The Stoic Creed - College of Stoic Philosophers

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ETHICS: EXPOSITION 165
a man ? A part of a State first of that which is made
up of gods and men then of that which is said to be
;
next to the other, which is a small copy of the universal
State." Also, The greatest and most powerful and
most comprehensive of all is the community (o-vVnj/za)
that is composed of men and God (Diss. i. 9).
Humanity, then, is,
to the Stoic, more than a collec
tion of human beings
it is an organism ;
and each unit
is more than a part
it is a member ;
and humane offices
of man to man are more than acts of duty they are
the promptings of love : membra sumus corporis magni
(Seneca, Ep. 95). l If you substitute meros for melos
part for member you do not yet love men from your
heart ; you have yet no certitude of joy in doing kind
ness ; they are still bare duty, not yet a good
deed to
yourself" (Aurelius, Med. vii. 13).
This doctrine contained in it the condemnation of
Slavery not of slavery in the sense of gradation of
ranks and classes in society, but of slavery in the sense
that one s subordinate and servant is in his nature an
inferior being, a mere implement, to be disposed of and
used precisely as his master or his owner chooses,
of labour his workmen
just as to the modern employer are merely
hands." 2 "How, then," asks Epictetus
(Diss. \. 13), shall a man endure such persons as this
slave ? Slave ! he replies, will you not bear with
your own brother, who has Zeus for his progenitor,
and has been begotten as a son from the same seeds
and of the same descent from above ?
But if
you have
1
The similarity of this teaching- (metaphor and substance alike)
to that of St. Paul is obvious.
2
That was Aristotle s view, and is disowned by Stoicism.