Sublime

the tale begins with Socrates—in particular, with the Socrates who wore the same cloak both summer and winter, who was guided by a divine sign, and who taught that it is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and that nobody willingly does wrong. The combination of asceticism (or “voluntary simplicity”), providentialism (being guided by a mysterious

the Stoics will be the first to admit, is exceedingly rare. For the Stoics, however, the near impossibility of becoming a sage is not a problem. They talk about sages primarily so they will have a model to guide them in their practice of Stoicism. The sage is a target for them to aim at, even though they will probably fail to hit it. The sage, in o

Socrates was the chief saint of the Stoics throughout their history; his attitude at the time of his trial, his refusal to escape, his calmness in the face of death, and his contention that the perpetrator of injustice injures himself more than his victim, all fitted in perfectly with Stoic teaching. So did his indifference to heat and cold, his pl

Attalus was a Stoic philosopher chosen as the boy’s teacher by Seneca the Elder; the father makes many admiring remarks about the man’s eloquence and intelligence. None of Attalus’ work survives, although he obviously took an interest in natural science as well as in ethics; apparently he wrote a book about lightning.

Epictetus with philosophers like Socrates and Diogenes, who were inspirations to the later Stoics. We turn to focus on Zeno, Cleanthes and Chrysippus as they formulated the core ideas of their school. We also believe an under-appreciated figure, Musonius Rufus, deserves focused attention for his story, given his role in Epictetus’s introduction to

After the death of Chrysippus, the Stoic school continued to prosper under a succession of leaders, including Panaetius of Rhodes, who is remembered in the annals of Stoicism not as an innovator but as an exporter of the philosophy. When Panaetius traveled to Rome in around 140 BC, he took Stoicism with him. He befriended Scipio Africanus and other

The name change from Zenonians to Stoics is significant because unlike other philosophical sects, the founders of Stoicism didn’t claim to be perfectly wise.

Le philosophe anglais Anthony Ashley Cooper, comte de Shaftesbury, est souvent présenté comme « le champion moderne du stoïcisme 1 ». Il se reconnaît lui-même comme un disciple de Marc Aurèle ; Pierre Hadot n’a d’ailleurs pas manqué de souligner cette filiation 2