Of Stoic Cosmology SI 7.50

I • The Origins of Stoic Cosmology SI 7.50 THE ORIGINS OF STOIC COSMOLOGY David E. Hahm Though there never was in antiquity a single, all-pervasive ideology or school of philosophy, for half a millennium beginning about 300 B.C., the Stoic outlook, as it apprehended both the physical and ethical universes, captured a sufficiently large number of adherents to be considered the ancient counterpart of the currently popular scientific world view. This world view of the Stoics appealed to all classes and attracted slaves and laborers as well as kings and emperors. Its ideas and tenets infiltrated and shaped all branches of art and learning —poetry, drama, religion, theology, science, medicine, law. and govern ment — and its concepts influenced and in formed the later doctrines of Christianity, Gnosticism, Neo-Pythagoreanism, and Neo platonism. Despite its undoubted historical importance, however, the question of Stoicism's origin has usually been passed over with glib generaliza tions; and there has remained, until the ap pearance of Professor Hahm's book, a crucial need to undertake a systematic study of all the evidence in order to determine conclusively from whom the ideas of the Stoics were de rived, what sorts of ideas they appropriated, and how they used this borrowed material to create a new and enduring popular philosophy. Professor Hahm performs this service for one of the major areas of Stoic philosophy. On the basis of a new and more careful recon struction of the cosmological theories of Zeno, Cleanthes, and Chrysippus, the three heads of the Stoic school in the third century B.C., Hahm demonstrates that Stoic cosmology grew directly out of the contemporary philosophical and scientific debates and was, in fact, a unique, original synthesis of the latest Greek theories of cosmology and biology. (Continued on hack flap) THE ORIGINS OF STOIC COSMOLOGY David E. Hahm The Origins of Stoic Cosmology OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS Copyright © 1977 by the Ohio State University Press All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Hahm, David E. The origins of Stoic cosmology. Includes indexes. 1. Stoics. 2. Cosmology, Ancient. I. Title. B528.H33 113 76-20712 ISBN 0-8142-0253-5 TO FRIEDRICH SOLMSEN Contents Preface IX Abbreviations xi Introduction xiii ι Corporealism 3 II Principles 29 II Cosmogony 57 IV Cosmology 91 V Cosmobiology 136 VI The Cosmic Cycle 185 VII : Epilogue: The Definition of Nature and the Origins of Stoic Cosmology 200 Appendixes I. Influences on Stoicism According to the Biographical Tradition 219 II. The Contents of Book One of Chrysippus's Physics 238 III. Cleanthes' Cosmogony 240 IV. Accounts of the Stoic Proofs for the Immobility and Coherence of the Cosmos 249 V. Chrysippus's Statement on the Alleged Imperishability of the Cosmos 260 VI. Cleanthes' Proof for the Intelligence of the Cosmos 267 Indexes 275 Preface Although I can never adequately express my gratitude to all who aided me in writing this book, I would like to acknowledge at least my most outstanding personal debts. My foremost obligation is to my teacher and friend, Friedrich Solmsen, to whom this book is gratefully dedi cated. It was he who through his writings and personal discussions awakened in me a zeal for Greek philosophy in general and an interest in Stoic physics in particular. In writing the thesis from which this book evolved and in reshaping it for publication, I was guided by his encouragement and his generous and painstaking criticism. I would also like to thank those who enabled me to devote a full year to reshaping this work, namely, the National Endowment for the Humanities, which awarded me a summer fellowship, and the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C. together with its director Bernard M. W. Knox, which provided me a year of leisure in an idyllic mouseion. I am also grateful to Charles L. Babcock, Herbert M. Howe, Robert J. Lenardon, Mark P. Morford, Paul Plass, Wesley D. Smith, and several anonymous referees for ideas, advice, criticism, and encouragement along the way, to Vicki Nau for typing the manu script, to the Ohio State University College of Humanities for a grant- in-aid to defray the cost of typing the manuscript, and to Sarah T. Millett of the Ohio State University Press for many refinements in the text. Finally my deepest debt is to my wife, Donna, not only for eliminat ing countless errors, suggesting many improvements, and proof reading the entire manuscript, but above all for her patience, under standing, and unfailing support, without which this book would never have been written. The manuscript of this book was completed a few years ago. Since then many important publications have appeared of which I have been x Preface unable to take account. I particularly regret that I have been unable to make use of L. Bloos, Probleme der stoischen Physik, Hamburger Studien zur Philosophic 4 (Hamburg, 1973); A. Graeser, Zenon von Kition: Positionen und Probleme (Berlin, 1975); M. Lapidge, "Αρχαί and (ττουχέϊα: A Problem in Stoic Cosmology," Phronesis 18 (1973): 240-78; J. Longrigg, "Elementary Physics in the Lyceum and Stoa" his 66 (1975): 211-29; and K. von Fritz, "Zenon von Kition," RE, 2d ser. 10A (Munich, 1972): 83-121. David E. Hahm The Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio February, 1976 Abbreviations Abbreviations of the names of ancient authors and works follow the systems used in The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Oxford, 1949; 2d ed., 1970) and H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, and H. S. Jones, eds., A Greek-English Lexikon9 (Oxford, 1940). Citations are normally by book and chapter or paragraph, or by standard page number and line. Where pages and lines of a specific edition, or where fragments are cited, I have added the editor's name. All translations are my own. In addition, I have used the following abbreviations for common jour nals, collections of sources, and an index: AbhMainz Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur in Mainz AC L' Antiquite Classique AGP Archiv fur Geschichte der Philosophie AJP American Journal of Philology BICS Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies of the Uni versity of London Bonitz H. Bonitz, Index Aristotelicus (Berlin, 1870; 2d ed., Graz, 1955) CQ Classical Quarterly DG H. Diels, Doxographi Graeci (Berlin, 1879) DK H. Diels, and W. Kranz, Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker11 (Berlin, 1964) GGA Gottingische Gelehrte Anzeiger JHI Journal of the History of Ideas JHS Journal of Hellenic Studies Xll Abbreviations ΜΝΑ W Mededelingen der koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afdeeling Letterkunde MusHelv Museum Helveticum NGG Nachrichten von der Gesellschaft der Wissenschaft zu Gb'ttingen PhilosRev Philosophical Review RE A. Pauly, G. Wissowa, et al., Real-Encyclopadie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft RPhL Revue Philosophique de Louvain SIFC Studi Italiani di Filologia Classica SVF J. von Arnim, Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta (Leipzig, 1903-05; indices by M. Adler, Leipzig, 1924) The fragments of Zeno, Cleanthes, and Chrysippus are normally cited by volume and fragment number unless pages (with line numbers) are expressly mentioned. The fragments of the minor early Stoics are cited by volume, name, and fragment number. Names are abbreviated as follows: Ant. = Antipater of Tarsus; Apollod.=Apol lodorus of Seleuceia; Arch. = Archedemus of Tarsus; Diog. = Diogenes of Babylon. ΤΑΡΑ Transactions of the American Philological Association Introduction For half a millennium Stoicism was very likely the most widely ac cepted world view in the Western world. Although there was, of course, never a single all-pervasive world view in antiquity, yet from the third century B.C. to the second century A.D. more people in the Mediterranean world seem to have held a more or less Stoic conception of the world than any other. The Peripatos had its following among a few intellectuals; Platonism was dormant while skepticism ruled in the Academy; and even if Epicureanism had a slightly larger following, it, too, was limited to a small coterie of ardent believers with a somewhat larger group of sympathizers, particularly among the Roman aristo crats. The Stoic world view, however, appealed to all classes, attracting slaves and laborers as well as kings and emperors. Its ideas infiltrated religion and science, medicine and theology, poetry and drama, law and government. Even when it had to yield to other world views, it left its mark on Christianity, Gnosticism, Neo-Pythagoreanism, and Neo- Platonism.1 For a variety of reasons the Stoic outlook, both physical and ethical, captivated a large number of people in the ancient world, probably many more than we shall ever realize;2 and, in fact, in view of its pervasiveness, it may not be much of an exaggeration to say that the Stoic physical world view was the ancient counterpart of our cur rent, popular, scientific world view. In spite of the historical importance of Stoic physics, the question of its origins is usually passed over with glib generalizations or incom pletely tested hypotheses. The ancient intellectual historians, who sought simple family trees, probably traced Stoicism back to Socrates by way of an alleged Cynic school.3 Another tradition made Stoicism an heir of the Platonic school.4 Modern discussions, particularly the earlier ones and the handbooks, are fond of making Stoic physics xiv Introduction essentially a revival of Heraclitus, on the grounds that several Stoics wrote books about Heraclitus, and that there

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