Zeno

, a philosopher of Elia or Velia in Italy, the disciple, or, according to some, the adopted son of Par me nides, and the supposed inventor of dialectic. His opinions about the universe, the unity, incomprehensibility, and immutability of all things, were the same with those of Xenophanes and the rest of the Eleatic philosophers. It is said that he attempted to deliver his country from the tyranny of Nearchus. His plot was discovered, and he was exposed to the most excruciating torments to reveal the name of his accomplices, but this he bore with unparalleled fortitude, and not to be at last conquered by tortures, he cut off his tongue with his teeth, and spit it into the face of the tyrant. Some say that he was pounded alive in a mortar, and that in the midst of his torments he called to Nearchus, as if to reveal something of importance; the tyrant approached him, and Zeno, as if willing to whisper to him, caught his ear with his teeth, and bit it off. Cicero , Tusculanæ Dis put at i ones , bk. 2 , ch. 22 ; De Natura Deorum , bk. 3 , ch. 33 .— Diodorus Siculus , Fragment .— Valerius Maximus , bk. 3 , ch. 3 .— Diogenes Laërtius , bk. 9 .――The founder of the sect of the stoics, born at Citium in the island of Cyprus. The first part of his life was spent in commercial pursuits, but he was soon called to more elevated employments. As he was returning from Phœnicia, a storm drove his ship on the coast of Attica, and he was shipwrecked near the Piræus. This moment of calamity he regarded as the beginning of his fame. He entered the house of a bookseller, and, to di ipate his melancholy reflections, he began to read. The book was written by Xenophon; and the merchant was so pleased and captivated by the eloquence and beauties of the philosopher, that from that time he renounced the pursuits of a busy life, and applied himself to the study of philosophy. Ten years were spent in frequenting the school of Crates, and the same number under Stilpo, Xenocrates, and Polemon. Perfect in every branch of knowledge, and improved from experience as well as observation, Zeno opened a school at Athens, and soon saw himself attended by the great, the learned, and the powerful. His followers were called Stoics , because they received the instructions of the philosopher in the portico called στοα . He was so respected during his lifetime, that the A then i ans publicly decreed him a brazen statue and a crown of gold, and engraved their decree, to give it more publicity, on two columns in the academy, and in the Lyceum. His life was an example of soberne and moderation; his manners were austere, and to his temperance and regularity he was indebted for the continual flow of health which he always enjoyed. After he had taught publicly for 48 years, he died in the 98th year of his age, B.C. 264, a stranger to diseases, and never incommoded by a real indisposition. He was buried in that part of the city called Ceramic us, where the A then i ans raised him a monument. The founder of the stoic philosophy shone before his followers as a pure example of imitation. Virtue he perceived to be the ultimate aim of his researches. He wished to live in the world as if nothing was properly his own; he loved others, and his affections were extended even to his enemies. He felt a pleasure in being kind, benevolent, and attentive, and he found that these sentiments of pleasure were reciprocal. He saw a connection and dependence in the system of the universe, and perceived that from thence arose the harmony of civil society, the tenderne of parents, and filial gratitude. In the attainment of virtue the goods of the mind were to be preferred to those of the body, and when that point was once gained, nothing could equal our happine and perfection, and the stoic could view with indifference health or sickne , riches or poverty, pain and pleasure, which could neither move nor influence the serenity of his mind. Zeno recommended resignation; he knew that the laws of the universe cannot be changed by man, and therefore he wished that his disciples should not in prayer deprecate impending calamities, but rather beseech Providence to grant them fortitude to bear the severest trials with pleasure and due resignation to the will of Heaven. An arbitrary command over the pa ions was one of the rules of stoicism; to a ist our friends in the hour of calamity was our duty, but to give way to childish sensations was unbecoming our nature. Pity, therefore, and anger, were to be banished from the heart, propriety and decorum were to be the guides in everything, and the external actions of men were the best indications of their inward feelings, their secret inclinations, and their character. It was the duty of the stoic to study himself; in the evening he was enjoined to review with critical accuracy the events of the day, and to regulate his future conduct with more care, and always to find an impartial witne within his own breast. Such were the leading characters of the stoic philosophy, whose followers were so illustrious, so perfect, and so numerous, and whose effects were productive of such exemplary virtues in the annals of the human mind. Zeno in his maxims used to say, that with virtue man could live happy under the most pre ing calamities. He said that nature had given us two ears, and only one mouth, to tell us that we ought to listen more than speak. He compared those whose actions were di onant with their profe ions, to the coin of Alexandria, which appeared beautiful to the eye, though made of the basest metals. He acknowledged only one God, the soul of the universe, which he conceived to be the body, and therefore he believed that those two together united, the soul and the body, formed one perfect animal, which was the god of the stoics. Amongst the most illustrious followers of his doctrine, and as the most respectable writers, may be mentioned Epictetus , Seneca , the emperor Ant on in us , . Cicero , Academic a , bk. 1 , ch. 12 ; De Natura Deorum , bk. 1 , ch. 14 ; bk. 2 , chs. 8 & 24; bk. 3 , ch. 24 ; For Mar cell us ; Orator , ch. 32 , . ; de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum. — Seneca. — Epictetus. — Arrian. — Ælian , Varia Hist or i a , bk. 9 , ch. 26 .— Diogenes Laërtius. ――An Epicurean philosopher of Sidon, who numbered among his pupils Cicero, Pompon i us Atticus, Cotta, Pompey, . Cicero , de Natura Deorum , bk. 1 , chs. 21 & 34.――A rhetorician, father to Polemon, who was made king of Pontus.――The son of Polemon, who was king of Armenia, was also called Zeno. Strabo , bk. 12 .— Tacitus , Annals , bk. 2 , ch. 56 .――A native of Lepreos, son of Call i teles, crowned at the Olympic games, and honoured with a statue in the grove of Jupiter, and at Olympia. Pausanias , bk. 6 , ch. 15 .――A general of Antiochus.――A philosopher of Tarsus, B.C. 207.――The name of Zeno was common to some of the Roman emperors on the throne of Constantinople, in the fifth and sixth centuries.