I. (hif/in and Development. — 1, The sect of the Stoics was founded at Athens by Zeno of Citium, in Cyprus, a town which was, in part at least, of Plucnician origin. Zeno himself has been, at times, suspected of having had .\siatic blood in his veins. The institution of tlie new heresy must be assigned to the close of the 4th century before Christ, or to the beginning of the 3d. There is such a total absence of contemporary informa- tion, such a dearth of authentic testimony, and so many iliscrcpances in later writers in regard to all details lliat dates, events, and incidents cannot be reported with ex- actness or with conlidence. According to certain tradi- tions, the father of Zeno was a merchant engaged in a regular and lucrative course of trade with Athens, who was ill the hal)it of bringing back from that city the writings of eminent Athenians and other (Jreeks for the iuMru<-ti<in and edilicalion of his son, whose studious inclinations had been early manifested. The son was, in the course of time, sent to Athens in charge of a cargo of merchandise. Having arrived in that still brilliant city, either after a prosperous voyage or after a ship- wreck, he fill iu with a copy of Xeno[)lion'8 Memonihilia, and was fasiiuiiied with tlie deliueation of Socrates and of tlic Soerati<' disputations. He deleriniued to devote hiniH<-lf exriusively to the pursuit of ])hilosophy; and o( <'itiun), of (Cyprus, and of his father nothing more is heard. l)iH|)<isiiig of what property remained in his hands, whetlu-r much or nothing, and either distributing thf proceeds or investing Ihein iu banking ojierations— lorllie traditions vary and are altogether inconsistent- he atln.'li.il himself at first to the Thchan Crates, the ctiief of ilic Cynic school at that time. He was re- pilled, however, by the coarseness, vulgarity, filthy liab- iiiS and arrogant ignorance of the Cynic tribe; and for
many years he wandered from teacher to teacher and from heresy to heresy. He was for some time a follower of Stilpo the ^legarian, and also of Diodorus the dia- lectician. He attended through a whole decennium, it is said, the instructions of Xenocrates, then the schol- arch of the Academy, and afterwards those of his succes- sor, I'olemo. It is difficult to lind time in Zeno's life for this protracted education; but it is needless to investi- gate the amount of truth contained in such reports. The variety of instructors assigned to Zeno, and his os- cillations between different schools, may be only a con- jectural and retrospective interpretation of the composite character and frequent inconsistencies of his doctrine. A jiretty anecdote is told in connection with his exten- sive and diversified range of knowledge. Having asked the oracle how he should secure the best mode of life, he was told to become of the same color with the dead. Hereupon he devoted himself to the perusal of the older authors. The wide range of sources whence he borrowed his scheme of philosophy may be implied in this tale. His doctrine was compounded from materials derived from many schools. " Stoici fures" was a jesting re- proach in antiquity that acquired the currency of a proverb (Cicero, De Fin.). The sect was certainly an offshoot from the Socratic school. It took much from previous systems. It always retained a close affinity with the Cynics, and at times, or in particidar persons, was almost identified with them. Its logic it received from the Peripatetics, extending it into manj' bewilder- ing refinements. Its captions and incessant disputation, its dry argnmentation, its nugatory hair-splitting, its " ratiuncuhe" and "inepliie," and "verborum conserva- tiones," with all its briery subtleties (" subtile vel spino- sum potius disserendi genus" [Cicero, De Fin. iii, 1. 8]), it borrowed from the Megarians. From them, and partic- ularly from Stilpo, it received its exclusive consideration and estimation of virtue. Its physical principles it took partly from Pythagoras and largely from Heraclitus, who communicated to it the belief in the ultimate con- flagration of the world and other characteristic tenets. This diversity of obligation, and the strange syncretism which proceeded from it, direct attention to the general character of the Stoic innovation, and to its peculiar re- lations to the political, social, and intellectual condition of the age in which it transpired.
In the full tide of modern progress and of vigorous civilization, it is difficult to form an accurate and ade- quate conception of the dismay, despondency, and hope- lessness which overwhelm with gloom the minds of eager, active, and intelligent men when the course of political development is suddenly arrested and crushed beneath the rude coercion of military power and alien ride. In such a condition were the Greeks left after the amazing victories of Alexander the (Jreat and the establishment of Macedonian domination or Macedonian influence. The memory of political independence and of free political action became a vain regret. The hope of renovated liberty was a tormenting dream, and must have rapidly ebbed away with the constant rejietition of dislieartening experiences. Political dejection, polit- ical indifference, or political servility was substituted for the violent but earnest and inspiriting conflict of parties in a free state. At the same time, the vast extension of Hellenic domination over new lands, strange people, and ancient civilizations aroused curiosity, introduced the knowledge of foreign habits of thought, and brought Asiatic tradition an<l Asiatic speculation within the sphere of (Jreek intelli<;ence. Coincidently with these potent agencies of intellectual change the splendid sys- tems of the great chiefs of the Socratic school reached a sudden check. Socrates had contemplated the refor- mation of political life and public morals by investigating the foiuidations of truth, discovering a basis for knowl- edge, and thus s<-curing the rectification of principles. Tlie restoration of ])olitical and social health to his city and to his fellow-citizens was his chief aim. The same purpose may be discerned throughout the writings of