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Page 10
[A] I have omitted Seneca, Nero's preceptor. He was in a sense
a Stoic, and he has said many good things in a very fine way.
There is a judgment of Gellius (xii. 2.) on Seneca, or rather a
statement of what some people thought of his philosophy, and it
is not favorable. His writings and his life must be taken
together, and I have nothing more to say of him here. The
reader will find a notice of Seneca and his philosophy in
"Seekers after God," by the Rev. P. W. Farrar. Macmillan and
Co.
[B] Ribbeck has labored to prove that those Satires, which
contain philosophical precepts, are not the work of the real,
but of a false Juvenal, a Declamator. Still the verses exist,
and were written by somebody who was acquainted with the Stoic
doctrines.
The best two expounders of the later Stoical philosophy were a Greek
slave and a Roman emperor. Epictetus, a Phrygian Greek, was brought to
Rome, we know not how, but he was there the slave and afterwards the
freedman of an unworthy master, Epaphroditus by name, himself a freedman
and a favorite of Nero. Epictetus may have been a hearer of C. Musonius
Rufus, while he was still a slave, but he could hardly have been a
teacher before he was made free. He was one of the philosophers whom
Domitian's order banished from Rome. He retired to Nicopolis in Epirus,
and he may have died there. Like other great teachers he wrote nothing,
and we are indebted to his grateful pupil Arrian for what we have of
Epictetus' discourses. Arrian wrote eight books of the discourses of
Epictetus, of which only four remain and some fragments. We have also
from Arrian's hand the small Enchiridion or Manual of the chief precepts
of Epictetus. This is a valuable commentary on the Enchiridion by
Simplicius, who lived in the time of the emperor Justinian.[A]
[A] There is a complete edition of Arrian's Epictetus with the
commentary of Simplicius by J. Schweighaeuser, 6 vols. 8vo.
1799, 1800. There is also an English translation of Epictetus
by Mrs. Carter.
Antoninus in his first book (i. 7), in which he gratefully commemorates
his obligations to his teachers, says that he was made acquainted by
Junius Rusticus with the discourses of Epictetus, whom he mentions also
in other passages (iv. 41; xi. 34, 36). Indeed, the doctrines of
Epictetus and Antoninus are the same, and Epictetus is the best
authority for the explanation of the philosophical language of Antoninus
and the exposition of his opinions. But the method of the two
philosophers is entirely different. Epictetus addressed himself to his
hearers in a continuous discourse and in a familiar and simple manner.
Antoninus wrote down his reflections for his own use only, in short,
unconnected paragraphs, which are often obscure.
The Stoics made three divisions of philosophy,--Physic ([Greek:
phusikon]), Ethic ([Greek: �thikon]), and Logic ([Greek: logikon])
(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 (Acad. Post.
i. 5). 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
([Greek: phantasiai]) and to form a right judgment of them, to make just
conclusions, and to inquire into the meanings 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
(viii. 13), "Constantly and, if it be possible, on the occasion of every
impression on the soul,[A] 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
([Greek: to phantaston]) 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 toward establishing his
Physical, Theological, and Ethical principles.
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