The contradictions of the Stoics (30-31)

urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg136.perseus-eng2:30-31

Refs	`{'start': {'reference': '30', 'human_reference': 'Section 30'}, 'end': {'reference': '31', 'human_reference': 'Section 31'}}`
Ancestors	`[]`
Children	`[]`

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Some of the ancients have said, that the same befell Zeno which befalls him who has sour wine which he can sell neither for vinegar nor wine; for his things preferred, as he called them, cannot be disposed of, either as good or as indifferent. But Chrysippus has made the matter yet far more intricate; for he sometimes says, that they are mad who make no account of riches, health, freedom from pain, and integrity of the body, nor take any care to attain them; and having cited that sentence of Hesiod,

Work hard, O God-born Perses,[*]

he cries out, that it would be a madness to advise the contrary and say,

Work not, O God-born Perses.

And in his book of Lives he affirms, that a wise man will for the sake of gain live with kings, and teach for

money, receiving from some of his scholars his reward beforehand, and making contract with others of them; and in his Seventh Book of Duties he says, that he will not scruple to turn his heels thrice over his head, if for so doing he may have a talent. In his First Book of Good Things, he yields and grants to those that desire it to call these preferred things good and their contraries evil, in these very words: Any one who will, according to these permutations, may call one thing good and another evil, having a regard to the things themselves, and not wandering elsewhere, not failing in the understanding of the things signified, and in the rest accommodating himself to custom in the denomination. Having thus in this place set his preferred things so near to good, and mixed them therewith, he again says, that none of these things belongs at all to us, but that reason withdraws and averts us from all such things; for he has written thus in his First Book of Exhortations. And in his Third Book of Nature he says, that some esteem those happy who reign and are rich, which is all one as if those should be reputed happy who make water in golden chamber-pots and wear golden fringes; but to a good man the losing of his whole estate is but as the losing of one groat, and the being sick no more than if he had stumbled. Wherefore he has not filled virtue only, but Providence also, with these contradictions. For virtue would seem to the utmost degree sordid and foolish, if it should busy itself about such matters, and enjoin a wise man for their sake to sail to Bosphorus or tumble with his heels over his head. And Jupiter would be very ridiculous to be styled Ctesius, Epicarpius, and Charitodotes, because forsooth he gives the wicked golden chamber-pots and golden fringes, and the good such things as are hardly worth a groat, when through Jupiter’s providence they become rich. And yet much more ridiculous is Apollo, if he sits to give oracles concerning

golden fringes and chamber-pots and the recovering of a stumble.

But they make this repugnancy yet more evident by their demonstration. For they say, that what may be used both well and ill, the same is neither good nor bad; but fools make an ill use of riches, health, and strength of body; therefore none of these is good. If therefore God gives not virtue to men,—but honesty is eligible of itself, —and yet bestows on them riches and health without virtue, he confers them on those who will use them not well but ill, that is hurtfully, shamefully, and perniciously. Now, if the Gods can bestow virtue and do not, they are not good; but if they cannot make men good, neither can they help them, for except virtue nothing is good and helpful. Now to judge those who are otherwise made good according to virtue and strength ⋯ is nothing to the purpose, for good men also judge the Gods according to virtue and strength; so that they do no more aid men than they are aided by them.

Now Chrysippus neither professes himself nor any one of his disciples and teachers to be virtuous. What then do they think of others, but those things which they say, —that they are all mad, fools, impious, transgressors of the laws, and in the utmost degree of misery and unhappiness? And yet they say that our affairs, though we act thus miserably, are governed by the providence of the Gods. Now if the Gods, changing their minds, should desire to hurt, afflict, overthrow, and quite crush us, they could not put us in a worse condition than we already are; as Chrysippus demonstrates that life can admit no greater degree either of misery or of unhappiness; so that if it had a voice, it would pronounce these words of Hercules:

I am so full of miseries, there is

No place to stow them in.
[*]

Now who can imagine any assertions more repugnant to one another than that of Chrysippus concerning the Gods and that concerning men; when he says, that the Gods do in the best manner possible provide for men, and yet men are in the worst condition imaginable?

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virtuous	1	w	3127
What	1	w	3132
then	1	w	3136
do	6	w	3138
they	10	w	3142
think	1	w	3147
of	25	w	3149
others	2	w	3155
but	9	w	3159
those	6	w	3164
things	9	w	3170
which	4	w	3175
they	11	w	3179
say	7	w	3182
that	14	w	3188
they	12	w	3192
are	8	w	3195
all	8	w	3198
mad	5	w	3201
fools	2	w	3207
impious	1	w	3215
transgressors	1	w	3229
of	26	w	3231
the	67	w	3234
laws	1	w	3238
and	38	w	3242
in	59	w	3244
the	68	w	3247
utmost	2	w	3253
degree	2	w	3259
of	27	w	3261
misery	1	w	3267
and	39	w	3270
unhappiness	1	w	3281
And	5	w	3285
yet	5	w	3288
they	13	w	3292
say	8	w	3295
that	15	w	3299
our	2	w	3302
affairs	1	w	3309
though	1	w	3316
we	4	w	3318
act	2	w	3321
thus	3	w	3325
miserably	1	w	3334
are	9	w	3338
governed	1	w	3346
by	3	w	3348
the	70	w	3351
providence	2	w	3361
of	28	w	3363
the	71	w	3366
Gods	3	w	3370
Now	4	w	3374
if	10	w	3376
the	72	w	3379
Gods	4	w	3383
changing	1	w	3392
their	4	w	3397
minds	1	w	3402
should	3	w	3409
desire	2	w	3415
to	27	w	3417
hurt	2	w	3421
afflict	1	w	3429
overthrow	1	w	3439
and	40	w	3443
quite	1	w	3448
crush	1	w	3453
us	23	w	3455
they	14	w	3460
could	1	w	3465
not	15	w	3468
put	2	w	3471
us	24	w	3473
in	63	w	3475
a	224	w	3476
worse	1	w	3481
condition	1	w	3490
than	3	w	3494
we	5	w	3496
already	1	w	3503
are	10	w	3506
as	12	w	3509
Chrysippus	3	w	3519
demonstrates	1	w	3531
that	16	w	3535
life	1	w	3539
can	6	w	3542
admit	1	w	3547
no	27	w	3549
greater	1	w	3556
degree	3	w	3562
either	6	w	3568
of	29	w	3570
misery	2	w	3576
or	45	w	3578
of	30	w	3580
unhappiness	2	w	3591
so	14	w	3594
that	17	w	3598
if	12	w	3600
it	29	w	3602
had	2	w	3605
a	238	w	3606
voice	1	w	3611
it	30	w	3614
would	4	w	3619
pronounce	1	w	3628
these	7	w	3633
words	2	w	3638
of	31	w	3640
Hercules	1	w	3648
I	3	w	3650
am	7	w	3652
so	15	w	3654
full	3	w	3658
of	32	w	3660
miseries	1	w	3668
there	4	w	3674
is	38	w	3676
No	5	w	3678
place	2	w	3683
to	28	w	3685
stow	3	w	3689
them	11	w	3693
in	65	w	3695
Eurip	1	w	3701
Herc	2	w	3706
Fur	1	w	3710
1245	1	w	3715
Now	5	w	3719
who	9	w	3722
can	7	w	3725
imagine	1	w	3732
any	3	w	3735
assertions	1	w	3745
more	6	w	3749
repugnant	1	w	3758
to	30	w	3760
one	10	w	3763
another	2	w	3770
than	4	w	3774
that	18	w	3778
of	33	w	3780
Chrysippus	4	w	3790
concerning	2	w	3800
the	80	w	3803
Gods	5	w	3807
and	41	w	3810
that	19	w	3814
concerning	3	w	3824
men	5	w	3827
when	2	w	3832
he	115	w	3834
says	5	w	3838
that	20	w	3843
the	81	w	3846
Gods	6	w	3850
do	7	w	3852
in	69	w	3854
the	82	w	3857
best	3	w	3861
manner	1	w	3867
possible	1	w	3875
provide	3	w	3882
for	16	w	3885
men	6	w	3888
and	42	w	3892
yet	6	w	3895
men	7	w	3898
are	11	w	3901
in	70	w	3903
the	83	w	3906
worst	1	w	3911
condition	2	w	3920
imaginable	1	w	3930