=The Two Prominent Stoic Conceptions.= There are two Stoic conceptions that rise prominently above all the rest of their teaching. One is the conception of personality, the other is the conception of Nature. Epicureanism built up the conception of personality, but it had no need of an objective principle of Nature; and indeed the Epicurean conception of personality seems to be only a clever adjustment and an avoidance of the problems of life, compared to the clear-cut, heroic, and vigorous Stoic conception of personality. Thus in Epicureanism there is one prominent conception, in Stoicism there are two. These two Stoic principles stand side by side. The Stoic builds them up together, even though he fails to make them entirely compatible. All the essential difficulties and all the excellencies of Stoicism lie in the juxtaposition of the conceptions of personality and Nature. In early Stoicism each conception is stated with great vigor. In later Stoicism their harmony is approximated by the modification of each. The result was an ethical dualism and a metaphysical monism. =The Conception of Personality.= Against Epicureanism the Stoic fought for the dignity of the soul. The ideal personality of the Wise Man is the central point in Stoicism. Even more than Aristotle did the Stoic emphasize the unity and independence of the individual soul as contrasted to its particular states. For the first time in European thought does the soul become an independent factor to be reckoned with. The Stoic picture of the ideal personality is of a life completely sundered from outward conditions, free from earthly trammels, but at the same time the organ of universal law. Contemporaries asked the Stoics, How can such an ideal be a person? How can he live among his fellow men? How can he reconcile himself to human want? After setting forth this ideal during the 175 years of their first period, it is not strange that they were finally forced to modify it in response to practical demands. At this point we shall consider the original portrayal of the Wise Man.