The Stoic Creed - College of Stoic Philosophers

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248 THE STOIC CREED
released from slavery. Dare to look up to God and say,
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Use me for the future for whatsoever purpose Thou
wiliest, I am of one mind with Thee, I am Thine ;
nothing do I refuse of the things that seem good to
Thee ;
whithersoever Thou wiliest, lead me ;
in what
soever dress Thou wiliest, clothe me. Dost Thou will
me to hold a position of authority, to live as a private
individual, to
remain here, to go into exile, to be poor,
to be rich ? I will be Thy advocate for all these
to men I will show the nature of each
positions ;
of them what it is (Epictetus,
Dzss. ii.
16).
Man, you have been a citizen of the great world
city
"so does Aurelius close his Meditations. "Five
years or fifty,
what matters it ? To every man his due,
as law allots. Why then protest ? No tyrant gives
you your dismissal, no unjust judge, but
nature who
gave you the admission. It is like the praetor
discharging some player whom he has engaged.
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But the five acts are not complete ; I have played but
three. Good : life s drama, look you,
is
complete in
three. The completeness is in his hands, who first
authorised your composition, and now your dissolution ;
neither was your work. Serenely take your leave ;
serene as he who gives you the discharge."
There is here a very noble trait of Stoic teaching.
What alone is
wanting in this matter of willing
acquiescence in the Deity and one s destiny is the hope
or faith as to the individual s future that characterizes
the modern theist, or the thinker who has a firm
apprehension of the personality of God. The ultimate
destination of the present world, according
to Stoical
notions, is to be burned up at the Great Conflagration,