Roman Stoicism: being lectures on the history of the Stoic philosophy with special reference to its development within the Roman EmpireArnold, Edward Vernon
Religion
Roman Stoicism: being lectures on the history of the Stoic philosophy with special reference to its development within the Roman Empire
Arnold, Edward Vernon
Stoics
[50] ‘si enim’ inquit [Chrysippus] ‘est aliquid in rerum natura, quod
potestas humana efficere non possit; est certe id, quod illud efficit,
homine melius. atqui res caelestes ab homine confici non possunt. est
igitur id, quo illa conficiuntur, homine melius. id autem quid potius
dixeris quam deum?’ _ib._
[51] ‘et tamen ex ipsa hominum sollertia esse aliquam [mundi] mentem, et
eam quidem acriorem et divinam, existimare debemus. unde enim haec homo
arripuit? ut ait apud Xenophontem Socrates’ _ib._ 18.
[52] ‘esse autem hominem, qui nihil in omni mundo melius esse quam se
putet, insipientis arrogantiae est’ _ib._ 16.
[53] See above, § 83.
[54] ‘placet enim illi [sc. Epicuro] esse deos, quia necesse sit
praestantem esse aliquam naturam, qua nihil sit melius’ Cic. _N. D._ ii
17, 46. See however Mayor’s note.
[55] ‘tantum vero ornatum mundi, tantam varietatem pulchritudinemque
rerum caelestium ... si non deorum immortalium domicilium putes, nonne
plane desipere videare? an ne hoc quidem intellegimus, omnia supera esse
meliora, terram autem esse infimam, quam crassissimus circumfundat aer?’
etc. Cic. _N. D._ ii 6, 17. For the original argument of Chrysippus see
Sext. _math._ ix 86 (Arnim ii 1014).
[56] ‘haec ita fieri omnibus inter se concinentibus mundi partibus
profecto non possent, nisi ea uno divino et continuato spiritu
continerentur’ Cic. _N. D._ ii 7, 19. Here cf. Sext. _math._ ix 78 to 85
(Arnim ii 1013).
[57] Cic. _N. D._ ii 37, 93.
[58] The third in the exposition of Cleanthes: ‘tertiam [causam
dixit Cleanthes esse], quae terreret animos fulminibus tempestatibus
... pestilentia terrae motibus’ _ib._ 5, 14.
[59] ‘quartam causam esse, eamque vel maximam, conversionem caeli’ _ib._
5, 15.
[60] Arnim ii 1019.
[61] ‘[non] in hunc furorem omnes mortales consensissent adloquendi surda
numina et inefficaces deos, nisi nossemus illorum beneficia’ Sen. _Ben._
iv 4, 2.
[62] Sext. _math._ ix 123 (Arnim ii 1017).
[63] _ib._ 133 (Arnim i 152). Pearson (Z. 108) describes the argument as
a ‘transparent sophistry’; but at the present time there is a widespread
tendency towards its revival; see Höffding, _Philosophy of Religion_, ch.
iii.
[64] Xen. _Mem._ i 1, 2.
[65] Cic. _Div._ i 5, 9 and 6, 10.
[66] _ib._ 3, 6; Diog. L. vii 149.
[67] Divination is based upon the συμπάθεια τῶν ὅλων (_continuatio
coniunctioque naturae_), Cic. _Div._ ii 69, 142. See also Epict. _Disc._
i 14, and above, § 248.
[68] ‘[Tuscis] summa est fulgurum persequendorum scientia’ Sen. _N. Q._
ii 32, 2.
[69] ‘non ullo saecula dono | nostra carent maiore deum, quam Delphica
sedes | quod siluit’ Lucan _Phars._ v 111-113; cf. 86-96.
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