SVF I.137
- Stoic
- Zeno of Citium
- Ancient source
- Tertullianus, De anima, chapter 5 — De an. 5
- Source language
- Latin
- Source status
- Testimonium · Later report
Original — Latin
denique Zeno “consitum spiritum” definiens animam hoc modo instruit: “quo” inquit “digresso animal emoritur, corpus est: consito autem spiritu digresso animal emoritur: ergo consitus spiritus corpus est: consitus autem spiritus anima est: ergo corpus est anima.” — Macrobius, In Somn. Scip. I 14,19: Zenon (dixit animam) concretum corpori spiritum.StoicOs Translation
Finally Zeno, defining the soul as “implanted breath” (consitus spiritus), builds his case in this way: “That,” he says, “upon whose departure the living being dies, is a body; but when the implanted breath departs, the living being dies; therefore the implanted breath is a body; but the implanted breath is the soul; therefore the soul is a body.” — Macrobius: Zeno said the soul is breath fused with the body.
Context
Tertullian, the Christian writer of Carthage, argues in De anima that the soul is corporeal, and calls Zeno as his chief philosophical witness, quoting the argument step by step with “he says”.
Source notes:Text verified against von Arnim, SVF I (1903), no. 137, p. 38 (OCR of the scanned edition). Von Arnim appends Macrobius, In Somnium Scipionis I 14,19 (“Zeno: breath fused with the body”) and, for comparison, the parallel soul-syllogism Chrysippus used according to Nemesius.
What the source actually tells us
A later Latin report that presents Zeno's argument in explicit syllogistic form and preserves his technical phrase in Latin dress (consitus spiritus, “implanted breath”). Macrobius independently confirms the definition; Chalcidius (SVF I.138) transmits the same syllogism.
Philosophical meaning
For Zeno only bodies act and are acted upon. Since the soul's departure kills the living being, the soul must itself be a body — breath (pneuma). The argument welds his physics to his psychology: the same doctrine as the “warm breath” of SVF I.135, here in the form of a proof.
Scholarly uncertainty
The transmitted form of the syllogism is debated: H. Gomperz proposed rearranging its steps, while von Arnim defends the form Tertullian gives. The wording is Tertullian's Latin, two steps removed from Zeno's Greek; the argument itself, however, is multiply attested (Chalcidius, Macrobius).
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About this edition
StoicOs Ancient Library is a developing multilingual digital study edition of surviving early Stoic material. The Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta assembled by Hans von Arnim provides the traditional reference framework. StoicOs distinguishes carefully between fragments, testimonia, later reports and interpretation. StoicOs translations are prepared from the surviving ancient-language sources where available.