FOOTNOTES

‘See the true Father of his country, worthThe homage of thine altars, Rome; for theyWho swear by him shall never be ashamed.If e’er the yoke is lifted from thy neck,Now or hereafter he shall be thy God[94].’

‘See the true Father of his country, worth

The homage of thine altars, Rome; for they

Who swear by him shall never be ashamed.

If e’er the yoke is lifted from thy neck,

Now or hereafter he shall be thy God[94].’

Civil service and ‘old Romans.’

442.The careers of Seneca and Musonius, and the early years of Lucan himself, indicate sufficiently that there was no essential opposition between Stoic principles and the Roman principate; in other words, that Stoics as such were not ‘republicans.’ Rather the contrary; for nearly all the Greek philosophers had been inclinedto favour monarchy, and the Stoics had been conspicuous in the desire to abolish the distinctions of birth and class upon which the Roman aristocracy laid so much stress, and which the principate was disposed to ignore. But in fact Stoicism was the common mould in which the educated youth of Rome were shaped at this period; it produced honest, diligent, and simple-minded men, exactly suited to be instruments of the great imperial bureaucracy. Large numbers entered the service of the state, and were heard of no more; such an one (except for Seneca’s incidental account of him) wasC. Lucilius, Seneca’s correspondent. The great work of Roman government was carried on in silence, just as that of India in the present day. This silence was probably on the whole beneficial to society, though it was often felt as a constraint by the individual. For this reason and many others there were at Rome (as everywhere and at all times) many able but disappointed men; they became the critics of the government, and from being critics they might at any time become conspirators; but at no period did they seriously aim at restoring the republican system. Their political creed was limited, and did not look beyond the interests of the class from which they sprang. They claimed for members of the senate at Rome their ancient personal privileges, and especially that oflibertas, that is, freedom to criticize and even to insult the members of the government; they sang the praises of Cato, celebrated the birthdays of Brutus and Cassius[95], and practised a kind of ‘passive resistance’ based on Oriental methods, by quitting life without hesitation when they were baulked in their immediate wishes by the government. When the administration was carried on decently these men were ridiculous; when from time to time it became a scandal they were heroes.

Republican prejudices.

443.The early years of Nero’s reign show us plainly that true spirit of Stoicism was far more developed on the side of the government than on that of the aristocracy. Nothing distinguishes Seneca more honourably than his humane attitude towards the slave population; and hewas chief minister of the princeps when in the yearA.D.61 a ‘notable case[96]’ arose, in which the human rights of slaves were involved. The city prefect, Pedanius Secundus, was killed by one of his slaves. It was contended in the senate that by ancient custom the whole household, old and young, guilty and innocent, must be put to death alike; and this view prevailed and was carried into effect. Public opinion, according to Tacitus[97], was unanimous against such severity; it looked, not unreasonably, to the emperor and his minister to prevent it[97a]. They on the contrary left the decision to the free judgment of the senate. Where now were the men of philosophic principle, of world-wide sympathies, of outspoken utterance? The historian tells us that not one was found in the senate. The honourable men who could defy an emperor’s death-sentence still lacked the courage to speak out against the prejudices of their own class; many indeed uttered exclamations, expressing pity for the women, the young, and the indubitably innocent, and even voted against the executions; but even in so simple a matter there was not a man to follow the lead of Catiline in Cicero’s days, and take up as his own the cause of the oppressed. The leader of the merciless majority was C. Cassius Longinus, a celebrated jurist, and one who regularly celebrated the honours of Cassius the conspirator.

Nero and the Stoics.

444.But although the administration of which Nero was the head was largely manned by professed Stoics, and stood as a whole for the better sympathies of the Roman people, the course of court intrigue brought about a fierce conflict between the government and a growing force of public opinion of which the ‘old Roman’ group of Stoics were sometimes the spokesmen, and at other times the silent representatives. To Nero the consideration of his own safety was predominant over every consideration of justice to individuals, and herein he stood condemned (and knew that it was so) by the judgment of all men of philosophic temper. The first of hisvictims, and perhaps the most deserving of our admiration, wasRubellius Plautus, accused by Tigellinus because he maintained the irritating cult of the ‘tyrannicides,’ and had joined the disloyal sect of the Stoics[98]. The charge of disloyalty against himself and his companions he disproved; for, advised by his Stoic teachers Coeranus and Musonius, he declined to take part in a rising which might have been successful, and calmly awaited his fate (60A.D.). In the conspiracy of Piso, which broke out a few years later,Plautus Lateranusis named by the historian as one of the few whose motives were honourable and whose conduct was consistently courageous[99]. The later years of Nero’s reign are illuminated in the pages of Tacitus by the firmness of men likeThrasea Paetus,Paconius Agrippinus, andBarea Soranus, and the heroic devotion of women like the youngerArria, Thrasea’s wife, andServilia, the daughter of Soranus[100]. In the persecution of this group the modern historian finds extenuating circumstances, but at Rome itself it appeared as though the emperor were engaged in the attempt to extirpate virtue itself[101].

Helvidius Priscus.

445.Upon the fall of Nero the ‘old Romans’ came for a short time into power under the principate of Galba, and amongst othersHelvidius Priscus, Thrasea’s son-in-law, returned from exile. From the account of Tacitus he appears to have been a very sincere adherent of the Stoic school.

‘He was not like others who adopt the name of philosopher in order to cloak an idle disposition. He followed those teachers who maintain that only the honourable is good, and only the base is evil; power, nobility, and other things external to the soul being neither good nor evil. He designed so to fortify himself thereby against the blows of fortune that he could play his part in public affairs without flinching[102].’

His first act on returning to Rome was to commence a prosecution of the accuser of Thrasea. The senate was divided in opinion as to the wisdom of this step, and when Helvidiusabandoned the suit some praised his charity, whilst others lamented his indecision[103]. He resumed his attempt, as we shall see, at a later time.

His fall.

446.Vespasian was undoubtedly tolerant in his views: his reign began with the restitution of honours to the deceased Galba, and the much-respected Musonius[104]seized the opportunity to attack in the senate P. Egnatius Celer, whose treachery had brought about the fall of Soranus[105], for false evidence. The trial was postponed, but resulted a little later in the condemnation of Celer[106]. Public opinion took the side of Musonius: but the accused found a champion in Demetrius the Cynic philosopher, and at least defended himself with the ability and courage of his sect. Thereupon Helvidius resumed his prosecution of the accuser of Thrasea; but the emperor, now anxious to let bygones be bygones, refused to approve[107]. This second failure appears to have embittered Helvidius: his opposition to Vespasian became open and insulting, and brought about his death[108]. The life of his wifeFanniawas worthy of the two Arriae, her grandmother and her mother. Twice she followed her husband into exile; a third time she brought this punishment upon herself, by encouraging his friend Senecio to publish his biography, supplying him with the materials, and openly justifying her action. In her private life she had singular charm and affability; and her death appeared to Pliny to close an era of noble women[109].

Renewal of the Stoic opposition.

447.It seems probable that the Stoic nobles found the low birth of Vespasian as intolerable as the tyranny of Nero; at any rate they soon resumed their attitude of opposition to the government, and the punishment of Helvidius, if intended as a warning, proved rather a provocation. It appears that he and the ‘old Romans’ began a systematic propaganda in favour of what they called ‘democracy[110],’ that is, the government of the Roman empireby the senatorial class; and they probably involved many professed philosophers in this impracticable and reactionary movement. Vespasian resolved on expelling all the philosophers from Rome. From this general sentence the best known of all, Musonius, was excepted[111], and we must infer that he had shown the good sense to keep himself free from political entanglements. In spite of this act of Vespasian, Stoicism continued to gain ground, and during the greater part of the period of the Flavian dynasty met with little interference.

Persecution by Domitian.

448.But towards the end of the reign of Domitian a more violent persecution broke out.Arulenus Rusticushad been tribune of the plebs in 66A.D., and had then proposed to use his veto in an attempt to save the life of Thrasea Paetus[112]. In 69A.D.he was praetor, and as such headed an embassy sent by the senate to the soldiers under Petilius Cerealis. On this occasion he was roughly handled and wounded, and barely escaped with his life[113]. After many years of quiet, he was accused in 93A.D., when Pliny was praetor, of having written and spoken in honour of Thrasea Paetus, Herennius Senecio, and Helvidius Priscus; he was condemned to death and his books were destroyed[114].Seneciowas condemned at the same time for having written the biography of Helvidius Priscus, and for the further offence that since holding the quaestorship he had not become a candidate for any higher office[115]. About the same time were banished Artemidorus, the most single-minded and laborious of philosophers, whom Musonius had selected out of a crowd of competitors as the fittest to claim his daughter in marriage[116]; Junius Mauricus, brother of Arulenus Rusticus, who had joined Musonius in the attempt to secure the punishment of thedelatoresof Nero’s time[117]; Demetrius, and Epictetus[118]; and further many distinguished ladies, including Arria and her daughter Fannia[119]. But from the time of the death of DomitianinA.D.96 the imperial government became finally reconciled with Stoicism, which was now the recognised creed of the great majority of the educated classes at Rome, of all ages and ranks. As such it appears in the writings ofJuvenal, who not only introduces into serious literature the Stoic principle of ‘straight speaking,’ but actually expounds much of the ethical teaching of Stoicism with more directness and force than any professed adherent of the system.

Stoic reform of law.

449.Stoicism, received into favour in the second centuryA.D., won new opportunities and was exposed to new dangers. Its greatest achievement lay in the development of Roman law. As we have just seen[120], the ‘old Romans’ of Nero’s day, in spite of their profession of Stoicism, were unbending upholders of the old law, with all its harshness and narrowness; and we have to go back a hundred years to the great lawyers of the times of Sulla and Cicero[121]to meet with men prepared to throw aside old traditions and build anew on the foundations of natural justice. But the larger view had not been lost sight of. It remained as the ideal of the more generous-minded members of the imperial civil service; and in the times of the emperors Antoninus Pius (138-161A.D.) and Marcus Aurelius (161-180A.D.) it became the starting-point for a new development of Roman law, which is one of the great achievements of Roman history. The most eloquent of the historians of the origins of Christianity thus describes this movement.

‘Le stoïcisme avait [déjà] pénétré le droit romain de ses larges maximes, et en avait fait le droit naturel, le droit philosophique, tel que la raison peut le concevoir pour tous les hommes. Le droit strict cède à l’équité; la douceur l’emporte sur la sévérité; la justice paraît inséparable de la bienfaisance. Les grands jurisconsultes d’Antonin continuèrent la même œuvre. Le dernier [Volusius Moecianus] fut le maître de Marc-Aurèle en fait de jurisprudence, et, à vrai dire, l’œuvre des deux saints empereurs ne saurait être séparée. C’est d’eux que datent la plupart de ces lois humaines et sensées qui fléchirent la rigueur du droit antique et firent, d’une législation primitivement étroite et implacable, un code susceptible d’être adopté par tous les peuples civilisés[122].’

In the legislation of Antoninus and Aurelius the humane and cosmopolitan principles of Stoic politics at last triumph over Roman conservatism. The poor, the sick, the infant, and the famine-stricken are protected. The slave is treated as a human being; to kill him becomes a crime, to injure him a misdemeanour; his family and his property are protected by the tribunals. Slavery in fact is treated as a violation of the rights of nature; manumission is in every way encouraged. The time is within sight when Ulpian will declare that ‘all men, according to natural right, are born free and equal[123].’ This legislation is not entirely the work of professed Stoics; it is nevertheless the offspring of Stoicism.

Repression of zeal.

450.There was in the second century, as there is still, a sharp antagonism between the manners of cultivated society and the ardent profession of intellectual convictions. An anecdote related by Gellius well illustrates the social forces which were now constantly at work to check superfluous enthusiasm.

‘There was with us at table a young student of philosophy who called himself a Stoic, but chiefly distinguished himself by an unwelcome loquacity. He was always bringing up in season and out of season recondite philosophical doctrines, and he looked upon all his neighbours as boors because they were unacquainted with them. His whole talk was strown with mention of syllogisms, fallacies, and the like, such as the “master-argument,” the “quiescent,” and the “heap”; and he thought that he was the only man in the world who could solve them. Further he maintained that he had thoroughly studied the nature of the soul, the growth of virtue, the science of daily duties, and the cure of the weaknesses and diseases of the mind. Finally he considered he had attained to that state of perfect happiness which could be clouded by no disappointment, shaken by no pains of death[124].’

Such a man, we may think, might soon have become an apostle of sincere Stoicism, and might have left us a clear and systematic exposition of Stoic doctrine as refined by five centuries of experience. It was not to be. The polished Herodes Atticus crushed him with a quotation from the discourses of Epictetus. Not many offended in the same way. Even Senecahad been severe on useless study in the regions of history and antiquity[125]; the new philosophers despised the study even of philosophy.

State establishment of philosophy.

451.The Stoicism of the second century is therefore much less sharply defined than that of earlier times. Its doctrines, acquired in childhood, are accepted with ready acquiescence; but they are not accompanied by any firm repudiation of the opposing views of other schools. Once more, as in the time of Augustus, the ‘philosopher’ comes to the front; the particular colour of his philosophy seems of less importance[126]. It is philosophy in general which wins the patronage of the emperors. Nerva allowed the schools of the philosophers to be re-opened; Trajan interested himself in them as providing a useful training for the young. Hadrian went further, and endowed the teachers of philosophy at Rome; Antoninus Pius did the same throughout the provinces. Marcus Aurelius established representatives of each of the philosophic schools at Athens; and amongst later emperors Septimius Severus, aided by his wife Julia Domna, was conspicuous in the same direction. The philosophers, who had firmly resisted persecution, gradually sacrificed their independence under the influence of imperial favour. They still recited the dogmas of their respective founders, but unconsciously they became the partisans of the established forms of government and religion. Yet so gentle was the decay of philosophy that it might be regarded as progress if its true position were not illuminated by the attitude of Marcus Aurelius towards the Christians. For Marcus Aurelius was universally accepted as the most admirable practical representative of philosophy in its full ripeness, and no word of criticism of his policy was uttered by any teacher of Stoicism.

The pagan revival.

452.The decay of precise philosophic thought was accompanied by a strong revival of pagan religious sentiment. The atmosphere in which Marcus Aurelius grew up, and by which his political actions were determined far more than by his philosophic profession, is thus sympathetically described by the latest editor of his Reflections.

‘In house and town, the ancestral Penates of the hearth and the Lares of the streets guarded the intercourse of life; in the individual breast, a ministering Genius shaped his destinies and responded to each mood of melancholy or of mirth. Thus all life lay under the regimen of spiritual powers, to be propitiated or appeased by appointed observances and ritual and forms of prayer. To this punctilious and devout form of Paganism Marcus was inured from childhood; at the vintage festival he took his part in chant and sacrifice; at eight years old he was admitted to the Salian priesthood; “he was observed to perform all his sacerdotal functions with a constancy and exactness unusual at that age; was soon a master of the sacred music; and had all the forms and liturgies by heart.” Our earliest statue depicts him as a youth offering incense; and in his triumphal bas-reliefs he stands before the altar, a robed and sacrificing priest. To him “prayer and sacrifice, and all observances by which we own the presence and nearness of the gods,” are “covenants and sacred ministries” admitting to “intimate communion with the divine[127].”’

The cult thus summarized is not that of the Greek mythology, much less that of the rationalized Stoic theology. It is the primitive ritualism of Italy, still dear to the hearts of the common people, and regaining its hold on the educated in proportion as they spared themselves the effort of individual criticism.

State persecution.

453.It was by no mere accident that Marcus Aurelius became the persecutor of the Christians. He was at heart no successor of the Zeno who held as essential the doctrine of a supreme deity, and absolutely rejected the use of temples and images. In the interval, official Stoicism had learnt first to tolerate superstition with a smile, next to become its advocate; now it was to become a persecutor in its name. Pontius Pilatus is said to have recognised the innocenceof the founder of Christianity, and might have protected him had his instructions from Rome allowed him to stretch his authority so far; Gallio[128]was uninterested in the preaching of Paul; but Aurelius was acquainted with the Christian profession and its adherents[129], and opposed it as an obstinate resistance to authority[130]. The popular antipathy to the new religion, and the official distaste for all disturbing novelties, found in him a willing supporter[131]. Thus began a new struggle between the power of the sword and that of inward conviction. Because reason could not support the worship of the pagan deities, violence must do so[132]. It became a triumph of the civil authority and the popular will to extort a word of weakness by two years of persistent torture[133]. No endowed professor or enlightened magistrate raised his voice in protest; and in this feeble acquiescence Stoicism perished.

Revolt of the young Stoics.

454.For the consciences of the young revolted. Trained at home and in school to believe in providence, in duty, and in patient endurance of evil, they instinctively recognised the Socratic force and example not in the magistrate seated in his curule chair, nor in the rustic priest occupied in his obsolete ritual, but in the teacher on the cross and the martyr on the rack[134]. In ever increasing numbers men, who had from their Stoic education imbibed the principles of the unity of the Deity and the freedom of the will, came over to the new society which professed the one without reservation, and displayedthe other without flinching. With them they brought in large measure their philosophic habits of thought, and (in far more particulars than is generally recognised) the definite tenets which the Porch had always inculcated. Stoicism began a new history, which is not yet ended, within the Christian church; and we must now attempt to give some account of this aftergrowth of the philosophy.

FOOTNOTES[1]Lightfoot,Philippians, p. 319; Dill,Roman Society, p. 334; Warde Fowler,Social Life at Rome, p. 27.[2]The practice of street-preaching, as described by Horace and Epictetus, points this way; and the world-wide diffusion of Stoicism, in more or less diluted forms, is hardly reconcileable with its restriction to a single class of society.[3]‘semper Africanus Socraticum Xenophontem in manibus habebat’ Cic.Tusc. disp.ii 26, 62; ‘Cyrus ille a Xenophonte ad effigiem iusti imperi scriptus ... quos quidem libros Africanus de manibus ponere non solebat’ad Quint.Ii 8, 23.[4]‘ille [Laelius] qui Diogenem Stoicum adulescens, post autem Panaetium audierat’Fin.ii 8, 24.[5]‘lenitatem Laelius habuit’ Cic.de Or.iii 7, 28; ‘C. Laelius et P. Africanus imprimis eloquentes’Brut.21, 82.[6]‘in C. Laelio multa hilaritas’Off.i 30, 108.[7]‘praeclara est aequabilitas in omni vita et idem semper vultus eademque frons, ut de Socrate itemque de C. Laelio accepimus’ib.26, 90.[8]See above, §326.[9]‘Sp. [Mummius] nihilo ornatior, sed tamen astrictior; fuit enim doctus ex disciplina Stoicorum’ Cic.Brut.25, 94.[10]‘non tulit ullos haec civitas humanitate politiores P. Africano, C. Laelio, L. Furio, qui secum eruditissimos homines ex Graecia palam semper habuerunt’de Or.ii 37, 154.[11]Cic.Amic.11, 37.[12]‘Ti. Gracchum a Q. Tuberone aequalibusque amicis derelictum videbamus’ib.[13]de Or.iii 23, 87.[14]‘quoniam Stoicorum est facta mentio, Q. Aelius Tubero fuit illo tempore, nullo in oratorum numero, sed vita severus et congruens cum ea disciplina quam colebat’Brut.31, 117.[15]Fin.iv 9, 23;Off.iii 15, 63.[16]‘Panaetii illius tui’ Cic.de Or.i 11, 45; ‘[Mucius augur] oratorum in numero non fuit: iuris civilis intellegentia atque omni prudentiae genere praestitit’Brut.26, 102.[17]‘C. Fannius, C. Laeli gener, ... instituto Laelii Panaetium audiverat. eius omnis in dicendo facultas ex historia ipsius non ineleganter scripta perspici potest’ib.101.[18]Schmekel,Mittlere Stoa, pp. 444, 445.[19]See especially his praise of virtue, beginning ‘virtus, Albine, est pretium persolvere verum | queis in versamur, queis vivimu’ rebu’ potesse’ fr. 1.[20]‘primum genus [poëticum] nugatorium dicit [Scaevola] esse, quod multa de dis fingantur indigna’ Aug.Civ. De.iv 27, on the authority of Varro.[21]‘tertium genus’ inquit Varro ‘quod in urbibus cives, maxime sacerdotes, nosse atque administrare debent’ Aug.Civ. De.vi 5.[22]‘maior societas nobis debet esse cum philosophis quam cum poetis’ib.6.[23]‘ego habeo [exceptionem] tectiorem ex Q. Mucii P. F. edicto Asiatico;extra quam si ita negotium gestum est, ut eo stari non oporteat ex fide bona; multaque sum secutus Scaevolae’ Cic.Att.vi 1, 15.[24]‘hanc gloriam iustitiae et abstinentiae fore inlustriorem spero. quod Scaevolae contigit’ib.v 17, 5.[25]See above, §326.[26]‘dixit causam illam quadam ex parte Q. Mucius, more suo, nullo adparatu, pure et dilucide’ Cic.de Or.i 53, 229; ‘Scaevola parcorum elegantissimus’Brut.40, 148.[27]‘Q. Mucius pontifex maximus ius civile primus constituit, generatim in libros xviii redigendo’ Pompon.Dig.i 2, 2, 41.[28]H. Nettleship,Ius Gentium(Journal of Philologyxiii 26, pp. 169 sqq.).[29]‘qui iuris civilis rationem nunquam ab aequitate seiunxerit’ Cic.Caec.27, 78.[30]‘cum discendi causa duobus peritissimis operam dedisset, L. Lucilio Balbo et C. Aquilio Gallo’Brut.42, 154; cf.de Orat.iii 21, 78.[31]‘Servius [mihi videtur] eloquentiae tantum assumpsisse, ut ius civile facile possit tueri’Brut.40, 150.[32]‘[Servius] longe omnium in iure civili princeps’ib.41, 151: Pomp.Dig.i 2, 2, 43.[33]For an interesting account of his career and death see Warde Fowler,Social Life at Rome, pp. 118-121.[34]‘idem Aelius Stoicus esse voluit’ Cic.Brutus56, 206.[35]‘Q. Lucilius Balbus tantos progressus habebat in Stoicis, ut cum excellentibus in eo genere Graecis compararetur’N. D.i 6, 15.[36]‘Sextus frater praestantissimum ingenium contulerat ad summam iuris civilis et rerum Stoicarum scientiam’Brutus47, 175.[37]See §427.[38]‘Posidonius scribit P. Rutilium dicere solere, quae Panaetius praetermisisset, propter eorum quae fecisset praestantiam neminem esse persecutum’ Cic.Off.iii 2, 10.[39]‘[P. Rutilius], doctus vir et Graecis litteris eruditus, prope perfectus in Stoicis’Brutus30, 114.[40]‘multa praeclara de iure’ib.[41]See above, §326.[42]Cic.pro Rabir.10, 27.[43]Plut.Cato minor4, 1.[44]ib.5, 3.[45]ib.10, 1.[46]‘Cato perfectus, mea sententia, Stoicus, ... in ea est haeresi, quae nullum sequitur florem orationis neque dilatat argumentum; sed minutis interrogatiunculis, quasi punctis, quod proposuit efficit’ Cic.Par.Pro. 2.[47]‘Cato dumtaxat de magnitudine animi, de morte, de omni laude virtutis, Stoice solet, oratoriis ornamentis adhibitis, dicere’ Cic.Par.Pro. 3.[48]‘animadverti Catonem ... dicendo consequi ut illa [= loci graves ex philosophia] populo probabilia viderentur’ib.1.[49]‘[doleo] plus apud me simulationem aliorum quam [Catonis] fidem valuisse’ad Att.iii 15, 2 (inB.C.48).[50]ib.iv 15, 7.[51]‘Catoni vitam ad certam rationis normam dirigenti et diligentissime perpendenti momenta officiorum omnium’Mur.2, 3.[52]Cato apud Cic.ad Fam.xv 5, 2.[53]See for instance below, §441, note 94.[54]‘his [sc. piis] dantem iura Catonem’ Verg.Aen.viii 670.[55]‘illam Ἀκαδημικήν ... ad Varronem transferamus: etenim sunt Ἀντιόχεια, quae iste valde probat’ Cic.Att.xiii 12, 3; ‘in iis quae erant contra ἀκαταληψίαν praeclare collecta ab Antiocho, Varroni dedi; ... aptius esse nihil potuit ad id philosophiae genus, quo ille maxime mihi delectari videtur’ib.19, 3 and 5.[56]See above, §123.[57]‘tu, [Brute,] qui non linguam modo acuisses exercitatione dicendi, sed et ipsam eloquentiam locupletavisses graviorum artium instrumento’ Cic.Brutus97, 331.[58]‘Brutus in eo libro quem de virtute composuit’ Sen.Dial.xii 9, 4; ‘Brutus in eo libro quem περὶ καθήκοντος inscripsit, dat multa praecepta’Ep.95, 45. There was also a treatisede patientia.[59]Thede Finibus,de Natura Deorum, andTusculanae disputationes.[60]Mart.Ep.i 42.[61]See above, §374, note 66.[62]‘nunc agilis fio et mersor civilibus undis, | virtutis verae custos rigidusque satelles’Ep.i 1, 16 and 17.[63]See above, §316, note 96.[64]See above, §90.[65]‘igneus est ollis vigor et caelestis origo | seminibus’Aen.vi 730, 731.[66]‘caelum et terras | spiritus intus alit’ib.724, 726.[67]‘totamque infusa per artus | mens agitat molem’ib.726, 727.[68]See above, §§295 to 297.[69]‘donec longa dies, perfecto temporis orbe, | concretam exemit labem, purumque reliquit | aetherium sensum atque aurai simplicis ignem’Aen.vi 745 to 747.[70]‘desine fata deum flecti sperare precando’ib.376.[71]‘mens immota manet; lacrimae volvuntur inanes’Aen.iv 449; the ‘lacrimae inanes’ indicate the ruffling of the soul, in which the intelligence and will take no part.[72]‘est deus in nobis: agitante calescimus illo’ Ov.F.vi 5.[73]‘ante mare et terras, et quod tegit omnia caelum, | unus erat toto Naturae vultus in orbe, | quem dixere Chaos, etc.’Met.i 5 to 88.[74]‘os homini sublime dedit, caelumque tueri | iussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus’ib.85 and 86.[75]‘exclamavit Cordus tunc vere theatrum perire’ Sen.Dial.vi 22, 4.[76]Tac.Ann.iv 34. Tacitus entirely ignores the personal motives underlying the story, and quite unnecessarily suggests that Tiberius was adopting the policy of repressing freedom of historical narration.[77]‘accusatores queruntur mori Cordum’ Sen.Dial.vi 22, 7.[78]That Cremutius Cordus was a professed Stoic seems a fair inference from the story as a whole, and yet, as in several similar cases, is not expressly stated.[79]‘quem [Graecinum Iulium] C. Caesar occidit ob hoc unum, quod melior vir erat quam esse quemquam tyranno expedit’ Sen.Ben.ii 21, 5.[80]Dial.ix 14, 4-10.[81]‘casta suo gladium cum traderet Arria Paeto, | quem de visceribus traxerat ipsa suis, | “si qua fides, vulnus quod feci non dolet,” inquit, | “sed quod tu facies, hoc mihi, Paete, dolet”’ MartialEp.i 14; ‘praeclarum illud eiusdem, ferrum stringere, perfodere pectus, extrahere pugionem, porrigere marito, addere vocem immortalem et paene divinam “Paete, non dolet”’ PlinyEp.iii 16, 6.[82]See above, §126.[83]‘non derunt et frugalitatis exactae homines et laboriosae operae’ Sen.Dial.x 18, 4. For the British official the authority of the author ofTales from the Hillswill suffice.[84]See below, §448, note 115.[85]Henderson’sNero, pp. 31-38, 50-142, 257-288.[86]See above, §§127-129.[87]See above, §125.[88]PersiusSat.iii 66-72. The translations in this section are by Mr W. H. Porter.[89]Phars.i 72 to 80.[90]ib.vii 814 and 815.[91]See above, §242, note 9.[92]Phars.ix 573 and 574.[93]ib.556 and 557.[94]ib.601 to 604. The force of this tribute is impaired by the similar praise given to Pompey (Phars.vii 682-689) and to Brutus (ib.588 and 589).[95]‘quale coronati Thrasea Helvidiusque bibebant | Brutorum et Cassi natalibus’ Juv.Sat.v 36 and 37. See also G. Boissier,L’Opposition sous les Césars.[96]Henderson’sNero, pp. 90 sqq.[97]Annalsxiv 42, 2.[97a]The government had in fact appointed an officer for the prevention of cruelty to slaves: ‘de iniuriis dominorum in servos qui audiat positus est, qui et saevitiam et libidinem et in praebendis ad victum necessariis avaritiam compescat’ Sen.Ben.iii 22, 3.[98]Tac.Ann.xiv 57.[99]See Henderson’sNero, pp. 257-283.[100]Tac.Ann.xvi 21-35.[101]‘Nero virtutem ipsam exscindere concupivit’ib.21.[102]Hist.iv 5.[103]Tac.Hist.iv 6.[104]See above, §§130,131.[105]See above, §444.[106]Tac.Hist.iv 40.[107]ib.43 and 44.[108]Dill,Roman Society, p. 152.[109]PlinyEp.vii 19, 7.[110]τῷ ὄχλῳ προσέκειτο, βασιλείας τε ἀεὶ κατηγόρει, καὶ δημοκρατίαν ἐπῄνει Dion Cassius lxvi 12.[111]Dion Cassius lxvi 13.[112]See above, §444.[113]Tac.Hist.iii 80.[114]Agr.2; Suetonius,Dom.10.[115]Dion C. lxvii 13, Tac.Agr.45.[116]PlinyEp.iii 11, 7.[117]Tac.Hist.iv 40.[118]A. GelliusN. A.xv 11, 5 (for Epictetus).[119]PlinyEp.iii 11, 3; ‘tot nobilissimarum feminarum exilia et fugas’ Tac.Agr.45.[120]See above, §443.[121]See above, §§428,429.[122]Renan,Marc-Aurèle, pp. 22, 23; cf. Maine,Ancient Law, pp. 55, 56.[123]Renan,Marc-Aurèle, p. 30.[124]Aulus GelliusN. A.i 2, 3 to 5.[125]‘nam de illis nemo dubitabit, quin operose nihil agant, qui litterarum inutilium studiis detinentur, quae iam apud Romanos quoque magna manus est ... ecce Romanos quoque invasit inane studium supervacua discendi,’ etc. Sen.Dial.x 13, 1 and 3. The condemnation extends to the whole study of history,N. Q.iii Pr.[126]‘In the purely moral sphere to which philosophy was now confined, the natural tendency of the different schools, not even excluding the Epicurean, was to assimilation and eclecticism’ Dill,Roman Society, p. 343.[127]Rendall,M. Aurelius to himself, Introd. pp. cxxvii, cxxviii.[128]The connexion (if any) of Gallio the proconsul of Achaia (Acts xviii 12) with the Junius Gallio who adopted Seneca’s elder brother is uncertain.[129]Renan,Marc-Aurèle, p. 55, note 2.[130]M. Aurel.To himselfxi 3.[131]Renan,M.-A.p. 329.[132]‘quia ratione congredi non queunt, violentia premunt; incognita causa tanquam nocentissimos damnant’ Lact.Inst. Epit.47 (52), 4.[133]‘vidi ego in Bithynia praesidem gaudio mirabiliter elatum tanquam barbarorum gentem aliquam subegisset, quod unus qui per biennium magna virtute restiterat, postremo cedere visus esset’Div. inst.v 11, 15.[134]‘nam cum videat vulgus dilacerari homines et invictam tenere patientiam, existimant nec perseverantiam morientium vanam esse nec ipsam patientiam sine deo cruciatus tantos posse superare ... dicit Horatius: “iustum ac tenacem ...” quo nihil verius dici potest, si ad eos referatur qui nullos cruciatus nullam mortem recusant’ib.13, 11 to 17.

[1]Lightfoot,Philippians, p. 319; Dill,Roman Society, p. 334; Warde Fowler,Social Life at Rome, p. 27.

[2]The practice of street-preaching, as described by Horace and Epictetus, points this way; and the world-wide diffusion of Stoicism, in more or less diluted forms, is hardly reconcileable with its restriction to a single class of society.

[3]‘semper Africanus Socraticum Xenophontem in manibus habebat’ Cic.Tusc. disp.ii 26, 62; ‘Cyrus ille a Xenophonte ad effigiem iusti imperi scriptus ... quos quidem libros Africanus de manibus ponere non solebat’ad Quint.Ii 8, 23.

[4]‘ille [Laelius] qui Diogenem Stoicum adulescens, post autem Panaetium audierat’Fin.ii 8, 24.

[5]‘lenitatem Laelius habuit’ Cic.de Or.iii 7, 28; ‘C. Laelius et P. Africanus imprimis eloquentes’Brut.21, 82.

[6]‘in C. Laelio multa hilaritas’Off.i 30, 108.

[7]‘praeclara est aequabilitas in omni vita et idem semper vultus eademque frons, ut de Socrate itemque de C. Laelio accepimus’ib.26, 90.

[8]See above, §326.

[9]‘Sp. [Mummius] nihilo ornatior, sed tamen astrictior; fuit enim doctus ex disciplina Stoicorum’ Cic.Brut.25, 94.

[10]‘non tulit ullos haec civitas humanitate politiores P. Africano, C. Laelio, L. Furio, qui secum eruditissimos homines ex Graecia palam semper habuerunt’de Or.ii 37, 154.

[11]Cic.Amic.11, 37.

[12]‘Ti. Gracchum a Q. Tuberone aequalibusque amicis derelictum videbamus’ib.

[13]de Or.iii 23, 87.

[14]‘quoniam Stoicorum est facta mentio, Q. Aelius Tubero fuit illo tempore, nullo in oratorum numero, sed vita severus et congruens cum ea disciplina quam colebat’Brut.31, 117.

[15]Fin.iv 9, 23;Off.iii 15, 63.

[16]‘Panaetii illius tui’ Cic.de Or.i 11, 45; ‘[Mucius augur] oratorum in numero non fuit: iuris civilis intellegentia atque omni prudentiae genere praestitit’Brut.26, 102.

[17]‘C. Fannius, C. Laeli gener, ... instituto Laelii Panaetium audiverat. eius omnis in dicendo facultas ex historia ipsius non ineleganter scripta perspici potest’ib.101.

[18]Schmekel,Mittlere Stoa, pp. 444, 445.

[19]See especially his praise of virtue, beginning ‘virtus, Albine, est pretium persolvere verum | queis in versamur, queis vivimu’ rebu’ potesse’ fr. 1.

[20]‘primum genus [poëticum] nugatorium dicit [Scaevola] esse, quod multa de dis fingantur indigna’ Aug.Civ. De.iv 27, on the authority of Varro.

[21]‘tertium genus’ inquit Varro ‘quod in urbibus cives, maxime sacerdotes, nosse atque administrare debent’ Aug.Civ. De.vi 5.

[22]‘maior societas nobis debet esse cum philosophis quam cum poetis’ib.6.

[23]‘ego habeo [exceptionem] tectiorem ex Q. Mucii P. F. edicto Asiatico;extra quam si ita negotium gestum est, ut eo stari non oporteat ex fide bona; multaque sum secutus Scaevolae’ Cic.Att.vi 1, 15.

[24]‘hanc gloriam iustitiae et abstinentiae fore inlustriorem spero. quod Scaevolae contigit’ib.v 17, 5.

[25]See above, §326.

[26]‘dixit causam illam quadam ex parte Q. Mucius, more suo, nullo adparatu, pure et dilucide’ Cic.de Or.i 53, 229; ‘Scaevola parcorum elegantissimus’Brut.40, 148.

[27]‘Q. Mucius pontifex maximus ius civile primus constituit, generatim in libros xviii redigendo’ Pompon.Dig.i 2, 2, 41.

[28]H. Nettleship,Ius Gentium(Journal of Philologyxiii 26, pp. 169 sqq.).

[29]‘qui iuris civilis rationem nunquam ab aequitate seiunxerit’ Cic.Caec.27, 78.

[30]‘cum discendi causa duobus peritissimis operam dedisset, L. Lucilio Balbo et C. Aquilio Gallo’Brut.42, 154; cf.de Orat.iii 21, 78.

[31]‘Servius [mihi videtur] eloquentiae tantum assumpsisse, ut ius civile facile possit tueri’Brut.40, 150.

[32]‘[Servius] longe omnium in iure civili princeps’ib.41, 151: Pomp.Dig.i 2, 2, 43.

[33]For an interesting account of his career and death see Warde Fowler,Social Life at Rome, pp. 118-121.

[34]‘idem Aelius Stoicus esse voluit’ Cic.Brutus56, 206.

[35]‘Q. Lucilius Balbus tantos progressus habebat in Stoicis, ut cum excellentibus in eo genere Graecis compararetur’N. D.i 6, 15.

[36]‘Sextus frater praestantissimum ingenium contulerat ad summam iuris civilis et rerum Stoicarum scientiam’Brutus47, 175.

[37]See §427.

[38]‘Posidonius scribit P. Rutilium dicere solere, quae Panaetius praetermisisset, propter eorum quae fecisset praestantiam neminem esse persecutum’ Cic.Off.iii 2, 10.

[39]‘[P. Rutilius], doctus vir et Graecis litteris eruditus, prope perfectus in Stoicis’Brutus30, 114.

[40]‘multa praeclara de iure’ib.

[41]See above, §326.

[42]Cic.pro Rabir.10, 27.

[43]Plut.Cato minor4, 1.

[44]ib.5, 3.

[45]ib.10, 1.

[46]‘Cato perfectus, mea sententia, Stoicus, ... in ea est haeresi, quae nullum sequitur florem orationis neque dilatat argumentum; sed minutis interrogatiunculis, quasi punctis, quod proposuit efficit’ Cic.Par.Pro. 2.

[47]‘Cato dumtaxat de magnitudine animi, de morte, de omni laude virtutis, Stoice solet, oratoriis ornamentis adhibitis, dicere’ Cic.Par.Pro. 3.

[48]‘animadverti Catonem ... dicendo consequi ut illa [= loci graves ex philosophia] populo probabilia viderentur’ib.1.

[49]‘[doleo] plus apud me simulationem aliorum quam [Catonis] fidem valuisse’ad Att.iii 15, 2 (inB.C.48).

[50]ib.iv 15, 7.

[51]‘Catoni vitam ad certam rationis normam dirigenti et diligentissime perpendenti momenta officiorum omnium’Mur.2, 3.

[52]Cato apud Cic.ad Fam.xv 5, 2.

[53]See for instance below, §441, note 94.

[54]‘his [sc. piis] dantem iura Catonem’ Verg.Aen.viii 670.

[55]‘illam Ἀκαδημικήν ... ad Varronem transferamus: etenim sunt Ἀντιόχεια, quae iste valde probat’ Cic.Att.xiii 12, 3; ‘in iis quae erant contra ἀκαταληψίαν praeclare collecta ab Antiocho, Varroni dedi; ... aptius esse nihil potuit ad id philosophiae genus, quo ille maxime mihi delectari videtur’ib.19, 3 and 5.

[56]See above, §123.

[57]‘tu, [Brute,] qui non linguam modo acuisses exercitatione dicendi, sed et ipsam eloquentiam locupletavisses graviorum artium instrumento’ Cic.Brutus97, 331.

[58]‘Brutus in eo libro quem de virtute composuit’ Sen.Dial.xii 9, 4; ‘Brutus in eo libro quem περὶ καθήκοντος inscripsit, dat multa praecepta’Ep.95, 45. There was also a treatisede patientia.

[59]Thede Finibus,de Natura Deorum, andTusculanae disputationes.

[60]Mart.Ep.i 42.

[61]See above, §374, note 66.

[62]‘nunc agilis fio et mersor civilibus undis, | virtutis verae custos rigidusque satelles’Ep.i 1, 16 and 17.

[63]See above, §316, note 96.

[64]See above, §90.

[65]‘igneus est ollis vigor et caelestis origo | seminibus’Aen.vi 730, 731.

[66]‘caelum et terras | spiritus intus alit’ib.724, 726.

[67]‘totamque infusa per artus | mens agitat molem’ib.726, 727.

[68]See above, §§295 to 297.

[69]‘donec longa dies, perfecto temporis orbe, | concretam exemit labem, purumque reliquit | aetherium sensum atque aurai simplicis ignem’Aen.vi 745 to 747.

[70]‘desine fata deum flecti sperare precando’ib.376.

[71]‘mens immota manet; lacrimae volvuntur inanes’Aen.iv 449; the ‘lacrimae inanes’ indicate the ruffling of the soul, in which the intelligence and will take no part.

[72]‘est deus in nobis: agitante calescimus illo’ Ov.F.vi 5.

[73]‘ante mare et terras, et quod tegit omnia caelum, | unus erat toto Naturae vultus in orbe, | quem dixere Chaos, etc.’Met.i 5 to 88.

[74]‘os homini sublime dedit, caelumque tueri | iussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus’ib.85 and 86.

[75]‘exclamavit Cordus tunc vere theatrum perire’ Sen.Dial.vi 22, 4.

[76]Tac.Ann.iv 34. Tacitus entirely ignores the personal motives underlying the story, and quite unnecessarily suggests that Tiberius was adopting the policy of repressing freedom of historical narration.

[77]‘accusatores queruntur mori Cordum’ Sen.Dial.vi 22, 7.

[78]That Cremutius Cordus was a professed Stoic seems a fair inference from the story as a whole, and yet, as in several similar cases, is not expressly stated.

[79]‘quem [Graecinum Iulium] C. Caesar occidit ob hoc unum, quod melior vir erat quam esse quemquam tyranno expedit’ Sen.Ben.ii 21, 5.

[80]Dial.ix 14, 4-10.

[81]‘casta suo gladium cum traderet Arria Paeto, | quem de visceribus traxerat ipsa suis, | “si qua fides, vulnus quod feci non dolet,” inquit, | “sed quod tu facies, hoc mihi, Paete, dolet”’ MartialEp.i 14; ‘praeclarum illud eiusdem, ferrum stringere, perfodere pectus, extrahere pugionem, porrigere marito, addere vocem immortalem et paene divinam “Paete, non dolet”’ PlinyEp.iii 16, 6.

[82]See above, §126.

[83]‘non derunt et frugalitatis exactae homines et laboriosae operae’ Sen.Dial.x 18, 4. For the British official the authority of the author ofTales from the Hillswill suffice.

[84]See below, §448, note 115.

[85]Henderson’sNero, pp. 31-38, 50-142, 257-288.

[86]See above, §§127-129.

[87]See above, §125.

[88]PersiusSat.iii 66-72. The translations in this section are by Mr W. H. Porter.

[89]Phars.i 72 to 80.

[90]ib.vii 814 and 815.

[91]See above, §242, note 9.

[92]Phars.ix 573 and 574.

[93]ib.556 and 557.

[94]ib.601 to 604. The force of this tribute is impaired by the similar praise given to Pompey (Phars.vii 682-689) and to Brutus (ib.588 and 589).

[95]‘quale coronati Thrasea Helvidiusque bibebant | Brutorum et Cassi natalibus’ Juv.Sat.v 36 and 37. See also G. Boissier,L’Opposition sous les Césars.

[96]Henderson’sNero, pp. 90 sqq.

[97]Annalsxiv 42, 2.

[97a]The government had in fact appointed an officer for the prevention of cruelty to slaves: ‘de iniuriis dominorum in servos qui audiat positus est, qui et saevitiam et libidinem et in praebendis ad victum necessariis avaritiam compescat’ Sen.Ben.iii 22, 3.

[98]Tac.Ann.xiv 57.

[99]See Henderson’sNero, pp. 257-283.

[100]Tac.Ann.xvi 21-35.

[101]‘Nero virtutem ipsam exscindere concupivit’ib.21.

[102]Hist.iv 5.

[103]Tac.Hist.iv 6.

[104]See above, §§130,131.

[105]See above, §444.

[106]Tac.Hist.iv 40.

[107]ib.43 and 44.

[108]Dill,Roman Society, p. 152.

[109]PlinyEp.vii 19, 7.

[110]τῷ ὄχλῳ προσέκειτο, βασιλείας τε ἀεὶ κατηγόρει, καὶ δημοκρατίαν ἐπῄνει Dion Cassius lxvi 12.

[111]Dion Cassius lxvi 13.

[112]See above, §444.

[113]Tac.Hist.iii 80.

[114]Agr.2; Suetonius,Dom.10.

[115]Dion C. lxvii 13, Tac.Agr.45.

[116]PlinyEp.iii 11, 7.

[117]Tac.Hist.iv 40.

[118]A. GelliusN. A.xv 11, 5 (for Epictetus).

[119]PlinyEp.iii 11, 3; ‘tot nobilissimarum feminarum exilia et fugas’ Tac.Agr.45.

[120]See above, §443.

[121]See above, §§428,429.

[122]Renan,Marc-Aurèle, pp. 22, 23; cf. Maine,Ancient Law, pp. 55, 56.

[123]Renan,Marc-Aurèle, p. 30.

[124]Aulus GelliusN. A.i 2, 3 to 5.

[125]‘nam de illis nemo dubitabit, quin operose nihil agant, qui litterarum inutilium studiis detinentur, quae iam apud Romanos quoque magna manus est ... ecce Romanos quoque invasit inane studium supervacua discendi,’ etc. Sen.Dial.x 13, 1 and 3. The condemnation extends to the whole study of history,N. Q.iii Pr.

[126]‘In the purely moral sphere to which philosophy was now confined, the natural tendency of the different schools, not even excluding the Epicurean, was to assimilation and eclecticism’ Dill,Roman Society, p. 343.

[127]Rendall,M. Aurelius to himself, Introd. pp. cxxvii, cxxviii.

[128]The connexion (if any) of Gallio the proconsul of Achaia (Acts xviii 12) with the Junius Gallio who adopted Seneca’s elder brother is uncertain.

[129]Renan,Marc-Aurèle, p. 55, note 2.

[130]M. Aurel.To himselfxi 3.

[131]Renan,M.-A.p. 329.

[132]‘quia ratione congredi non queunt, violentia premunt; incognita causa tanquam nocentissimos damnant’ Lact.Inst. Epit.47 (52), 4.

[133]‘vidi ego in Bithynia praesidem gaudio mirabiliter elatum tanquam barbarorum gentem aliquam subegisset, quod unus qui per biennium magna virtute restiterat, postremo cedere visus esset’Div. inst.v 11, 15.

[134]‘nam cum videat vulgus dilacerari homines et invictam tenere patientiam, existimant nec perseverantiam morientium vanam esse nec ipsam patientiam sine deo cruciatus tantos posse superare ... dicit Horatius: “iustum ac tenacem ...” quo nihil verius dici potest, si ad eos referatur qui nullos cruciatus nullam mortem recusant’ib.13, 11 to 17.

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