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The stoics in ancient rome
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After Stoicism spread to Rome it took off in popularity because it was introduced to a well known and respected individual: the famous general Scipio Africanus the Younger. Scipio was a general famous for his victories in the third punic war and for conquering cities in Spain. He was born into a great Patrician family and adopted into another, while still keeping close with his birth family. He was descended by blood or legal ties to Consuls and several famed generals.The philosopher who introduced Scipio to Stoicism was a man named Panaetius. Panaetius came to Rome and lived there for many years before he returned to Athens to become the head of the Stoic school there. When he first came to Rome he met Scipio who was greatly interested in Panaetius’ Stoic ideas. Scipio introduced him to the Scipionic circle, which he became part of. It was the first literary circle of Rome composed of distinguished individuals, including Lucilius a famed satirist, and members of Scipio’s family. Panaetius taught his Stoic ideas to this esteemed group which essentially introduced Stoicism to Rome’s intellectually elite. The friendship between Scipio Africanus the Younger and Panaetius also greatly popularized Stoicism. Scipio and the circle’s acceptance and admiration for this philosophy aided its spread though Roman society.
Stoicism made the transition from intriguing foreign philosophy to a popular practice because it was taken up by several high profile figures. Stoicism was first adopted by Marcus Tullius Cicero. He had been highly educated in both Greece and Rome. The fact that he had studied in Greece and spoke Greek would have greatly helped him understand Stoicism. He was also a great intellectual and orator of his time which would hav...
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...it's Influence on Roman Life and Thought." The Classical Journal 29 (1934) 645-657
Russell, Bertand. A History of Western Philosophy. USA: Simon and Schuster Press, 1945.
Solomon, Robert. A Short History of Philosophy. USA: Oxford University Press, 1996.
“Stoicism,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (1996), accessed April 10, 2014. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/stoicism/
Strange, Steven. Zupko, Jack. Stoicism: Traditions and Transformations. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, s.v. “Marcus Tullius Cicero,” accessed April 14, 2014, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/117565/Marcus-Tullius-Cicero/299678/Oratory. Merriam Webster Online, s.v. “stoic,” accessed April 20th, 2014. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stoic
Rome in the Late Republic by M Beard and M Crawford, (2nd ed, Duckworth, 1999)
From ages past, the actions of conquerors, kings and tyrants had brought the Roman Republic to a stance that opposed any idea of a singular leader, of a single man that held total power over the entirety of the state. Their rejection of the various ruthless Etruscan rulers that had previously dictated them brought the Republic to existence in 509 BC , and as a republic their prominence throughout the provinces of the world exponentially expanded. Throughout these years, the traditions of the Romans changed to varying degrees, most noticeably as a result of the cultural influence that its subject nations had upon the republic, as well as the ever-changing nature of Roman society in relation to then-current events. However, it was not until the rise of Augustus, the first of a long line of succeeding emperors, that many core aspects of the Republic were greatly changed. These were collectively known as the “Augustan Reforms”, and consisted of largely a variety of revisions to the social, religious, political, legal and administrative aspects of the republic’s infrastructure. Through Augustus, who revelled in the old traditional ways of the past, the immoral, unrestraint society that Rome was gradually falling to being was converted to a society where infidelities and corruption was harshly looked upon and judged. The Roman historian Suetonius states, “He corrected many ill practices, which, to the detriment of the public, had either survived the licentious habits of the late civil wars, or else originated in the long peace” . Through Augustus and his reforms, the Republic was transformed into an Empire, and through this transformation, Rome experienced one of its greatest and stabl...
T.J. Cornell, The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000-264 BC), London and New York: Routledge, 1995
Over the span of five-hundred years, the Roman Republic grew to be the most dominant force in the early Western world. As the Republic continued to grow around the year 47 B.C it began to go through some changes with the rise of Julius Caesar and the degeneration of the first triumvirate. Caesar sought to bring Rome to an even greater glory but many in the Senate believed that he had abused his power, viewing his rule more as a dictatorship. The Senate desired that Rome continued to run as a republic. Though Rome continued to be glorified, the rule of Caesar Octavian Augustus finally converted Rome to an Empire after many years of civil war. Examining a few selections from a few ancient authors, insight is provided as to how the republic fell and what the result was because of this.
Epicureanism and Stoicism had similarities and differences in how they perceived the world, which culminated in ...
Shuckburgh, Evelyn Shirley. A history of Rome to the battle of Actium. London: Macmillan and Co., 1917.
philosophical temperament and affluence. Yet at times these two forces within Cicero clash and contradict with the early stoic teachings. Cicero gradually adopted the stoic lifestyle but not altogether entirely, and this is somewhat due to the fact of what it was like to be a roman of the time. The morals of everyday Rome conflicted with some of the stoic ideals that were set by early stoicism. Thus, Cicero changed the face of stoicism by romanizing it; redefining stoicism into the middle phase.
Stone, Marla, ‘A Flexible Rome: Fascism and the cult of romanità.’ In Catharine Edwards (ed.) Roman Presences: Receptions of Rome in European Culture, 1789-1945 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), pp.205-220.
Marcel Le Glay, Jean-Louis Voisin, Yann Le Bohec. A History of Rome. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
With their philosophical roots grounded in ancient Greece, Stoicism and Epicureanism had contrary yet significant impacts on Roman society. These two philosophies differed in many of their basic theories. Stoics attempted to reach a moral level where they had freedom from passion, while Epicureans strove for pleasure and avoided all types of pain. Stoics like the Epicureans, emphasized ethics as the main field of knowledge, but they also developed theories of logic and natural science to support their ethical doctrines.
The Roman Republic (Res Pvblica Romana) was a form of republican government that was established in 509 BCE to replace the monarchy government that had reigned over Rome since the founding in 753BCE (Steele, 2012). The Failure of the Roman Republic was inevitable as it was an unjust system of government and it was left vulnerable after the attempted changes instigated by the Gracchi, as the Gracchi exposed the weaknesses in the political structure allowing future politicians to manipulate the system. The sources used throughout the essay, which include Plutarch, Appian, Florus and Velleius, will need to be examined closely as each source will demonstrate different views on the Gracchi, as the authors purpose of writing will differ. The Gracchi had set out to change Rome for the better, however in the process; they exposed the internal flaws of the government which resulted in the beginning of the decline of the Roman Republic.
5. Lesley Adkins, Roy A Adkins, Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome, Oxford University Press, 1998. (pg. 304)
3)Gwynn, David M. The Roman Republic: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2012. Print.
"Rome, History of Ancient Rome From Its Founding To Collapse." World History International: World History Essays From Prehistory To The Present. Web. 16 Dec. 2009. .
Favro, Diane G.. The urban image of Augustan Rome. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. (266)
Marcus Aurelius was a stoic. In the book Archetypes of Wisdom, Soccio defines stoicism as a philosophy that, “counsel’s self-control, detachment, and acceptance of one’s fate as identified by the objective use of reason. Stoics believed that everything is about your attitude and that happiness comes only through the detachment from all external things. In book two of The Meditations Aurelius writes that nothing can injure him because no one can implicate him in what is degrading. This would be considered a stoic thought because Marcus is not letting external factors influence his happiness. Another example would be that when he speaks of his brother. His stepbrother Verus was very incompetent, but Aurelius could not turn his back on him, because it would go against Nature. Nature is the same thing as Logos. Logos is a force that governs the universe. It is also known as World Reason, Cosmic Mind, God, Zeus, Nature, Providence, Cosmic Meaning, and Fate. He mentions several of these throughout the document.