Roman Stoicism being lectures on the history of the Stoic...

[121] Epict. Disc. ii 17, 34.

[122] ‘mus syllaba est. mus autem caseum rodit: syllaba ergo caseum rodit ... o pueriles ineptias!’ Sen. Ep. 48, 6 and 7; ‘quod non perdidisti, habes; cornua autem non perdidisti; cornua ergo habes’ ib. 49, 8.

[123] Epict. Disc. ii 19, 1 sqq.

[124] See below, §§ 220, 221.

[125] Diog. L. vii 60.

[126] ‘omnis oratio aut continua est aut inter respondentem et interrogantem discissa; hanc διαλεκτικήν, illam ῥητορικήν placuit vocari’ Sen. Ep. 89, 17.

[127] Cic. Orator 32, 113.

[128] ‘scripsit artem rhetoricam Cleanthes. Chrysippus etiam; sed sic, ut si quis obmutescere cupierit, nihil aliud legere debeat. itaque vides quo modo loquantur; nova verba fingunt, deserunt usitata’ Cic. Fin. iv 3, 7.

[129] Diog. L. vii 59.

[130] ‘uni M. Porcio me dedicavi atque despondi atque delegavi’ Front. et Aur. Ep. ii 13.

[131] οἱ Στωϊκοὶ δὲ τὸ εὖ λέγειν ἔλεγον τὸ ἀληθῆ λέγειν Anon. ad Herm. Rhet. Gr. vii 8. Hence speech was a virtue; ‘[Stoicis] hanc habeo gratiam, quod soli ex omnibus eloquentiam virtutem ac sapientiam esse dixerunt’ Cic. de Or. iii 18, 65.

[132] ‘fuerunt et clari quidam auctores, quibus solum videretur oratoris officium docere; namque et effectus duplici ratione excludendos putabant, primum quia vitium esset omnis animi perturbatio, deinde quia iudicem a veritate pelli misericordia gratia similibusque non oporteret, et voluptatem audientium petere ... vix etiam viro dignum arbitrabantur’ Quint. Inst. or. v Prooem.

[133] Diog. L. vii 42.

[134] ‘orationis genus habent [Stoici] fortasse subtile et certe acutum; sed, ut in oratore, exile, inusitatum, abhorrens ab auribus vulgi, obscurum, inane, ieiunum, attamen eiusmodi quo uti ad vulgus nullo modo possit’ Cic. de Or. iii 18, 66.

[135] ‘dicebat modesta Diogenes et sobria’ A. Gellius, N. A. vi 14, 10.

[136] See below, chap. xvi.

[137] See Smiley, Latinitas and Ἑλληνισμός.

[138] ‘Philosophers utter words which are contrary to common opinion, as Cleanthes also said, but not words contrary to reason’ Epict. Disc. iv 1, 173; ‘where is the wonder if in philosophy many things which are true appear paradoxical to the inexperienced?’ ib. i 25, 33.

[139] ‘ista παράδοξα quae appellant, maxime videntur esse Socratica’ Cic. Parad. Prooem. 4.

[140] ‘nihil est tam incredibile, quod non dicendo fiat probabile’ Cic. Parad. Prooem. 3; ‘Stoica paradoxa, quorum nullum esse falsum nec tam mirabile quam prima facie videtur, adprobabo’ Sen. Ep. 87, 1.

[141] Zeller, Stoics etc., pp. 354-370.

[142] A. Gellius, N. A. xvi 8, 16 and 17.

[143] ‘quaedam exercendi tantum ingenii causa quaeruntur, et semper extra vitam iacent’ Sen. Ben. vi 1, 1.

[144] ‘multum illis temporis verborum cavillatio eripuit et captiosae disputationes, quae acumen inritum exercent’ Ep. 45, 5.

[145] ‘We terminate in this, in learning what is said, and in being able to expound it to another, in resolving a syllogism, and in handling the hypothetical syllogism’ Epict. Disc. iv 4, 14.

[146] ‘Thanks [to the gods] too that, in spite of my ardour for philosophy, I did not fall into the hands of any sophist, or sit poring over essays or syllogisms, or become engrossed in scientific speculation’ M. Aurelius To himself i 17.

[147] ‘verum esse arbitror, ut Antiocho nostro familiari placebat, correctionem veteris Academiae potius quam aliquam novam disciplinam putandam [Stoicorum rationem]’ Cic. Ac. i 12, 43.

[148] ‘tunc intellegere nobis licebit, quam contemnenda miremur, simillimi pueris, quibus omne ludicrum in pretio est. quid ergo inter nos et illos interest, ut Ariston ait, nisi quod nos circa tabulas et statuas insanimus, carius inepti? illos reperti in litore calculi leves delectant, nos ingentium maculae columnarum’ Sen. Ep. 115, 8. This tone is clearly derived from Cynism, as the reference to Aristo indicates. A modern Cynic is still more sweeping in his condemnation: ‘all the nastiness and stupidity which you call science and art’ (Count Leo Tolstoy in the Westminster Gazette, Sept. 3, 1910).