The Stoic Creed - College of Stoic Philosophers

THEOLOGY AND RELIGION 223
Mythology and Divination
Finally, the Stoics, while accepting mythology,
acquiesced also in the propriety of consulting the
oracles and paying regard to signs. They were
though not without great exceptions,
such as Panaetius
firm believers in Divination ;
and they supported
their belief by a vast collection of instances, which
to the
might well be commended at the present day
consideration of the Society for Psychical Research.
II
Now, on this ontological teaching
tions immediately occur.
several observa
The problem of Evil
In the first place, with regard to the problem of Evil
physical and moral.
(i) The doctrine that the universe is perfect discloses
an unreconciled discrepancy between the Stoic concep
tion of evil, especially moral evil or sin, and the dictates
of conscience. Roseate optimism does not meet the
necessities of the case. As the world is perfect, evil,
according to the Stoics, is simply apparent and not
real it has no essential being : it is merely, from the
;
point of view of the intellect, absence of light shade
or necessary contrast. "As a mark is not set up to
be missed," says Epictetus (Encheir. 27), "even so the
nature of evil exists not in the universe."
But this, clearly, solves nothing. To deny that sin is,
is
simply the boldness of dogmatic assertion, and con
tradicts our common experience. It does, indeed, get
rid of one moral difficulty
the difficulty that so pained