Ii'id. i 15: "lu reijno uail sumns: Deo parere libertns
est."
Kpict. Diss, ii, 17, 22: airXwt tmiiv aWo ^i\e rj ti 6 Stof Anton, vii, 74: ^i; oim xafive li^eAoi'i/iffor Jk iL o><pt\e7t.
Rut the morality of Stoicism is essentially based on pride, that of Cliristiauity on humility; the one iqiholds individual independence, the other absolute faith in an- other; the one looks for consolation in the issue of fate, the other in Providence; the one is limited by periods of cosmical ruin, the other is consummated in a |)ersonal resurrection (Acts xvii, 18). Hut in spite of the funda- mental error of Stoicism, which lies in a siqireme egotism (Seneca, y^f \'il.J>eata,!^ii: '■ Incorruptus vir sit externis et iusu()erabilis niiratorque tantum sui, fidcns aiiimo at- que in utrum(iue paratus artifex vita;"), the teaching of this school gave a wide currency to the noble doctrines of the Fatherhood of <iod (Cleanthcs, Jlymn. 31-38; comp. Acts xvii, 28), the common bonds of mankind (Anton, iv, 4), the sovereignty of the soul. Nor is it to be forgotten that the earlier Stoics were very closely coiHicctcd with the East, from winch much of the lorm, if not of the essence, of their doctrines seems to have been derived. Zeno himself was a native of Citium, one of the oldest Phrenician settlements. See Ciirrri.M. His successor, Chrysip])us, came from Soli or Tarsus; and Tarsus is mentioned as the birthplace of a second Zeno and Antipater. Diogenes came from Selciu'ia in Babylonia, Posidonius from Apamea in Syria, an<l Epic- tetus from the Phrygian Hierapolis (comp. Sir A. (irant, The Ancient Stoics', in Oxford Essai/s [1858], p. 82).
3. Literature. — The chief ancient authorities for the opinions of the Stoics are, Diog. Laert. vii ; Cicero, De Fill.; Plutarch, />f Stoic. Rejiuf/ti.; I)e Plac. Philos. adv. Stoic; Scxtus Empiricus; and the remains of Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Anrelius. (iatakcr, in his edi- tion of the Meditations of M. Anrelius. has traced out with the greatest care the parallels which they offer to Christian doctrine. See also Walch, I)e Stoicorum cum Paulo Disputatione (Jena, 1759); Zeller, The Stoics, Epicureans, and iScejjlics (transl. from the (ierman by lieichel, Lond. 1870). See Stoic PiiiLosoniY.
Sto'ics (StwVko/, Acts xvii, 18), a notable and well-known sect of Greek jihilosojihers, one of the most important and influential of the schools after Socrates, entitled to claim descent from Socrates. The con- tentions of the Stoics with the other Socratic schools, and especially with the Epicureans, who deviated most widely from Socratic teachings, filled a large space in the intellectual history of (ireece after the loss of (ireek independence. The antagonism was continued under the declining IJoman Iicpublic and under the earlier Empire. During the reign of the Ca>sars, Stoicism be- came more prominent than it had lieen before, and as- sumed the complexion of a political oi>|)ositi()n an<l of republican aspirations or regrets. It at length ascended the imperial throne in the ]ierson of Marcus Anrelius, and thenceforward gradually faded away into neglect and insignilicance. being completely eclipsed liy the Neo- Platonic school when not sup|ilanted by Christianity. Sin)]ilicius, writing in the reign of .lusiinian, remarks that the systematic instruction, or school tradition, and nearly all the writings of the Stoics had vanished. Yet if the catena Stoicorum be considered to terminate with the emperor Marcus Anrelius, the Stoic doctrine had maintained a vigorous existence, and hail exercised a wide dominion over the minds of men, for nearly half a millennium. It had been distinguished during its long duration, not only by nimierous names eminent in the chronicle of siieculation, but by moulding the character of many |)ersons prominent in public life, sucli as Hlos- sius, Cato, liriitus, Seneca, and Marcus Anrelius. The better part ol lioman society, in both the repuiilican and the imperial age, was profoundly impresseil with Stoic doctrine and Stoic discipline. It attained that evidence
STOICS
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STOICS
of general reverence and regard, the fervid professions of h y|H>crite8 and canters :
"Qui Curios simulant et Bacchanalia vivunt."
Stoicism produced its Roman poets in Manilius, in Lucan, and in IVrsiiis. It promoted ilio morals of the Koman world throiiith the (>//(iv.< of Cicero, the writings of Seneca, the Coiirrr.iiilii'ii.'i of K|)ictetus, and the Mtdita- tini* of the younger Antonine. It suggested to Homan jurists the conception of general and systematic law. it furnished principles, axioms, theories, and tendencies to the renovatctl lioman law, and largely affected its .scientilic development. Through the agency of the Ho- nian law it has permeated all modern jurisprudence. To this day, when "the state of nature" is iiroclaimcd, or the dogma is allegeil that "all men are born free and etpial," Stoic y(/;j/(/j»iV.< are revived, without their ori- gin, their import, their application, or their restrictions Wing suspected. The philosophy of the Stoics, eo no- mint-, disappearetl with the growth and ascendency of Christianity; hut the influences of Stoicism survived, in changed guise; its spirit and its terms reappear in Chris- tian theology, and continue to operate on the minds of men even in the present times. There has never been an age, since the Antonines, when Stoic doctrines and Stoic sentiments and Stoic austerities have not claimed, with altered face, but with the ancient arrogance, the admiration and adhesion of the world. It is not a little singular, too. that in this closing 19th century, even the most extravagant clogmas of the visinnanes of the Porch tind a counterpart in the scientific. /((w^ffA'tV*" of Huxley, and in the cosmical reveries of llelmholtz and his fra- ternity. The sudden favor, the long predominance, the enduring iuHuence, the recent though partial revival, of .Stoicism can be accounted for only by recognising its peculiar consonance with the characteristics of the times when it appeared; its adaptation to the needs or appe- tencies of subsequent generations; its agreement with the healthy tendencies or tiie morbid aspirations of the human heart; and the recurrence, in our day, of social .•nid intellectual conditions analogous to those which en- gendered or favored the speculations of Zeno and his followers.