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

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[42] οὐ γὰρ πλῆθος ἔχει συνετὴν κρίσιν οὔτε δικαίαν | οὔτε καλήν Cleanthes apud Clem. Al. Strom. v 3 (Arnim i 559).
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[44] ‘videmus ceteras opiniones fictas atque vanas diuturnitate extabuisse ... quae [enim] anus tam excors inveniri potest, quae illa quae quondam credebantur apud inferos portenta, extimescat? opinionum enim commenta delet dies’ Cic. N. D. ii 2, 5.
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[45] As for instance Cicero does (following Posidonius) N. D. ii 5, 13.
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[47] ἡ τῶν ὅλων φύσις ὑπὸ συγγενοῦς ὀφείλει καταλαμβάνεσθαι τοῦ λόγου Sext. math. ix 93, see § 149.
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[49] ‘si di non sunt, quid esse potest in rerum natura homine melius? in eo enim solo ratio est, qua nihil potest esse praestantius’ Cic. N. D. ii 6, 16.
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[50] ‘si enim’ inquit [Chrysippus] ‘est aliquid in rerum natura, quod potestas humana efficere non possit; est certe id, quod illud efficit, homine melius. atqui res caelestes ab homine confici non possunt. est igitur id, quo illa conficiuntur, homine melius. id autem quid potius dixeris quam deum?’ ib.
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[51] ‘et tamen ex ipsa hominum sollertia esse aliquam [mundi] mentem, et eam quidem acriorem et divinam, existimare debemus. unde enim haec homo arripuit? ut ait apud Xenophontem Socrates’ ib. 18.
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[52] ‘esse autem hominem, qui nihil in omni mundo melius esse quam se putet, insipientis arrogantiae est’ ib. 16.
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[54] ‘placet enim illi [sc. Epicuro] esse deos, quia necesse sit praestantem esse aliquam naturam, qua nihil sit melius’ Cic. N. D. ii 17, 46. See however Mayor’s note.
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[55] ‘tantum vero ornatum mundi, tantam varietatem pulchritudinemque rerum caelestium ... si non deorum immortalium domicilium putes, nonne plane desipere videare? an ne hoc quidem intellegimus, omnia supera esse meliora, terram autem esse infimam, quam crassissimus circumfundat aer?’ etc. Cic. N. D. ii 6, 17. For the original argument of Chrysippus see Sext. math. ix 86 (Arnim ii 1014).
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[56] ‘haec ita fieri omnibus inter se concinentibus mundi partibus profecto non possent, nisi ea uno divino et continuato spiritu continerentur’ Cic. N. D. ii 7, 19. Here cf. Sext. math. ix 78 to 85 (Arnim ii 1013).
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[58] The third in the exposition of Cleanthes: ‘tertiam [causam dixit Cleanthes esse], quae terreret animos fulminibus tempestatibus ... pestilentia terrae motibus’ ib. 5, 14.
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[59] ‘quartam causam esse, eamque vel maximam, conversionem caeli’ ib. 5, 15.
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[61] ‘[non] in hunc furorem omnes mortales consensissent adloquendi surda numina et inefficaces deos, nisi nossemus illorum beneficia’ Sen. Ben. iv 4, 2.
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[62] Sext. math. ix 123 (Arnim ii 1017).
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[63]ib. 133 (Arnim i 152). Pearson (Z. 108) describes the argument as a ‘transparent sophistry’; but at the present time there is a widespread tendency towards its revival; see Höffding, Philosophy of Religion, ch. iii.
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[67] Divination is based upon the συμπάθεια τῶν ὅλων (continuatio coniunctioque naturae), Cic. Div. ii 69, 142. See also Epict. Disc. i 14, and above, § 248.
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[68] ‘[Tuscis] summa est fulgurum persequendorum scientia’ Sen. N. Q. ii 32, 2.
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[69] ‘non ullo saecula dono | nostra carent maiore deum, quam Delphica sedes | quod siluit’ Lucan Phars. v 111-113; cf. 86-96.
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[70] Epict. Disc. ii 7, 3 and 4. The Stoic belief in divination is very severely criticized by Zeller: ‘these vagaries show in Stoicism practical interests preponderating over science’ Stoics, etc. p. 280. But the belief in μαντική is traced back to Zeno and Cleanthes, who were hardly ‘practical’ men in the sense in which Zeller seems to use the word.
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[74] ‘[di immortales] nec volunt obesse nec possunt. natura enim illis mitis et placida est’ Sen. Dial. iv 27, 1; ‘di aequali tenore bona sua per gentes populosque distribuunt, unam potentiam sortiti, prodesse’ Ben. vii 31, 4.
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[75] ‘Faune, Nympharum fugientum amator, | per meos fines et aprica rura | lenis incedas, abeasque parvis | aequus alumnis’ Hor. C. iii 18, 1-4.
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[76] ‘tantum relligio potuit suadere malorum’ Lucr. R. N. i 102.
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[77] ‘Does the Zeus at Olympia lift up his brow? No, his look is fixed as becomes him who is ready to say—Irrevocable is my word and shall not fail’ Epict. Disc. ii 8, 26 (quoting from Hom. Il. i 526).
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[78] ‘sic vestras hallucinationes fero quemadmodum Iuppiter ineptias poetarum, quorum alius illi alas imposuit, alius cornua; alius adulterum illum induxit et abnoctantem, alius saevum in deos, alius iniquum in homines, alius parricidam et regni alieni paternique expugnatorem’ Sen. Dial. vii 26, 6.
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[79] This feeling finds expression at Rome as far back as the times of Hannibal; ‘hoc scelesti illi in animum inducunt suum, | Iovem se placare posse donis, hostiis; | et operam et sumptum perdunt’ Plaut. Rud. 22 to 24.
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[80] ‘[Chrysippus] disputat aethera esse eum, quem homines Iovem appellarent’ Cic. N. D. i 15, 40.

Source attribution

Roman Stoicism being lectures on the history of the Stoic philosophy with special reference to its development within the Roman Empire, Project Gutenberg eBook #64488

CHAPTER X. RELIGION. CHAPTER XI. THE KINGDOM OF THE SOUL.