Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers

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Plutarch and the Greece of His Age so poor that ho did not own at least one slave. To be a slave-owner was a badge of respectability even for those who were riot citizens. In the Greek states, so long as they were free polities, war and religion oc cupied all the time and attention of the citizens, ex cept that small body that were interested in philo sophical pursuits. When they were no longer free and no longer had serious affairs in which to employ their time, they spent most of it in idle gossip or as the Acts tell us, "in hearing or telling some new What thing." legislation they were still permitted to engage in never concerned matters of grave im port. They decreed crowns and statues to real or sup posed benefactors, only to annul their decrees when those whom they were intended to honor happened to incur the displeasure of the legislators or to fall into disgrace with the higher powers. Then there were deputations between different states about boundary disputes, about festivals, about claims and counter claims of all sorts, the sending of which was often debated with a solemnity that makes us wonder how the participants could themselves fail to see their farcical character. Generally the game the favor of the emperor, each party striving at stake was to out bid the other in professions of loyalty or to outvie it in the length of its bill for services rendered. When, as was frequently the case, these delegations did not find the emperor in Rome, they had, of course, to follow him into provinces or to await his return. This re quired time that, we may be sure, was in most cases 142
Plutarch and the Greece of His Age ungrudgingly given. Instead of directing their en ergies into channels of activity and trying by honest work to better their worldly condition it was talk, talk with the Greeks, and talk without end. There is no stronger evidence of their fondness for discussion and for listening to the spoken word than Greek literature itself. The historians are in the habit of stating the case of opposing parties by ha rangues which they put into the mouth of a repre sentative of each. Greek poetry consists in a great measure of dialogue. Philosophy was chiefly de veloped by means of oral discussion. Comedy, even after it was no longer represented on the stage, still appears as dialogue and not in the usual form of the satire. Among its richest legacies to posterity is its oratory, and in it we have the spoken word in its most effective form; but it still represents words rather than deeds, and belongs for the most part to the declining age of Greece. A solitary thinker like Kant was wholly foreign to Greek ideas. So per sistently has this trait remained a characteristic of the Hellenes that many of their best friends deplore their fondness for petty politics; their sleepless anx iety to assist in the management of the government instead of turning their attention to bettering their material condition by a steady devotion to private business. Many of the rich and welMo-do Greeks live outside the kingdom of Greece where their lin gual activity is circumscribed and they are compelled by circumstances to turn their energies into more its
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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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" Seneca: His Character and En
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" The Seneca: His Character an
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SELECTIONS FROM THE WRITINGS OF SEN
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Selections from the Writings of Sen
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De Providentia untouched, I shall u
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" Why De Providentia gence and
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De Providentia may gain real streng
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De Providentia enough for the immor
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De Providentia down his arms forthw
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De Providentia well-known exemplar
Page 95 and 96: De Providentia prove by these thing
Page 97 and 98: De Provldenda to thee when thou wer
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
Page 105 and 106: " " Good De Providentia I
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Page 109 and 110: " For De Providentia found in
Page 111 and 112: De Providentia "The first whic
Page 113 and 114: Plutarch and the Greece of His Age
Page 115 and 116: " Plutarch and the Greece of H
Page 129 and 130: eformer. Plutarch and the Greece of
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Page 167 and 168: " " The Delay of the Deit
Page 169 and 170: " To The Delay of the Deity wi
Page 171 and 172: The Delay of the Deity vices, He ad
Page 173 and 174: The Delay of the Deity nature, to h
Page 175 and 176: The Delay of the Deity may turn to
Page 177 and 178: " " " The Delay of t
Page 179 and 180: The Delay of the Deity Sikyonians a
Page 181 and 182: " We The Delay of the Deity ag
Page 183 and 184: The Delay of the Deity are allowed
Page 185 and 186: The Delay of the Deity 11. If then
Page 187 and 188: " " " The Delay of t
Page 189 and 190: The Delay of the Deity wished might
Page 191 and 192: " " The Delay of the Deit
Page 193 and 194: The Delay of the Deity to what is p
Page 195 and 196: 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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Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers

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