Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers

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wonder Plutarch and the Greece of His Age cum of intelligence, this at least cannot be entirely denied to them, any more than it can be denied to a bad man. A certain measure of reason is the gift of nature; perfect and virtuous reason is the result of practice and instruction. The reasoning powers of many animals are, to an extent, on a level with those of man; they differ not so much in quality as in quantity. It is right, therefore, to use but not to abuse them. Cruelty to animals is evidence of a base heart. Those who treat them harshly usually accentuate their bad traits in their dealings with men. Our treatment of animals is, therefore, in some sort and often to a considerable extent, an index of how we treat our fellow beings. Plutarch finds the lower animals in some respects more rational than men. They never eat or drink more than enough to satisfy hunger and thirst; nor do they give way to any un natural or excessive appetites. He is somewhat inclined to condemn the use of animal food; but, at. any rate, animals must not be cruelly dealt with to make them more palatable, nor put to death by lingering and inhuman methods. He had in view more particularly some of the practices prevalent in Rome in his day. practices that were, in truth, horri ble in the extreme. It is n<> that he names them only to condemn them. The extreme modernness of Plutarch in this matter becomes the more strikingly evident when we remember that classical antiquity not only very seldon has a kind word for irrational creatures, but was wont to treat them with
" Plutarch and the Greece of His Age extreme harshness. This was particularly the case among the Romans, Plutarch regards the soul as composed of two parts. One part seeks after truth and light; the other is under the influence of the passions, and liable to error. The first is divine, the second carnal. In so far as a man heeds the monitions of the former he will follow the path of virtue. Practical virtue, virtue in action, is wisdom; vice is error. In order to be virtuous it is only necessary to listen to the voice of reason. Plutarch does not doubt that virtue can be taught. To teach virtue consists largely in making it attractive to the young. Reason does not annihilate the passions; it merely directs them toward a goal that it has marked out. Virtue consists in "the golden mean /MySev ayav in doing neither too much nor too little. Bravery is a virtue whose place is between cowardice and rashness. Mildness or kindness is a virtue: its place is between stolidity and cruelty, just as the place of liberality is midway be tween the extremes, stinginess and prodigality. He adduces a number of proofs to establish the position that the passions are corporeal and the reason supersensuous; in a correct system of pedagogy a proper use is to be made of the latter for controlling and wisely directing the former toward rational ends. It is in every man s power to be virtuous under all cir cumstances, but happiness, or rather good fortune, is dependent upon many things. A virtuous man may enjoy peace of mind at all times, while the largest 127
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THEQL STACK
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Between Heathenism and Christianity
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" PREFACE. It is admitted by s
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Preface In the following pages I ha
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CONTENTS, ....... PAGE. PBEFAOE ...
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SENECA: HIS CHARACTER AND ENVIRONME
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" " Seneca: His Character
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Seneca: His Character and Environme
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" No Seneca: His Character and
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SELECTIONS FROM THE WRITINGS OF SEN
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Selections from the Writings of Sen
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Page 83 and 84: De Providentia untouched, I shall u
Page 85 and 86: " Why De Providentia gence and
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Page 89 and 90: De Providentia enough for the immor
Page 91 and 92: De Providentia down his arms forthw
Page 93 and 94: De Providentia well-known exemplar
Page 95 and 96: De Providentia prove by these thing
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Page 99 and 100: <J5 De Providentia ingly the
Page 101 and 102: De Providentia V. Add, now, that it
Page 103 and 104: De Providentia nor am I God s slave
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Page 113 and 114: Plutarch and the Greece of His Age
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Page 171 and 172: The Delay of the Deity vices, He ad
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Page 179 and 180: The Delay of the Deity Sikyonians a
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" We The Delay of the Deity ag
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The Delay of the Deity are allowed
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The Delay of the Deity 11. If then
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" " " The Delay of t
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The Delay of the Deity wished might
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" " The Delay of the Deit
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The Delay of the Deity to what is p
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The Delay of the Deity son from his
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" You " Do " "
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The Delay of the Deity conjured up
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Pindar says? 197 The Delay of the D
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The Delay of the Deity to be a vill
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" " The Delay of the Deit
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The Delay of the Deity distances fr
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The Delay of the Deity the souls of
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The Delay of the Deity cation and p
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The Delay of the Deity the white. H
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The Delay of the Deity offer suppli
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The Delay of the Deityfalling into
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" " " The Delay of t
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The Delay of the Deity is intrinsic
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Appendix VOLUME III. De E apud Delp
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Appendix cited by their Latin title
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