Stoic and Epicurean
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page 7
THE EPOCHS OF PHILOSOPHY
Edited by
JOHN GRIER HIBBEN, Princeton University
The aim of the series on The Epochs of Philosophy is to
present the significant features of philosophical thought in the
There is no attempt to give
chief periods of its development.
a complete account in every case of the men or their works
which these various periods have produced; but rather to esti
mate and interpret the characteristic contributions which each
age may have made to the permanent store of philosophical
knowledge. Such a process of interpretation, therefore, must
be necessarily selective. And in the light of the specific pur
poses of this series the principle of
selection suggests itself,
namely, to emphasise especially those doctrines which have
fl
evolution of philosophical
appeared as effective factors in
se various periods are inti
Moreover,
thought as a whole.
continuous one. While
mately connected; the history
there are several distinct epochs of philosophy, there is but
one movement of philosophical thought, and it is hoped that
<
the present series will serve, in some slight measure at least, to
deepen the impression of that fundamental unity which char
acterises the progress of philosophy through the many phases
of its development.
VOLUMES AND AUTHORS
THE BEGINNINGS OF GREEK PHILOSOPHY
By F. J. E. WOODBRIDGE, Professor in Columbia University.
THE PLATONIC PHILOSOPHY
By A. E. TAYLOR, Professor of Moral Philosophy, St. Andrew s
University.
-
THE ARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY
By PAUL SHOREY, Professor of Greek, University of Chicago.
page 8
THE EPOCHS OF PHILOSOPHY
STOIC AND EPICUREAN
By R. D. HICKS, Fellow and
Cambridge.
late
Lecturer,
Trinity
College,
(Now ready.)
NEO-PLATONISM AND CHRISTIANITY
By F. W. BUSSELL, Vice-Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford.
THE MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY
(Author to be announced later.)
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE RENAISSANCE
By CHARLES M. BAKEWELL, Professor of Philosophy, Yale Uni
versity.
THE RISE OF THE HISTORICAL METHOD IN PHILOSOPHY
By J. E. CREIGHTON, Professor of Logic and Metaphysics, Cornell
University.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF RATIONALISM
By FRANK THILLY, Professor of Ethics, Cornell University.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT
By JOHN GRIER HIBBEN,
versity.
Professor of Logic, Princeton
Uni
(Now ready.)
THE CRITICAL PHILOSOPHY
By JOSIAH ROYCE, Professor of the History of Philosophy, Harvard
University.
THE IDEALISTIC MOVEMENT OF THOUGHT IN THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY
By J. B. BAILLIE, Professor of Moral Philosophy, Aberdeen Uni
versity.
An additional volume (title to be announced later) is ex
pected from A. S. PRINGLE-PATTISON, Professor of Logic and
Metaphysics in the University of Edinburgh.
page 13
PREFACE
THE philosophical systems of Zeno and Epicurus
may profitably be studied together. For, in spite of
obvious differences, over which their adherents for
centuries waged internecine warfare, it is easy to
discern the fundamental similarity between them.
Both schools sought by devious paths one and the
Both exalted practice above theory, and
conceded to sense and experience their full right.
Both, in short, were crude forms of realism, which
for the time (and not for that time alone) had come
same goal.
into its inheritance and held full sway over the minds
The temper of the age favoured such a
The success
of the new schools, if not immediate, was assured
from the first, reaching its height when Hellenistic
of men.
reaction from extreme intellectualism.
culture was taken up by the practical Romans.
My
exposition of these two parallel systems of thought
is primarily based on independent study of the
orig
In this department of the history
inal authorities.
of philosophy much good work has been done in the
I have made it
last quarter of a century.
my busi
ness to compare the results of recent investigation
with the sources themselves, now rendered accessible,
as they never have been before, through the labours
of such competent scholars as Diels, Wachsmuth,
Usener, and von Arnim. Even with these welcome
aids, the task of research is by no means easy, owing
to the scantiness and the peculiar nature of the mate
rials which time has spared.
To take the early
page 14, segment 1/2
PREFACE
vi
Stoics, Zeno and
Chrysippus;
much of the evidence
derived from opponents who were naturally more
alert to detect and expose inconsistencies than care
ful to state impartially the doctrines they impugned.
is
When ampler means of information become available,
new difficulties arise;
for while it is certain that the
Stoics of Cicero s time had diverged from the stand
ards of orthodoxy prescribed by their predecessors,
not equally certain wherein precisely this diver
gence consisted. Thus Cicero puts into the mouth
of Cato a lucid exposition of Stoic ethics, but what
it is
particular Stoic was Cicero s authority, and how far
authority reproduced or modified the original
this
doctrine of Zeno and Chrysippus, is matter of dis
Nor are these difficulties removed by con
pute.
and Marcus Aurelius, the
authors whom we know at first hand and in fullest
detail.
It is difficult to see how, from a mass of
precepts, exhortations and moral reflections the un
derlying structure of dogma can be inferred with
such clearness and precision as readily to serve for
comparison with other authorities. The most care
sulting Seneca, Epictetus
ful inquiry must, therefore, leave room for doubt, on
In the first three
questions of grave importance.
chapters of this work the reader will find a nucleus
of fact, well attested by documentary evidence, and
my constant endeavour has been to bring him, wher
ever possible, face to face with the utterances of the
Stoics themselves, so that he may
judge for himself
of the correctness of my interpretation.
In the fourth chapter I have followed substan
same course, availing myself of the excel
and Marcus Aurelius by
Long and Rendall. Seneca, on the other hand,
tially the
lent versions of Epictetus
though still popular in France, has
page 14, segment 2/2
with us of late
page 15
PREFACE
vii
Even of his epistles we have
fallen into neglect.
no standard translation, a fact which well deserves
the attention of English and American scholars.
The rival school of Epicurus has been more for
Not only have we the summaries of its
tunate.
founder, but the task of reconstruction is rendered
comparatively easy by the poem of Lucretius, which
the English reader can study for himself in the ad
mirable prose version of H. A. J. Munro. Here,
while reserving the right to form my own judgment
from the evidence, I have, in the main, followed the
guidance of Munro and Giussani. Some points of
detail are obscure, but on the whole no ancient sys
tem is more easily comprehended or appraised. In
my sixth chapter I have tried to render adequately
one valuable Epicurean document, the letter to
Herodotus, and occasional illustrations and parallels
have been added to make its meaning clearer. In
dealing with Epicurean theology in the seventh
chapter, we quit the region of ascertained fact for
dubious speculation and ingenious conjecture. Cau
tion is therefore necessary, since the promised ex
ploration of Herculaneum may some day bring to
light the missing clue to this puzzling riddle.
Not the least noteworthy feature in these two
philosophies is the long duration of their exclusive,
if divided, supremacy.
In the school of Epicurus
there are no changes to record.
Everything goes to
show that the doctrine of the founder was guarded
intact as he had left it.
Even the genius of Lucre
tius did but enshrine it in an imperishable memorial.
It was far otherwise
with Stoicism, which provoked
and was continually modified by
No narrative of
pressure from without and within.
its rise and
would
be
development
complete which
fierce opposition
page 16
PREFACE
viii
failed
to
take account of these conflicts.
It
has,
therefore, been incumbent upon me to linger awhile
over the adversaries and critics of the Stoics, to
describe the successive phases of Academic Scepti
cism and Eclecticism, and above all, to emphasise
In this way the eighth
the influence of Carneades.
and ninth chapters may be regarded as forming an
For the last chapter
Integral portion of my plan.
a similar excuse may be tendered.
After permitting
the other opponents of the Stoics to state their objec
tions it would have been inconsistent to pass over
^Enesidemus and not to allow Sextus Empiricus and
For the use
the Pyrrhoneans to say the last word.
of students a select bibliography has been appended,
as well as a chronological table of the more note
historical sketch
worthy thinkers and writers.
A
ranging over five centuries stands in need of some
such aid, if it be no more than the merest framework
of names and dates.
The proprietors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica
have courteously granted me permission to use for
my present purpose the article on Stoics, which I
contributed to the Encyclopaedia some twenty years
I
gratefully acknowledge my obligations to
Mrs. Adam for allowing me to include in this volume
a verse translation of the Hymn of Cleanthes, which
her husband, the late Dr. James Adam, had privately
I am further indebted to Prof. H.
N.
printed.
Gardiner for his kindness in reading through the
proofs and suggesting various improvements.
ago.
page 17
CONTENTS
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
xv
CHAPTER I
THE EARLIER STOICS AND PANTHEISM
.
.
Cynics and Stoics, 9;
3
in
Zeno, Cleanthes, Chrysippus, 4;
fluence of Heraclitus, 10; Cleanthes s Hymn to Zeus, 14;
its
religious fervour, 16; Stoic pantheism, whence de
body the sole reality, 22; yet instinct with
rived, 18;
energy, 24; cosmology: force and matter, how related,
26; universal intermingling of qualities, 28; cosmogony,
30; the cycle of finite existence perpetually repeated, 33;
natural theology, 39; moral order of the world, 41; the
existence of mdral evil, 43 ;
44;
how regarded by Chrysippus,
and by Marcus Aurelius, 46.
CHAPTER II
STOIC PSYCHOLOGY
AND EPISTEMOLOGY
.
.
54
The art of life at once practical and comprehensive, 54;
logic, 55; new table of categories, 56; Lekton, the mat
ter or content of predication, 58;
its unity,
62;
nature of the soul, 60;
its diverse functions miscalled
"parts,"
63;
preconceptions and general no
tions, 66; presentations to sense and the test of their
truth, 69; knowledge a system of presentations to sense
or to reason, 72.
theory of knowledge:
CHAPTER III
MORAL IDEALISM
74
The six heads of scientific ethics, 75;
action determined
verse, 76;
**
(i and 2) the end of
by the teleological view of the uni
"Follow Nature,"
how interpreted, 77; how
ix
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CONTENTS
x
PAGE
develops into a
individual man,
moral being, 80; instinctive impulse and rational choice,
virtue
81; fallacies in the argument considered, 82; (3)
of no
admits
and
one
86;
indivisible,
disinterested, 85;
the con
degrees, 87; progress toward virtue, 88; (4)
in our estimate of external
ception of relative value
of value converts them into
things, 90; the judgment
material for the exercise of virtue, 92; (5) the suitable
non-moral at birth,
and consistent in the sphere of action, 93; the latent con
the
ception of duty and obligation thence evolved, 94;
the circumstances
suitable, how related to the right, 95
of the agent and his environment a determining factor,
;
application to suicide, 98; (6) feelings classified,
102; vicious emotions voluntary: rational beings free to
disobey reason, 104; originality of the Stoics, 105; their
97;
definitions
compared, 106; rational emotions, e.g., joy,
107;
recognised,
diate,
108;
condemnation,
tifiable,
other affections apparently interme
physical pleasure,
if
it
is
how regarded, no;
its
a necessary concomitant, unjus
in.
CHAPTER IV
THE TEACHING OF THE LATER STOICS
.
.
the appeal of Epictetus, 114; need
of philosophic instruction, 116; the stages of progress or
Stoic propaganda, 113;
probation, 118; probationers classified by Seneca, 120;
three stages in the course of instruction formulated by
Epictetus,
121
;
the third
and most advanced stage
logical training, 123; duties to self, 125; personal dignity
and modesty, 128;
independence and the dignity of
labour, 130; the essence of true piety, 132; polytheism,
how interpreted,
135;
prayer and offerings,
how de
fended, 136; social duties rest on primary relationships,
137; defence of the family; female education, 138; civic
duties
page 18, segment 2/2
present a dilemma:
cosmopolitanism in conflict
with restricted patriotism, 140; attitude to war and
slavery, 142;
the duty of goodwill to
all
men and of
patience under injuries, 145; yet pity and forgiveness
just as inexcusable as resentment and envy, 146;
legal
113
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CONTENTS
xi
penalties rigorously enforced, 148; morality culminates
in active benevolence and the disinterested service of our
fellowmen, 150.
CHAPTER V
/
EPICURUS AND HEDONISM
153
Career of Epicurus, 153; his character, 159; epitomes of
his system, 161; his talent for organisation, 162; his
earnestness and contempt for accomplishments, 163;
happiness nominally identified with pleasure, 164; diver
gence from Aristippus and the Cyrenaics, 165 happiness
negatively determined as freedom from pain, 166; influ
;
ence of Democritus, 167; the letter to Menceceus, 168;
the individual and sotiety^jtjy.; sketch of the rise of
civilisation, 175; law and justice traced back to com
pact, 177; civil government on the whole beneficial, 180;
but the compulsory ties of family and state inferior to
the voluntary association of friendship, 181 j benevolence,
183; the golden maxims, 184; fragments from (Eno-
anda, 189;
other characteristic utterances, 190;
con
tempt for fame, 195; strictures on Greek statesmen, 196;
on Stoic virtue, 196; personality of Epicurus, 198;
modern parallels: Bentham, 198; Herbert Spencer, 199.
CHAPTER VI
THE ATOMIC THEORY
203
Ancient atomism, how related to modern scientific theories,
unpopular in Greece, /^q^\ adoption by Epicurus,
his rejection of contemporary mathematics
his canons or rules of evidence,
astronomy,
2?o);
<*2oh;
veracity of Sensation, 4is) importance of clear and
tinct preconceptions, &&, the letter to Herodotus: the
sum total of existence, oodies and empty space, is neit
increased nor diminished, but remains constant, (219
bodies are either composite wholes or their indiv
elements, the atoms<[22S) infinity of atoms and of space,
there are infinite
shage and motioFTof
(22jfc
worlds,
atoms,^)?
28? theory of
page 19, segment 2/2
sense-perception and of emana;