Zeno of Citium
Zeno of Citium | |
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Zeno of Citium (
Life
Zeno was born c. 334 BC,[a] in the Phoenician colony Citium in Cyprus.[4][5] His ancestry is disputed between Phoenician and Greek,[6][7] because Citium contained both Phoenician and Greek inhabitants.[6][8] While most contemporary and modern historians regard Zeno as a Phoenician,[9][10] some modern scholars have contested this arguing for a Greek[b][8] or Greco-Phoenician background.[12] The only things that historians know with certainty, are that Zeno had a Greek name, a Greek higher education and that there is no evidence he knew a language other than Greek.[13] His father, Mnaseas, had a name ambiguously meaningful both in Phoenician ("one causing to forget") and in Greek ("mindful").[14] His mother and her name are not recorded.[14]
Most of the details known about his life come from the biography and anecdotes preserved by
On a voyage from
Zeno is described as a haggard, dark-skinned person,
Apart from Crates, Zeno studied under the philosophers of the
Zeno began teaching in the colonnade in the Agora of Athens known as the Stoa Poikile (Greek Στοὰ Ποικίλη) in 301 BC. His disciples were initially called "Zenonians," but eventually they came to be known as "Stoics," a name previously applied to poets who congregated in the Stoa Poikile.
Among the admirers of Zeno was king
Zeno is said to have declined Athenian citizenship when it was offered to him, fearing that he would appear unfaithful to his native land,[31] where he was highly esteemed, and where he contributed to the restoration of its baths, after which his name was inscribed upon a pillar there as "Zeno the philosopher".[32] We are also told that Zeno was of an earnest, gloomy disposition;[33] that he preferred the company of the few to the many;[34] that he was fond of burying himself in investigations;[35] and that he disliked verbose and elaborate speeches.[36] Diogenes Laërtius has preserved many clever and witty remarks by Zeno,[37] although these anecdotes are generally considered unreliable.[28]
Zeno died around 262 BC.[a] Laërtius reports about his death:
As he was leaving the school he tripped and fell, breaking his toe. Striking the ground with his fist, he quoted the line from the Niobe:
I come, I come, why dost thou call for me?
and died on the spot through holding his breath.[38]
At Zeno's funeral an epitaph was composed for him stating:
And if thy native country was Phoenicia,
What need to slight thee? Came not Cadmus thence,
Who gave to Greece her books and art of writing?[39]
This signified that even though Zeno was of non-Greek background the Greeks still respected him, comparing him to the legendary Phoenician hero Cadmus who had brought the alphabet to the Greeks, as Zeno had brought Stoicism to them and was described as "the noblest man of his age" with a bronze statue being built in his honor.[9][40]
During his lifetime, Zeno received appreciation for his philosophical and
The crater Zeno on the Moon is named in his honour.
Philosophy
Following the ideas of the Old Academy, Zeno divided philosophy into three parts: logic (a wide subject including rhetoric, grammar, and the theories of perception and thought); physics (not just science, but the divine nature of the universe as well); and ethics, the end goal of which was to achieve eudaimonia through the right way of living according to Nature. Because Zeno's ideas were later expanded upon by Chrysippus and other Stoics, it can be difficult to determine precisely what he thought. But his general views can be outlined as follows:
Logic
In his treatment of logic, Zeno was influenced by
Zeno stretched out his fingers, and showed the palm of his hand, – "Perception," – he said, – "is a thing like this."– Then, when he had closed his fingers a little, – "Assent is like this." – Afterwards, when he had completely closed his hand, and showed his fist, that, he said, was Comprehension. From which simile he also gave that state a new name, calling it katalepsis (κατάληψις). But when he brought his left hand against his right, and with it took a firm and tight hold of his fist: – "Knowledge" – he said, was of that character; and that was what none but a wise person possessed.[47]
Physics
The
Zeno, then, defines nature by saying that it is artistically working fire, which advances by fixed methods to creation. For he maintains that it is the main function of art to create and produce and that what the hand accomplishes in the productions of the arts we employ, is accomplished much more artistically by nature, that is, as I said, by artistically working fire, which is the master of the other arts.[50]
This divine fire,
The nature of the universe is such that it accomplishes what is right and prevents the opposite,[57] and is identified with unconditional Fate,[58] while allowing it the free-will attributed to it.[50] According to Zeno's beliefs, "[t]rue happiness" can only be found by obeying natural laws and living in tune with the course of fate.[59]
Ethics
Like the Cynics, Zeno recognised a single, sole and simple good,[60] which is the only goal to strive for.[61] "Happiness is a good flow of life," said Zeno,[62] and this can only be achieved through the use of right reason coinciding with the universal reason (Logos), which governs everything. A bad feeling (pathos) "is a disturbance of the mind repugnant to reason, and against Nature."[63] This consistency of soul, out of which morally good actions spring, is virtue,[64] true good can only consist in virtue.[65]
Zeno deviated from the Cynics in saying that things that are morally adiaphora (indifferent) could nevertheless have value. Things have a relative value in proportion to how they aid the natural instinct for self-preservation.[66] That which is to be preferred is a "fitting action" (kathêkon/καθῆκον), a designation Zeno first introduced. Self-preservation, and the things that contribute towards it, has only a conditional value; it does not aid happiness, which depends only on moral actions.[67]
Just as virtue can only exist within the dominion of reason, so
Works
None of Zeno's original writings have survived except as fragmentary quotations preserved by later writers. The most famous of his works was his Republic, written in conscious imitation of, or opposition to, Plato's Republic. Although it has not survived, more is known about it than any of his other works. It outlined Zeno's vision of the ideal Stoic society.
A manuscript that was attributed to Zeno, matching a known title of one of Zeno's works, Περὶ φύσεως (On Nature), was discovered in 1949 in an Old Armenian translation. In 1956 it was translated into Russian and published with an extensive commentary.[76] Subsequent philological investigation concluded that the author could not have been Zeno and was instead an anonymous Christian philosopher of the late sixth century or a little later, writing in the tradition of ancient philosophy, but doing so as a Christian. He is now known as Pseudo-Zeno. His work shows an integration of Christian and philosophical concepts, but in a very restrained way.[77]
The titles of many of Zeno's writings are, however, known and are as follows:[78]
- Ethical writings:
- Πολιτεία – Republic
- Περὶ τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν βίου – On Life according to Nature
- Περὶ ὁρμῆς ἢ Περὶ ἀνθρώπου φύσεως – On Impulse, or on the Nature of Humans
- Περὶ παθῶν – On Passions
- Περὶ τοῦ καθήκοντος – On Duty
- Περὶ νόμου – On Law
- Περὶ τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς παιδείας – On Greek Education
- Πολιτεία –
- Physical writings:
- Περὶ ὄψεως – On Sight
- Περὶ τοῦ ὅλου – On the Universe
- Περὶ σημείων – On Signs
- Πυθαγορικά – Pythagorean Doctrines
- Logical writings:
- Καθολικά – General Things
- Περὶ λέξεων
- Προβλημάτων Ὁμηρικῶν εʹ – Homeric Problems
- Περὶ ποιητικῆς ἀκροάσεως – On Poetical Readings
- Other works:
- Τέχνη
- Λύσεις – Solutions
- Ἔλεγχοι βʹ
- Ἄπομνημονεύματα Κράτητος ἠθικά
- Περὶ οὐσίας – On Being
- Περὶ φύσεως – On Nature
- Περὶ λόγου – On the Logos
- Εἰς Ἡσιόδου θεογονίαν
- Διατριβαί – Discourses
- Χρεῖαι
Notes
- Diogenes Laërtius vii. 28), Zeno lived for 72 years. His date of birth is thus 334/3 BC. A plausible chronology for his life is as follows: He was born 334/3 BC, and came to Athens in 312/11 BC at the age of 22 (Laërtius 1925, § 28). He studied philosophy for about 10 years (Laërtius 1925, § 2); opened his own school during Clearchus' archonship in 301/0 BC (Philodemus, On the Stoics, col. 4); and was the head of the school for 39 years and 3 months (Philodemus, On the Stoics, col. 4), and died 262/1 BC. For more information see Ferguson 1911, pp. 185–186; and Dorandi 2005, p. 38
- ^ Claims of Zeno's Phoenician descent are often based on the fact that he was often called "Phoenician" by his contemporaries, but such epithets do not necessarily indicate ethnic origin.[11]
- ^ "Stoicism – Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy". www.iep.utm.edu. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
- ^ Bunnin & Yu (2004). The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
- ISBN 978-1134344093.
- ^ Hadjisavvas, Sophocles (2013). The Phoenician Period Necropolis of Kition. Vol. I. Shelby White and Leon Levy Program for Archaeological Publications. p. 1. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
- S2CID 156694103.
- ^ a b Pearson, Alfred Chilton (1891). The Fragments of Zeno & Cleanthes with Introduction & Explanatory Notes. C.J. Clay & Sons. p. 2.
Zeno, the son of Mnaseas', was born at Citium , a Greek city in the south-east of Cyprus, whose population had been increased by Phoenician immigrants. Whether he was of pure Greek blood or not we cannot tell...
- ^ Thereianos, Dionysios (1892). Διάγραμμα Στωικής Φιλοσοφίας [Diagram of Stoic Philosophy] (in Greek). Trieste, Austro-Hungarian Empire: Τυπογραφείον του Αυστριακού Λόυδ. p. 27.
Αλλ ̓ αὐτὸς οὗτος ὁ Stein, ἀλλαχοῦ τοῦ ἀξιολόγου αὑτοῦ συγγράμματος, παρατηρεῖ «ὅτι δὲν ἐλύθη εἰσέτι ὁριστικῶς τὸ ζήτημα ἂν ὁ Ζήνων κατήγετο ἐκ Φοινίκων ἢ ἐξ Ἑλλήνων»...
- ^ ISBN 978-1-107-49754-2.
Citium in Cyprus, contained Phoenician as well as Greek inhabitants, but there is no real evidence that he was of Phoenician descent.
- ^ a b Tarn, W.W. (1952). Hellenistic Civilisation. p. 330.
- JSTOR 265746.
- JSTOR 43077542.
- ISBN 978-0-486-83960-8.
- ISBN 978-0-520-29084-6.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-135-45739-6.
- ^ Suda https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-cgi-bin/search.cgi?login=guest&enlogin=guest&db=REAL&field=adlerhw_gr&searchstr=zeta,79 Zeno
- ^ "Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book VII, Chapter 1. Zeno (333–261 B.C.)". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 2–3.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 1.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 26–27.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 3.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 2, 24.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 16, 25.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 16.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 2; but note that Xenocrates died 314/13 BC
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 2, 25.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 6–9, 13–15, 36; Epictetus, Discourses, ii. 13. 14–15; Simplicius, in Epictetus Enchiridion, 51; Aelian, Varia Historia, ix. 26
- ^ a b Laërtius 1925, § 6–9.
- ^ ISBN 978-0199695850.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 13, comp. 36.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 37.
- ^ Plutarch, de Stoicor. repugn, p. 1034; comp. Laërtius 1925, § 12.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 6.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 16, comp. 26; Sidonius Apollinaris, Epistles, ix. 9
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 14.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 15.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 18, 22.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 18–25.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 28.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 30.
- ^ a b Laërtius 1925, § 6, 11.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 10–12.
- ^ Cicero, Academica, ii. 20.
- ^ Cicero, de Finibus, iv. 4.
- ^ Sextus Empiricus, adv. Math. vii. 253.
- ^ Cicero, Academica, ii. 6, 24.
- ^ a b Cicero, Academica, i. 11.
- ^ Cicero, Academica, 2.145 [47]
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 148.
- ^ Sextus Empiricus, adv. Math. ix. 104, 101; Cicero, de Natura Deorum, ii. 8.
- ^ a b c Cicero, de Natura Deorum, ii. 22.
- ^ Cicero, Academica, ii. 41.
- ^ Cicero, de Natura Deorum, ii. 9, iii. 14.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 150.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 142, comp. 136.
- ^ Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, i. 9, de Natura Deorum, iii. 14; Laërtius 1925, § 156.
- ^ Stobaeus, Ecl. Phys. i.[full citation needed]
- ^ Cicero, de Natura Deorum, i. 14.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 88, 148, etc., 156.
- ^ Caldwell, Wallace E.; Merrill, Edward H. (1964). History of the World. Vol. 1. United States: The Greystone Press. p. 119.
- ^ Cicero, Academica, i. 10. 35–36 : "Zeno igitur nullo modo is erat qui ut Theophrastus nervos virtutis inciderit, sed contra qui omnia quae ad beatam vitam pertinerent in una virtute poneret nec quicquam aliud numeraret hi bonis idque appellaret honestum quod esset simplex quoddam et solum et unum bonum."
- ^ Cicero, de Finibus, iii. 6. 8; comp. Laërtius 1925, § 100, etc.
- ^ Stobaeus, 2.77.
- ^ Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, iv. 6.
- ^ Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, iv. 15.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 102, 127.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 85; Cicero, de Finibus, iii. 5, 15, iv. 10, v. 9, Academica, i. 16.
- ^ Cicero, de Finibus, iii. 13.
- ^ Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, iv. 13, Academica, i. 10, de Finibus, iii. 21, iv. 9, Parad. iii. 1; Laërtius 1925, § 127.
- ^ Cicero, de Finibus, iii. 14, etc.
- ^ Cicero, de Finibus, iii. 14; Sextus Empiricus, adv. Math. vii. 422.
- ^ Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, iv. 9, Academica, i. 10.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 110; Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, iv. 6. 14.
- ^ Cicero, de Finibus, iv. 38; Plutarch, de Virt. mor.
- ^ Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, iv. 6; Laërtius 1925, § 110.
- ^ Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, iv. 18, etc.
- ^ Аревшатян, C. "Трактат Зенона Стоика "О Природе" и его древнеармянский перевод" (PDF). Вестник Матенадарана. 1956. – № 3.: 315–342. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-10-09.
- ^ M E Stone and M E Shirinian, Pseudo-Zeno: Anonymous Philosophical Treatise December 1, 1999, p. 18
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 4.
References
- Dorandi, Tiziano (2005). "Chapter 2: Chronology". In Algra, Keimpe; et al. (eds.). The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 38. ISBN 978-0521616706.
- Ferguson, William Scott (1911). Hellenistic Athens: An Historical Essay. London: Macmillan. pp. 185–186.
- Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. Vol. 2:7. Translated by Hicks, Robert Drew(Two volume ed.). Loeb Classical Library. § 1–160.
- ISBN 978-1604860641.
Further reading
- Dawson, Doyne (1992). Cities of the Gods: Communist Utopias in Greek Thought. Oxford University Press.[ISBN missing]
- ISBN 978-0525541875.
- Hunt, Harold. A Physical Interpretation of the Universe. The Doctrines of Zeno the Stoic. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1976. ISBN 0522841007
- Long, Anthony A., Sedley, David N. The Hellenistic Philosophers, Volume 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987. ISBN 0521275563
- Mason, Theodore; Scaltsas, Andrew S., eds. (2002). The philosophy of Zeno: Zeno of Citium and his legacy. Municipality of Larnaca. ISBN 978-9963603237.
- Pearson, Alfred C. Fragments of Zeno and Cleanthes, (1891). Greek/Latin fragments with English commentary.
- Reale, Giovanni. A History of Ancient Philosophy. III. The systems of the Hellenistic Age, (translated by John R. Catan, 1985 Zeno, the Foundation of the Stoa, and the Different Phases of Stoicism)
- Schofield, Malcolm. The Stoic Idea of the City. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. ISBN 0226740064