The Stoic Creed - College of Stoic Philosophers

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246 THE STOIC CREED
This also is very modern. The "
reign
of law" in
*i Nature which science postulates, is the very keystone
of Stoicism ;
and the Stoical conception of the cosmic
process as ethical or righteous, reached through in
tently watching the outcome of occurrences and events
and the trend of human history, is a clear anticipation
of Fichte and Matthew Arnold, a clear recognition of
the eternal not-ourselves that makes for righteous
ness," a finger-post to Hegel and the philosophy of
history.
A further point is its unwearied insistence upon
Character as the supreme concern for man. This gives
a distinctive note to Stoicism, and marks it off from
the opportunism of other creeds and other times. "No
compromise" was here the motto,
"no
tampering
with principle."
Hence the stimulating power that
Stoicism has had in
every age when men have shown
themselves to be really in earnest, and the standing
rebuke it has been to worldly-mindedness and indifferentism.
"Live as on a mountain. It matters not
whether here or there ;
the city of the world.
everywhere you are a citizen of
Let men see and witness a true
man, a life conformed to nature. If they cannot bear
him, let them make away with him. Better that, than
life on their terms
(Aurelius, Med. x. 15).
Further, its reverent and devout spirit, and, in
particular, its acknowledgment and keen appreciation
of the psychological basis of religion, and, therefore, its
recognition of the need of religion for man. To the
Stoics, God is a necessity of human nature which is
;