10 Ancient Books That Influenced Stoicism

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“A book is a word spoken into creation. Its message goes out into the world. It cannot be taken back,” Michael O’Brien warned as well as assured in his magisterial novel, Sophia House. Just as each word is a reflection of The Word (Logos), so each book is a reflection of The Book. While Christians have come to have a sort of monopoly on The Word and its greatest meaning and exemplar, others—such as the Stoics—embraced the Logos as well. And, while Christians have also come to have a sort of monopoly on The Book, others—such as the Stoics—embraced a variety of works. Here are ten books written by non-Stoics that greatly influenced Stoicism.



At the beginning of Stoic philosophy stands the first great work of philosophy itself, Heraclitus’ Fragments
. In them, Heraclitus recognized and embraced (or perhaps even truly created) the notion of the Logos, the thing common to all. “For this reason it is necessary to follow what is common,” he lamented. “But although the logos is common, most people live as if they had their own private understanding.” Further, he continued, “Those who speak with understanding must rely firmly on what is common to all as a city must rely on law, and much more firmly. For all human laws are nourished by one law, the divine law; for it has as much power as it wishes and is sufficient for all and is still left over.” These ideas form the basis of Stoicism.

Though Socrates would not be executed until 399BC, a full century after Heraclitus wrote his Fragments, he continued much of the tradition as first expressed by Heraclitus. In his final tragic days, his best friend, Crito (The Crito), argued in a variety of ways that Socrates should escape and evade his punishment. But Socrates famously rejected these pleas, seeing in them emotion rather than tradition or logic. While the Athens of his day might be wrong and unjust, Athens—overtime—was the common thing by which law and order, as well as culture and tradition, had been handed down, one generation to the next. Athens (at the very least, a reflection of the common thing) was, Socrates believed, the parent of order. As such, he accepted his punishment. Further, when questioned about truth and falsehood, Socrates offered what would become the basis of all Stoic ethics. That is, ethics can never be subject to time and place, but rather is universal and tied to all that is True, Good, and Beautiful. To do wrong is—in every time and every place—wrong, especially when one believes a wrong may lead to a good.

Continued below.
10 Ancient Books That Influenced Stoicism ~ The Imaginative Conservative
 
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