We cannot lose sight of the fact, however, that Stoicism, as it came in contact with Christianity, was a system that owed much to Cleanthes, and still more to Chrysippus. Indeed, regarding the latter, we are told[15] that it was said, Εἰ μὴ γὰρ ἦν Χρύσιππος, οὐκ ἂν ἦν στοά. The former was the earnest Stoic; the latter the philosophical and dialectic setter forth of the system. Under his hands, in his various and most copious writings, the system was probably not merely developed, but materially modified in some respects, and systematized. Cleanthes has left few records of his opinions behind him: but his Hymn to Jupiter will ever stand as a marvellous memorial of his worth and intellect. It bears strong evidence to the Monotheism of the system which he espoused. It has been a matter of controversy whether the Stoics were monotheists, or polytheists. The hymn to which I have just referred, and to which I shall refer again in another chapter, bears strong evidence, on the face of it, to the belief in one absolute supreme being. Yet other passages in many Stoic writers would seem to convey a different idea. But it will be well for us not to forget that the system was founded on a notion of the divine nature totally different from our conception of a divine being. The monotheism of some of the Stoic writers may have been the result of previous education. The fact may be that one, or two, rose to higher conceptions of the Eternal, than others were privileged with. This may have resulted from their having come of a different stock[16], and having had a different early bent—a deeper intuition, as it were, by nature—a purer speculation as to the unseen—than those with which others of the sect were endowed. Those who were of a stock which deified almost all things, might carry their phantasies into the system itself. And indeed it is possible that the same persons, under different influences, may have had rather varied views of the hidden world. The system was one of ethics and not of speculative philosophy. And if Christianity, with all its divine testimonials and influences, does not bring all minds into one accord about all things—even those who are of one school of theology varying in opinion on certain points—how very probable it is that men of the same school of philosophy, with merely the authority of one man, neither possessing, nor claiming a divine mission as founder, should have somewhat different shades of thought. How possible it is that they should, while viewing things from different points of view, be almost inconsistent with themselves. This kind of inconsistency was urged again and again against Chrysippus, the most voluminous writer and chief dialectician of the Stoics. Cleanthes has left few memorials behind him, but his earnest pursuit of knowledge, his struggles to obtain the time and means of study, show the pre-eminent zeal of the man. This zeal was the great motive of his life. Possessed of a strong