Note (return) — Chapter XIII

Zeno was evidently a more earnest, serious, and thoughtful man. He cherished a nobler ideal of life than to suppose "man must do voluntarily, what the brute does instinctively-- eschew pain, and seek pleasure." He therefore seeks to ascertain whether there be not some "principle of nature," or some law of nature, which determines what is right in human action --whether there be not some light under which, on contemplating an action, we may at once pronounce upon its intrinsic rightness, or otherwise. This he believes he has found in the universal reason which fashioned, and permeates, and vivifies the universe, and is the light and life of the human soul. The chief good is, confessedly, to live according to nature; which is to live according to virtue, for nature leads us to that point.... For our individual natures are all part of the universal nature; on which account, the chief good is to live in a manner corresponding to one's own nature, and to universal nature; doing none of those things which the common law of mankind (the universal conscience of our race) forbids. That common law is identical with RIGHT REASON which pervades every thing, being the same with Jupiter (Ζεύς), who is the regulator and chief manager of all existing things. 824 The foundation of the ethical system of the Stoics is thus laid in their philosophy of nature --their Physiology and Psychology. If, therefore, we would apprehend the logical connection and unity of Stoicism, we must follow their order of thought--that is, we must commence with their