Stoicism - College of Stoic Philosophers

lOOSTOICISM.Persius. Like Cato of Utica,to whose life he devotedcareful study, he tried to turn his moral theories togood account in public life, regarding the properorganization of the State as the primary condition of allmoral progress ;while the firstduty of the citizenconsisted in helping to reform the evil, and in raisingthe tone of social thought. But he was no strictmartinet, or gloomy pedant with an intellectualhorizon bounded by a narrow range of rules. Hewas very tender and considerate in word and deed,fearing even to speak out too sternly in his moraljudgments, lest he should seem not to hate the evilonly, but the evil-doers. They were hard timesindeed in which his lot was cast, and there was littlein the constitution of the State to satisfy his highideal or to help to raise men to a better life. Theworld seemed ruled, in Nero's person, not by itshighest, but its lowest thought ; passion, not reason,took the lead ;the senate only met to register theirmaster's whims, and bespatter with fulsome praise hisvilest acts. How was the moralist of lofty standardto act with dignity on such a scene, and use theworld as not abusing it? His demeanour in thesenate-house was watched narrowly by friend and foe,and even in the distant provinces men turned overthe official journals to see how itlong would bepossible for Thrasea to take part in public life andstill be true to himself and loyal to the State. Hisattitudeunder these trying circumstances was one ofstudied moderation, equallyfree from the extremesof flattery or bravado. When the senate-house was