Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/343

 STOICS

299

STOLBEBO

laving decided to settle down, he accepted the chair if English literature in the University of Notre Dame, Indiana; but owing to ill-health he soon resigned. I'ho same reason caused hira to resign a corresponding losition which he held in the CathoUc University, Washington, D. C, from 1SS9 to 1902. In a .short ime he moved to Cambridge, Mass., intending to levote himself exclusively to literary work. A serious md almost fatal illness interfered with his plans, yet le was not idle. He put forth his "Exits and En- Irancos", a book of essays and skotchcs which he ■alli'd his favourite work, probably because it told of lis intimate friend Stevenson and of otlwrs among his lost of literary acquaintances. At this time he also vroto his only novel, "For the Pleasure of His Com- lany", of which he said, ''Here you have my Con- essions." So strictly biographical are most of his vritiiigs that Stoddard hoped by supplying a few nissing links to enable the reader to trace out the vhole story of his life. In 1905 he returned to Cali- ornia and settled in Monterey with a hope of recover- ing his health. He lingered on till 1909, wheu he lied in his sixty-sixth year. To superficial observers le was a man of contradictions. He was essentially [Bohemian, but of the higher type, a man who could lot resist the call of the far-away land, his home, as le himself said, being always under his hat. And yet ic was a mystic and a recluse even in his travels.

Imaginative and impressionable", two epithets vliiih he applied to his South Sea friends, are par- icuiai-ly appropriate to Stoddard himself.

That charm of his traits which may be de-
 * crihi-d as "sweetness, peacefulness, tenderness, gentle-

u'ss" he imparted to his writings. Noted Engli.sh lufhors ha\'e given the highest praise to some )f his work, and liave taken to task the American lublic for their lack of appreciation of him. Besides he books already mentioned he wrote: "Summer 'niisiiiL' in till' South Seas" (1874); "Marshallah, I I IilIiI into Kg\-iit" (ISSo); "A Trip to Hawaii" ,|ss.-,i; "In the Footprints of the Padres" (1892); 'Hawaiian Life" (1894); "The Wonder Worker of Padua" (1896); "A Cruise under the Crescent" lS9S);."0ver the Rocky Mountains to Alaska" lyi'.ii: "Father Damien, a Sketch" (1903); "With ■<l:iH and Scrip" (1904); "Hither and Yon"; "The
 * 'oTife.ssions of a Reformed Poet" (1907); "The

Dream Lady" (1907).

J.\MES in California Classics Series (1909); i\'al. Mag. {.\uK.. 191 \);Ave Maria (June, 1909); OwTjanrf Mnnthhj (Jan., June, 1909).

M. J. Flaherty.

Stoics and Stoic Philosophy. — The Stoic School «is founded in 3'2'2 u. c. by Zcno of Cittium and existed till the closing of the Athenian schools [a. d. 4'29). (It took its name from the Srod toikIXti,
 * ,he painted hall or colonnade in which the lectures

ivere held.) Its history may be diviiliil into three [larls: (1) Ancient Stoicism; (2) M hhllr Sluirium; (3) New Stoicism. (1) Ancient Stoic ism {■: J.J- '04). — Zeno of Cittium (b, 366; d. in 2S0j was the disciple of Crates the Cynic and the Academicians Stilpo, Xeno- r'rates, and Poleinon. After his death (264), Clean- Ihes of Assium (b. 331; d. 232) became head of the school; Chrysippus of Soli (b. 280) succeeded and w.as ^(■liolarch till 204. These philosophers, all of Orien- lal origin, lived at Athens, where Zeno played a part in politics and were in communication with the prin- ripal men of their day. The Stoic doctrine, of which Zeno laid the foundations, was developed by Cliry- 3ipi)us in 70.5 treatises, of which only some fragments have been preserved. In addition to the principles accepted by all the thinkers of their age (the percep- tion of the true, if it exi.st, can only be immediate; bodies alone exist; the wise man is self-.sufficient ; the political constitution is indifferent), derived from the Sophists and the Cynics, they ba.se the entire moral attitude of the wise man (conformitv to oneself and

nature, indifference to external things on a compre- hensive concept of nature, in part derived from Hera- clitus. but inspired by an entirely new^ spirit. It is a belief in a universal nature which is at one and the same time Fate infallibly regulating the cour.se of events {eifiapii^vj), logos); Zeus, or providence, the external principle of finality adapting all other things to the needs of rational beings; the law determining the natural rules that govern the society of men and of the gods; the artistic fire, the expression of the active force which produccfl the worki, one, perfect, and complete from the beginning, with which it will be reunited through the univer.'inl conflagration, fol- lowing a regular and ever recurring cycle. The popu- lar gods are different forms of this force, described allegorically in the myths. This view of nature is the basis of the optimism of the Stoic moral system: confidence in the in,stinctive faculties, which, in the ab.sence of a perfect knowledge of the world, ought to guide man's actions; and again, the infallible wis- dom of the sage, which Chrysippus tries to establish by means of a dialectic derived from Aristotle and the Cynics. But this optimi.sm requires them to solve the following pnjblems: the origin of the passions and the vices; tlic conciliation of fate and liberty; the origin of evil in the world. On the last two subjects they propounded aU the arguments, that were ad- vanced later up to the time of Leibniz.

(2) Middle Stoicism (second and first centuries B. c). — Stoicism during this period was no longer a Greek School; it has penetrated into the Roman world, and became, under the influence of Sci])io's friend, Panfe- tius (185-112), who lived at Rome, and of Posidonius (135-40), who transferred tlie Scliool to Rhodes, the quasi-official philosophy of Honiaii im])erialism. Its doctrines were considerably modified, becoming less dogmatic in consequence of the criticism of the new Academician, Carneades (21.5-r29). In Stoic mo- rality Panaitius develops the idea of humanity. Posi- donius is at once a savant, historian, geographer, mathematician, astronomer, and a mystic who, com- menting on Plato's works, revives his theories on the nature and destiny of the soul.

(3) Neiv Stoicuvn (to A. D.429). — The new Stoicism is more ethical and didactic. Science is no longer the knowledge of nature, but a kind of theological sumnm of moral and religious sentiments. Very little has been preserved of the short popular treatises and discourses, wherein, with a vivid style introducetl under the influence of the Cynic diatribe, the philo.so- pher endeavoured to render his ethical ])rincij)les practical. The letters of Seneca (2-68) to Lucilius, the conversations of Musonius (time of Nero), and of Epictetus (age of Doniitiani, the fragments of llicro- cles (time of Hadrian i, the menioirs of Marcus .Viirc- lius (d. 180), give but an inconi|)lcte idea. Stoicism, which gradually disaj)pcare(l as the oflicial School, was the most important of the Ilcllinic elements in the serai-oriental rehgions of vanishing paganism.

Zeller, Phil. d. Griechen, III, pt. i, tr. Sloics by Riec-hel (I.ondon. 1892); Dyboft, Die Ethili der Stoa (Berlin, 1897); Brown, Stoics and Saints (New Yorlc, 1893); Leonard Alston. Stoic ami Christian (London. V.mii) ; Armm. Slmciruni iHernm

fraf^mcnta (]A-n'/iL' . I'lii;, I'n', I;\ki, /'•• /■■ ',.,y.j i r\--

den, 1810); Bo- ,!,.>/ - . ■ i I - ;

•Stein, Ps^jchi'l" I'. ■■•!! l--i. h ,■/'./ ^ ■,!-

nisselehreder Sh.i I ;. i l,r,. 1 -s^ I', mi i ir, /(.. .^ ' -,' I ■ i|-,-i,-. I '"IM ; Bb^hier, Chrmn'Pc 'I'ari,., 191(1). EhllhH BuKUlER.

Stolberg, Friedrich Leopold, Coont zd, b. at Brammstedt in Holstein (then a part of Denmark), 7 November, 17.50; d. at Sondermiihlen near Osnabriick, 5 December, 1819. He belonged to the younger branch of the Stolberg family and Wiis the son of a Danish magistrate and owner of a manorial estate. A few years after his birth the family moved to Copen- hagen and soon formed frieiidshiiis with distinguished literary men, especially Klo|)stock. Klopstock w;is then at the height of his fame and the funihimciital