STOICISM. The Stoic School of Greek philosophy was founded by Zeno of Citium In Cyprus (362-264 B.C.), who is said to have had Phoenician blood in his veins. He was influenced greatly by early schools of philosophy, for he had been in turn the disciple of the Cynic Crates, the Megaric Stilpo, and the Academic Polemon. He was even accused of being a plagiarist or an eclectic without any originality. Stoicism was so called because Zeno opened a school of his own in the Stoa Poikild, a colon nade in Athens adorned with pictures. Zeno was suc ceeded by his disciple Cleanthes from Assos in the Troad (331-232 B.C.), and Cleanthes by Chrysippus of Soli in Cilicia (282-209 B.C.). These three constitute what has been called the Older Stoa. They were followed by a number of other Greek philosophers known as the Middle Stoa, and these by a number of Roman philosophers usually known as the Later Stoa. The Roman philoso phers were L. Annaens Seneca (3-65 A.D.), Epictetus, who left Rome in 94 A.D. and went to live and teach in Nicopolis in Epirus, and Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, who was Emperor from 161 to 180 A.D. The Stoicism with which we are most familiar is that of the Roman period. Only fragments of the writings of Zeno, Cleanthes, and Chrysippus have been preserved. The philosophy of the Stoics embraced three great branches of knowledge, Logic, Physics, and Ethics. Logic in their use of the term was of wide scope. To quote W. L. Davidson, " not only did it cover to them what has been regarded by many as alone Logic, namely, the science and art of reasoning' or of ' thought,' but it included also Rhetoric (or the art of style) and Epistemology (or Theory of Knowledge)." Physics meant to the Stoics not merely what it means to the modern physicist, but also, and even more, " the metaphysical interpretation of the universe." " Their great achievement was their Cosmogony or Theory of the world, and their Theology or philosophical conception of God. Their physics, therefore, was pre-eminently Ontology : it was Science of Being—occupied with the three great entities, God, the World, and the Human Soul." Again, Ethics to the
Stoics meant Practical Philosophy. " As philosophy was to them a substitute for religion, it was, above all things, their aim to make it a rule of life, a way of living '—not merely, as now, a necessary part of a University curriculum, but a power operative for good in daily action. If, then, men were to be guided In their conduct, it was not enough to teach them to reason, or to harangue, or to speculate. You may feed the imagina tion on cosmogony, you may sharpen the intellect by logic, you may train literary faculty through rhetoric, but you cannot nourish the soul, or produce a robust, manly character, unless you bring your cosmogony into a definite immediate relation with living, and utilize your logic and your eloquence for the defence and establish ment of life-directing truth " (Davidson). It is an interesting fact that the leading Stoics were of non Hellenic nationality. " Zeno was from Citium, a Phoenician colony in Cyprus, and himself belonged to the Semitic race. . . Of his disciples, PersTus came also from Citium; Herillus was from Carthage; Atheno dorus from Tarsus; Cleanthes from Assus in the Troad. The chief disciples of Cleanthes were Sphoerus of the Bosporus, and Chrysippus from Soli in Cilicia. Chrysip pus wan succeeded by Zeno of Sidon. and Diogeues of Babylon: the latter taught Antipater of Tarsus, who taught Pametius of Rhodes, who taught Posidonius of Apamea in Syria. There was another Athenodorus, from Cana in Cilicia: and the early Stoic Archedemus is mentioned by Cicero as belonging to Tarsus. The names of Nestor, Athenodorus, Cordylion. and Hera elides may be added to the list of Stoical teachers furnished by Tarsus. Seleucia sent forth Diogenes; Epiphania, Euphrates; Scythopolis, Basilides; Ascalon, Antibius; Tyre, Antipater: Sidon, Boalms: Ptolemais, Diogenes " (Sir A. Grant, The Ethics of Aristotle, quoted by W. L. Davidson). See W. L. Davidson. The Stoic Creed, 1907; C. J. Deter, Geseh. der Philosoghie, 1906; Max B. Weinstein, Welt- and Leben-ansehauungcn, 1910.