Note 777 — ROMAN PEOPLE (continued 7)
Reading edition
Cic. N.D. ii., end of sec. 19. He is translating the Greek πνεῦμα, which in Stoicism is not a spiritual conception, but a material one, in harmony with their theory of the universe as being itself material, including reason and the soul. This is one of the weak points of the Stoic idea of Unity. For the meaning of spiritus see Mayor's note on the passage; it is "the ether or warm air which penetrates and gives life to all things, and connects them together in one organic whole."