=301.= It follows with equal certainty from the early history of Stoicism, and in particular from the doctrine of the Cosmopolis, that differences of class and race were hardly perceived by its founders. For this there was further historical cause in the spread of Hellenistic civilisation, which was of an entirely catholic spirit and welcomed disciples from all nationalities[179]. The doctrine of Aristotle, that some nations are by nature fitted only for slavery, finds no echo in the Stoic world[180]. There we look in vain for any trace of that instinctive feeling of national difference, that sensitiveness to race and colour, which can easily be recognised in the early history of Greece and Rome, and which has become so acute in the development of modern world-politics. The Roman Stoics, as we shall see later, might individually be proud of advantages of birth, but they never associated this feeling with their philosophy. Here and there, however, we find signs of a scientific interest in the question of differences of national character, which are generally ascribed to the influences of climate. Seneca, for instance, remarks that the inhabitants of northern climates have characters as rude as their sky; hence they make good fighters, but poor rulers[181]. Yet when he contemplates the northern barbarians, his mind is mainly occupied by admiration; and, like other pro-Germans of the period, he foresees with prophetic clearness a danger threatening the Roman empire. ‘Should the Germans once lay aside their fierce domestic quarrels, and add to their courage reason and discipline, Rome will indeed have cause to resume the virtues of its early history[182].’ The roots of true greatness of soul, then, lie deeper than in literary culture or philosophic insight. It is a part of the irony of history that Stoicism, which aimed above all things at being practical, should diagnose so correctly the growing weakness of the Roman world, and yet fail to suggest any remedy other than a reversion to an epoch in which philosophy was unknown. FOOTNOTES [1] ‘rex noster est animus: hoc incolumi cetera manent in officio, parent, obtemperant; cum ille paullum vacillavit, simul dubitant. ubi vero impotens, cupidus, delicatus est, fit tyrannus; tunc eum excipiunt adfectus impotentes’ Sen. _Ep._ 114, 24. [2] See L. Stein _Psych._ i p. 206. [3] See above, § 68. [4] ‘natura mundi omnes motus habet voluntarios conatusque et appetitiones, quas ὁρμάς Graeci vocant, et his consentaneas actiones sic adhibet ut nosmetipsi, qui animis movemur et sensibus’ Cic. _N. D._ ii 22, 58. [5] τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν δι’ ὅλου τοῦ κόσμου διήκειν, ἧς μέρος μετέχοντας ἡμᾶς ἐμψυχοῦσθαι Hermias _irris. gent. phil._ 7 (Arnim i 495). [6] ‘ipse autem homo ortus est ad mundum contemplandum et imitandum’ Cic. _N. D._ ii 14, 37. [7] τὸν κόσμον περιέχειν τὸν Δία καθάπερ ἄνθρωπον ψυχήν Philod. _piet._ 15 (Arnim iii _Diog._ 33).