FOOTNOTES:[1]This passage is corrupt, and the exact meaning is uncertain.[2]Lorium was a villa on the coast north of Rome, and there Antoninus was brought up, and he died there. This also is corrupt.[3]This is corrupt.[4]Antoninus here uses the word κόσμος both in the sense of the Universe and of Order; and it is difficult to express his meaning.[5]This is corrupt.[6]It appears that there is a defect in the text here.[7]The story is told by Horace in his Satires and by others since, but not better.[8]“Seen even with the eyes.” It is supposed that this may be explained by the Stoic doctrine, that the universe is a god or living being (IV. 40), and that the celestial bodies are gods (VIII. 19). But the emperor may mean that we know that the gods exist, as he afterwards states it, because we see what they do; as we know that man has intellectual powers, because we see what he does, and in no other way do we know it.[9]The Stoics made three divisions of philosophy,—Physic, Ethic, and Logic (VIII. 13). This division, we are told by Diogenes, was made by Zeno of Citium, the founder of the Stoic sect, and by Chrysippus; but these philosophers placed the three divisions in the following order,—Logic, Physic, Ethic. It appears, however, that this division was made before Zeno’s time, and acknowledged by Plato, as Cicero remarks. Logic is not synonymous with our term Logic in the narrower sense of that word.Cleanthes, a Stoic, subdivided the three divisions, and made six,—Dialectic and Rhetoric, comprised in Logic; Ethic and Politic; Physic and Theology. This division was merely for practical use, for all Philosophy is one. Even among the earliest Stoics Logic, or Dialectic, does not occupy the same place as in Plato: it is considered only as an instrument which is to be used for the other divisions of Philosophy. An exposition of the earlier Stoic doctrines and of their modifications would require a volume. My object is to explain only the opinions of Antoninus, so far as they can be collected from his book.According to the subdivision of Cleanthes, Physic and Theology go together, or the study of the nature of Things, and the study of the nature of the Deity, so far as man can understand the Deity, and of his government of the universe. This division or subdivision is not formally adopted by Antoninus, for, as already observed, there is no method in his book; but it is virtually contained in it.Cleanthes also connects Ethic and Politic, or the study of the principles of morals and the study of the constitution of civil society; and undoubtedly he did well in subdividing Ethic into two parts, Ethic in the narrower sense and Politic; for though the two are intimately connected, they are also very distinct, and many questions can only be properly discussed by carefully observing the distinction. Antoninus does not treat of Politic. His subject is Ethic, and Ethic in its practical application to his own conduct in life as a man and as a governor. His Ethic is founded on his doctrines about man’s nature, the Universal Nature, and the relation of every man to everything else. It is therefore intimately and inseparably connected with Physic, or the nature of Things, and with Theology, or the Nature of the Deity. He advises us to examine well all the impressions on our minds and to form a right judgment of them, to make just conclusions, and to inquire into the meaning of words, and so far to apply Dialectic; but he has no attempt at any exposition of Dialectic, and his philosophy is in substance purely moral and practical. He says, “Constantly and, if it be possible, on the occasion of every Impression on the soul, apply to it the principles of Physic, of Ethic, and of Dialectic”: which is only another way of telling us to examine the impression in every possible way. In another passage (III. 11) he says, “To the aids which have been mentioned, let this one still be added: make for thyself a definition or description of the object which is presented to thee, so as to see distinctly what kind of a thing it is in its substance, in its nudity, in its complete entirety, and tell thyself its proper name, and the names of the things of which it has been compounded, and into which it will be resolved.” Such an examination implies a use of Dialectic, which Antoninus accordingly employed as a means towards establishing his Physical, Theological, and Ethical principles.
[1]This passage is corrupt, and the exact meaning is uncertain.
[2]Lorium was a villa on the coast north of Rome, and there Antoninus was brought up, and he died there. This also is corrupt.
[3]This is corrupt.
[4]Antoninus here uses the word κόσμος both in the sense of the Universe and of Order; and it is difficult to express his meaning.
[5]This is corrupt.
[6]It appears that there is a defect in the text here.
[7]The story is told by Horace in his Satires and by others since, but not better.
[8]“Seen even with the eyes.” It is supposed that this may be explained by the Stoic doctrine, that the universe is a god or living being (IV. 40), and that the celestial bodies are gods (VIII. 19). But the emperor may mean that we know that the gods exist, as he afterwards states it, because we see what they do; as we know that man has intellectual powers, because we see what he does, and in no other way do we know it.
[9]The Stoics made three divisions of philosophy,—Physic, Ethic, and Logic (VIII. 13). This division, we are told by Diogenes, was made by Zeno of Citium, the founder of the Stoic sect, and by Chrysippus; but these philosophers placed the three divisions in the following order,—Logic, Physic, Ethic. It appears, however, that this division was made before Zeno’s time, and acknowledged by Plato, as Cicero remarks. Logic is not synonymous with our term Logic in the narrower sense of that word.Cleanthes, a Stoic, subdivided the three divisions, and made six,—Dialectic and Rhetoric, comprised in Logic; Ethic and Politic; Physic and Theology. This division was merely for practical use, for all Philosophy is one. Even among the earliest Stoics Logic, or Dialectic, does not occupy the same place as in Plato: it is considered only as an instrument which is to be used for the other divisions of Philosophy. An exposition of the earlier Stoic doctrines and of their modifications would require a volume. My object is to explain only the opinions of Antoninus, so far as they can be collected from his book.According to the subdivision of Cleanthes, Physic and Theology go together, or the study of the nature of Things, and the study of the nature of the Deity, so far as man can understand the Deity, and of his government of the universe. This division or subdivision is not formally adopted by Antoninus, for, as already observed, there is no method in his book; but it is virtually contained in it.Cleanthes also connects Ethic and Politic, or the study of the principles of morals and the study of the constitution of civil society; and undoubtedly he did well in subdividing Ethic into two parts, Ethic in the narrower sense and Politic; for though the two are intimately connected, they are also very distinct, and many questions can only be properly discussed by carefully observing the distinction. Antoninus does not treat of Politic. His subject is Ethic, and Ethic in its practical application to his own conduct in life as a man and as a governor. His Ethic is founded on his doctrines about man’s nature, the Universal Nature, and the relation of every man to everything else. It is therefore intimately and inseparably connected with Physic, or the nature of Things, and with Theology, or the Nature of the Deity. He advises us to examine well all the impressions on our minds and to form a right judgment of them, to make just conclusions, and to inquire into the meaning of words, and so far to apply Dialectic; but he has no attempt at any exposition of Dialectic, and his philosophy is in substance purely moral and practical. He says, “Constantly and, if it be possible, on the occasion of every Impression on the soul, apply to it the principles of Physic, of Ethic, and of Dialectic”: which is only another way of telling us to examine the impression in every possible way. In another passage (III. 11) he says, “To the aids which have been mentioned, let this one still be added: make for thyself a definition or description of the object which is presented to thee, so as to see distinctly what kind of a thing it is in its substance, in its nudity, in its complete entirety, and tell thyself its proper name, and the names of the things of which it has been compounded, and into which it will be resolved.” Such an examination implies a use of Dialectic, which Antoninus accordingly employed as a means towards establishing his Physical, Theological, and Ethical principles.