The Stoic Creed - College of Stoic Philosophers

CHAPTER II
THE STOIC MASTERS AND THEIR WRITINGS
"Those
budge
doctors of the Stoic fur." MILTON.
I
ASSUMING, then, that the Stoic philosophy shared in
the Socratic impulse, and, consequently, has thus far
its general character determined, it next becomes
necessary to consider the determining- factors of its
special form. 1 This will best be done if we take a
brief preliminary survey of the circumstances under
which it arose and the situation it was designed to
meet, as well as of the difficulties that beset us in our
interpretation
of it.
Although destined to be a philosophy wielding a deep
and widespread influence in Athens and by and by in
Rome, and thence outward throughout the civilized
world,
it had neither Athenian nor Roman for its
founder, but Zeno, a native of Citium, in Cyprus, in
whose veins is said to have run Phoenician blood. 2
Nevertheless, its
teaching was originally formulated at
1
More will be said, later on, regarding the Cynic influence and
the contrast of the Epicurean Physics and Ethics.
2
The strength of the case for the Semitic origin of Stoicism
may be seen by a reference to Sir Alexander Grant s The Ethics
of Aristotle, vol. i., Essay vi., and to Bishop Lightfoot s Epistle to
the Philippians, Diss. "St.
ii.,
Paul and Seneca."