According to legend, Zeno was shipwrecked off the coast of Greece, and later wandered into a bookshop in Athens and was immediately attracted to the works of Socrates. On asking how to find the man, Socrates was long dead by this time , the bookseller just pointed to the passing Crates of Thebes, and so Zeno became his student almost by default. Zeno was described as haggard and sunburned , and led a spare, ascetic life, which coincides with the influences of Cynic teaching and which was continued in his own Stoic philosophy, at least in part.
His main enjoyment was to sit in the sun eating figs and drinking wine. He inherited the Cynics ' preference for gruff speech and shocking behavior , continually mocking the wealthy of Athens and consorting with a crowd of ignorant serfs and beggars he was not above begging himself. The 3rd Century A. He lived, for a time at least, with Persaeus - B. When Zeno was invited to act as an advisor to Antigonus II Gonatas of Macedonia, he sent Persaeus in his stead, and he would go on to became an important figure at the Macedonian court.
Zeno died around or B. But, since a Stoic sage was expected to always do what was appropriate for Nature and, as Zeno was very old at the time he would have been around 72 , he felt it appropriate to die and consequently strangled himself. A tomb was built in honor of his moral influence on the youth of his era. Zeno's pupil Cleanthes of Assos c. None of Zeno's own works have survived to modern times, and all we know of him is from quotations and anecdotes in the works of his followers and critics.
Because his ideas were built upon by other Stoics , notably Chrysippus of Soli c. Like the Cynics , Zeno recognized a single, sole and simple good , which is the only goal to strive for and which can only consist of Virtue. However, he deviated from the Cynics in his view that things which are morally indifferent could nevertheless have value to us.
Zeno preached that "man conquers the world by conquering himself". He lectured his students on the value of "apatheia" or the absence of passion , arguing that only by controlling one's emotions and physical desires could one develop wisdom and the ability to apply it. He held that the practicing Stoic could suppress the influence of the passions by developing an indifference to both pain and pleasure by means of meditation.
He also invented the concept of "kathekon" which has been variously translated as "befitting actions" or "appropriate actions for nature" or "proper function" which carries the sense that Man and all living beings must act in accordance with Nature. The Stoic 's goal should be "katorthomata" a perfect achieved kathekon action, derived from the "orthos logos" or reason. Zeno's philosophy offered a middle way between the Cynics ' complete rejection of society and the later Stoics ' obsession with duty.
The famous Stoic acceptance of Fate , in Zeno's formulation, is nothing more than that: what happens, happens , and there is no point in complaining about it. Along with presenting the fascinating lives of all the well-known and not so well-known Stoics, Lives of the Stoics distills timeless and immediately applicable lessons about happiness, success, resilience, and virtue.
The book is available for pre-order and is set to release on September 29! Who Is Marcus Aurelius? Who Is Seneca? Who Is Epictetus? Who Is Cleanthes? Who Is Cato? Roman Senator. Mortal Enemy of Julius Caesar. Who Is Zeno? An Introduction to the Founder of Stoicism. Who Is Cicero? Who Was Panaetius? Spreading Stoicism from Greece to Rome. Who Is Paconius Agrippinus? Who Is Porcia Cato? Who Is Gaius Rubellius Plautus?
Who Is Chrysippus?
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