Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers

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" When Plutarch and the Greece of His Age Plutarch, whoso fame as biographer has, I think, unduly eclipsed his reputation as a moralist, may be justly regarded as the leader of this movement, and his moral writings may be profitably compared with 1 hose of Seneca, the most ample exponent of the sterner school. Seneca is not unfreqiicntly self-conscious, theatrical, and over strained. His precepts have something of the affected ring of a popular preacher. The imperfect fusion of his short sentences gives his style a disjointed and. so to speak, granulated charac ter, which the emperor Caligula happily expressed when he compared it to sand without cement; yet he often rises to a majesty of eloquence, a grandeur both of thought and expression, that few moralists have ever rivaled. Plutarch, though far less sublime, is more sustained, equable and uniformly pleasing. The Montaigne of antiquity, his genius coruscates playfully and gracefully around his subject; he de lights in illustrations which are often singularly vivid and original, but which by their excessive mul tiplication appear sometimes rather the texture than the ornament of his discourse. A gentle, tender spirit, and a judgment equally free from paradox, exagger ation, and excessive subtilty, are characteristics of all he wrote. Plutarch excels most in collecting mo tives of consolation; Seneca in forming characters that need no consolation. There is something of the wo man in Plutarch; Seneca is all man.* The writings " * Plutarch, after the death of his daughter; was writ ing a letter of consolation to his wife, we find him turning away 156
Plutarch and the Greece of His Age of the first resemble the strains of ths flute, to which the ancients attributed the power of calming the possessions and chasing away the clouds of sorrow, and drawing men by gentle suasion into the paths of virtue; the writings of the other are like the trumpet blast which kindles the soul with heroic courage. The first is more fitted to console a mother sorrowing over her dead child; the second to nerve a brave man, without flinching and without illusion, to grapple with an inevitable fate. The elaborate letters which Seneca has left us on distinctive tenets of the Stoical school, such as the equality of the vices, or the evil of the affections, have now little more than an historic interest; but the general tone of his writings gives them a permanent importance, for they reflect and foster a certain type of excellence which, since the extinction of Stoicism, has had no ad equate expression in literature. The prevailing moral tone of Plutarch, on the other hand, being formed mainly on the prominence of the amiable virtues has been eclipsed or transcended by the Christian writers, but his definite contribution to philosophy and morals are more important than those of Seneca. He has left us one of the best from all the commonplaces of the stoics as the recollection of one simple trait of his little child rushed upon his mind: She desired her nurse to press even her dolls to her breast. She was RO loving that she wished everything that gave her pleasure to share in the best she had." The statement that Seneca is all man will be questioned by those who know that two of his Let ters of Condolence are addressed to women. These are almost the only writings in Roman literature so addressed. 157
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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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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
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De Providentia prove by these thing
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De Provldenda to thee when thou wer
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<J5 De Providentia ingly the
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De Providentia V. Add, now, that it
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De Providentia nor am I God s slave
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" " Good De Providentia I
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" " count what others lon
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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
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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 193 and 194: The Delay of the Deity to what is p
Page 195 and 196: The Delay of the Deity son from his
Page 197 and 198: " You " Do " "
Page 199 and 200: The Delay of the Deity conjured up
Page 201 and 202: Pindar says? 197 The Delay of the D
Page 203 and 204: The Delay of the Deity to be a vill
Page 207 and 208: The Delay of the Deity distances fr
Page 209 and 210: 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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