St. George Stock (modern guide) · 1850–1922
A Guide to Stoicism 6 ¶8 — St. George Stock (modern guide)
From “Conclusion”
Original English text (1908)
St. George Stock (modern guide), A Guide to Stoicism 6 ¶8
Virtue, with the earlier Greek philosophers, was aristocratic and exclusive. Stoicism, like Christianity, threw it open to the meanest of mankind. In the kingdom of wisdom, as in the kingdom of Christ, there was neither barbarian, Scythian, bond, nor free. The only true freedom was to serve philosophy, or, which was the same thing, to serve God; and that could be done in any station in life. The sole condition of communion with gods and good men was the possession of a certain frame of mind, which might belong equally to a gentleman, to a freedman, or to a slave. In place of the arrogant assertion of the natural nobility of the Greeks, we now hear that a good mind is the true nobility. Birth is of no importance; all are sprung from the gods. "The door of virtue is shut to no man; it is open to all, admits all, invites all--free men, freedmen, slaves, kings and exiles. Its election is not of family or fortune; it is content with the bare man." Wherever there was a human being, there Stoicism saw a field for well doing. Its followers were always to have in their mouths and hearts the well-known line-- Homo sum humani nihil a me allenum puto
Cite this passage
St. George Stock (modern guide), A Guide to Stoicism 6 ¶8 (1908)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/a-guide-to-stoicism/6.8
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 notesWhere earlier Greek thinkers treated virtue as a privilege of the well-born, Stoicism opened it to everyone, whatever their birth or rank, and made a good mind the only true nobility. Wherever a human being is found, there is room for doing good, summed up in the line that nothing human is foreign to me.
Older wording
- “freedman”
- — a former slave who has been freed
- “Scythian”
- — a person from the steppe lands north of the Black Sea, regarded by Greeks as a barbarian
- “election”
- — choosing or selecting
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
- Community and our duty to others
- Freedom
- Reputation and others' opinions
- Searching for meaning
Quote cards
The opening line of this passage as an image, with its citation — for sharing or keeping.