Page:Ferrier Works vol 2 1888 LECTURES IN GREEK PHILOSOPHY.pdf/478

Rh classes of laws, is, and must be, a life of virtue and happiness. But here it has to be asked, By means of what principle is man to find out these laws? how is he to discover what they are, and what they enjoin? By what principle is he to know when her is obeying the laws of his own nature, and when he is violating them? By what principle is he to know when he is obeying the laws of society, and when he is violating them? By what principle is he to know when he is obeying the laws of God, and when he is violating them? He is enabled to know this, the Stoics say, by the principle of reason; so that their general ethical doctrine, stated more explicitly, amounts to this, "Man is happy and virtuous in proportion to the degree in which, under the guidance and enlightenment of reason and knowledge, he conforms or accommodates himself, first, to the law of his own nature; secondly, to the law of society; thirdly, to the law of Providence." The perfect man of the Stoics, their completely wise man, is represented as living in strict conformity with these laws. Under the guidance of a perfect reason he yields an entire submission to the law of his own being, he fulfils to the letter all that his- true nature enjoins. He yields an entire submission to the great laws by which society is held together and advanced; he yields an entire submission to the will of his Creator, and acts in strict accordance with the designs of an overruling and all governing Providence; and doing so, his happiness as well as his virtue is supreme. But this picture is