many are practically excluded
from the commonwealth, sometimes as a harmless flock which needs kindly
shepherding, and at other times as a dangerous crowd which must be
deceived or enslaved for its own good. These prepossessions, which we
shall find reappearing within the Stoic system, appear to weaken the
practical forcefulness of both philosophies. In the ideal character
the Socratic ‘force’ has disappeared, and ‘self-restraint’ alone is
the standard of virtue; the just man moves quietly and conventionally
through life, perhaps escaping blame, but hardly achieving distinction.
In resuming the study of ontology, which Socrates had treated as a ‘mist
from Ionia,’ bright fancies had been elaborated rather than dominating
conceptions; the deity of Aristotle seems but a faint reflex of the
god of Socrates and the Cynics, and neither the ‘idea’ of Plato or the
‘matter’ of Aristotle is so well fitted for the world’s hard work as the
atoms of Leucippus and Democritus. The teachers who succeeded to the
control of the two schools inclined more and more to engross themselves
in special studies, and to leave on one side the great controversial
problems.
[Sidenote: The Academics.]
=71.= The followers of Plato were known as the ‘Academics’: amongst them
we must distinguish between the members of the ‘old Academy,’ as Cicero
terms them[13], and those who followed the innovations of Arcesilaus.
The old Academy chiefly developed the ethical side of Plato’s teaching,
finding that the path of virtue is indicated by the natural capacities
of the individual. Thus XENOCRATES of Chalcedon (396-314 B.C.) taught
that each man’s happiness resulted from the virtue proper to him (οἰκεία
ἀρετή)[14]; whilst POLEMO of Athens (head of the school 314-270 B.C.)
is said by Cicero to have defined it as consisting in ‘virtuous living,
aided by those advantages to which nature first draws us,’ thereby
practically adopting the standard of Aristotle[15]. The teaching of
Polemo had a direct influence upon that of Zeno the founder of Stoicism.
But with the first successes of Stoicism the Academy revived its
dialectical position, in strong opposition to the dogmatism of the
new school. ARCESILAUS of Pitane in Aeolia (315-240 B.C.) revived the
Socratic cross-examination, always opposing himself to any theory that
might be propounded to him, and drawing the conclusion that truth
could never be certainly known[16]. Life must therefore be guided by
considerations of probability, and the ethical standard is that ‘of
which a reasonable defence may be made[17].’ This sceptical attitude
was carried still further by CARNEADES of Cyrene (214-129 B.C.), whose
acute criticism told upon the Stoic leaders of his time, and forced them
to abandon some of their most important positions. From this time a
reconciliation between the two schools set in[18].
[Sidenote: The Peripatetics.]
=72.= The members of the Peripatetic school founded by Aristotle are of
less importance to us. The Romans found little difference between their
teaching and that of the earlier Academy. Cicero mentions that the
Stoic Panaetius was a keen student of two of the pupils of Aristotle,
THEOPHRASTUS (his successor as head of the Peripatetic school) and
DICAEARCHUS[19]; amongst later teachers in whose views he is interested
he names HIERONYMUS, who held that the supreme good was freedom from
pain[20]; CALLIPHO, who combined virtue with pleasure, and DIODORUS who
combined it with freedom from pain[21]; and amongst his contemporaries
STASEAS of Naples, who stated the same doctrines in a slightly different
form[22], and CRATIPPUS, whom he selected as a teacher for his own
son[23]. It was a common complaint of these teachers that the Stoics
had stolen their doctrines wholesale, and (as is the way with thieves)
had altered the names only[24]. All these writers however agree in
denying the doctrine which Zeno accepted from the Cynics that ‘virtue is
sufficient for happiness,’ and lay stress upon the supply of external
goods (χορηγία) as needed to admit of the active exercise of virtue. They
were diligent students of the written works of their founder, and thus
opened the way for the work of erudition and interpretation which found
its centre in Alexandria in a later period.
[Sidenote: Zeno.]
=73.= Amidst the conflict of these schools ZENO grew up. Born in Citium
on the island of Cyprus in 336 B.C., in the same year in which Alexander
became king of Macedon, he heard as a boy of the Greek conquest of
the East, and was only 13 years of age when its course was checked by
the death of Alexander. Of the town of Citium the inhabitants were
partly Greek, partly Phoenician; and Zeno, whether or not he was of
Phoenician blood, certainly derived from his environment something of
the character of the enterprising and much-travelled Phoenician nation,
and imparted this trait to the school which he founded. He was nicknamed
by his contemporaries ‘the Phoenician,’ and the title clung to his
followers[25]. His father was a merchant of purple, and often travelled
in the one direction to Tyre and Sidon, in the other as far as Athens,
whence he brought back a number of ‘Socratic books,’ which were eagerly
read by the young Zeno, and in time attracted him to the famous Greek
city[26]. We may presume that when he first came to Athens he intended
to carry further his studies without abandoning his calling; but when
news reached him of the wreck of the ship which carried all his goods,
he welcomed it as a call to devote himself entirely to philosophy[27].
His first step in Athens was to seek out the man who best represented the
character of Socrates, as represented in Xenophon’s Memoirs; and it is
said that a bookseller accordingly pointed him to CRATES of Thebes[28],
the pupil and (it would seem) the successor of Diogenes as acknowledged
head of the Cynic school.
[Sidenote: Zeno joins the Cynics.]
=74.= Our authorities busy themselves chiefly with narrating the
eccentricities of Crates, who wore warm clothing in summer and rags in
winter, entered the theatre as the audience were coming out, and drank
water instead of wine. But doubtless, like his predecessors in the Cynic
school, he was a man of the true Socratic character, who had trained
himself to bear hunger and thirst, heat and cold, flattery and abuse.
His life and wisdom won him the love of the high-born Hipparchia, who
turned from her wealthy and noble suitors, choosing instead the poverty
of Crates, who had abandoned all his possessions. In his company she went
from house to house, knocking at all doors in turn, sometimes admonishing
the inmates of their sins, sometimes sharing with them their meals[29].
In such a life Zeno recognised the forcefulness of Socrates, and in the
dogmas of the Cynic school he reached the foundation on which that life
was built. From that foundation neither Zeno nor his true followers ever
departed, and thus Stoicism embodied and spread the fundamental dogmas of
Cynism, that the individual alone is really existent, that virtue is the
supreme good, and that the wise man, though a beggar, is truly a king.
[Sidenote: Zeno’s Republic.]
=75.= Whilst still an adherent of the Cynic school[30], Zeno wrote his
Πολιτεία or _Republic_, which is evidently an attack on Plato’s work
with the same title[31]. If this work does not reveal to us the fully
developed philosopher, it at least shews us better than any other
evidence what the man Zeno was. His ideal was the establishment of a
perfect State, a completion of the work in which Alexander had failed;
and he found a starting-point in a treatise by Antisthenes on the same
subject. The ideal State must embrace the whole world, so that a man no
longer says, ‘I am of Athens,’ or ‘of Sidon,’ but ‘I am a citizen of the
world[32].’ Its laws must be those which are prescribed by nature, not
by convention. It will have no images or temples, for these are unworthy
of the nature of the deity; no sacrifices, because he cannot be pleased
by costly gifts; no law-courts, for its citizens will do one another
no harm; no statues, for the virtues of its inhabitants will be its
adornment[33]; no gymnasia, for its youth must not waste their time in
idle exercises[34].
The people will not be divided into classes (and here Plato’s _Republic_
is contradicted), for all alike will be wise men[35]; nor will men and
women be clothed differently, or shamefacedly hide any part of their
bodies[36]. No man will speak of a woman as his property, for women will
belong to the community only[37]. As for the dead, men will not trouble
whether they bury them (as the Greeks), burn them (as the Indians), or
give them to the birds (as the Persians); for it matters not at all what
happens to men’s dead bodies[38], but whether their souls shall reach
the abodes of the blest, or need hereafter to be purged by fire from
the foulness they have contracted through contact with the body[39]. To
conclude, Love shall be master throughout the State, being as it were a
God cooperating for the good of the whole[40]; and the wise man shall be
a citizen in it, not a missionary, and shall be surrounded with wife and
children[41].
[Sidenote: Zeno seeks knowledge.]
=76.= Zeno, after writing his _Republic_, took up a position more
independent of the Cynics. He could not, perhaps, avoid noticing that
the coming of his model Kingdom was hindered by the narrowmindedness of
the philosophers, their disagreement one with another, and their lack
of clear proofs for their dogmas. He began to realize that the study of
dialectics and physics was of more importance than his Cynic teachers
would allow; and he seems to have conceived the idea of uniting the
Socratic schools. He became eager to learn from all sources, and turned
first to Stilpo, who then represented the Megarian school[42]. Crates,
we are told, tried to drag him back from Stilpo by force; to which Zeno
retorted that argument would be more to the point[43]. From this time he
no longer restricted his outlook to force of character, but sought also
for argumentative power and well ascertained knowledge. The foundations
of his state must be surely laid, not upon the changing tide of opinion,
but on the rock of knowledge. That a wise man should hesitate, change his
views, withdraw his advice, he felt would be a bitter reproach[44]. If
indeed virtue, the supreme good, is knowledge, must it not follow that
knowledge is within the reach of man?
[Sidenote: Zeno’s theory of knowledge.]
=77.= The chief cause of error, Zeno found, lay in hasty assertion; and
this he held was a fault not so much of the intellect as of the will. In
the simplest case the senses present to the mind a ‘picture’ (φαντασία,
_visum_), carrying with it the suggestion of a statement (e.g. ‘that is a
horse’). But it is for the man to consider well whether this suggestion
is true, and only to give his ‘assent’ (συγκατάθεσις, _adsensus_) when
he is so assured. Assent is an act of the will, and therefore in our
power. Of a picture to which he has given his assent the wise man should
retain a firm hold; it then becomes an item of ‘comprehension’ (φαντασία
καταληπτική, _comprehensio_), and may be stored in the memory, thus
preparing the way for further acquisitions of knowledge, which in the end
combine in ‘scientific knowledge’ (ἐπιστήμη, _scientia_).
This theory is little more than an exhortation against the prevailing
error of hasty thought (δόξα, _opinio_); but it made a very deep
impression, especially as enforced by Zeno’s gestures. He stretched out
his fingers and shewed the open palm, saying ‘Such is a picture.’ He
partially contracted his fingers, and said ‘This is assent.’ Making a
closed fist, he said ‘This is comprehension.’ Then closing in the left
hand over the right he pressed his fist tight, and said ‘This is science,
and only the wise man can attain to it[45].’
We have no reason to suppose that this theory was in any way suggested
by Stilpo, from whom however Zeno probably learnt to attach importance
to the formal part of reasoning, such as ‘definition’ and the use of the
syllogism. With Stilpo he shared an aversion to the Platonic theory of
ideas, maintaining that ideas are by no means realities but have only
a ‘kind of existence’ in our minds, or (as we should call it to-day) a
‘subjective existence[46].’
[Sidenote: Zeno studies under Polemo.]
=78.= In becoming in turn a listener to Polemo, Zeno, we may imagine,
entered a new world. He left behind the rough manners, the stinging
retorts, and the narrow culture of the Cynics and Eristics[47], to sit
with other intelligent students[48] at the feet of a man of cultured
manners[49] and wide reading, who to a love for Homer and Sophocles[50]
had, we must suppose, added an intimate knowledge of the works of Plato
and Aristotle, was himself a great writer[51], and yet consistently
taught that not learning, but a natural and healthy life was the end to
be attained. That Zeno profited much from his studies under Polemo we may
conjecture from Polemo’s good-natured complaint, ‘I see well what you are
after: you break down my garden wall and steal my teaching, which you
dress in Phoenician clothes[52].’ From this time it became a conventional
complaint that Stoic doctrine was stolen from that of the Academics: yet
the sharp conflict between the two schools shews that this cannot apply
to essentials. But in two important matters at least Zeno must have been
indebted to Academic teaching. This school had elaborated the doctrine
of Anaxagoras, which so attracted Socrates, that the world began with
the working of mind upon unordered matter. So too, according to all our
authorities, Zeno taught that there are two beginnings, the active which
is identified with the deity or Logos, and the passive which is inert
matter, or substance without quality[53]. This doctrine appears to pledge
Zeno to a dualistic view of the universe.
[Sidenote: ‘Soul is body.’]
=79.= On the other hand the Platonic teaching on the soul was reversed
by Zeno. He denied the opposition between soul and body. ‘Soul is
Breath[54],’ he taught, and ‘soul is body[55].’ With Plato’s threefold
division of the soul he would have nothing to do; rather he maintained
that the soul has eight parts[56], each displaying itself in a distinct
power or capacity, whilst all of them are qualities or operations of
one soul in various relations[57]. In this part of his philosophy Zeno
appears as a strong monist, and his debt to the Platonists is necessarily
restricted to details.
[Sidenote: Zeno studies Heraclitus.]
=80.= It would seem then that Zeno after seeking for philosophic safety
for some twenty years in one harbour after another had so far made
shipwreck. But from this shipwreck of his intellectual hopes he could
afterwards count the beginning of a fair voyage[58]. As he eagerly
discussed with his younger fellow-student Arcesilaus the teaching of
their master Polemon, he took courage to point out its weak points[59],
and began to quote in his own defence not only his previous teachers
Crates and Stilpo, but also the works of Heraclitus[60]. He thus
broke down the barrier which Socrates had set up against the Ionic
philosophers. From Heraclitus Zeno drew two doctrines of first-rate
importance; the first, that of the eternal fire[61] and its mutation into
the elements in turn[62]; the second (already referred to) that of the
_Logos_[63]. It is evident that the Heraclitean doctrine of fire breaks
down the distinction between God and the world, active and passive, soul
and body; and is therefore inconsistent with the dualism which Zeno had
partly borrowed from Plato. It is not clear whether Zeno attained to
clearness on this point; but in the general teaching of the Stoics the
monistic doctrine prevailed[64]. Hence God is not separate from body,
but is himself body in its purest form[65]. The _Logos_ or divine reason
is the power which pervades and gives shape to the universe[66]; and
this Logos is identical with the deity, that is with the primitive and
creative Fire[67]. The Logos (ὀρθὸς λόγος, _vera ratio_) brings into
harmony the parts of philosophy; for it is also on the one hand the guide
to right reasoning[68]; on the other hand the law which prescribes what
is right for the State and for the individual[69].
[Sidenote: Zeno opens his school.]
=81.= When Zeno definitely accepted the teaching of Heraclitus, he felt
bound to break finally with the school of Polemo, and he founded soon
after 300 B.C. a school of his own, which was rapidly crowded. His
followers were at first called Zenonians, but afterwards Stoics, from the
‘picture porch’ (so called because it was decorated with paintings by
Polygnotus) in which he delivered his lectures. He now applied himself
afresh to the problem of ethics. Whilst still adhering to the Cynic views
that ‘virtue is the only good,’ and that ‘example is more potent than
precept,’ he entirely rejected the intuitional basis which the Cynics
had accepted, deciding in favour of the claims of reason. He found his
ideal in ‘consistency’ (ὁμολογία, _convenientia_)[70]; as the Logos or
Word rules in the universe, so should it also in the individual. Those
who live by a single and harmonious principle possess divine favour and
an even flow of life[71]; those that follow conflicting practices are
ill-starred[72]. In this consistency there is found virtue, and (here
again he follows the Cynics) virtue is sufficient for happiness[73], and
has no need of any external support.
[Sidenote: His theory of virtue.]
=82.= But whilst the virtue of the Cynics is something detached and
self-contained, and is ‘natural’ only in the sense that it is not
determined by custom or authority, that of Zeno is bound up with the
whole scheme of the universe. For the universe puts before men certain
things, which though rightly named ‘indifferent’ by the Cynics, and
wrongly named ‘good’ by the Academics, have yet a certain value (ἀξία,
_aestimatio_), and are a natural goal for men’s actions[74]. Such are
health, prosperity, good name, and other things which the Academics named
‘things according to nature’ (τὰ κατὰ φύσιν). These Zeno took over, not
as a part of his theory of virtue, but as the basis of it[75]; and for
things having value introduced the term ‘of high degree’ (προηγμένα),
and for their opposites the term ‘of low degree’ (ἀποπροηγμένα), these
terms being borrowed from court life. Thus virtue alone is queen, and
all things naturally desired are subject to her command[76]. The end of
life is therefore to live consistently, keeping in view the aims set
before us by nature, or shortly, to live ‘consistently with nature.’ Our
authorities do not agree as to whether Zeno or Cleanthes was the first
to use this phrase[77]; but there can be no doubt that the doctrine is
that of Zeno, that it is a fundamental part of the Stoic system, and that
it was maintained unaltered by all orthodox Stoics. On the other hand
the Academics and Peripatetics ridiculed these new and barbarous terms
προηγμένα and ἀποπροηγμένα, and their view has generally been supported
both in ancient and modern times[78]. We cannot however question the
right of Zeno to reserve a special term for that which is morally good;
he was in fact feeling his way towards the position, still imperfectly
recognized, that the language of common life is inadequate to the exact
expression of philosophic principles[79].
[Sidenote: Zeno’s syllogisms.]
=83.= In expounding his system Zeno made much use of the syllogism,
thereby laying the foundations of a new style of oratory, consisting
of short and pointed clauses, which became a characteristic of his
school[80]. He no doubt regarded this form as a sure method of attaining
truth; but even at the present day the principle that truth can only
be reached from facts and not from words is not everywhere admitted.
The syllogisms of Zeno have all their weak points, and as a rule the
term which is common to the major and minor premisses suffers a shift
of meaning. These syllogisms can no longer convince us, and even in
antiquity they were severely criticized. But they are excellent aids
to the memory, and so serve the same end as the catechisms of the
Reformation period. Amongst the syllogisms attributed to Zeno are
these: ‘That which has reason is better than that which has not reason;
but nothing is better than the universe; therefore the universe has
reason[81].’ ‘No one trusts a secret to a drunken man; but one trusts
a secret to a good man; therefore a good man will not be drunken[82].’
‘No evil is accompanied by glory; but death is accompanied by glory;
therefore death is no evil[83].’ Such syllogisms were embedded in the
numerous works of Zeno, of which many were certainly extant as late as
the time of Epictetus[84].
[Sidenote: Epicurus and Arcesilaus.]
=84.= At the very time when Zeno was elaborating the doctrines of the
Porch, another school of equal eminence was established at Athens by
EPICURUS (341-270 B.C.) in his Gardens. Epicurus combined the ethical
principle of the Cyrenaics, that pleasure is the end of life, with the
atomistic philosophy of Democritus; he had no respect for the study of
dialectic, but placed the criterion of truth in the observations of the
senses, leaving little room for the participation of mind or will. Thus
in every part of philosophy his teaching was opposed to that of Zeno,
and the two schools during their whole existence were in the sharpest
conflict. We may nevertheless notice some points of contact between them.
Both founded, or conceived that they founded their ethical doctrine upon
physical proofs; that is, both maintained that the end of life which they
put forward was that prescribed by natural law. As a consequence, they
agreed in removing the barrier which Socrates had set up against the
pursuit of natural science. Both again were positive teachers, or (in the
language of the ancients) propounders of dogmas; and here they came into
conflict with the Academic school, which maintained, and was soon about
to emphasize, the critical spirit of Socrates and Plato. For in the last
years of Zeno’s life his old fellow-pupil Arcesilaus became head of the
Academic school (270 B.C.), and at once directed his teaching against
Zeno’s theory of knowledge[85]. Following the practice of Socrates and
of Plato’s dialogues, he argued against every point of view presented,
and concluded that certain truth could not be known by man[86]. He
pressed Zeno closely as to his definition of ‘comprehension,’ and induced
him to add a clause which, in the opinion of his opponent, shewed the
worthlessness of the whole doctrine[87]. Thus was raised the question
of the κριτήριον or test of truth, which for at least a century to come
sharply divided the schools[88].
[Sidenote: Zeno at Athens.]
=85.= The conflict between these three schools, which from this time
on greatly surpassed all others in importance, did not embitter the
political life of Athens. The citizens watched with amusement the
competition of the schools for numbers and influence, and drew their
profit from the crowds of foreigners who were drawn to Athens by its
growing fame as a centre of adult education. To the heads of the schools
they were ready to pay every mark of respect. With Zeno they deposited
the keys of their gates, and they awarded him during his lifetime a gold
crown and a bronze statue. His fame spread abroad, and those of his
fellow-citizens of Citium who were then resident at Sidon claimed a share
in it. In his old age the high-minded Antigonus Gonatas (who occupied the
throne of Macedonia with varying fortune from 278 to 239 B.C.) looked to
him for advice and help. But no offers of public employment could draw
Zeno himself from his simple life and the young companions who surrounded
him: like Socrates, he thought that he could best serve the State by
sending out others to take part in its duties[89]. He died in the year
264 B.C.[90], having been engaged in teaching for more than 30 years from
the time when he ‘discovered the truth[91].’
[Sidenote: Honours paid to him.]
=86.= The vote which the Athenians passed in honour of Zeno, shortly
before his death, deserves record by its contrast with that by which
their predecessors had condemned Socrates. It ran somewhat as follows:
‘Whereas Zeno the son of Mnaseas from Citium has spent many
years in this city in the pursuit of philosophy; and has been
throughout a good man in all respects; and has encouraged the
young men who resorted to him in virtue and temperance, and has
sped them on the right path; and has made his own life an example
to all men, for it has been consistent with the teaching he has
set forth;
Now it seems good to the people of Athens to commend Zeno the
son of Mnaseas from Citium, and to crown him with a golden crown
(in accordance with the law) for his virtue and temperance, and
to build him a tomb on the Ceramicus at the public expense. And
the people shall elect five Athenian citizens to provide for the
making of the crown and the building of the tomb. And the town
clerk shall engrave this vote on two pillars, and shall set up
one in the Academy, and one in the Lyceum. And the treasurer
shall make due allotment of the expense, that all men may see
that the people of Athens honours good men both in their life
time and after their death[92].’
We have no reason to doubt the sincerity of this tribute. It is true
that all the charges brought against Socrates hold even more forcibly
as against Zeno. But the spirit of political and religious independence
was now dead, and the advantage of the philosophical schools to the fame
and business interests of the city had become clearer; so that nothing
prevented any longer the open recognition of Zeno’s virtues and eminence.
Who will may also read in the decree a belated mark of respect to the
memory of Socrates.
[Sidenote: Zeno’s breadth of view.]
=87.= In this sketch of the life of Zeno no attempt has been made to
give a complete view of his philosophy; but a few landmarks have been
indicated, by which it may be possible to distinguish which parts of
it were his own, which were taken over from others, and how all were
gradually combined in one whole. Zeno had not the kind of originality
which begins by assuming a general principle, and then explains all
things human and divine by deductions from it. Instead of this he
gathered together (as Aristotle had done before, but with a very
different bias) what seemed most sound and illuminating in the teaching
of all the schools which surrounded him. He did this in a positive
spirit, feeling assured that truth exists and is discernible, and must be
consistent in all its parts. We seem unable to say that in his writings
he attained to this consistency, but at least he worked steadily towards
it. The effort for consistency led him in the direction of monistic
principle, though his points of departure both in physics and in ethics
are dualistic. But the teaching of Zeno does not lend itself to that kind
of study which assigns all new facts to compartments of thought ready
labelled in advance, nor can it be summarized by any of the technical
terms which are in use in modern philosophical thought. Enough has
perhaps been said to shew that, great as was the debt of Zeno to his
predecessors, he was no mere imitator or plagiarist; the history of the
following centuries will shew that he had in some sense touched the
pulses of human life more truly than any of his contemporaries.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Thucydides, _passim_.
[2] Mahaffy, _Greek Life and Thought_, ch. 1.
[3] ‘Plato combined the various elements, the, so to speak, prismatically
broken rays of the Socratic spirit in a new, higher, and richer unity’
Ueberweg, Eng. transl. i p. 89.
[4] ‘The philosophy of Greece reached its highest point in Plato and
Aristotle’ Zeller, _Stoics_ etc., p. 11. ‘The bloom of Greek philosophy
was short lived’ _ib._ p. 10.
[5] The phrases ‘cum Platone errare,’ ‘amicus Plato, magis amica veritas’
agree in expressing the general incredulity with which Platonism was
received in the ancient world. In our own days an ill-balanced sympathy
for Platonic dogma is often a serious hindrance to philosophic progress.
[6] See further, § 284.
[7] See below, § 179.
[8] Aristotle, _Physics_, ii 7.
[9] See below, § 173.
[10] εἰ δ’ ἐν ζῴῳ τοῦτο δυνατὸν γενέσθαι, τί κωλύει τὸ αὐτὸ συμβῆναι καὶ
κατὰ τὸ πᾶν; εἰ γὰρ ἐν μικρῷ κόσμῳ γίνεται, καὶ ἐν μεγάλῳ Ar. _Phys._
viii 2, 252 b.
[11] See Ueberweg’s note, i (Eng. trans., pp. 178-180; tenth German
edition, pp. 238-240), and below, § 362.
[12] ‘vitae autem degendae ratio maxime quidem illis [Peripateticis]
placuit quieta, in contemplatione et cognitione posita rerum; quae quia
deorum erat vitae simillima, sapiente visa est dignissima’ Cic. _Fin._ v
4, 11.
[13] See note 15, below.
[14] Clem. _Strom._ ii p. 419 a.
[15] ‘honeste autem vivere, fruentem rebus eis, quas primas homini natura
conciliet, et vetus Academia censuit (ut indicant scripta Polemonis), et
Aristoteles eiusque amici huc proxime videntur accedere’ Cic. _Ac._ ii
42, 131. Here Prof. J. S. Reid suggests that Polemo may merely have used
the phrase κατὰ φύσιν ζῆν, as opposed to κατὰ θέσιν (conventionally).
[16] ‘quem [_sc._ Arcesilan] ferunt ... primum instituisse, non quid ipse
sentiret ostendere, sed contra id, quod quisque se sentire dixisset,
disputare’ Cic. _de Or._ iii 18, 67. ‘Arcesilas negabat esse quidquam
quod sciri posset, ne illud quidem ipsum, quod Socrates sibi reliquisset’
_Ac._ i 12, 45.
[17] ‘[cuius] ratio probabilis possit reddi’ Cic. _Fin._ iii 17, 58. See
further below, §§ 105, 332.
[18] See especially §§ 113 and 123.
[19] Cic. _Fin._ iv 28, 79.
[20] ‘non dolere ... Hieronymus summum bonum esse dixit’ _ib._ v 25, 73.
[21] ‘at vero Callipho, et post eum Diodorus, cum alter voluptatem
adamavisset, alter vacuitatem doloris: neuter honestate carere potuit,
quae est a nostris laudata maxime’ _ib._
[22] _ib._ 25, 75.
[23] _Off._ i 1, 1.
[24] ‘[Stoici] quidem non unam aliquam aut alteram a nobis, sed totam ad
se nostram philosophiam transtulerunt. atque, ut reliqui fures, earum
rerum, quas ceperunt, signa commutant, sic illi, ut sententiis nostris
pro suis uterentur, nomina, tanquam rerum notas, mutaverunt’ _Fin._ v 25,
74.
[25] Ζήνωνα τὸν Φοίνικα, Athen. _Deipnos._ xiii 2; ‘tuus ille Poenulus,’
‘e Phoenicia profecti’ Cic. _Fin._ iv 20, 56.
[26] Diog. L. vii 31 and 32.
[27] ‘nuntiato naufragio Zeno noster, cum omnia sua audiret submersa:
iubet, inquit, me fortuna expeditius philosophari’ Sen. _Dial._ ix 14, 3.
[28] Diog. L. vii 3.
[29] Diog. L. vi 96 and 97.
[30] _ib._ vii 4.
[31] ἀντέγραψε πρὸς τὴν Πλάτωνος Πολιτείαν Plut. _Sto. rep._ 8, 2 (Arnim
i 260).
[32] This doctrine can be traced back to Diogenes and even to Socrates:
see below, § 303.
[33] τὰς πόλεις κοσμεῖν οὐκ ἀναθήμασιν, ἀλλὰ ταῖς τῶν οἰκούντων ἀρεταῖς
Stob. iv 1, 88.
[34] See below, § 305.
[35] παριστάντα πολίτας τοὺς σπουδαίους μόνον Diog. L. vii 33.
[36] See below, § 318.
[37] § 306.
[38] § 307.
[39] §§ 296, 297.
[40] § 304.
[41] § 315.
[42] See above, § 56.
[43] He said ‘O Crates, the best handle of philosophers is that by the
ear; persuade me if you can, and lead me that way; if you use violence,
my body will stay with you, but my soul will be with Stilpo’ Diog. L. vii
24.
[44] ‘errorem autem et temeritatem et ignorantiam et opinationem et
suspicionem et uno nomine omnia, quae essent aliena firmae et constantis
adsensionis, a virtute sapientiaque [Zeno] removebat’ Cic. _Ac._ i 11, 42.
[45] ‘hoc quidem Zeno gestu conficiebat. nam cum extensis digitis
adversam manum ostenderat, ‘visum,’ inquiebat, ‘huiusmodi est.’ deinde
cum paulum digitos contraxerat, ‘adsensus huiusmodi.’ tum cum plane
compresserat pugnumque fecerat, comprehensionem illam esse dicebat;
cum autem laevam manum admoverat et illum pugnum arte vehementerque
compresserat, scientiam talem esse dicebat: cuius compotem nisi sapientem
esse neminem’ Cic. _Ac._ ii 47, 145.
[46] See below, § 188.
[47] So the Megarians were commonly called on account of their
disputatious methods.
[48] As for instance Arcesilaus; Ἀρκεσίλαος ὁ ἐκ τῆς Ἀκαδημίας, Ζήνωνος
τοῦ Κιτιέως συσχολαστὴς παρὰ Πολέμωνι Strabo xiii p. 614 (Arnim i 10).
[49] Diog. L. iv 18.
[50] _ib._ 20.
[51] _ib._
[52] Diog. L. vii 25.
[53] See below, § 189.
[54] See § 268, note 2.
[55] οἵ γε ἀπὸ Χρυσίππου καὶ Ζήνωνος φιλόσοφοι καὶ πάντες ὅσοι σῶμα τὴν
ψυχὴν νοοῦσι Iamb. _de an._ (Stob. i 49, 33).
[56] Ζήνων ὁ Στωϊκὸς ὀκταμερῆ φησιν εἶναι τὴν ψυχήν Nemes. _nat. hom._ p.
96 (Arnim i 143).
[57] οἱ ἀπὸ Ζήνωνος ὀκταμερῆ τὴν ψυχὴν διαδοξάζουσι, περὶ [ἣν] τὰς
δυνάμεις εἶναι πλείονας, ὥσπερ ἐν τῷ ἡγεμονίκῳ ἐνυπαρχουσῶν φαντασίας
συγκαταθέσεως ὁρμῆς λόγου Iamb. _de an._ (Arnim i 143). See below, § 270.
[58] τῶν προειρημένων ἤκουσεν ἕως ἐτῶν εἴκοσιν· ἵνα καί φασιν αὐτὸν
εἰπεῖν· νῦν εὐπλόηκα, ὅτε νεναυάγηκα Diog. L. vii 4. It must not however
be assumed that Zeno himself used the phrase in this sense: see the other
references in Arnim i 277.
[59] ‘iam Polemonem audiverant adsidue Zeno et Arcesilas. Sed Zeno cum
Arcesilam anteiret aetate, valdeque subtiliter dissereret et peracute
moveretur, corrigere conatus est disciplinam’ Cic. _Ac._ i 9, 34 and 35.
[60] ἐπεὶ συμφοιτῶντες παρὰ Πολέμωνι ἐφιλοτιμήθησαν ἀλλήλοις,
συμπαρέλαβον εἰς τὴν πρὸς ἀλλήλους μάχην ὁ μὲν Ἡράκλειτον καὶ Στίλπωνα
ἅμα καὶ Κράτητα Euseb. _Praep. ev._ xiv 5, 11 (quoting Numenius) (Arnim i
11).
[61] Zeno often calls it _aether_: ‘Zenon ... aethera ... interim
vult omnium esse principium’ Min. Felix xix p. 58: Cleanthes calls it
_spirit_, see below, § 100. ‘The fire of Heraclitus becomes aether or πῦρ
τεχνικόν—for this distinction is unknown to the Ephesian—and is thereby
spiritualised and rarefied’ Pearson, _Fragments_, Intr. pp. 22, 23.
[62] See below, § 196.
[63] See above, § 39.
[64] Stein, _Psychologie_, i 62 sqq.
[65] Χρύσιππος καὶ Ζήνων ὑπέθεντο καὶ αὐτοὶ ἀρχὴν μὲν θεὸν τῶν πάντων,
σῶμα ὄντα τὸ καθαρώτατον Hippolyt. _Philos._ 21, 1 (Arnim i 153).
[66] ‘rationem quandam per naturam omnem rerum pertinentem vi divina esse
affectam putat’ Cic. _N. D._ i 14, 36.
[67] ‘Zeno [deum nuncupat] naturalem divinamque legem’ Lact. _Div. inst._
i 5, 20.
[68] ἄλλοι δέ τινες τῶν ἀρχαιοτέρων Στωϊκῶν τὸν ὀρθὸν λόγον κριτήριον
ἀπολείπουσιν, ὡς ὁ Ποσειδώνιος ἐν τῷ περὶ κριτηρίου φησί Diog. L. vii 54
(quoting Diocles Magnes). It is much disputed who the authorities are to
which Posidonius here refers.
[69] ‘Zeno naturalem legem divinam esse censet eamque vim obtinere recta
imperantem prohibentemque contraria’ Cic. _N. D._ i 14, 36.
[70] τὸ δὲ τέλος ὁ μὲν Ζήνων οὕτως ἀπέδωκε, τὸ ὁμολογουμένως ζῆν·
τοῦτο δ’ ἐστὶ καθ’ ἕνα λόγον καὶ σύμφωνον ζῆν, ὡς τῶν μαχομένως ζώντων
κακοδαιμονούντων Stob. ii 7, 6 a. ‘summum bonum, quod cum positum sit in
eo, quod ὁμολογίαν Stoici, nos appellemus convenientiam’ Cic. _Fin._ iii
6, 21.
[71] εὐδαιμονία δ’ ἐστὶν εὔροια βίου Stob. ii 7, 6 e.
[72] See note 70 above.
[73] See below, § 322.
[74] For a fuller treatment see below, §§ 319-321.
[75] οὐχὶ καὶ Ζήνων τούτοις (sc. Peripateticis) ἠκολούθησεν ὑποτιθέμενοις
στοιχεῖα τῆς εὐδαιμονίας τὴν φύσιν καὶ τὸ κατὰ φύσιν; Plut. _comm. not._
23, 1; ‘[a Polemone] quae essent principia naturae acceperat’ Cic. _Fin._
iv 16, 45.
[76] τὰ μὲν [οὖν] πολλὴν ἔχοντα ἀξίαν προηγμένα λέγεσθαι, τὰ δὲ πολλὴν
ἀπαξίαν ἀποπροηγμένα, Ζήνωνος ταύτας τὰς ὀνομασίας θεμένου πρώτου τοῖς
πράγμασι Stob. ii 7, 7 g; see also below, § 320.
[77] Diogenes Laertius says distinctly that Zeno used the phrase, and
names the book in which he found it; Diog. L. vii 87. On the other hand
Stobaeus (ii 7, 6 a) attributes it to Cleanthes.
[78] ‘Zeno Citieus, advena quidam et ignobilis verborum opifex’ Cic.
_Tusc._ v 12, 34.
[79] See below, § 165.
[80] ‘illa vetus Zenonis brevis, et ut tibi videbatur, acuta conclusio’
Cic. _N. D._ iii 9, 22.
[81] τὸ λογικὸν τοῦ μὴ λογικοῦ κρεῖττόν ἐστιν· οὐδὲν δέ γε κόσμου
κρεῖττόν ἐστιν· λογικὸν ἄρα ὁ κόσμος Sext. _math._ ix 104 (Arnim i 111);
see also below, § 202.
[82] ‘ebrio secretum sermonem nemo committit; viro autem bono committit;
ergo vir bonus ebrius non erit’ Sen. _Ep._ 83, 9; for the original see
Arnim i 229.
[83] ‘nullum malum gloriosum est; mors autem gloriosa est; mors ergo non
est malum’ Sen. _Ep._ 82, 9.
[84] ‘If you would know, read Zeno’s writings, and you will see’ Epict.
_Disc._ i 20, 14.
[85] ‘cum Zenone, ut accepimus, Arcesilas sibi omne certamen instituit’
Cic. _Ac._ i 12, 44.
[86] ‘Arcesilas primum ... ex variis Platonis libris sermonibusque
Socraticis hoc maxime arripuit, nihil esse certi quod aut sensibus aut
animo percipi possit’ Cic. _de Or._ iii 18, 67.
[87] ‘hic Zenonem vidisse acute, nullum esse visum quod percipi posset,
si id tale esset ab eo, quod est, ut eiusdem modi ab eo, quod non est,
posset esse. recte consensit Arcesilas; ad definitionem additum [sc.
quale non possit esse a falso]. incubuit autem in eas disputationes, ut
doceret nullum tale esse visum a vero, ut non eiusdem modi etiam a falso
posset esse’ Cic. _Ac._ ii 24, 77.
[88] See below, § 157.
[89] ‘compositus sequor Zenona Cleanthen Chrysippum, quorum tamen nemo ad
rempublicam accessit, et nemo non misit’ Sen. _Dial._ ix 1, 10; see also
viii 6, 4.
[90] Pearson, _Introd._ p. 1.
[91] προσεμαρτύρησ[εν ἑαυτῷ] τὴν εὕρεσιν τῆς ἀληθείας Sext. _math._ vii
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