ZENO. 



zisisro. 



034 



the first substance of which all things were made ; the Active was 

 God, who was one, though called by many names. The universal 

 belief in a deity, or iu many deities, they considered one of the 

 evidences of God s existence. AH the universe, says Seneca, according 

 to our Stoical doctrines, consists of two things, Cause and Matter. 

 The Cause which puts matter in motion is conceived as pervading it, 

 but it is llational ; tho motions produced are not the effect of chance, 

 and all tho harmony and beauty of the visible world are a proof of 

 design. It followed from their general doctrines that the Soul (^X^l) 

 is corporeal, for they defined all things to be Body which produce 

 anything or are produced. They argued thus : nothing that is with- 

 out body sympathises with boiiy, nor does body sympathise with 

 that which is not body ; but only body with body. The body and 

 tho soul sympathise, for they are both bodies. Death is the separation 

 of the soul and the body. The Soul is a spirit (weC/ua) that is born 

 with us ; consequently it is body, and it continues after death ; still it 

 is perishable : but the Soul of all things, of which the souls of animals 

 are parts, is imperishable. As to the duration of the soul, there were 

 different opinions; Cl^anthes thought that all souls lasted to the 

 general conflagration ; Chrjsippus thought the souls of tho wise only 

 lasted so long. 



The Ethical doctrines of the Stoics have attracted most attention, as 

 exhibited iu the lives of distinguished Greeks and Romans. To live 

 according to nature was the basis of their Ethical system ; but by this 

 it was not meant that a man should follow his own particular nature ; 

 he must make his life conformable to the nature of the whole of 

 things. This principle is the foundation of all morality ; and it follows 

 that morality is connected with philosophy. To know what is our 

 relation to tho whole of things, is to know what we ought to be and 

 to do. This fundamental principle of the Stoics is indisputable, but its 

 application is not always easy, nor did they all agree in their exposi- 

 tion of it. Some things were good, some bad, and some indifferent : 

 the only good things were virtue, wisdom, justice, and temperance, 

 and the like. The truly wise man possesses all knowledge; he is 

 perfect and sufficient in himself; he despises all that subjects to its 

 power the rest of mankind; he feels pain, but he ia not conquered by 

 it. But the morality of the Stoics, at least in the later periods, though 

 it rested on a basis apparently so sound, permitted the wise mau to 

 do nearly everything that he liked. Such a system, it has been well 

 observed, might do for the imaginary wise man of the Stoics ; but it 

 was not a system whoso general adoption was compatible with the 

 existence of any actual society. 



The subject of the Stoical sect is one of great extent. The Stoics, 

 or the so-called Stoics, formed a sect that continued for four centuries, 

 in which time the doctrines were suViject to so much change that we 

 often see little besides the name in which the professors of this sect 

 agreed. Most of the works of the Stoical writers are lost. Two of 

 them whose works remain, Epictetus and the emperor Marcus Aure- 

 lius, if not the most genuine specimens of the Stoic school, are 

 certainly two of the most worthy. 



(Diogeues Laertius, Zeno; llitter and Preller, Historia Philosoph. 

 Groxo-Roman. ; AURELIUS; EPICTETUS; and other articles in this 

 work.) 



ZENO (Z-fifuv), emperor of the East, succeeded, in A.D. 474, the 

 emperor Leo I. Thrax, or more correctly his own son Leo II., the 

 younger, as will appear below. Zeno was the son of Rusumblasdes, or 

 liousombladeosa, a noble Isaurian, and his original name was either 

 Aricmesius, or perhaps Taradicodisus or Taradiscodiseus, or more pro- 

 bably Trascalisseus. We know nothing about his earlier life, of which 

 however detailed accounts were probably given in the works of Eusta- 

 thius of Syria, which are lost, and those of Candidus, of which only 

 some fragments are extant. We must suppose that he was a man of 

 great influence, especially among his warlike countrymen the Isaurians, 

 and well knowu at the court of Constantinople, for in A.D. 468 the 

 emperor Loo Thrax gave him his daughter Ariadne in marriage, 

 evidently for the purpose of securing his influence among the Isau- 

 rians, whose assistance he wanted against the ambitious schemes of 

 his prime minister Aspar. 



On that occasion tho son of Rusumblasdes adopted the Greek name 

 of Zeno, and was created by the emperor Patricius, and appointed 

 commander of the imperial life-guard and cornmauder-iu-chief of the 

 Greek army in Asia Minor. In 409 Zeno was consul with Flavius 

 Marcianus, and he assisted the emperor in getting rid of Aspar, who 

 was put to death in 471. Leo, being old and childless, wished to 

 appoint Zeno his successor, but the people disliked Zeno on account of 

 hia ugliness, a reason which may appear insufficient in our days, but 

 which was important among the Eastern nations, who have always 

 liked and. still like to be ruled by handsome kings. Leo consequently 

 gave up his plan, and chose Leo, the son of Zeno and Ariadne, for hia 

 successor, in 473. The emperor Leo Thrax did early in the following 

 year, 474, and Leo the younger succeeded him under the regeucy of 

 his father, upon whom tho title of Augustus was perhaps conferred by 

 Leo Thrax ; it may bo that Zeuo assumed that title on his own 

 authority, bat neither of these opinions has been well established. 

 Assisted by the empress-dowager Verina, and probably also by her 

 daughter and his wife Ariadne, Zeno succeeded in gaining the aflec- 

 tions of the people in some degree, and he consequently fouud no 

 resistance when he contrived to be proclaimed emperor. His sou, the 



young emperor Leo, put the imperial diadem on his head ; but 

 although Zeno became emperor, he was only the second in rank, as 

 we may see in the laws issued by the two emperors, where Leo's 

 name is always put before the name of his father : on some coins how- 

 ever the name Zeno stands before Leo. Leo died towards the end of 

 the same year, 474. Zeno, and even his mother Ariadne, an excellent 

 woman, have been accused of having poisoned their son, but this 

 charge, as well as some other stories concerning the death of Leo, seem 

 to be mere calumnies invented by orthodox ecclesiastical writers who 

 found fault with the heterodoxy of Zeno. 



Although Zeno met with no opposition in succeeding his son as solo 

 emperor, he came to the throne under very difficult circumstances. 

 Descended from a great Isaurian family ; supported by two brothers, 

 Conon and Longinus, who were both enterprising, active, and ambi- 

 tious ; surrounded by many other Isaurians, who looked to him for 

 honours and power; and revered by the warlike inhabitants of Isauria, 

 who were not of Greek descent ; he had to experience that the very 

 circumstances which seemed to consolidate his strength, made his 

 throne totter, and were so many causes of those rebellions aud other 

 public calamities by which his reign was marked as one of the most 

 disastrous for the dignity and grandeur of the Eastern empire. Whou 

 Zeno became emperor, the Isaurians came into power : hence arose 

 jealousy among the Greeks, and dissatisfaction among those who had 

 helped him to the throne ; intrigue, revolts, rebellion, and civil war 

 were the consequence, and this was followed by revenge, cruelty, and 

 rapacity ; general discontent and weakness in the government ; arro- 

 gance and threats on the part of foreign barbarians, the conquest of 

 Italy by the East-Goths, and the foundation of a new Western empire 

 by Theodoric the Great. In short, the reign of Zeno was a crisis in 

 the history of the East. As the details of this reign are far from 

 being sufficiently clear, we shall only give a sketch of the most remark- 

 able events. 



Zeno was scarcely established on the throne when he lost it by a 

 rebellion of Basiliscus, the brother of the empress-dowager Verina, 

 both of whom conspired against the new emperor when they saw that 

 their influence was checked by the increasing power of the brothers 

 and other Isaurian friends of Zeno. The rebellion broke out so sud- 

 denly (475) that Zsno fled to Isauria without making any resistance, 

 and Basiliscus was proclaimed emperor. Zeno, being joined by 

 Ariadne, prepared to oppose Illus, a general of Basiliscus, who ad- 

 vanced upon Isauria, and defeated Zeno, who retired into a castle 

 called Constantinople. Illus was going to lay siege to it, when he 

 was informed that there was great want of union among the adherents 

 of Basiliscus, and that the people in general disliked the new emperor 

 on account of his cowardly or treacherous conduct in the unfortunate 

 expedition against the Vandals of Carthage, in 468. Upon this Illus 

 proposed to Zeno to support him with his army ; the proposition \vas 

 accepted with great joy, and Zeno and Illus marched to Constanti- 

 nople. Near Nicsea they met with Armatius, or Harmacius, the 

 nephew of Basiliscus, who offered no resistance to Zeuo, by whom ho 

 was apparently bribed, and the usurper was soon besieged in Constan- 

 tinople by Zeno. The city was taken by surprise, and Basiliscus was 

 made prisoner, and starved to death in a tower in Cappadocia. Zeno 

 was re-established, and in order to reward Harmacius, he made him 

 commander-in-chief of the army, presented him with large estates, and 

 conferred upon his son Basiliscus the younger the dignity of Caesar, 

 which was equivalent to making him his successor. It seems that 

 Zeno did not act voluntarily in this affair, but that Harmacius de- 

 manded the Csesarship for his son, as the prize of his defection from 

 the usurper Basiliscus. Harmacius became so arrogant, that Zeno 

 resolved to get rid of him. Assisted by Illus, he succeeded in seizing 

 Harmacius, who was put to death, and his son Basiliscus was banished, 

 after having been deprived of his dignity as Csesar. Illus now acquired 

 great influence over the emperor, which he soon abused, and he not 

 only insulted the empress Ariadne, but conspired against her life. 

 Illus, being deposed from his rank as prime minister, tied to Asia aud 

 revolted against Zeno : his fate is told below. During the timo that 

 Illus was in power several other rebellions broke out. Theodoric, 

 surnamed Strabus, an adherent of Basiliscus, retired after the fall of 

 the usurper into Thrace, collected a considerable force, and ravaged 

 the environs of Constantinople. The emperor, unable to subdue him, 

 bought peace from him, in 478 ; but Theodoric soou forgot his oath, 

 united himself with Theodoric the Goth, who afterwards conquered 

 Italy, and the emperor would perhaps have lost his throne but for the 

 death of Theodoric Strabus, which took place in 481. As to Theo- 

 doric the Goth, Zeno soothed his anger by creating him consul, and 

 finally stimulated or allowed him to conquer Italy. [THEODOHIC THE 

 GIIEAT.] After peace had been concluded with Theodoric Strabus, in 

 478, another most dangerous revolt broke out under Marcian, the son 

 of Anthemius, emperor of the West, and the grandson of the Emperor 

 Marcian, who had married Leontia, the sister of the Empress Verina. 

 Marcian intended to depose Zeno, and he took Constantinople by 

 surprise, but he was surprised in his turn by Illus, and after a 

 desperate fight fled for refuge to a church. He was taken out by 

 force, his head was shaven, and he was banished to a monastery at 

 Cesaraea. But he escaped, caused fresh troubles, and was exiled to 

 the castle of Papyrus in Isauria, or perhaps to Tarsus in Cilicia. The 

 third great revolt was that of Illus, who, as already observed, had 



