Stoic

Zeno of Citium

Ζήνων ὁ Κιτιεύς

c. 334 – c. 262 BCE · Citium, Cyprus

A merchant from Cyprus who, after a shipwreck, came to Athens and studied with the Cynic Crates. He founded Stoicism, teaching at the Painted Porch (Stoa Poikile). His own writings are lost and known through later reports.

Key ideas

The goal of life is living in agreement with nature
Virtue is the only true good
Reason as shared by humans and the cosmos
Inner freedom from disturbing passions

Passages

Paraphrase

Zeno is reported to have said that well-being is reached little by little, and yet it is no little thing.

Diogenes Laertius, Lives, VII.26

Paraphrase and reference awaiting verification against the source.

Saying from a late source.

Paraphrase

Zeno was the first to declare that the end of life is to live in agreement with nature, which is the same as living virtuously, for nature leads us toward virtue.

Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, VII.87

Zeno's own writings are lost; known through later report.

Paraphrase

To a young man talking too much, Zeno reportedly said that we have two ears and one mouth so that we may listen more and speak less.

Diogenes Laertius, Lives, VII.23

Paraphrase and reference awaiting verification against the source.

Anecdote from a late source.

Paraphrase

Asked what a friend is, Zeno answered: another I.

Diogenes Laertius, Lives, VII.23

Paraphrase and reference awaiting verification against the source.

Anecdote from a late source.

Paraphrase

Plutarch reports that Zeno’s Republic imagined people living not in separate cities with their own laws, but as one community under a common order, like a herd grazing together.

Plutarch, On the Fortune of Alexander, I.6, 329a–b

Paraphrase and reference awaiting verification against the source.

Zeno’s Republic is lost; known through later reports.

Stoic (3rd c. BCE onward). Living in agreement with nature and reason, distinguishing what is up to us from what is not.