The Death of Marcus Aurelius

The Death of Marcus Aurelius

Tuesday, July 16, 2024

Wisdom from the Early Stoics, Zeno of Citium 70


And as there are said to be certain infirmities in the body, as for instance gout and arthritic disorders, so too there is in the soul love of fame, love of pleasure, and the like. 

By infirmity is meant disease accompanied by weakness; and by disease is meant a fond imagining of something that seems desirable. 

And as in the body there are tendencies to certain maladies such as colds and diarrhea, so it is with the soul, there are tendencies like enviousness, pitifulness, quarrelsomeness, and the like. 

Also the Stoics say that there are three emotional states which are good, namely, joy, caution, and wishing. 

Joy, the counterpart of pleasure, is rational elation. 

Caution, the counterpart of fear, is rational avoidance; for though the wise man will never feel fear, he will yet use caution. 

And they make wishing the counterpart of desire (or craving), inasmuch as it is rational appetency. 

And accordingly, as under the primary passions are classed certain others subordinate to them, so too is it with the primary eupathies or good emotional states. 

Thus under wishing they bring well-wishing or benevolence, friendliness, respect, affection; under caution, reverence and modesty; under joy, delight, mirth, cheerfulness. 

—Diogenes Laërtius, 7.115-116 

IMAGE: James Gillray, The Gout (1799) 



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