Chapter XII: The Law for Humanity (2)

[87] τὴν ἀρετὴν διάθεσιν εἶναί φασι ψυχῆς σύμφωνον αὑτῇ περὶ ὅλον τὸν βίον Stob. ii 7, 5 b 1.

[88] [ὁ Σωκράτης ἔφη] πᾶσαν ἀρετὴν σοφίαν εἶναι Xen. _Mem._ iii 9, 5; see also above, §§ 48, 52.

[89] διδακτήν τε εἶναι τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ Χρύσιππος καὶ Κλεάνθης καὶ Ποσειδώνιος Diog. L. vii 91.

[90] ‘They are thieves and robbers, you may say. What do you mean by thieves and robbers? They are mistaken about good and evil. Show them their errors, and you will see how they desist from their errors’ Epict. _Disc._ i 18, 3 and 4.

[91] See above, § 177, note 28.

[92] ‘If you would be a good reader, read; if a writer, write. Generally, if you would make anything a habit, do it; if you would not make it a habit, do not do it’ Epict. _Disc._ ii 18, 2 and 4; ‘nihil est quod non humana mens vincat, et in familiaritatem adducat adsidua meditatio’ Sen. _Dial._ iv 12, 3.

[93] ὧν κατορθοῦσιν [ἄνθρωποι], ἡ ὀρθὴ κρίσις ἐξηγεῖται μετὰ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ψυχὴν εὐτονίας Chrys. ap. Galen _plac. H. et Plat._ iv 6, p. 403 K (Arnim iii 473).

[94] ‘virtutem convenies ... pro muris stantem, pulverulentam, coloratam, callosas habentem manus’ Sen. _Dial._ vii 7, 3.

[95] ‘Saturnalia Athenis agitabamus hilare prorsum et modeste, non (ut dicitur) “remittentes animum,” nam “remittere” inquit Musonius “animum quasi amittere est”’ Gellius, _N. A._ xviii 2, 1.

[96] ‘iustum ac tenacem propositi virum | non civium ardor prava iubentium, | non vultus instantis tyranni | mente quatit solida’ Hor. _C._ iii 3, 1-4.

[97] ‘hanc stabilem animi sedem Graeci εὐθυμίαν vocant; ego tranquillitatem voco’ Sen. _Dial._ ix 2, 3.

[98] Cic. _Tusc. disp._ iv 10, 23.

[99] ‘ut enim corporis temperatio, cum ea congruunt inter se ex quibus constamus, sanitas, sic animi dicitur, cum eius iudicia opinionesque concordant, eaque animi est virtus’ _ib._ 13, 30.

[100] ‘roga bonam mentem, bonam valetudinem animi, deinde tunc corporis’ Sen. _Ep._ 10, 4; ‘orandum est, ut sit mens sana in corpore sano’ Juv. _Sat._ x 356.

[101] ‘beata est vita conveniens naturae suae, quae non aliter contingere potest, quam si primum sana mens est et in perpetua possessione sanitatis suae, deinde fortis et vehemens, tum pulcherrima ac patiens, apta temporibus, corporis sui pertinentiumque ad id curiosa non anxie’ Sen. _Dial._ vii 3, 3.

[102] ‘actio recta non erit, nisi fuerit recta voluntas’ Sen. _Ep._ 95, 57; ‘gratus potest esse homo voluntate’ _Ben._ ii 31, 1; ‘sic timere, sic maerere, sic in libidine esse peccatum est, etiam sine effectu’ Cic. _Fin._ iii 9, 32; ‘The being of the good is a certain kind of will (προαίρεσις); the being of the bad is a certain kind of will. What then are externals? Material for the will’ Epict. _Disc._ i 29, 1 and 2.

[103] See below, § 383.

[104] Arnim i 250.

[105] Diog. L. vii 33.

[106] ‘placet Stoicis, suo quamque rem nomine appellare. sic enim disserunt, nihil esse obscenum, nihil turpe dictu’ Cic. _Fam._ ix 22, 1. See further below, § 344.

[107] ‘postea tuus ille Poenulus, causam non obtinens repugnante natura, verba versare coepit et primum rebus iis, quas non bonas dicimus, concessit ut haberentur † aestimabiles, et ad naturam accommodatae’ _Fin._ iv 20, 56; ‘the stricter Stoic theory of the good was modified by the admission of προηγμένα’ Zeller, _Stoics_, p. 290. The true note is struck by Rendall, _Introd._ p. xlv: ‘the course of Stoic ethics is, in fact, the progressive enlargement and clarification of the Cynic ideal of conduct, under the stress of that larger conception of “nature” which was inherent in Stoic monism. The full content and interpretation of the formula was only gradually realised. Its deeper implications unfolded themselves through life even more than through thought, and find their fullest exposition in the pages of the Roman Stoics.’

[108] Stob. ii 7, 5 a.

[109] ‘aestimatio, quae ἀξία dicitur’ Cic. _Fin._ iii 10, 34. Posidonius seems to have practically substituted ἀξίαν ἔχοντα for προηγμένα, but in strict usage the latter term is narrower, and includes only such things as have measurable worth.

[110] ‘inter illa, quae nihil valerent ad beate misereve vivendum, aliquid tamen quo differrent esse voluerunt, ut essent eorum alia aestimabilia, alia contra, alia neutrum’ _ib._ 15, 50; τῶν δὲ ἀξίαν ἐχόντων τὰ μὲν ἔχειν πολλὴν ἀξίαν, τὰ δὲ βραχεῖαν. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τῶν ἀπαξίαν ἐχόντων ἃ μὲν ἔχειν πολλὴν ἀπαξίαν, ἃ δὲ βραχεῖαν Stob. ii 7, 7 g; ‘quae essent sumenda ex iis alia pluris esse aestimanda, alia minoris’ Cic. _Ac._ i 10, 37.

[111] Stob. ii 7, 7.

[112] Arnim iii 122.

[113] Plut. _Sto. rep._ 23, 6.

[114] ‘cetera autem, etsi nec bona nec mala essent, tamen alia secundum naturam dicebat [Zeno], alia naturae esse contraria. his ipsis alia interiecta et media numerabat’ Cic. _Ac._ i 10, 36.

[115] τὸ προηγμένον συνεγγίζειν πως τῇ τῶν ἀγαθῶν φύσει Stob. ii 7, 7 g.

[116] ‘[hoc] Zeno προηγμένον nominavit, cum uteretur in lingua copiosa factis tamen nominibus ac novis. “ut enim,” inquit, “nemo dicit in regia regem ipsum quasi productum esse ad dignitatem (id enim est προηγμένον), sed eos qui in aliquo honore sint, quorum ordo proxime accedit, ut secundus sit, ad regium principatum”’ Cic. _Fin._ iii 15, 51.

[117] ‘quae pluris, ea praeposita appellabat; reiecta autem, quae minoris’ _Ac._ i 10, 37; ‘quae appellemus vel promota et remota, vel, ut dudum diximus, praeposita vel praecipua, et illa reiecta’ _Fin._ iii 16, 52.

[118] ‘quis porro sapientum, nostrorum dico, quibus unum est bonum virtus, negat etiam haec, quae indifferentia vocamus, habere in se aliquid pretii et alia aliis esse potiora? quibusdam ex iis tribuitur aliquid honoris, quibusdam multum’ Sen. _Dial._ vii 22, 4.

[119] ‘itaque commoda vocentur, et ut nostra lingua loquar, producta’ _Ep._ 74, 17.

[120] See above, § 82.

[121] ‘bonum appello quidquid secundum naturam est; quod contra, malum; nec ego solus, sed tu etiam, Chrysippe, in foro, domi; in schola desinis’ Cic. _Fin._ v 29, 89; cf. Arnim iii 137.

[122] ‘sunt animi bona, sunt corporis, sunt fortunae; illa animi bona a stulto ac malo submoventur’ Sen. _Ben._ v 13, 1.

[123] ‘deinceps explicatur differentia rerum; quam si non ullam esse diceremus, et confunderetur omnis vita, ut ab Aristone; neque ullum sapientiae munus aut opus inveniretur; cum inter res eas quae ad vitam degendam pertinerent, nihil omnino interesset, neque ullum delectum haberi oporteret’ Cic. _Fin._ iii 15, 50.

[124] ‘virtutis hoc proprium [est], earum rerum quae secundum naturam sint, habere delectum’ _ib._ 4, 12.

[125] ‘relinquitur ut summum bonum sit vivere scientiam adhibentem earum rerum quae natura eveniant, selegentem quae secundum naturam, et si quae contra naturam sunt, reicientem; id est, convenienter congruenterque naturae vivere’ _ib._ 9, 31 (after Posidonius).

[126] ‘ut si hoc fingamus esse quasi finem et ultimum, ita iacere talum, ut rectus assistat; qui ita talis erit iactus, ut cadat rectus, praepositum quiddam habebit ad finem; qui aliter, contra. neque tamen illa praepositio ad eum quem dixi finem pertinebit: sic ea, quae sunt praeposita, referuntur illa quidem ad finem, sed ad eius vim naturamque nihil pertinent’ _ib._ 16, 54; compare also 6, 22; ‘non est turpe non consequi, dummodo sequaris’ Sen. _Ben._ v 5, 3.

[127] αὐτάρκη τε εἶναι αὐτὴν [τὴν ἀρετὴν] πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν Diog. L. vii 127; ‘a Zenone hoc magnifice tanquam ex oraculo editur: virtus ad bene vivendum se ipsa contenta est’ Cic. _Fin._ v 27, 79; cf. Pearson, _Fragments_, p. 19.

[128] ‘testatur saepe Chrysippus tres solas esse sententias, quae defendi possint, de finibus bonorum; aut enim honestatem esse finem aut voluptatem aut utrumque’ Cic. _Ac._ ii 45, 138.

[129] ‘crescere bonorum finem non putamus’ Cic. _Fin._ iii 14, 48; ‘honestum nullam accessionem recipit’ Sen. _Ep._ 66, 9; ‘summum bonum nec infringitur nec augetur; in suo modo permanet, utcunque se fortuna gessit. utrum maiorem an minorem circulum scribas, ad spatium eius pertinet, non ad formam’ _ib._ 74, 26 and 27.

[130] See above, § 110.

[131] See above, § 313.

[132] ‘cum [Panaetius] sit is, qui id solum bonum iudicet, quod honestum sit’ Cic. _Off._ iii 3, 12; ‘solebat narrare Pompeius se, cum Rhodum venisset decedens ex Syria, audire voluisse Posidonium; sed cum audivisset eum graviter esse aegrum, quod vehementer eius artus laborarent, voluisse tamen nobilissimum philosophum visere ... itaque eum graviter et copiose de hoc ipso, nihil esse bonum, nisi quod honestum esset, cubantem disputavisse: cumque quasi faces ei doloris admoverentur, saepe dixisse: “nihil agis, dolor: quamvis sis molestus, nunquam te esse confitebor malum”’ _Tusc. disp._ ii 25, 61; cf. Sen. _Ep._ 87, 35.

[133] See above, § 114.

[134] Diog. L. vii 128.

[135] ‘sapientem nulla re egere, et tamen multis ei rebus opus esse’ Sen. _Ep._ 9, 14.

[136] ‘[virtus] ipsa pretium sui’ _Dial._ vii 9, 4; ‘recte factorum verus fructus [est] fecisse’ _Clem._ i 1, 1; ‘virtutum omnium pretium in ipsis est’ _Ep._ 81, 20.

[137] ‘sapienti non nocetur a paupertate, non a dolore, non ab aliis tempestatibus vitae; ipse semper in actu est; in effectu tunc maximus, cum illi fortuna se obposuit’ _ib._ 85, 37.

[138] ‘virtutem nemo unquam deo acceptam rettulit ... iudicium hoc omnium mortalium est, fortunam a deo petendam, a se ipso sumendam esse sapientiam’ Cic. _N. D._ iii 36, 86 and 88; ‘aequum mi animum ipse parabo’ Hor. _Ep._ i 18, 112; ‘monstro, quod ipse tibi possis dare’ Juv. _Sat._ x 363.

[139] See note 129.

[140] ‘Do you seek a reward for a good man greater than doing what is good and just? Does it seem to you so small and worthless a thing to be good and happy?’ Epict. _Disc._ iii 24, 51 and 52.

[141] ‘What does not make the man himself worse, does not make his life worse either, nor injure him, without or within’ _To himself_ iv 8.

[142] ‘nec summum bonum habebit sinceritatem suam, si aliquid in se viderit dissimile meliori’ Sen. _Dial._ vii 15, 1; ‘No man is able to make progress when he is wavering between opposite things; but if you have preferred this (one thing) to all things, if you choose to attend to this only, to work out this only, give up everything else’ Epict. _Disc._ iv 2, 4.

[143] Chrysippus wrote a book περὶ τοῦ ποιὰς εἶναι τὰς ἀρετάς; see Arnim iii 256.

[144] See below, §§ 335-350.

[145] Diog. L. vii 92.

[146] τὰς ἀρετὰς λέγουσιν ἀντακολουθεῖν ἀλλήλαις, καὶ τὸν μίαν ἔχοντα πάσας ἔχειν Diog. L. vii 125; ‘quicquid honeste fit, una virtus facit, sed ex consilii sententia’ Sen. _Ep._ 67, 10; ‘virtutibus inter se concordia [est]’ _Clem._ i 5, 3.

[147] ‘videmus esse quiddam, quod recte factum appellemus; id autem est perfectum officium’ Cic. _Fin._ iii 18, 59; ‘rectum, quod κατόρθωμα dicebas’ _ib._ iv 6, 15.

[148] ‘quamquam negant nec virtutes nec vitia crescere; attamen utrumque eorum fundi quodammodo et quasi dilatari putant’ _ib._ iii 15, 48.

[149] See above, § 153, note 66.

[150] ‘scit [sapiens] neminem nasci sapientem sed fieri’ Sen. _Dial._ iv 10, 6.

[151] ‘non dat natura virtutem; ars est bonum fieri’ _Ep._ 90, 44.

[152] Zeno probably took over the term προκοπή from the Peripatetics, see Diog. L. vii 127; its implications he adapted to Stoic principles. See Plut. _prof. virt._ 12.

[153] ‘hoc autem ipsum bonum non accessione neque crescendo aut cum ceteris comparando, sed propria vi sua et sentimus et appellamus bonum’ Cic. _Fin._ iii 10, 34.

[154] Stob. ii 7, 11 g; Diog. L. vii 127.

[155] τὴν ἀρετὴν Χρύσιππος ἀποβλητήν ... διὰ μέθην καὶ μελαγχολίαν _ib._

[156] See above, § 289.

[157] ‘semel traditi nobis boni perpetua possessio est; non dediscitur virtus. contraria enim mala in alieno haerent, ideo depelli et exturbari possunt’ Sen. _Ep._ 50, 8. Just in the same spirit we say that a new language or (say) the art of swimming, if once learnt, is learnt ‘for good.’

[158] ‘aliquis vir bonus nobis eligendus est, ac semper ante oculos habendus, ut sic tanquam illo spectante vivamus, et omnia tanquam illo vidente faciamus’ Sen. _Ep._ 11, 8, quoting however from Epicurus.

[159] ‘Heracles was the model whom [Antisthenes] and the other Cynics held up for imitation, the patron saint, so to speak, of the school. Antisthenes wrote a dialogue entitled “Heracles” and, with this for guidance, his followers delighted to tell again the story of the hero’s laborious and militant life, identifying, by ingenious allegories, the foul monsters which he vanquished with the vices and lusts that beset the souls of men’ Gomperz, _Greek Thinkers_, ii p. 151; ‘the more generous Cynics aver that the great Heracles also, as he became the author of other blessings, so also left to mankind the chief pattern of this (Cynic) life’ Julian, _Or._ vi p. 187, 3 (Mayor on Juv. _Sat._ x 361). So also in Buddhism: ‘besides the ideal King, the personification of Power and Justice, another ideal has played an important part in the formation of early Buddhist ideas regarding their master. It was the ideal of a perfectly Wise Man, the personification of Wisdom, the Buddha’ Rhys Davids, _Hibbert Lectures_, p. 141.

[160] ‘Herculem illum, quem hominum fama, beneficiorum memor, in concilio caelestium collocavit’ Cic. _Off._ iii 5, 25.

[161] ‘Hercules nihil sibi vicit: orbem terrarum transiit non concupiscendo sed vindicando, quid vinceret; malorum hostis, bonorum vindex, terrarum marisque pacator’ Sen. _Ben._ i 13, 3. See also the brilliant descriptions in Epict. _Disc._ iii 24.

[162] ‘Ulixen et Herculem ... Stoici nostri sapientes pronuntiaverunt, invictos laboribus, contemptores voluptatis et victores omnium terrarum’ Sen. _Dial._ ii 2, 1. Yet there is something to be said on the other side: ‘Ulysses felt a desire for his wife, and wept as he sat on a rock.... If Ulysses did weep and lament, he was not a good man’ Epict. _Disc._ iii 24, 18.

[163] So Horace, quite in the Stoic spirit: ‘rursus quid virtus et quid patientia possit, | utile proposuit nobis exemplar Ulixen’ Hor. _Ep._ i 2, 17 and 18.

[164] Diog. L. vi 1, 2.

[165] ‘By acting thus Heraclitus and those like him were deservedly divine, and were so called’ Epict. _Manual_ 15.

[166] ‘praeclara est aequabilitas in omni vita, et idem semper vultus eademque frons, ut de Socrate accepimus’ Cic. _Off._ i 26, 90; ‘Socrates ... violated nothing which was becoming to a good man, neither in making his defence nor by fixing a penalty on himself; nor even in the former part of his life when he was a senator or when he was a soldier’ Epict. _Disc._ iii 24, 61.

[167] See above, § 17.

[168] ‘si quis de felicitate Diogenis dubitat, potest idem dubitare et de deorum immortalium statu’ Sen. _Dial._ ix 8, 5; ‘By acting thus Diogenes ... was deservedly divine, and was so called’ Epict. _Manual_ 15.

[169] See above, § 306, note 25.

[170] δεύτερος Ἡρακλῆς ὁ Κλεάνθης ἐκαλεῖτο Diog. L. vii 170; ‘Learn how those live who are genuine philosophers: how Socrates lived, who had a wife and children; how Diogenes lived, and how Cleanthes, who attended to the school and drew water’ Epict. _Disc._ iii 26, 23.

[171] ‘aut Cato ille sit aut Scipio aut Laelius’ Sen. _Ep._ 25, 6; ‘elige remissioris animi virum Laelium’ _ib._ 11, 10.

[172] ‘nam cum esset ille vir [P. Rutilius Rufus] exemplum, ut scitis, innocentiae, cumque illo nemo neque integrior esset in civitate neque sanctior, non modo supplex iudicibus esse noluit, sed ne ornatius quidem aut liberius causam dici suam, quam simplex ratio veritatis ferebat’ Cic. _de Or._ i 53, 229; cf. Sen. _Dial._ i 3, 4 and 7; and see further, § 430.

[173] ‘Catonem certius exemplar sapientis viri nobis deos immortales dedisse quam Ulixen et Herculem prioribus saeculis’ Sen. _Dial._ ii 2, 1.

[174] ‘ego te [Cato] verissime dixerim peccare nihil’ Cic. _Mur._ 29, 60.

[175] ‘Catonis nobile letum’ Hor. _C._ i 12, 35 and 36; and see below, § 430.

[176] ‘nobis quoque militandum est’ Sen. _Ep._ 51, 6; ‘This is the true athlete. Great is the combat, divine is the work’ Epict. _Disc._ ii 18, 28. See also below, § 402.

[177] Euseb. _pr. ev._ vi 8, 13; Alex. Aph. _de fato_ 28, p. 199, 16 B.

[178] Plut. _Sto. rep._ 31, 5.

[179] ‘qui sapiens sit aut fuerit, ne ipsi quidem solent dicere’ Cic. _Ac._ ii 47, 145. Thus Panaetius made no reference to the wise man; whilst Posidonius only defended his possible existence in the future (Schmekel, pp. 213, 278).

[180] Sext. _math._ ix 133.

[181] See above, § 214.

[182] Even if Cicero is not the creator of the conception of an ‘ideal character,’ nowhere else can we find its meaning so clearly expressed. So of the wise man; ‘iste vir altus et excellens, magno animo, vere fortis, infra se omnia humana ducens, is, inquam, quem efficere volumus, quem quaerimus certe, et confidere sibi debet, et suae vitae et actae et consequenti, et bene de se iudicare’ _Fin._ iii 8, 29.

[183] ‘non est quod dicas hunc sapientem nostrum nusquam inveniri’ Sen. _Dial._ ii 7, 1.

[184] ‘ille alter [sapiens primae notae] fortasse tanquam phoenix semel anno quingentesimo nascitur’ _Ep._ 42, 1, cf. Alex. Aphr. p. 34, n. 2; ‘scit [sapiens] paucissimos omni aevo sapientes evadere’ Sen. _Dial._ iv 10, 6.

[185] See above, § 126.

[186] ‘Socrates in this way became perfect, in all things improving himself, attending to nothing except to reason. But you, though you are not yet a Socrates, ought to live as one who wishes to be a Socrates’ Epict. _Manual_ 50. Epictetus did not however ignore failures: ‘we [Stoics] say one thing, but we do another; we talk of the things which are beautiful, but we do what is base’ _Disc._ iii 7, 18.

[187] See above, § 42.

[188] See above, § 98.

[189] This is again a Socratic paradox: βασιλεῖς δὲ καὶ ἄρχοντας οὐ τοὺς τὰ σκῆπτρα ἔχοντας ἔφη εἶναι ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἐπισταμένους ἄρχειν Xen. _Mem._ iii 9, 10.

[190] Cic. _Fin._ iii 22, 75 and 76.

[191] ‘eorum, qui dolorem in malis non habent, ratio certe cogit, uti in omnibus tormentis conservetur beata vita sapienti’ _ib._ iii 13, 42; Arnim iii 585, 586; ‘shew me a man who is sick and happy, in danger and happy, in exile and happy, in disgrace and happy. Shew him; I desire, by the gods, to see a Stoic’ Epict. _Disc._ ii 19, 24.

[192] See below, §§ 431, 439.

[193] ‘bonus tempore tantum a deo differt’ Sen. _Dial._ i 1, 5; ‘sapiens excepta mortalitate similis deo’ _ib._ ii 8, 2; and see above, § 274.