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| The Stoics; Their Superiority in Logic; Fatalists; Their Doctrine of Conflagrations.
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Chapter
XVIII.—The Stoics; Their Superiority in Logic; Fatalists; Their
Doctrine of Conflagrations.
The Stoics themselves also imparted growth to
philosophy, in respect of a greater development of the art of
syllogism, and included almost everything under definitions, both
Chrysippus and Zeno being coincident in opinion on this point.
And they likewise supposed God to be the one originating principle of
all things, being a body of the utmost refinement, and that His
providential care pervaded everything; and these speculators were
positive about the existence of fate everywhere, employing some such
example as the following: that just as a dog, supposing him
attached to a car, if indeed he is disposed to follow, both is
drawn,126
| 126 One
of the mss. elucidates the simile in the text
thus: “But if he is not disposed, there is absolutely a
necessity for his being drawn along. And in like manner men, if
they do not follow fate, seem to be free agents, though the reason of
(their being) fate holds assuredly valid. If, however, they do
not wish to follow, they will absolutely be coerced to enter upon what
has been fore-ordained.” | or follows
voluntarily, making an exercise also of free power, in combination with
necessity, that is, fate; but if he may not be disposed to follow, he
will altogether be coerced to do so. And the same, of course,
holds good in the case of men. For though not willing to follow,
they will altogether be compelled to enter upon what has been decreed
for them. (The Stoics), however, assert that the soul abides
after death,127
| 127 Or,
“is immortal.” Diogenes Laertius (book vii.) notices,
in his section on Zeno, as part of the Stoic doctrine, “that the
soul abides after death, but that it is perishable.” | but that it is a
body, and that such is formed from the refrigeration of the surrounding
atmosphere; wherefore, also, that it was called psyche (i.e.,
soul). And they acknowledge likewise, that there is a transition
of souls from one body to another, that is, for those souls for whom
this migration has been destined. And they accept the doctrine,
that there will be a conflagration, a purification of this world, some
say the entire of it, but others a portion, and that (the world) itself
is undergoing partial destruction; and this all but corruption, and the
generation from it of another world, they term purgation. And
they assume the existence of all bodies, and that body does not pass
through body,128
| 128 Or,
“through what is incorporeal;” that is, through what is
void or empty space. | but that a
refraction129
| 129 Or,
“resurrection;” or, “resistance;” that is, a
resisting medium. | takes place, and
that all things involve plenitude, and that there is no vacuum.
The foregoing are the opinions of the Stoics also.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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