Stoicism - College of Stoic Philosophers

156 STOICISM.He raised his voice also in protest against thebutchery of the gladiatorial shows, and the ferocity wi-thwhich criminals were exposed to the wild beasts whilethe populace looked on at the cruel sport. He warnshis friend Lucilius against the demoralizing influenceof such a scene, reacting as it must upon the character"and temper. They are highwaymen and murderers,you say, and deserve to die. True, they meet perhapswith their deserts ;but what have you done that youshould be condemned to sitby at such a sight ?"iWe see, therefore, that in spite of all his borrowedphrases of the school, there is little in Seneca's ownteaching of the hardness and the coldness of the Stoiccreed. In place of an unattainable ideal, which wasuntrue to the conditions of our human nature, wehave a discipline of self-improvement, with constanthopes of further progress,and criteria of the variousstages of perfectibility. 2 "Let us press on andpersevere ;more remains for us to do than we havedone already ;but the wish to improve is a great steptowards improvement.conscience bearsTo this myme witness. I do wish it with all my mind."^ Thesage's calm is no unfeeling self-contentment, butis coloured and warmed with social sympathies andtender moods, in which sorrow and love and pity finda place. The seeming impassiveness (aTrddeia) consistsonly in the mental balance by which the reasoncan measure things at their true value, and refuse tobe overpowered by emotion.But philosophy alone»Ep. 7.» Ibid. 75,' Ibid. 71.