But we must not take the Roman Stoics as the representatives of the sect. The Stoics stood for more thanmoral reflection. The great achievement came from the first three leaders—the achievement of giving a scientific basis to morals. The Stoics made ethics an independent science. Such an elaborate system of morals as that of the Stoics had never before existed. Stoicism was morality with a theoretical foundation, and the foundation was the most imposing part of the edifice. This appeared in Roman jurisprudence, and in later times in Grotius, Descartes, Spinoza, the Calvinists and Puritans, and in Kant and Fichte. The writings of the individual Stoics have become a part of the world’s literature, and the Stoic view of life has maintained itself as a dignified and independent type.
The Three Periods of Stoicism. The five hundred years of the history of the Stoic School are usually divided into three periods. The first is about 90 years long, in which the doctrine was formulated; the second is 200 years long, when the doctrine was modified; the third was 200 years long, when it became a popular moral philosophy. The first two periods were theoretical, the third was practical.
1. Period of Formulation of the Doctrine (294 B. C.–206 B. C.), sometimes called the period of Cynical Stoicism. This period contains the three great leaders: Zeno (340–265 B. C.), Cleanthes, leader of the School from 264 to 232 B. C., and Chrysippus (280–206 B. C.). Zeno of Tarsus, Diogenes of Seleucia, and Antipater of Tarsus were other important representatives.
2. Period of Modified Stoicism (206 B. C.–1 A. D.). This was the period of transition. This period shows a modification of the original severe Cynical character of the doctrine and also the spread of Stoicism to Rome. This modification shows an approach to Plato and Aristotle.The most important representative of this period is Panætius (180–110 B. C.), who introduced the doctrine into Rome through his friendship with Scipio Africanus. Other eminent Stoics of this period were Posidonius and Boëthus of Sidon.
3. Period of Roman Stoicism (1–200 A. D.). During this period Stoicism became a popular moral philosophy. The theoretic teachings of the first two periods were successfully translated by the Roman Stoics in an impressive way into practical observations. Furthermore, Stoicism was being inspired with the rising religious feeling so that it expressed the noblest moral sentiments of antiquity. The chief representatives were Seneca (4–65 A. D.), Epictetus (living 90 A. D.) the philosophic slave, and the emperor Marcus Aurelius (121–180 A. D.). Other Stoics of this period were L. Annæus Cornutus, M. Annæus Lucanus, Persius, and M. Musonius Rufus.
The Stoic Leaders. One of the striking features of the Stoic School is that its leaders were not pure Greeks. Nearly all the members before the Christian era belong by birth to the mixed races of Asia Minor and the eastern archipelago. Moreover, the later Stoics were mainly Romans, led by the Phrygian, Epictetus. The Stoics who were Greeks were third or fourth rate men. The Stoic School contained so many eminent thinkers that its doctrine was not framed once and for all, like the Epicurean doctrine. During the five hundred years from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius, theoretic changes went on within the School, and the changes were rather modifications than development. Fundamentally, Stoicism remained the same, for it was a religious attitude of mind.
Athens was the abiding-place of the Stoic School, but Athens of that day had little to say to it except to receive it. The great Stoic leaders, the first three Stoics, like the three tragic poets, formed a group that is rarely equaled. They were Zeno, Cleanthes, and Chrysippus. Zeno and Chrysippus came from Cyprus, and Cleanthes came from Assos, not far from Troy. Cyprus, Lycia, and Pisidia showed a strong inclination for the Stoic teaching. Tarsus, which is in Cilicia, had a strong Stoic School, and its influence on the training of St. Paul is seen in his theology.
The founding of the Stoic School was the result of the experiences of Zeno of Citium. Having lost much of his wealth in commerce, he turned to philosophy at Athens. Impressed with the character of Socrates, he attached himself successively to the Cynic, Megarian, and Platonic Schools, but without much satisfaction. He made himself master of the teachings of these Schools, and then founded a School of his own. It is said that when he asked for admittance to the Academy, Polemo, the leader, replied, “I am no stranger to your Phœnician art, Zeno. I perceive your design is to creep slyly into my garden and steal away my fruit.” In 294 B. C. he began to teach in the Painted Porch (see map, p. [219]), a painted colonnade in the Athenian market-place. The School thereafter went by the name of Stoa, or the Porch. His contemporary antagonists were Arcesilaus in the Academy, and Epicurus. Zeno’s reputation throughout Greece was very high and well deserved. He was a parsimonious man, simple and rude spoken. He used a bad dialect, foreign words, and taught a strange doctrine. He suffered a slight wound and, taking it as a hint of destiny, committedsuicide, saying, “I am coming, Earth, why do you call me?”
Stoicism did not flourish under Cleanthes (who was leader of the School for thirty-two years), although to-day he is the best known of these three leaders on account of his Hymn to Zeus. He was originally a pugilist, and was so poor that he had to work as a water-carrier by night in order to attend the lectures of Zeno by day. He is said to have had a heavy mind, but it was nevertheless the mind of an inspired prophet and a thoughtful man of science. When Cleanthes received the Stoic doctrines from Zeno, they were still plastic. He made them monistic and pantheistic, and introduced the doctrine of “tension.”
Under Chrysippus (280–206 B. C.) Stoicism was revived and he saved it from extinction. Chrysippus was the systematizer of the School and its literary representative. He wrote five hundred and five separate treatises, three hundred of which were on logical subjects. He is said to have seldom let a day pass without writing five hundred lines. He was the moderating influence of the School, mediating between extremes and removing objections. He restated Zeno’s doctrines, but his discourses abound in curious subtleties rather than argument. He was a much more scholarly man than his predecessors, and passed for the most learned man in antiquity. “Give me doctrines,” he said to Cleanthes, “and I will find arguments for them.” His haughtiness created many adversaries, both in the Academy and among the Epicureans, and he had great contempt for men of rank. He said, “If I thought any philosopher excelled me, I would myself become his pupil.” It was a common saying in those days, “No Chrysippus,no Stoa.” In the hands of Chrysippus the Stoic teaching became a well-rounded system.