Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to Himself - College of Stoic Philosophers

Ivi INTRODUCTION SECT.
dignifies with the name of Soul (t/^x 7 ?)' though devoid
of man's distinguishing characteristic of Mind or Reason.
A yet lower grade manifests itself as that Nature (^o-ts)
or power of growth which is the characteristic of vegetable
life, while a yet lower drops from the organic to the
inorganic quality, and effectuates that simple power of
'
hold '
or cohesion (eis), that physical state^ which consti-
tutes the unity of stones or other inorganic compounds.
Thus the doctrine accounted for the existence of as
many kinds of being as there might be kinds or degrees
of tension, and enabled the Stoics to retain a reasonable
belief in the doctrine of four elements, while it elucidated
the true significance of the Heraclitean theory of
physical mutation of the elements.
At every grade the permeation of the Pneuma is
conceived to be co-extensive with the existence it sup-
plies ;
it has a way and motion of its own, 1 whose effect
is felt dynamically wherever it is present ;
it does not
act by mere mechanical juxtaposition of parts, nor even
by chemical combination or fusion, but rather by an
all-pervading flow that permeates the whole being, tech-
nically described as universal commixture or interpene-
tration of parts. 2 The condition of right tension 3 in
the organism, and right admixture 4 in the compound,
1 Hence the language of v. 9, 14 ; vi. 17 ; viii. 60 ; x. 33.
2 The Kpciffis Si $\uv doctrine, not mechanically tenable, and
at bottom violating the axiom that two bodies cannot occupy the
same space. But it is important for the right understanding of
Stoic pantheism, and was quite as intelligible as subsequent doctrines
of void, phlogiston, ether, etc.
3 euTovia, cf. vi. 30 rb etirovov KG! TO 6/xaX^s.
4 x. I, eikpa