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excerpt from the author's introduction

Serene, fearless treatment of fundamental problems gave place to subjective musings, which ran to whim sometimes. Sanity and balance went, extravagant or, eventually, fantastic theories found an audience. The barbarians — so the Attic Greeks would have reckoned them — had their revenge when " asianism ’ waxed, raising irrelevant issues. Above all, pregnant social changes displaced the center of interest. Nevertheless, it was a far cry (more than five centuries intervene) from the earliest to the latest Stoics and, thanks precisely to social changes, philosophy did acquire [v] PREFACE fresh significance. Hence, although a pro¬ test rather than a science, an outgrowth of emotional stress rather than of intellectual curiosity, Stoicism was destined to rank among the formative ethico-political movements characteristic of the western world. Despite its obvious shortcomings, despite its lack of originality, circumstances lent it an influence destined to survive for generations.Author: R. M. Wenley Publication Date 1961: