The Stoics and the Epicureans were the dominant philosophical movements in ancient Greece and Rome from the century after Aristotle through the early Roman empire. Indeed, one of the Roman emperors, Marcus Aurelius (121–180), was himself a Stoic philosopher. However, their influence waned with a revival of interest in Plato and Aristotle during the late Roman empire and most of the original texts were lost. Our evidence of the views of the early Stoics views comes from reports and short quotations in a variety of sources. In the case of Epicureans, in addition to short works from the founder of the movement (Epicurus, who was born about 20 years before Aristotle’s death), we have a long poem by the Roman writer Lucretius (from which you will read a selection in a prose translation).
In the selections from the Stoics, the editor has often assembled several passages from different authors that give alternative perspectives on the same aspect of the Stoic position. For our purposes, you can think of three broad collections of selections.
• In an initial group (pp. 5-8, up to the selection from Cicero), the basic problem of reconciling views on freedom and determination are set out. Pay special attention to the conflict noted in the selection from Epictetus. (Epictetus was himself a Stoic philosopher; he lived shortly before Marcus Aurelius.)
• You can think of the second group (pp. 8-13, up to the selection from Hippolytus) as begin focused on the “lazy argument” (mentioned in the first of them) and responses to it. The key passages are the two from Cicero that begin and end this group. (Cicero, an important Roman thinker and writer who lived 106–43, is not usually classified as a Stoic himself, but he was generally sympathetic to the movement.)
• When reading the final group of passages (pp. 13-16), have in mind the example of the dog reported in the passage from Hippolytus.
The Epicureans were atomists, and the selection from Lucretius (who lived about the same time as Cicero) is focused on the idea of “swerves” in the paths of atoms (a view that was mentioned in passing in the passage from Plutarch on p. 10). Although you are reading of the idea in Lucretius, it dates back to Epicurus, and it was something that distinguished his views from those of other Greek atomists.