St. George Stock (modern guide) · 1850–1922
A Guide to Stoicism 4 ¶21–22 — St. George Stock (modern guide)
From “Ethic”
Original English text (1908)
St. George Stock (modern guide), A Guide to Stoicism 4 ¶21–22
Nature was at once the law of God and the law for man. For by the nature of anything was meant, not that which we actually find it to be, but that which in the eternal fitness of things it was obviously intended to become. To be happy then was to be virtuous, to be virtuous was to be rational, to be rational was to follow Nature, and to follow Nature was to obey God. Virtue imparted to life that even flow in which Zeno declared happiness to consist. This was attained when one's own genius was in harmony with the will that disposed of all things.
Cite this passage
St. George Stock (modern guide), A Guide to Stoicism 4 ¶21–22 (1908)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/a-guide-to-stoicism/4.21
St. George Stock, Stoicism (1908), text of the Haldeman-Julius reprint “A Guide to Stoicism”. Text: Project Gutenberg #7514. Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesNature is both what the divine order commands and what humans ought to become. Happiness comes from being virtuous, which means being rational, which means following nature and so obeying the ordering power of the universe, giving life the smooth flow Zeno prized.
Older wording
- “genius”
- — one's guiding spirit or inner character
- “even flow”
- — the smooth, untroubled course of life that Zeno equated with happiness
Themes and situations
- Nature and the cosmos
- Acceptance and fate
- Virtue and character
- Peace of mind
- Searching for meaning
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