SVF I.216

Original — Ancient Greek

ἀρέσκει γὰρ τῷ τε Ζήνωνι καὶ τοῖς ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ Στωικοῖς φιλοσόφοις δύο γένη τῶν ἀνθρώπων εἶναι, τὸ μὲν τῶν σπουδαίων, τὸ δὲ τῶν φαύλων· καὶ τὸ μὲν τῶν σπουδαίων διὰ παντὸς τοῦ βίου χρῆσθαι ταῖς ἀρεταῖς, τὸ δὲ τῶν φαύλων ταῖς κακίαις· ὅθεν τὸ μὲν ἀεὶ κατορθοῦν ἐν ἅπασιν οἷς προστίθεται, τὸ δὲ ἁμαρτάνειν. καὶ τὸν μὲν σπουδαῖον ταῖς περὶ τὸν βίον ἐμπειρίαις χρώμενον ἐν τοῖς πραττομένοις ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ πάντ᾽ εὖ ποιεῖν, καθάπερ φρονίμως καὶ σωφρόνως καὶ κατὰ τὰς ἄλλας ἀρετάς· τὸν δὲ φαῦλον κατὰ τοὐναντίον κακῶς. καὶ τὸν μὲν σπουδαῖον μέγαν καὶ ἁδρὸν καὶ ὑψηλὸν καὶ ἰσχυρόν. μέγαν μὲν ὅτι δύναται ἐφικνεῖσθαι τῶν κατὰ προαίρεσιν ὄντων αὐτῷ καὶ προκειμένων· ἁδρὸν δέ, ὅτι ἐστὶν ηὐξημένος πάντοθεν· ὑψηλὸν δ᾽, ὅτι μετείληφε τοῦ ἐπιβάλλοντος ὕψους ἀνδρὶ γενναίῳ καὶ σοφῷ· καὶ ἰσχυρὸν δ᾽, ὅτι τὴν ἐπιβάλλουσαν ἰσχὺν περιπεποίηται, ἀήττητος ὢν καὶ ἀκαταγώνιστος. παρ᾽ ὃ καὶ οὔτε ἀναγκάζεται ὑπό τινος οὔτε ἀναγκάζει τινα, οὔτε κωλύεται οὔτε κωλύει, οὔτε βιάζεται ὑπό τινος οὔτ᾽ αὐτὸς βιάζει τινα, οὔτε δεσπόζει οὔτε δεσπόζεται, οὔτε κακοποιεῖ τινὰ οὔτ᾽ αὐτὸς κακοποιεῖται, οὔτε κακοῖς περιπίπτει ⟨οὔτ᾽ ἄλλον ποιεῖ κακοῖς περιπίπτειν⟩, οὔτε ἐξαπατᾶται οὔτε ἐξαπατᾷ ἄλλον, οὔτε διαψεύδεται οὔτε ἀγνοεῖ οὔτε λανθάνει ἑαυτόν, οὔτε καθόλου ψεῦδος ὑπολαμβάνει· εὐδαίμων δέ ἐστι μάλιστα καὶ εὐτυχὴς καὶ μακάριος καὶ ὄλβιος καὶ εὐσεβὴς καὶ θεοφιλὴς καὶ ἀξιωματικός, βασιλικός τε καὶ στρατηγικὸς καὶ πολιτικὸς καὶ οἰκονομικὸς καὶ χρηματιστικός. τοὺς δὲ φαύλους ἅπαντα τούτοις ἐναντία ἔχειν.

StoicOs Translation

For it is the view of Zeno and of the Stoic philosophers who follow him that there are two kinds of human beings: that of the excellent (spoudaioi) and that of the base (phauloi). The kind of the excellent employs the virtues through the whole of life, that of the base the vices; hence the one always acts rightly in everything it undertakes, the other errs. The excellent man, using his life-experience in what he does, does everything well — namely wisely, temperately and according to the other virtues; the base man, on the contrary, does everything badly. The excellent man is great, robust, lofty and strong: great, because he can attain what accords with his purpose and lies before him; robust, because he has grown on every side; lofty, because he has a share in the height that befits a noble and wise man; strong, because he has acquired the strength that befits such a man, being unconquered and unconquerable. Therefore he is neither compelled by anyone nor compels anyone, neither hindered nor hinders, neither forced by anyone nor himself forces another, neither masters nor is mastered, neither harms anyone nor is himself harmed, neither falls into evils ⟨nor makes another fall into evils⟩, is neither deceived nor deceives another, is neither mistaken nor ignorant nor unaware of himself, and in general takes up no falsehood. He is happy above all, and fortunate, and blessed, and prosperous, and pious, and dear to the gods, and worthy of honour — kingly, fit to command, political, economic and skilled in acquiring. And the base have everything contrary to this.

Context

The systematic ethical doxography in Stobaeus (going back to Arius Didymus) opens its account of the sage and the fool with this programmatic statement, naming Zeno first and the Stoics after him as joint holders of the doctrine.

Source notes:Text verified against von Arnim, SVF I (1903), no. 216, pp. 52–53 (OCR of the scanned edition). One clause (“nor makes another fall into evils”) is an editorial supplement marked by von Arnim with angle brackets, restoring the symmetry of the list.

What the source actually tells us

A testimonium that attributes the two-kinds doctrine jointly to “Zeno and the Stoic philosophers who follow him”. The opening dichotomy is thereby anchored in the founder; the swelling encomium of the sage that follows is the doxographer's systematic elaboration of school material.

Philosophical meaning

No middle ground: humanity divides into the excellent, who act from virtue in everything, and the base, who err in everything. From this dichotomy grow the famous Stoic paradoxes — the sage alone is free, king, general, rich — here already in embryo. The sage is not a description of anyone living but a regulative ideal: the north star by which the school measured all actual progress (cf. SVF I.234).

Scholarly uncertainty

The doctrine is attributed to Zeno together with his school; the dichotomy itself is certainly early (cf. SVF I.224 on equal errors), but the long encomium of the sage bears the stamp of later doxographic systematization, and none of the wording can be claimed as Zeno's own. One clause is an editorial supplement by von Arnim.

Biographical context

Go deeper

• Read SVF I.224 — all errors are equal →
• Read SVF I.234 — Zeno's dream test of progress →