Hellenistic Philosophy Introductory

(Marvins-Underground-K-12) #1

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He used to set out his arguments while walking back and forth in the
Painted Stoa which was also named for Peisianax, but [called] 'Painted'
because of the painting by Polygnotus. He wanted to make sure that his
space was unobstructed by bystanders; for under the Thirty Tyrants
1400 citizens had been slaughtered in it. Still, people came to listen to
him and for this reason they were called Stoics; and his followers were
given the same name, although they had previously been called Zenonians,
as Epicurus also says in his letters ....
15 .... He was devoted to enquiry and reasoned with precision on all
topics ... 16. He pursued his disputes with Philo the dialectician with
great care, and studied along with him. Hence, [Philo] was admired by
Zeno (who was younger than he) no less than his teacher Diodorus
[Cronus].



  1. When someone said that he thought that philosophers' arguments
    were brief, he said, "you're right; but if possible even the syllables in
    the arguments should be short." ... He said that one should converse
    vigorously, as actors do, and that one should have a loud voice and great
    strength but not distort one's mouth-which is what people do who
    chatter about a lot of impossible things ....

  2. He used to say that there was nothing more alien to the grasp of
    [various branches of] knowledge than [mere] opinion, and that we are in
    need of nothing so much as time. Someone asked him what a friend is;
    he said, "Another me." They say that he beat a slave for stealing. And
    when he [the slave] said, "it was fated for me to steal," [Zeno] said, "and
    to be flogged." ... 24. Apollonius ofTyre says that when Crates dragged
    him away from Stilpo by the coat, [Zeno] said, "Crates, the sophisticated
    way to get a hold on philosophers is by the ears. So persuade me and
    drag me away by them; but if you use force on me, my body will be with
    you and my soul with Stilpo."

  3. He also studied together with Diodorus, according to Hippobotus;
    it was in his company that [Zeno] worked his way through dialectic.
    When he was already making progress he came into Polemo's [lectures]
    (a result of his freedom from arrogance); so they say that [Polemo] said,
    "Zeno, I caught you sliding in by the garden gate to steal my doctrines
    and dress them up in Phoenician style." He asked the dialectician who
    showed him seven dialectical patterns in the Reaper argument how much
    he charged for them; when he was told [that the price was] a hundred
    drachmas, he gave him two hundred. So great was his love for learning.
    They also say that he was the first to use the term 'appropriate act'
    [ kathekon] and to have developed a theory of it ....
    27 .... He had already become a kind of proverbial figure; anyway,
    it was he who inspired the line, "more temperate than Zeno the philoso-

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