The Daily Stoic - We Can Always Be Born Again | The Life of Zeno

Episode Date: April 16, 2023

In the year 33, a philosopher was executed by the Roman authorities. This was not an uncommon thing back then.But this man, referred to as Christus in Tacitus’ writing, l was first beaten and then after being forced to carry the weight of the tools of his annihilation to the site of his ultimate demise, was brutally crucified on full display. But then, after he was entombed–and this is where his story is said to diverge from the Stoics we mentioned above–three days later, Christus, supposedly rose again.Now, whether or not you consider the events of Jesus’s death to be holy or not, totally true or not, there is nevertheless a powerful lesson in them. A man went bravely to his death. A man with his last words said, “Forgive them father, for they know not what they do.” A man died willingly, believing he would absolve mankind for its sins. And then, from this loss, he and mankind were given a clean slate.--And in today's audiobook reading, Ryan presents part one of the biography of another great man: Zeno of Citium (Hellenistic philosopher and the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy). Written by the prolific biographer of the Greek philosophers Diogenes Laertius, this first half of the biography tells of Zeno's demeanor, physical stature, rigorous study, travels, and more.📖 Preorder your copy of The Daily Dad: 366 Meditations on Parenting, Love, and Raising Great Kids today!✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Check out the Daily Stoic Store for Stoic inspired products, signed books, and more.📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoic Podcast early and add free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. Welcome to the weekend edition of the Daily Stoic Podcast. On Sundays, we take a deeper dive into these ancient topics with excerpts from the Stoic texts, from the Stoic texts, audio books that we like here, recommend here at Daily Stoic, and other long form wisdom that you can chew on on this relaxing weekend. We hope this helps shape your understanding of this philosophy and most importantly that you're able to apply it to actual life. Thank you for listening. We can always be born again. In the year 33, a philosopher was executed by the Roman authorities. This was not an uncommon thing back then. Cicero had his head and hands and tongue put up in the forum by Mark Antony. The stoic Gaius Rubellus Plautus had his head cut off and his nose mocked by Nero. Seneca was poisoned, had his wrist slit, and was smothered at

the orders of the man who he had tutored into adulthood. Paul of Tarsus, who studied stoicism, was also beheaded. Justin Martyr, who also studied Stoicism during Mark's Reel, his time was beaten and then whipped until the skin was torn from his body and then beheaded. But this man, referred to Christus in Tacitus' writing, was beaten. Then he was killed on full display after being forced to carry the weight of the tools of his annihilation to the tools of his annihilation to the sight of his ultimate demise, where he was then brutally crucified and entombed. But then, and this is where his story is said to diverge from the Stoics we mentioned

above, but then, supposedly, Christus, three days later, rose again. Now whether or not you consider the events of Jesus' death to be holy or not, totally true or not, there's nevertheless a powerful lesson in them. A man went bravely to his death. A man with his last words said, forgive them father for they know not what they do. A man died willingly, believing he could absolve mankind for its sins. And then from this loss, he and mankind were given a clean slate. We should take this day Easter Sunday as a moment to reflect on the beauty

of rebirth and redemption, especially this Easter as we emerge from the long dark tunnel that has been our collective journey to the COVID-19 pandemic. No matter what has happened, no matter what we've done, none of us are beyond redemption, even in the brutality of Jesus' execution, there is evidence of this. Well known as the story of the Romans, older who as Jesus was writhing on the cross, offered him a sponge soaked in vinegar.

This has long been taken as an example of extreme cruelty. In fact, it is the opposite. The Roman legions drank vinegar wine to reduce their thirst. This was an act of mercy, quite possibly, at great risk to the soldier. There is good in all of us, even those of us who have done bad things. There is hope for all of us. The future can be brighter as dark as the last years have been. Let today regard this of your beliefs mark a moment of rebirth, of rejuvenation, of re-emergence. Whatever our faith we always have the ability to be reborn,

each day that we awake we can choose a new life, a new way to rededicate ourselves to philosophy. Tell yourself, as Epictetus said, that you're not going to wait any longer to demand the best of yourself. Don't, as Marcus really really reminded himself choose to be good tomorrow. Choose to be good today. For it is a new day and it can be the beginning of a new you also. Happy Easter. And also very, very exciting news. As just minutes before I recorded this, I watched the FedEx Sky deliver several pallets of packages on the back porch of the painted porch, the stoa poquile, if you will. Anyways, he was delivering the very first signed numbered editions of the new book, The

Daily Dad 366 Meditations on Parenting Love and Raising Great Kids. It's up for pre-order right now. It would mean a lot to me if you could pre-order it. And one of the things I try to recommit to on a regular basis is I go like, you know what, I haven't been the parent that I've wanted to be. I've been slipping up on this or that. Distracted by this or that, had the wrong priorities in this way or that way. And today, today, I'm going to do better. And that's really what the book is about. It would mean a ton to me, if you could pre-order, it would help a great deal if you could.

And you can grab it at dailydadbook.com or click in the links below. I'm posting about it on social media and all of that. It would mean so much to me, grab the new book, The Daily Dad. It's for parents of all genders, ages, even parents to be. And I hope you check it out. Happy Easter, everyone. It's funny, I talk to lots of people and a good chunk of those people

haven't been readers for a long time. They've just gotten back into it. And I always love hearing that. And they tell me how they fall in love with reading. They're reading more than ever. And I go, let me guess, you listen audio books, don't you? And it's true. And almost invariably, they listen to them on Audible.

And that's because Audible offers an incredible selection of audio books across every genre from best sellers and new releases to celebrity memoirs. And of course, ancient philosophy, all my books are available on audio, read by me for the most part. Audible lets you enjoy all your audio entertainment in on audio, read by me for the most part. Audible lets you enjoy all your audio entertainment in one app.

You'll always find the best of what you love, or something new to discover. And as an Audible member, you get to choose one title a month to keep from their entire catalog, including the latest best sellers and new releases. You'll discover thousands of titles from popular favorites, exclusive new series, exciting new voices in audio. You can check out Stillness is the key, the daily dad. I just recorded so that's up on Audible now. Coming up on the 10-year anniversary of the obstacle is the way audiobooks, so all those are available and new members can try Audible for free for 30 days. Visit audible.com slash daily stoke or text daily stoke to 500-500.

That's audible.com slash daily stoke or text daily stoke to 500-500. that's audible.com slash Daily Stoke or text Daily Stoke to 500 500. What I tried to do in lives of the Stoics was break down who the Stoics actually were, how they lived their life. Because that's what we want to know, right? It doesn't matter what they said. It matters if they lived up to what they said or how they tried to live what they said. And as it happens, this goes way, way back. One of the best biographers of, not just the Stokes, but of philosophers in general, this

is this guy named D'Aogenes, Leartus, wrote a book called The Lives of the Emanent Philosophers, wrote about most of the Greek philosophers. And you know, he wasn't the most accurate of historians, but he did try to get to the essence of who they were and Why they thought what they thought like Plutarch He's been a famous source for many biographies and writings and philosophical works since and I thought I would just bring Diogeny's work to you today, specifically his life of Zeno. Zeno was the founder of Stoicism, we've told his stories before, and many of those stories came to us directly from Diogeny's. So that's what we're going to talk about today. This is part one of

Diogeny's laertices, biography of Xeno of Sittium, the famous founder of Stoic philosophy. If you wanna dig deeper into Xeno himself, you can grab my book, Lives of the Stoics, which takes Stoic's and many other sources. I think it's a little more readable, but this is just for listening today. Enjoy this and I'll be back next week with part two.

Xeno, son of Manassius, was a native of city of Monsypress, a Greek city which had received Phoenician settlers. He had a rye neck, says Timotheus of Athens in his book on Lives. Moreover, Apolognes of Tyre says he was lean, fairly tall and swarthy. Hence, someone called him an Egyptian vine branch. According to chrysopists in the first book of his proverbs, he had thick legs, he was flabby and delicate. Hence, Perseus in his convivial reminiscence

relates that he declined the most invitations to dinner. They say he was fond of eating green figs and basking in the sun. He was a pupil of crates as stated above. Next, they say he attended the lectures of Stillpo in Zenocrates for ten years. So, Timocratys says in his deon and Palermo as well. It is stated by Haccato and Apolognes of Tyre in his first book on Zeno that he consulted the Oracle to know what he should do to attain the best life, and that the God's response was that he should take on the complexion of the dead. Whereupon perceiving what is meant, he studied ancient authors.

Now the way he came across crates was this. He was shipwrecked on a voyage from Phoenicia to Paris, with a cargo of purple. He went up into Athens and sat down in a bookseller's shop, being then a man of thirty. As he went on reading the second book of Xenophon's memorabilia, he was so pleased that he inquired where men like Socrates were to be found. Crates passed by in the nick of time, so the bookseller pointed to him and said, follow Yonderman. From that day, he became Crates pupil, showing in other respects a strong bent for philosophy, though with too much native modesty to assimilate cynic shamelessness. Hence Crate, desirous of curing this defect in him,

gave him a pot full of lentil soup to carry through the ceramicus, and when he saw that he was ashamed and tried to keep it out of sight, with the blow of his staff, he broke the pot. As Xeno took to flight with the lentil soup flowing down his legs, why run away my little Phoenician?" Quoth crates, nothing terrible has be fallen you. For a certain space, then he was instructed by crates, and when at this time he had written his republic, some said and just that he had written it on Sino-Sura, i.e. on the dog's tail. But at last he left crates, and the men above mentioned where his masters for twenty years. Hence, he reported to have said,

I made a prosperous voyage when I suffered shipwreck. But others attribute this saying of his to the time when he was under crates. A different version of the story is that he was staying at Athens when he heard his ship was wrecked and said, it is well done of thee. Fortune, thus to drive me to philosophy.

But some say that he disposed of his cargo in Athens before he turned his attention to philosophy. He used then to discourse, pacing up and down in the Painted Colonade, which is also called the Colonade or Portico of Pijana, but which received his name from the painting of Paul Ignotus, his object being to keep the spot clear of a concourse of idlers. It was the spot where in the time of the 30, 1400 Athenian citizens had been put to death. Hither then, people came henceforth to he Xeno, and this is why they are known as

Man of the Stoa, or Stoics, and the same name was given to his followers, who had formerly been known as Xenonians. So it is stated by Epicurus in his letters, according to Eratos themes in his eighth book on the Old Comedy, the name of Stoic had formerly been applied to the poets who passed their time there, and they had made the name of Stoic still more famous. The people of Athens held Xeno to high honor, as is proved by their depositing with him the keys of the city walls, and they're honoring him with a golden crown and a bronze statue.

This last mark of respect was also shown to him by citizens of his native town, who deemed his statue an ornament to their city, and the men of city him living in Scydon were also proud to claim him for their own. Antagonus, Gnatus, also favored him, and whenever he came to Athens, would hear him lecture and often invited him to come to his court. This offer he declined, but dispatched Thither, one of his friends, Perseus, the son of Demetrius, and a native of Siddium, in a native of Sidiom, who flourished in the 130th Olympiad, 260-256 BC, at which time Zeno was already an old man. According to Apolognes of Tyre and his work upon Zeno, the letter of Antagonus was couched in the following terms. King Antagonus to Zeno the philosopher, greeting.

While in fortune and fame, I deem myself your superior. In reason and education, I own myself inferior, as well as in the perfect happiness which you have attained. Wherefore I have decided to ask you to pay me a visit, being persuaded that you will not refuse the request. By all means, then, do your best to hold conference with me, understanding clearly that you will not be the instructor of myself alone, but of all the Macedonians taken together. For it is obvious that whoever instructs the ruler of Macedonia and guides him in the paths of virtue will also be training his subjects to be good men.

As is the ruler, such for the most part, it may be expected that his subjects will become. And Zeno's reply is as follows. Zeno to King Antagonus, greeting. I welcome your love of learning, insofar as you cleave to that true education which tends to advantage and not to that popular counterfeit of it, which serves only to corrupt morals. But if anyone has yearned for philosophy, turning away from much-vanted pleasure which renders effeminate the souls of some of the young, it is evident that not by nature only, but also by the bent of his will,

he is inclined to nobility of character. But if a noble nature be aided by moderate exercise and further receive ungrudging instruction, it easily comes to acquire virtue and perfection. But I am constrained by bodily weakness due to old age, for I am 80 years old, and for that reason I am unable to join you. But I send you certain companions of my studies whose mental powers are not inferior to mine, while their bodily strength is far greater. And if you associate with these, you will in no way fall short of the conditions necessary to perfect happiness."

So he sent Perseus in Philanides the Thieben, and Epicurus in his letter to his brother, Aristobulusulus mentions them both living with Antagonus. I have thought it well to append the decree, also which the Athenians passed concerning him. It reads as follows, in the archonship of Aronides, in the fifth Brittany of the tribe Acomantis, on the 21st day of Mey Mactarian at the 23rd Plenary Assembly of the Brittany, one of the Presidents, Hippo, the son of Kratos Dottalis,

of the Deem's Ipeation, and his co-presidents put the question to the vote. Thrasso, the son of Thrasso of the Deem Anakia, moved. Whereas Zeno of Siddium, son of Thrasso of the deem anakia, moved. Whereas Zeno of Siddhyam, son of Manasius, has for many years been devoted to philosophy in the city and has continued to be a man of worth in all other respects, exhorting to virtue and temperance, those of the youth who come to him to be taught, directing them to what is best, affording to all in his own conduct a pattern for imitation in perfect

consistency with his teaching. It has seemed good to the people and may it turn out well to bestow praise upon Zeno of Siddium, the son of Manassius, and to crown him with a golden crown according to the law for his goodness and temperance, and to build him a tomb in the ceramicus at the public cost. And that for the making of the crown and the building of the tomb, the people shall now elect five commissioners from all Athenians, and the Secretary of State shall inscribe this decree on two stone pillars, and it shall be lawful for him to set up one in the academy and the other in the Lysium.

And that the magistrate presiding over the administration shall apportion the expense incurred upon the pillars, that all may know that the Athenian people honor the good both in their life and after their death. Thraso of the deem anachea, philicles of parayas, phadras of anaphylsthas, meeting of a carne, mesythus of cypalletus, deon of peyania, have been elected commissioners for the making of the crown and the building. These are the terms of the decree. Antagonus of Caristas tells us that he never denied that he was a citizen of Sittium. For when he was one of those who contributed to the restoration of the baths, and his name was inscribed upon the pillar as Xeno the philosopher.

He requested that the words of Siddium should be added. He made a hollow lid for a flask and used to carry about money in it in order that there might be a provision at hand for the necessities of his master, Crates. It is said that he had more than a thousand talents when he came to Greece and that he lent this money on bottomery. He used to eat little loaves and honey and to drink a little wine of good bouquet. He rarely employed men's servants. Once or twice indeed, he might have a young girl to wait on him, in order not to seem a misogynist. He shared the same house with Perseus, and when the latter brought in a little flute player,

he lost no time in leading her straight to Perseus. They tell us he readily adapted himself to circumstances, so much so that King Antagonus often broke in on him with a noisy party, and once took him along with other revelers to aristocrat least the musician. Xeno, however, in a little while, gave them the slip. He disliked, they say, to be brought too near to people so that he would take the end seat of a couch, thus saving himself at any rate from one half of such inconvenience. Nor indeed would he walk about with more than two or three.

He would occasionally ask the bystanders for coppers in order that, for fear of being asked to give, people might desist from mobbing him. As Clienthe says in his work on bronze, when several persons stood about him in the colonate, he pointed to the wooden railing at the top, round the altar, and said, this was once open to all, but because it was found to be a hindrance, it was railed off. If you then will take yourselves off out of the way, you will be the less annoyance to us." When Democarrus, the son of Lash's, greeted him and told him he had only to speak or write for anything he wanted to antagonus, who would be sure to grant all his requests.

Xeno, after hearing this, would have nothing more to do with him. After Xeno's death, Antagonus is reported to have said, what an audience I have lost, hence to be employed thrasso as his agent to request the Athenians to bury Xeno in the ceramicus. And when asked why he admired him, because said he, the many ample gifts I offered him, never made him conceded, nor yet appear poor spirited. His bent was towards inquiry, and he was an exact reasoner on all subjects, hence the words of Timon in his seely. A Phoenician too I saw, a pampered old woman, and scourced in gloomy pride, longing for all things, but the meshes of her subtle web have perished, and she had no more intelligence

than a banjo. He used to dispute very carefully with Philo the logician and study along with him. Hence, Zeno, who was the junior, had as great an admiration for Philo as his master, Diodorus, and he had about him certain ragged dirty fellows, as Tomone says in these lines. The while he got together a crowd of ignorant serfs, who surpassed all men in beggary and were the emptiest of townsfolk. Zeno himself was sour and of a frowning countenance. He was very niggeredly too, clinging to meanness unworthy of a Greek, on the plea of economy, if he pitched into anyone, he would do it concisely and not effusively, keeping him rather at arm's length. I mean, for example, his remark upon the fop showing himself off. When he was slowly picking his way across the water course, with

good reason, quote, Xeno, he looks at the mud, for he can't see his face in it. When a certain cynic declared he had no oil in his flask and begged some of him, Xeno refused to give him any. However, as the man went away, Xeno bade him, consider which of the two was the more impudent. Being enamored by Kremlinides, as he and Clienthees were sitting beside the youth, he got up and upon Clienthe's expressing surprise, good physicians tell us, said he, that the best cure for inflammation is repose. When of two reclining next to each other over the wine, the one who was neighbor to Zeno kicked the guest below him.

Zeno himself nudged the man with his knee, and upon the man turning around, inquired, how do you think your neighbor liked what you did to him? To a lover of boys he remarked, just as schoolmasters lose their common sense by spending all their time with boys. So it is with people like you. He used to say that the very exact expressions used by those who avoided solissisms were like the coins struck by Alexander. They were beautiful in appearance and well-rounded like the coins, but none the better on that account.

Words of the opposite kind he would compare to the attic tetradrams, which, though struck carelessly and inartistically, nevertheless outweighed the ornate phrases. When his pupil, Arreston, discourseed at length in an uninspired manner, sometimes in a headstrong and over-confident way, your father said he must have been drunk when he begat you. Hence, he would call him a chatterbox, being himself concise in speech. There was a gourmand, so greedy that he left nothing for his table companions. A large fish having been served, Zeno took it up as if he were about to eat the whole. When the other looked at him, what do you suppose said he, those who live with you feel every day, if you cannot put up with my gourmandis in this single instance?

A youth was putting a question with more curiosity than became his years, where a ponsino led him to a mirror and bade him to look in it, after which he inquired if he thought it became anyone who looked like that to ask such questions. Someone said that he did not in general agree with Antistonees, whereupon Zeno produced that author's essay on Sophocles and asked him if he thought it had any excellence, to which the reply was that he did not know. Then are you not ashamed, quote, he, to pick out and mention anything wrong said by Antistonees while you suppress his good things without giving them a thought?

Someone having said that he thought the chain arguments of the philosophers seemed brief and curt. Xenor replied, you are quite right. Indeed, the very syllables ought, if possible, to be clipped. Someone remarked to him about Pomello, that his discourse was different from the subject he announced.

He replied with a frown. Well, what value would you have set upon what was given out? He said that when conversing, we ought to be earnest, and, like actors, we should have a loud voice and great strength. But we ought not to open the mouth too wide, which is what your senseless chatterbox does. Telling periods, he said, unlike the works of good craftsmen, should need no pause for the contemplation of their excellences. On the contrary, the hero should be so absorbed in the discourse itself as to have no leisure even to take notes.

Life can get you down. I'm no stranger to that. When I find things are piling up, I'm struggling to deal with something. Obviously, I use my journal. Obviously, I turn to stochism, but I also turn to my therapist, which I've had for a long time and has helped me through a bunch of stuff. And because I'm so busy and I live out in the country, I do therapy remote, so I don't have to drive somewhere. And that's where today's sponsor comes in. Toxbase makes it easy to find a therapist that you like. It's convenient. It's affordable. By doing everything online talk space makes getting the help you want easy and affordable. So why wait and talk space can help with any specific challenge you might be facing. That's why it's the

number one online therapy platform with license therapists and over 40 specialties. It's secure and private and in network with most major insurers. As a listener of this podcast, you can get 80 bucks off your first month with Talkspace when you go to Talkspace.com slash Stoic. To match with a license therapist today, go to Talkspace.com slash Stoic to get 80 bucks off your first month and show your support for the daily Stoic, that's Talkspace.com slash Stoic. Once when a young man was talking a good deal, he said, your ears have slid down and merged in your tongue.

To the fair youth who gave it as his opinion that the wise man would not fall in love, his reply was, then who can be more hapless than you fare youths? He used to say that even of philosophers, the greater number were in most things unwise, while about small, incasual things they were quite ignorant. And he used to cite the saying of Confucius, who, when one of his pupils was endeavoring to blow the flute lustily, gave him a slap and told him that to play well does not depend on loudness, though playing loudly may follow upon playing well.

Into a youth who was talking somewhat saucy, his rejoinder was, I would rather not tell you what I'm thinking, my lad. A rodean, who was handsome and rich, but nothing more, insisted on joining his class, but so unwelcome was this pupil, that first of all, Xeno made him sit on the benches that were dusty, that he might soil his cloak, and then he consigned him to the place where the beggars sat, that he might rub shoulders with their rags, so at last the young man went away. Nothing he declared was more unbecoming than arrogance, especially in the young. He used also to say that it was not the words and expressions that we ought to remember,

but we should exercise our mind in disposing to advantage of what we hear, instead of, as it were, tasting a well-cooked dish or well-dressed meal. The young he thought should behave with perfect propriety in walk, gait, and dress, and he used continually to quote the lines of euripides about Copanius. Large means had he, yet not the haughtiness that springs from wealth, nor cherished prouder thoughts, of vain ambition than the poorest man. Again, he would say that if we want to master the sciences, there is nothing so fatal as conceit. And again, there is nothing we stand so much in need of as time.

To the question, who is a friend, his answer was, a second self, alter ego. We are told that he was once chastising a slave for stealing, and when the latter pleaded that it was his fate to steal. Yes, and to be beaten too, said Zeno. Beauty he called the flower of chastity. While according to others, it was chastity which he called the flower of beauty. Once when he saw the slave of one of his acquaintance marked with wheels, I see," said

he, the imprints of your anger. To one who had been drenched with unguit, who is this, quote, he, who smells of woman? When Dionysius the Renegade asked, why am I the only pupil you do not correct? The reply was, because I mistrust you. To a scriptling who was talking nonsense, his words were, the reason why we have two ears and only one mouth is that we may listen the more and talk the less. One day at a banquet he was reclining in silence and was asked the reason, whereupon he bade his critic, Kerry word to the king, that there was one present

who knew how to hold his tongue. Now those who inquired of him were ambassadors from King Tolemie, and they wanted to know what message they should take back from him to the King. On being asked how he felt about abuse, he replied, as an envoy feels who is dismissed without an answer. Apolognes of Tyre tells us how, when crates laid hold on him by the cloak to drag him from Stilpo, Xeno said, the right way to seize a philosopher, crates, is by the ears. Persuade me then and drag me off by them. But if you use violence, my body will be with you, but my mind with Stilpo." According to Hippobotus, he foregathered with Diodorus, with whom he worked hard at dialectic, and when he was already making progress, he would enter Pomello's school.

So far from all self-conceit was he. In consequence, Pomello was said to have addressed him thus. You slip in, Xeno, by the garden door. I'm quite aware of it. You filth my doctrines and give them a Phoenician makeup. A dialectician once showed him seven logical forms concerned with the sofism known as the Reaper. And Xeno asked him how much he wanted for them. Being told a hundred Drakmas, he promptly paid 200. To such lengths he would go in his love of learning.

They say too that he first introduced the word duty and wrote a treatise on the subject. It is said moreover that he corrected Hiseyod's lines thus. He is best of all men who follows good advice. Good too is He who finds out all things for Himself. The reason He gave for this was that the man capable of giving a proper hearing to what is said and profiting by it was superior to Him who discovers everything himself. For the one who had merely a right apprehension, the other in obeying good counsel, super-added conduct.

When he was asked why he, though so austere, relaxed at a drinking party, he said, loopens two are bitter, but when they are soaked become sweet. Hicato II in the second book of his anecdote says that he indulged freely at such gatherings, and he would say, better to trip with the feet than with the tongue. Well-being is attained by little and little, and nevertheless it is no little thing itself. He showed the utmost endurance and the greatest frugality. The food he used required no fire to dress, and the cloak he wore was thin. Hence, it was set of him.

The cold of winter and the ceaseless rain, come powerless against him. Weak the dart of the fierce summer sun or racking pain. To bend that iron frame, he stands apart, unspoiled by public feast in Jolety. Patient, unwearyed night and day doth he, cling to his studies of philosophy. Name more, the comic poets by their very gestes at his expense praised him without intending it. Thus Filman says in a play, philosophers, this man adopts a new philosophy. He teaches to go hungry, yet he gets disciples. One soul loaf of bread his food, his best dessert dried figs, water his drink. Others attribute

these lines to Pesitipus. By this time he had almost become a proverb, at all events, more temperate than Zeno the philosopher was a current saying about him. Pesitipus also writes in his man transported, so that for ten whole days more temperate than Zeno's self he seemed. And in the very truth in this species of virtue and indignity, he surpassed all mankind, I, and in happiness. For he was 98 when he died and had enjoyed good health without an ailment to the last. Perseus, however, in his ethical lectures makes him die at the age of 72, having come to Athens at the age of 22. But Apologius says that he presided over the school for 58 years.

The manner of his death was as follows. As he was leaving the school, he tripped and fell, breaking a toe. Striking the ground with his fist, he quoted the line from the Nairobi. I come, I come, why dost thou call me, and died on the spot through holding his breath. The Athenians buried him in the ceramicus and honored him in the decrees already sighted above, adding their testimony of his goodness. Here is the epitaph composed for him by antipater of Sardin. by Antipater of Sydon. Heer lies great Xeno, dear to Siddhyam, who scaled high Olympus, though he piled not Piliyon on Asa, nor toiled at the labors of Heracles, and this was the path he found

out to the stars, the way of temperance alone. Here too is another by Xeno-Dotus the stoic, a pupil of diogenes. Thou madest self-sufficiency thy rule, esquuing haughty wealth, O God like Zeno. With aspect grave and hori brow serene, a manly doctrine thine, and by thy prudence, with much toil thou ditzed found a great new school, chast parent of unfearing liberty, and if thy native country was Phoenicia, what need to slight thee, came not Cadmus Thence, who gave to Greece her books and art of writing. And Athenius the epigrammatist speaks of all the stoics and common as follows. O ye who have learnt the doctrines of the porch and have committed to your books divine,

the best of human learning, teaching men that the minds virtue is the only good. She only, it is who keeps the lives of men and cities safer than high gates and walls. But those who place their happiness and pleasure are led by the least worthy of the Muses. We have ourselves mentioned the manner of Zeno's death in the pamentors, a collection of poems in various meters. The story goes that Xeno of Citium, after enduring many hardships by reason of old age, was set free. Some say by ceasing to take food, others say that once when he tripped he beat with his hand upon the earth and cried,

I come on my own accord. Why then, call me? For there are some who hold this to have been the manor of his death. So much then concerning his death. Demetrius the Magnesian, in his work on man of the same name, says of him. His father, Manassius, being a merchant, often went to Athens and brought away many books about Socrates for Xeno while still a boy. Hence, he had been well trained even before he left his native place. In thus it came about that on his arrival at Athens, he attached himself to crates. And it seems he adds that when the rest were at a loss how

to express their views, Xeno framed a definition of the end. They say that he was in the habit of swearing by capers just as socrates used to swear by the dog. Some there are, and among them cashest the skeptic and his disciples, who accuse Zeno at length. Their first count is that in the beginning of his republic, he pronounced the ordinary education useless. The next is that he applies to all men who are not virtuous, the appropriate epithets of Foman, enemies, slaves, and aliens to one another, parents to

children, brothers to brothers, friends to friends. Again, in the Republic, making an invidious contrast, he declares the good alone to be true citizens or friends or kindred or free men. And accordingly, in the view of the stoic's parents and children are enemies, not being wise. Again, it is objected, in the republic he lays down community of wives, and at line 200 prohibits the building of temples, law courts, and gymnasia in cities. While as regards a currency, he writes that we should not think it need be introduced, either for purposes of exchange or for traveling abroad.

Further, he bids men and women wear the same dress and keep no part of the body entirely covered. That the republic is the work of Xeno is attested by chrysipus in his day republica, and he discussed amateurish subjects in the beginning of that book of his which is entitled, The Art of Love. Moreover, he writes much the same in his interludes, so much for the criticisms to be found not only in caches, but in Isodorus of Pergamum, the Rhetoration.

Esodorus likewise affirms that the passages disapproved by the school were expunged from his works by Athena Doris the Stoic, who was in charge of the Pergamine library. In that afterwards, when Athena Doris was detected and compromised, they were replaced. So much concerning the passages in his writings which are regarded as spurious. There have been eight persons of the name of Xeno, first the Iliatic, of whom more here after. The second our present subject, the third a Rhodian who wrote a local history in one volume, the fourth a historian who wrote about the expedition of Pyrus into Italy and Sicily,

and besides that an epitome of the political history of Rome and Carthage, the fifth a pupil of chrysipus who left few writings, but many disciples. The sixth, a physician of the School of Herophilus, a competent practitioner, though a poor writer. The seventh, a Grammarian who besides other writings has left behind him epigrams. The eighth, a Sardonian by birth in an Epicurian philosopher, lucid both in thinking and in style. Of the many disciples of Xeno, the following are the most famous, perseus, son of the

metrius of Sittium, who some call a pupil and others one of the household, one of those sent him by Antagonus to act as secretary. He had been tutored to Antagonus' son, Achaonus, and Antagonus, once, wishing to make trial of him, caused some false news to be brought to him that his estate had been ravaged by the enemy, and as his countenance fell, Do you see, said he, that wealth is not a matter of indifference? Thanks for listening to the Daily Stoke Podcast. Just a reminder, we've got signed copies of all my books in the Daily Stoke Store. You can get them personalized, you can get them sent to a friend. The op-score is the way.

You go as the enemy, stillness is the the key. The leatherbound edition of the Daily Stoke. We have them all in the Daily Stoke store, which you can check out at store.dailystoke.com. Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to the Daily Stoic Early and Add Free on Amazon Music, download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and add free with Wondering Plus in Apple Podcasts. Hey there listeners! While we take a little break here, I want to tell you about another podcast

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