276 Roman Stoicism 



with the Individual rathexjthan the^State. The nature of Man, and his 

 possibilities "of happiness, became more and more engrossing topics. 

 As the political conditions under which men had to live were now 

 manifestly imposed by circumstances over which the ordinary citizen 

 had no control, the happiness of the Individual could no longer be 

 dependent on success in political ambitions and the free play of civic 

 \life. It had to be sought in himself, independent of circumstances. 

 The result was that bold questioning and the search for truth ceased 

 to be the prime function of philosophic schools, and the formation of 

 character took the first place. Hence the elaboration of systems meant 

 to regulate a man's life by implanting in him a fixed conception of the 

 world in which he had to live, and his relation to the great universe of 

 which he and his immediate surroundings formed a part. And this 

 implied a movement which may be roughly described as from ques- 

 tioning to dogma. The teacher became more of a preacher, his disciples 

 more of a congregation of the faithful ; and more and more the effici- 

 ency of his ministrations came to depend on his own personal influence, 

 which we often call magnetism. 



When Greek literature and thought became firmly established in 

 Rome during the second century BC, it was just this dogmatic treat- 

 ment of moral questions that gave philosophy a hold on a people far 

 more interested in conduct than in speculation. The Roman attempts, 

 often clumsy enough, to translate principle into practice were, and 

 continued to be, various in spirit and success. Stoicism in particular 

 blended most readily with the harder and more virile types of Roman 

 character, and found a peculiarly sympathetic reception among eminent 

 lawyers. The reigns of the first emperors were not favourable to moral 

 philosophy ; but the accession of Nero set literature, and with it 

 moralizing, in motion once more. A kind of eclectic. Stoicism came 

 into fashion, a Rman grpgjuet, of which Seneca was the chief repre- 

 sentative. A touch of timeserving was needed to adapt Greek theories 

 ^ v lor ^ practical use in the world of imperial Rome. Seneca was both a 

 courtier and a wealthy landowner, and was one of the victims of Nero's 

 tyranny. We have seen that while preaching Stoic doctrine, for in- 

 stance on the relations of master and slave, he shews little interest in 

 agriculture for its own sake or in the conditions of agricultural labour. 

 It is interesting to contrast with his attitude that of another Stoic, a 

 man of more uncompromising and consistent type, whose life was 

 partly contemporaneous with that of Seneca, and who wrote only a 

 few years later under the Flavian emperors. 



Musonius 1 Rufus, already a teacher of repute in Nero's time, 



1 For details of his life see Mayor on Pliny epp in u. Cf Ritter and Preller hist Philos, 

 Champagny Les dfsars iv i i. 



