Hellenistic Philosophy Introductory

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202 l/-94 to l/-95
rate, we are ashamed at things we do badly, as though we knew that only
the honourable is good. And it is sufficient for happiness, as Zeno says,
and Chrysippus in book one of On Virtues and Hecaton in book two of
On Goods. 128. "For if," he says, "magnanimity is sufficient for making
one superior to everything and if it is a part of virtue, virtue too is
sufficient for happiness, holding in contempt even those things which
seem to be bothersome." Panaetius, however, and Posidonius say that
virtue is not sufficient [for happiness], but that there is a need for health
and material resources and strength.
They think that one employs virtue constantly, as the followers of
Cleanthes say. For it cannot be lost and the virtuous man always employs
a soul which is in perfect condition. And justice is natural and not
conventional, as are the law and right reason, as Chrysippus says in On
the Honourable. 129. They think that one [should] not give up philosophy
because of disagreement [among philosophers], since by this argument
one would give up one's whole life, as Posidonius too says in his Protreptics.
And Chrysippus says that general education is very useful.
Again, they think that there is no justice between us and the other
animals, because of the dissimilarity [between us and them], as Chrysippus
says in book one of On Justice and Posidonius in book one of On Appro-
priate Action. And that the wise man will fall in love with young men
who reveal through their appearance a natural aptitude for virtue, as
Zeno says in the Republic and Chrysippus in book one of On Ways of
Life and Apollodorus in his Ethics.



  1. And sexual love is an effort to gain friendship resulting from the
    appearance of beauty; and it is not directed at intercourse, but at friend-
    ship. At any rate Thrasonides, although he had his beloved in his power,
    kept his hands off her because she hated him. So sexual love is directed
    at friendship, as Chrysippus says in his On Sexual Love; and it is not to
    be blamed; and youthful beauty is the flower of virtue.
    There being three ways of life, the theoretical, the practical, and the
    rational, they say that the third is to be chosen; for the rational animal
    was deliberately made by nature for theory and action. And they say that
    the wise man will commit suicide reasonably [i.e., for a good reason],
    both on behalf of his fatherland and on behalf of his friends, and if he
    should be in very severe pain or is mutilated or has an incurable disease.

  2. They think the wise men should have their wives in common, so
    that anyone might make love to any woman, as Zeno says in the Republic
    and Chrysippus says in his On the Republic; and again, so do Diogenes
    the Cynic and Plato. And we shall cherish all the children equally, like
    fathers, and the jealousy occasioned by adultery will be removed. The

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