For Stoics, Virtue Poem by gershon hepner

Only what you can control
is worthy of esteem.
For Stoics virtue played that role,
and people in their team
equated happiness with equanim-
ity, conditioned by
internal factors, not the whim
of outward ones. That’s why
you shouldn’t worry about health,
controlled by God and genes,
or try accumulating wealth––
leave that to schizophrenes,
and as for love, they had no word
for what we call beshert,
they knew that it is quite absurd
to chase it like a skirt,
for what will be will be, they knew,
and only virtue should
become the goal that we pursue
to make our living good.

Inspired by an answer Steve Mason, who is editing all the works of Josephus, gave me when I asked him whether the Stoics truly esteemed virtue above all other qualities:

Certainly, Stoics valued virtue (as the only thing that lay within human volition) above all (because everything else was considered beyond one's control - and so was 'indifferent') . One should find happiness in doing with confidence what one has control over (virtue) and not worry about the rest, accepting it with equanimity. But by the first century, the basic notion of happiness as internally driven and not conditioned by externals was the common property of Epicureans, Platonists, Cynics, and pretty much all philosophers, who were generally regarded as a group (philosophers) rather than being singled out according to school. Eclecticism was the norm. Josephus portrayed his Essenes (in War 2) and all Judaeans (esp. in Apion) as such philosophers: people who held in contempt all the fears (death and pain) and enthusiasms (wealth, luxury) of ordinary folk.



6/19/08