St. George Stock (modern guide) · 1850–1922
A Guide to Stoicism 4 ¶18–20 — St. George Stock (modern guide)
From “Ethic”
Original English text (1908)
St. George Stock (modern guide), A Guide to Stoicism 4 ¶18–20
As virtue was itself the end, it was of course choiceworthy in and for itself, apart from hope or fear with regard to its consequences. Moreover, as being the highest good, it could admit of no increase from the addition of things indifferent. It did not even admit of increase from the prolongation of its own existence, for the question was not one of quantity, but of quality. Virtue for an eternity was no more virtue, and therefore no more good, than virtue for a moment. Even so one circle was no more round than another, whatever you might choose to make its diameter, nor would it detract from the perfection of a circle if it were to be obliterated immediately in the same dust in which it had been drawn. To say that the good of men lay in virtue was another way of saying that it lay in reason, since virtue was the perfection of reason. As reason was the only thing whereby Nature had distinguished man from other creatures, to live the rational life was to follow Nature.
Cite this passage
St. George Stock (modern guide), A Guide to Stoicism 4 ¶18–20 (1908)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/a-guide-to-stoicism/4.18
St. George Stock, Stoicism (1908), text of the Haldeman-Julius reprint “A Guide to Stoicism”. Text: Project Gutenberg #7514. Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesVirtue is worth choosing for itself, whatever follows, and it cannot be improved by adding outside goods or by lasting longer, since it is a matter of quality, not amount. A circle drawn in the dust is as perfectly round as any larger one even if it is wiped out at once, and a short virtuous life is as complete as a long one.
Older wording
- “choiceworthy”
- — worth choosing
- “things indifferent”
- — things neither good nor bad in themselves, like health or wealth
- “obliterated”
- — wiped out
Themes and situations
- Virtue and character
- Death and mortality
- Time and the present
- Nature and the cosmos
- Fear of death
- Feeling life is slipping by
- Searching for meaning
Quote cards
The opening line of this passage as an image, with its citation — for sharing or keeping.