The Stoic Creed - College of Stoic Philosophers

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THE STOIC CREED
of things. Hence, with the exception of Epictetus
(himself originally a slave), the Stoics did not overtly
condemn slavery as an institution, but accepted it.
Nevertheless, their predominant
altruism led them to
treat slaves with great humaneness and consideration,
looking upon them as friends and brothers. This was
the result of their enthusiasm of humanity ;
the purity
and fervour of which may be seen in No. 47 of Seneca s
Letters, dealing with the treatment of slaves : unus
omnium parens mtindus est.
Still another point may be mentioned namely, the
impossibility of progress beyond a certain
to the individual or to the world,
limit either
if the doctrine of
recurrent cycles be insisted on. If each age simply
reproduces in all its details its predecessor, then the
power of Destiny is too strong to allow the number of
good men being ever increased or the number of bad
men diminished ;
and as for the world itself, it must,
on this doctrine, for ever retain its included imperfec
tions its flaws and its defects. "Do not hope for
Utopia" 1 such is the counsel. The reflection is, to
say the least of it,
not stimulating and encouraging.
So much for leading conceptions. The remainder of
the physical speculations, dealing more specifically with
the Stoic Theology, is best understood in the light of
the Ethics, and so is deferred to Chapter XI.
1
Aurelius, Med. ix. 29.