When the later school of the Porch reaches the stage of exalting the world-principle more and more to become a personal and ethical god, it is following laws which are at work also in Hinduism. [pg 055] Yet the world-view of resignation, which it has inherited from the older school, it never succeeds in rendering entirely impotent. In Seneca and Epictetus this is still strongly maintained side by side with the ethical conception of the universe. It is only in Marcus Aurelius that the optimistic motives sound victoriously through. Stoicism was from the beginning a multiform elemental philosophy, and it is because it ventured to be this in such comprehensive measure that the later Stoicism is so rich and so full of life. Moral Sayings of Seneca No man is nobler than his fellow, even if it happen that his spiritual nature is better constituted and he is more capable of higher learning. The world is the one mother of us all, and the ultimate origin of each one of us can be traced back to her, whether the steps in the ladder of descent be noble or humble. To no one is virtue forbidden; she is accessible to all; she admits everyone, she invites everyone in: free men and freedmen, slaves, kings, and exiles. She regards neither birth nor fortune; the man alone is all she wants. It is a mistake to think that the status of a slave affects the whole of a person’s nature; the nobler part of it is not touched thereby. Every single person, even if there is nothing else to recommend him, I must hold in regard, because he bears the name of man. In the treatment of a slave we have to consider not how much we can do to him without being liable to punishment, but how much the nature of right and of justice allows us to, seeing that these bid us treat gently even prisoners and purchased slaves. Although in the treatment of a slave everything is allowed, there is nevertheless something which through the common right of every living being is stigmatized as not permissible in the treatment of a man, because he is of the same nature as thyself. This, in fact, is the demand which is laid upon each man, viz. that he works when possible, for the welfare of many; if that is impracticable, that he works for the welfare of a few; failing that, for the welfare of his neighbours, and if that is impossible, for his own. It is through untiring benevolence that the bad are won over, and there is no disposition so hard and so hostile to loving treatment ... as to refuse love to the good people whom it will in the end have to thank again for something more. “Not a word of thanks did I get! What am I now to begin to do?” What the gods do, . . . who begin to shower benefits on us before we are aware of it, and continue them even though we do not thank them. Moral Sayings of Epictetus Nature is wonderful, and full of love for all creatures.