Roman Stoicism

Synopsis

This book is the outcome of a course of lectures delivered by me in successive years to Latin Honours students in accordance with the regulations of the University of Wales. It is therefore primarily intended for the assistance of classical students; but it may perhaps appeal in its present form to a somewhat wider circle.

At the time that the book was begun the best systematic exposition of the Stoic philosophy available for English readers was to be found in Prof. E. Zeller’s Stoics Epicureans and Sceptics, translated by O. J. Reichel (Longmans, 1892). This work, admirable in detail, is nevertheless somewhat inadequate to the subject, which appeared to its learned author as a mere sequel to the much more important philosophical systems of Plato and Aristotle. Since its first appearance many qualified writers have been inclined to assign a higher rank to Stoicism, amongst whom L. Stein, A. Schmekel, and Hans von Arnim in the German-speaking countries, and A. C. Pearson, G. H. Rendall, and R. D. Hicks in our own, are perhaps most conspicuous.

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