St. George Stock (modern guide) · 1850–1922
A Guide to Stoicism 4 ¶33 — St. George Stock (modern guide)
From “Ethic”
Original English text (1908)
St. George Stock (modern guide), A Guide to Stoicism 4 ¶33
The sphere of propriety was confined to things indifferent, so that there were proprieties which were common to the sage and the fool. It had to do with taking the things which were in accordance with nature and rejecting those that were not. Even the propriety of living or dying was determined, not by reference to virtue or vice, but to the preponderance or deficiency of things in accordance with nature. It might thus be a propriety for the sage in spite of his happiness, to depart from life of his own accord, and for the fool notwithstanding his misery, to remain in it. Life, being in itself indifferent, the whole question was one of opportunism. Wisdom might prompt the leaving herself should occasion seem to call for it.
Cite this passage
St. George Stock (modern guide), A Guide to Stoicism 4 ¶33 (1908)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/a-guide-to-stoicism/4.33
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 notesAppropriate action applied only to indifferent things, so even the question of whether to go on living was judged by whether natural advantages or their lack prevailed, not by virtue. In theory a wise person might leave life by choice even while happy, and a fool might stay though miserable.
Older wording
- “propriety”
- — fitting or appropriate conduct
- “preponderance”
- — greater weight or amount
- “opportunism”
- — acting as circumstances suit
Themes and situations
- Death and mortality
- Duty and roles
- Nature and the cosmos