Stoicism - College of Stoic Philosophers

THE CRITICS AND ENEMIES OF STOICISM. 99spread conspiracy was traced against the emperor'sthe accused were some at least of the chieflife; amongStoic circles, though as a party they had held aloof;there were other plots, too, in the air, for the murmursof discontent were loud and deep, and it seemed to betime to strike down the prominent malcontents, andto provide for safety by a reign of terror.The most commanding figure among those martyrsof free thought was Thrasea Pastus, and a few detailsabout his life and social bearing may illustrate theinfluence of the Stoic creed upon the practical statesmenof the age, and its relations in such cases tothe Imperial regime.His birth-place, Padua, had thereputation of preserving much of the austerer virtueof the old Italian type, which had given place commonlyto sensuality and licence, but he left it in earlylife for Rome, where he gave himself to philosophicstudies, with no wish to forsake the world, but toplay his part in it with greater credit, in the highplace to which his wealth and noble parentage entitledhim. His wife Arria was the daughter of the heroine /of the same name of whom the famous story hasbeen toldthat when her husband was condemned todeath, she would not be left to live alone, butshowed him how to die when the fatal momentcame, plunging first the dagger into her own breast,and then handingit to him with the words, "SeePaetus, it does not hurt." Thrasea lived on terms ofintimacy with the notabilities of Rome, attaching tohimself especially the more earnest spirits of the age,such as Musonius Rufus and Demetrius, and the poetH 2