Zeno of Citium lost his cargo in a shipwreck and founded Stoicism on a public porch in Athens. Who he was, what he taught, how he lived, and what Seneca thought of him.
Who Were the Cynics? Diogenes, Crates and the Dog Philosophers Behind Stoicism
Diogenes lived in a storage jar and told Alexander the Great to move. Crates gave away a fortune and taught Zeno. Meet the Cynics who shaped Stoicism, and what Seneca made of them.
Who Was Cleanthes? The Boxer Who Carried Water and Kept Stoicism Alive
Cleanthes was a boxer who hauled water by night so he could study with Zeno by day, then led the Stoic school for more than thirty years. His life, his Hymn to Zeus, and what Seneca thought of him.
Epicureanism vs. Stoicism: Pleasure or Virtue? The Great Ancient Rivalry
Epicureans chose pleasure, Stoics chose virtue. Here is the ancient rivalry round by round, where the two schools quietly agree, and why Seneca kept quoting Epicurus.
Letter 124: On the True Good as Attained by Reason
This is the last of Seneca’s surviving letters to Lucilius, and it ends on the biggest question of all: what is the real good, and where do we find it? Pleasure-seekers say we feel it through the senses. Seneca says it belongs to reason: “a free mind, an upright mind, subjecting other things to itself […]