The Stoic Creed - College of Stoic Philosophers

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190 THE STOIC CREED
practically cut off from the wise man s cognizance :
lived according to a mere part of his nature and ignored
the rest. The great power of an ideal lies in the fact
that it addresses itself to the heart lays
he
hold of the
affections and stimulates our aspirations. But bare
emotionlessness cannot do this. Apathy, at best,
attaches itself to the heroic side of our being ;
but it is
impotent to attract us, like the amiable and gentle
virtues : it is stern and unlovable, and lacks the milk
of human kindness. Hence it is suitable (and has been
found to be so) to men in times of great turmoil, hard
ship, and persecution, when the world seemed so much
of joint) that it would not tolerate high principle, or
give quarter to any one who would not accept might for
right, and fall in meekly with the prevailing vices and
oppressions.
It was precisely the philosophy for Epictetus,
the lame slave, over whom Epaphroditus acted
the part of tyrant ;
for Seneca the tutor and hapless
guide of Nero uncertain of royal favour, with the
prospect of untimely death before his eyes,
and the
thought of it never long absent from his mind ;
for
,
Boethius, the martyr of Ticinum, barbarously used by
the untutored Ostrogothic king. Men of the heroic
stamp, when heroism was supremely needed, found in
it a consolation and a power which gentler natures,
under more favourable circumstances, scarcely dis
covered. In the midst of Neronic cruelties and injus
tices, or in the battlefield or camp (as was the case with
Marcus Aurelius), among the Quadi, or at Carnuntum,
the Stoic found his solace in withdrawing into himself
and making himself realize that happiness resides in the
soul and not in external fortune, and that inward recti-