Note 22 — Chapter III · HISTORY OF THE STOICS UNTIL THE END OF THE SECOND CENTURY B.C.

According to Antisthenes (the Rhodian), in Diog. l.c., Cleanthes was a pugilist, who came to Athens with four drachmæ, and entered the school of Zeno (according to Hesych. v. Suid., that of Crates, which is impossible for chronological reasons. Conversely, Valer. Max. viii. 7, ext. 11, makes him a pupil of Chrysippus, confounding the relations of pupil and teacher, as we have met with elsewhere), in which he studied for nineteen years (Diog. 176), gaining a maintenance by working as a labourer (Diog. 168; 174; Plut. Vit. Ær. Al. 7, 5, p. 830; Sen. Ep. 44, 3; Krische, Forsch.). A public maintenance, which was offered him, Zeno induced him to refuse, and, in other ways, tried his power of will by the severest tests. It is, therefore, all the more improbable that Antigonus gave him 3000 minæ (Diog. 169). On the simplicity of his life, his constant application, his adherence to Zeno, &c., see Diog. 168; 170; 37; Plut. De Audi. 18, p. 47; Cic. Tusc. ii. 25, 60. He also refused to become an Athenian citizen (Plut. Sto. Rep. 4, p. 1034). He died of self-imposed starvation (Diog. 176; Lucian, Macrob. 19; Stob. Floril. 7, 54). His age is stated by Diog. 176, at eighty; by Lucian and Valer. Max. viii. 7, ext. 11, at ninety-nine. Diog. 174, gives a list of his somewhat numerous writings, mostly on moral subjects, which is supplemented by Fabric. Bibl. iii. 551, Harl. and Mohnike, p. 90. Cleanthes was held in great esteem in the Stoic School, even in the time of Chrysippus (Diog. vii. 179; 182; Cic. Acad. ii. 41, 126). At a later time, the Roman Senate erected a statue to him at Assos (Simpl. in Epict. Enchir. c. 53, 329, b). ↑