56 Chapter 3was lived closest to nature and that wisdom lay in
abandoning worldly goods and ambition. Diogenes
(d. 320 B.C.), their most effective spokesman,
delighted in exposing the folly and vanity of others.
Popular legend has it that he lived in a tub and carried
a lantern with which he hoped—unsuccessfully—to
find an honest man.
Among those attracted to the teachings of the
Cynics was Zeno (c. 335–c. 263 B.C.). A native of
Phoenician Cyprus, he established a school at Athens
named the Stoa after the portico in the Agora where his
disciples met. The Stoics, as they were called, believed
that living in harmony with nature was essential. They
identified nature with the divine principle or logos.Each
human being and each object had the logoswithin it
and acted according to a divine, predetermined plan.
This plan, though good in itself, might not always work
in the best interests of a particular individual. Sickness,
death, and misfortune were all part of a providential or-
der that could not be escaped but only endured.
The implications of this theory were liberating.
Moral qualities such as prudence, courage, folly, and in-
temperance were good or bad. Wealth, pleasure,
beauty, and health were morally indifferent because
they were essentially states of mind—the products of
feeling or passion. The wise person, regardless of con-
dition, should realize that it is not what happens but
how one reacts to it that determines the good life. The
goal of wisdom is therefore apatheia,or indifference to
that which is morally neutral, coupled with ethical be-
havior and the cultivation of personal qualities that are
morally good. According to the Stoics, anyone could
achieve this goal. Men and women, slaves and princes,
all possessed the same divine spark. Though the condi-
tions of their lives might differ, they were all inherently
equal.Illustration 3.5
Laocoön and His Sons.This mon-
umental sculpture from Pergamon is an
example of the way in which Hellenistic
artists used formal arrangement, exag-
gerated musculature, and agonized facial
expressions to portray emotion. The
serene classicism of Praxiteles and his
contemporaries has been abandoned.
Even the theme, an episode from The Il-
iadin which the gods sent serpents to
destroy the Trojan priest Laocoön and
his children, is chosen for its emotional
impact. The work as shown is probably
a Roman copy.