It drew upon the Alexandrian mystical form of Platonism, taught by Plotinus - what we call Neoplatonism - to conjure an image of the deity as a single spiritual fountain of life that fructifies the world. "But paganism went about reforming itself. The state temples to the old gods became civic centers rather than religious entities. By 150 A.D., whatever vitality had once existed in ancient polytheism had mostly declined, and the gods played little or no role in individual lives. “The ultimate triumph of Christianity was aided by the internal drive within Roman paganism toward some kind of monotheism. "Stoicism is a narrow ethic, one suitable to the emotional and intellectual needs of aristocrat and slave alike, but less useful for the ambitious middle class.”Īntiquity: The Civilization of the Ancient World Although the slave Epictetus was one of the principal Stoic writers, the emperor Marcus Aurelius's upper-class background is more typical of its devotees. Private cultivation rather than social action makes for the good life. "The world is rational, but it is only amenable to active intervention within the limits of the individual's capacity. It is a kind of Platonism shrunk to a pursuit of private feelings and thoughts: Do the best with what you can control and refine, and let the rest go. Make the best of what can be humanly cultivated. The Stoics asked the Romans to realize that much that is encountered in life is beyond the individual's control. “The Stoics taught a life of restraint and control, the personal cultivation of learning, beauty, and reason.
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