[64] ‘There were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God’ Revelation iv 5. [65] Of these Antipater of Tarsus is the best known, for whom see § 110; others are Heraclides, Archedemus, Zeno of Tarsus, Nestor, Athenodorus, etc., for whom see Index of Proper Names. [66] Winckler, _Der Stoicismus_, p. 2; Lightfoot, _Philippians_, pp. 270, 271. [67] Lucan, _Phars._ i 452-462. [68] _Stoics_, etc., p. 1. [69] _ib._ p. 10. [70] _ib._ pp. 13, 14. [71] _ib._ p. 15. [72] _ib._ p. 16. [73] _Greek Life and Thought_, Introd., pp. xxxvii, xxxviii. [74] Montesquieu, _Esprit des lois_, ii 24. [75] W. L. Davidson, _The Stoic Creed_, p. v. CHAPTER II. HERACLITUS AND SOCRATES. [Sidenote: Greek thought.] =31.= We have seen already that the great problems of which Stoicism propounds one solution were agitated during the millennium which preceded the Christian era alike in India, Persia and Asia Minor on the one hand, and in Greece, Italy and the Celtic countries on the other. To the beginnings of this movement we are unable to assign a date; but the current of thought appears on the whole to have moved from East to West. But just at the same time the influence of Greek art and literature spreads from West to East; and it is to the crossing and interweaving of these two movements that we owe almost all the light thrown on this part of the history of human thought. The early history of Stoicism has reached us entirely through the Greek language, and is bound up with the history of Greek literature and philosophy[1]. But long before Stoicism came into existence other movements similar in kind had reached Greece; and the whole of early Greek literature, and especially its poetry, is rich in contributions to the discussion of the physical and ethical problems to which Stoicism addressed itself. From the storehouse of this earlier literature the Stoics drew many of their arguments and illustrations; the speculations of Heraclitus and the life of Socrates were especially rich in suggestions to them. The study of Greek literature and philosophy as a whole is therefore indispensable for a full appreciation of Stoicism; and the way has been made easier of late by excellent treatises, happily available in the English language, dealing with the general development of philosophic and religious thought in Greece[2]. Here it is only possible to refer quite shortly to those writers and teachers to whom Stoicism is most directly indebted. [Sidenote: Homer.]