05.04.2013 Views

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

xxxvi INTRODUCTION SECT.<br />

sufficient for the realisation <strong>of</strong> virtue and happiness.<br />

Outer relationships and inner dissatisfactions were<br />

within the province <strong>of</strong> the will ; and all that threatened<br />

<strong>to</strong> contravene or abridge its independence must, in<br />

beho<strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong> virtue and happiness, be willed away.<br />

Wants<br />

must be reduced <strong>to</strong> the dimensions <strong>of</strong> will. Thus,<br />

curtailment <strong>of</strong> obligations, needs, desires, and affections<br />

became the keynote <strong>of</strong> Cynic morality : ignoring first<br />

the claims and then the decencies <strong>of</strong> social obligation,<br />

it promoted insensibility, <strong>of</strong>ten <strong>of</strong> the coarsest kind, <strong>to</strong><br />

a premier place among the virtues. The demands thus<br />

laid on individuality might seem excessive and forbid-<br />

ding ; but the strong and racy personality <strong>of</strong> Diogenes<br />

gave vogue <strong>to</strong> the experiment, and the eccentricities and<br />

anti-social bravado <strong>of</strong> his imita<strong>to</strong>rs, by the very violence<br />

<strong>of</strong> the contrast which they <strong>of</strong>fered <strong>to</strong> the traditions<br />

and usages <strong>of</strong> Greek life, secured no<strong>to</strong>riety, and even<br />

enforced attention and respect. For, in spite <strong>of</strong> its<br />

intellectual and ethical shortcomings, Cynism proclaimed<br />

two needed truths in accents <strong>of</strong> the most<br />

arresting and uncompromising kind (i) the unconditional<br />

supremacy <strong>of</strong> the moral will in the determina-<br />

tion <strong>of</strong> life ; (2) a truth as yet unfamiliar <strong>to</strong> Greece, the<br />

independence and responsibility <strong>of</strong> the individual as the<br />

unit <strong>of</strong> morality.<br />

All that was vital in Cynism was taken up in<strong>to</strong><br />

S<strong>to</strong>icism, and co-ordinated in<strong>to</strong> a more comprehensive<br />

scheme <strong>of</strong> morality and thought; and the S<strong>to</strong>ic en-<br />

largement<br />

<strong>of</strong> its doctrines will be the most instructive<br />

commentary upon the principles <strong>of</strong> the system itself.<br />

But before passing <strong>to</strong> this wider theme, it will be

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!