The Stoic Creed - College of Stoic Philosophers

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ETHICS: EXPOSITION 159
In the next place, it is only another aspect of the
Stoic doctrine when we say that virtue is its own
reward ; or, to put it otherwise, that man is made to be
virtuous virtue is the function of his soul. But an
organ is not paid for discharging its function : the
reward lies simply in its service. Says Marcus Aurelius
(Med. ix. 42): When you complain of some breach
of faith or gratitude, take heed first and foremost to
yourself. Obviously the fault lies with yourself, if you
had faith that a man of that disposition would keep
faith, or if in doing a kindness you did not do it upon
principle, nor upon the assumption that the kind act
was to be its own reward. What more do you want in
return for a service done ? Is it not enough
to have
acted up to nature, without asking wages for it?
Does the eye demand a recompense for
feet for walking ?
seeing,
or the
Just as this is the end for which they
exist, and just as they find their reward in realising the
law of their being, so too man is made for kindness, and
whenever he does an act of kindness or otherwise helps
forward the common good, he thereby fulfils the law of
his own."
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his being and comes by
But if virtue is its own reward, vice is its own
severest punishment.
"As Zeus has ordained, so act.
But if
you do not act so, you will suffer loss, you will
be punished. What will be the punishment ? Nothing
else than not having done your duty : you
will lose
fidelity, modesty, decency. Do not look for greater
penalties than these (Epictetus, Diss. iii. 7).
Moreover, the worth of virtue is independent of man s
appreciation of it. A thing is what it is, and is neither
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See also vii. 73, 74 ; also, Epictetus, Diss. iii. 24.