Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers
Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers
Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers
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Seneca:<br />
His Character <strong>and</strong> Environment<br />
estate. There were always groups <strong>and</strong> coteries <strong>of</strong><br />
noble men <strong>and</strong> women who kept themselves free from<br />
the prevailing corruption. There w;is always a sav<br />
ing remnant that remained uncontaminated. Quintillian<br />
was the center <strong>of</strong> such a group, <strong>and</strong> what he<br />
was in Rome, Plutarch was in another part <strong>of</strong> the<br />
empire, for they were almost exactly contemporaries.<br />
The belief in God. in the immortality <strong>of</strong> the human<br />
soul, <strong>and</strong> in man s personal responsibility to a higher<br />
power, kept some, perhaps many, who were not di<br />
rectly under the degrading<br />
influence <strong>of</strong> the court, or<br />
who had the moral strength to resist it. from deviating<br />
very far from the path<br />
<strong>of</strong> rectitude. There were<br />
slaves <strong>of</strong> whom better things could be said than <strong>of</strong><br />
their masters.<br />
But what were these among so many?<br />
Seneca <strong>and</strong> other writers <strong>of</strong> his time frequently<br />
to be<br />
express contempt for those men who pr<strong>of</strong>essed<br />
philosophers, <strong>and</strong> whose lives brought only disgrace<br />
upon the fair name <strong>of</strong> philosophy. He does not seem<br />
to be aware that, in a measure at least, he is recording<br />
an unfavorable verdict upon himself. Does lie think<br />
that his abstemiousness, his untiring industry, his de<br />
votion to study ought to cover his shortcomings?<br />
ft<br />
looks so. He commends solitude, yet always re<br />
mained in the noonday <strong>of</strong> publicity. He inveighs<br />
against riches, yet was the possessor <strong>of</strong> vast estates,<br />
<strong>and</strong> was not above lending money at usurious rates <strong>of</strong><br />
interest. He teaches men to bear with fortitude the<br />
inevitable ills <strong>of</strong> life, <strong>and</strong> ends by commending<br />
suicide as a final resort. Compared with Socrates,