368 /l/-43
threatens us with disease and death. So, man is not a perfect animal, but
rather imperfect, and far removed from perfection. 91. But that which
is perfect and best would be better than man, fulfilled in every virtue
and impervious to all bad things. And this will not differ from god.
Therefore, god exists.
- And Zeno of Citium, taking his inspiration from Xenophon, makes
this argument. The thing which emits seed of something rational is also
itself rational; but the cosmos emits seed of something rational; therefore
the cosmos is something rational. With this its existence is also established. - The plausibility of the argument is manifest. For in every nature
and soul the starting point for motion seems to come from the leading
part of it, and all the powers which are sent out from the whole to the
parts are sent out from the leading part as though from a well-spring,
so that every power found in the part is also found in the whole, because
it is distributed to [the parts] from the leading part in it. Hence, whatever
powers the part has, the whole has too, and preeminently so. 103. And
for this reason, if the cosmos emits seed of a rational animal, [it does not
do so as] man does, by emitting a frothy substance, but rather [it does
so] in so far as it contains seeds of rational animals. And it includes
[them] not in the way we would say that the vine contains grape-pits,
i.e., by including them [in a derivative way], but rather because spermatic
principles of rational animals are [directly] contained in it. So the sense
of the argument is this: the cosmos contains spermatic principles of
rational animals. Therefore, the cosmos is rational. - And again Zeno says: the rational is better than what is not
rational; but nothing is better than the cosmos; therefore, the cosmos is
something rational. And [he argues] in the same way for its being intelli-
gent and animate; for the intelligent is better than what is not intelligent
and the animate is better than what is not animate; but nothing is better
than the cosmos; therefore, the cosmos is intelligent and animate .... - But Alexinus attacked Zeno thus: what is poetic is better than
what is not poetic and what is grammatical is better than what is not
grammatical and what possesses theoretical knowledge in the other crafts
is better than what is not like that; but no one thing is better than the
cosmos; therefore, the cosmos is something poetic and grammatical. 109.
The Stoics respond to this attack by saying that Zeno was referring to
what is better in an absolute sense, i.e., the rational [being better] than
what is not rational and the intelligent than what is not intelligent and
the animate than what is not animate, but that Alexinus was not; 110.
for the poetic is not better than what is not poetic in the absolute sense,
nor is the grammatical [better] than what is not grammatical [in this