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An ancient saying held that if it were not for Chrysippus, there would be no Stoa, he took a promising school of thought and turned it into an unbreakable logical system.
Born a slave. Became free. Taught that freedom is not a circumstance but a discipline of the mind.
Connection
Chrysippus Stoic logic carried into Roman ethics Epictetus — The technical Stoic system Chrysippus built centuries earlier in Athens supplied the logical scaffolding beneath Epictetus's more practical, ethically focused teaching in Rome, Epictetus quoted and argued with Chrysippus's texts directly.
Ideas
Words
“If it were not for Chrysippus, there would be no Stoa.”
“Fate is a sempiternal cause of things, why past things happened, present things now happen, and future things will happen.”
“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”
“First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.”
Key Moments
c. 240s BCE
Illustrates disjunctive syllogism with a dog
c. 230 BCE
Becomes third head of the Stoa
c. 50 CE
Born Enslaved in Hierapolis
c. 65 CE
Studies with Musonius Rufus
c. 93 CE
School at Nicopolis
c. 108 CE
The Discourses Recorded
Works
Logical Investigations
Discourses
The Handbook