Closely connected with the humanitarianism of the Greeks is their
cosmopolitanism.
Cosmopolitanism is a word which has contracted rather than expanded
in meaning with the advance of time. We mean by it freedom from the
shackles of nationality. The Stoics meant this and more. The city of
which they claimed to be citizens was not merely this round world on
which we dwell, but the universe at large with all the mighty life
therein contained. In this city, the greatest of earth's
cities--Rome, Ephesus or Alexandria, were but houses. To be exiled
from one of them was only like changing your lodgings, and death but
a removal from one quarter to another. The freemen of this city were
all rational beings--sages on earth and the stars in heaven. Such an
idea was thoroughly in keeping with the soaring genius of Stoicism.
It was proclaimed by Zeno in his Republic, and after him by
Chrysippus and his followers. It caught the imagination of alien
writers as of the author of the Peripatetic _De Mundo_ who was
possibly of Jewish origin and of Philo and St Paul who were certainly
so. Cicero does not fail to make of it on behalf of the Stoics;
Seneca revels in it; Epictetus employs it for edification and Maucus
Aurelius finds solace in his heavenly citizenship for the cares of an
earthly ruler--as Antoninus indeed his city is Rome, but as a man it
is the universe.
The philosophy of an age cannot perhaps be inferred from its
political conditions with that certainty which some writers assume;
still there are cases in which the connection is obvious. On a wide
view of the matter we may say that the opening up of the East by the
arms of Alexander was the cause of the shifting of the philosophic
standpoint from Hellenism to cosmopolitanism. If we reflect that the
Cynic and Stoic teachers were mostly foreigners in Greece we shall
find a very tangible reason for the change of view. Greece had done
her work in educating the world and the world was beginning to make
payment in kind. Those who had been branded as natural slaves were
now giving laws to philosophy. The kingdom of wisdom was suffering
violence at the hands of barbarians.
DATES AND AUTHORITIES
BC
Death of Socrates 399
Death of Plato 347
Zeno 347 275
Studied under Crates 325
Studied under Stilpo and Xenocrates 325 315
Began teaching 315
Epicurus 341 270
Death of Aristotle 322
Death of Xenocrates 315
Cleanthes succeeded Zeno 275
Chrysippus died 207
Zeno of Tarsus succeeded Chrysippus ---
Decree of the Senate forbidding the
teaching of philosophy at Rome 161
Diogenes of Babylon
Embassy of the philosophers to Rome 155
Antipater of Tarsus
Panaetius Accompanied Africanus on
his mission to the East 143
His treatise on Propriety was the
basis of Cicero's De Officiis.
The Scipionic Circle at Rome
The coterie was deeply tinctured with
Stoicism. Its chief members were--
The younger Africanus
the younger Laelius
L. Furius Philus
Manilius
Spurius Mummius
P. Rutillus Rufus
Q. Aelius,
Tubero
Polybius and
Panaetius
Suicide of Blossius of Cumae, the adviser
of Tiberius Gracchus and a disciple
of Antipater of Tarsus 130
Mnesarchus, a disciple of Panaetius, was
teaching at Athens when the orator
Crassus visited that city 111
Hecaton of Rhodes
A great Stoic writer, a disciple of
Panaetius and a friend of Tubero
Posidonius About 128-44
Born at Apameia in Syria
Became a citizen of Rhodes
Represented the Rhodians at Rome 86
Cicero studied under him at Rhodes 78
Came to Rome again at an advanced age 51
Cicero's philosophical works 54-44
These are a main authority for our
knowledge of the Stoics.
A.D.
Philo of Alexandria came on an embassy to Rome 39
The works of Philo are saturated with Stoic
ideas and he displays an exact acquaintance
with their terminology
Seneca
Exiled to Corsica 41
Recalled from exile 49
Forced by Nero to commit suicide 65
His Moral Epistles and philosophical
works generally are written from
the Stoic standpoint though somewhat
affected by Eclecticism
Plutarch Flor. 80
The Philosophical works of Plutarch
which have most bearing upon the
Stoics are--
De Alexandri Magni fortuna aut virtute,
De Virtute Morali,
De Placitis Philosophorum,
De Stoicorum Repugnantiis,
Stoicos absurdiora poetis dicere,
De Communibus Notitiis.
Epictetus Flor. 90
A freedman of Epaphroditus,
Disciple of C Musonius Rufus,
Lived and taught at Rome until A. D. 90
when the philosophers were expelled by
Domitian. Then retired to Nicopolis in
Epirus, where he spent the rest of his life.
Epictetus wrote nothing himself, but his
Dissertations, as preserved by Arrian,
from which the Encheiridion is excerpted,
contain the most pleasing presentation that
we have of the moral philosophy of the Stoics.
C Musonius Rufus
Banished to Gyaros ... 65
Returned to Rome ... 68
Tried to intervene between the armies
of Vitellius and Vespasian ... 69
Procured the condemnation of Publius Celer
(Tac H iv 10, Juv Sat iii 116) ... --
Q Junius Rusticus ... Cos 162
Teacher of M Aurelius who learnt
from him to appreciate Epictetus
M Aurelius Antoninus Emperor ... 161-180
Wrote the book commonly called his
"Meditations" under the title of
"to himself"
He may be considered the last of the
Stoics
Three later authorities for the Stoic teaching are--
Diogenes Laertius ... 200?
Sextus Empiricus ... 225?
Stobaeus ... 500?
Modern works--
Von Arnim's edition of the "Fragmenta Stoicorum Veterum"
Pearson's "Fragments of Zeno and Cleanthes" Pitt Press
Remains of C Musonius Rufus in the Teubner series
Zeller's "Stoics and Epicureans."
Sir Alexander Grant, "Ethics of Aristotle"
Essay VI on the Ancient Stoics
Lightfoot on the Philippians, Dissertation II,
"St. Paul and Seneca."