Persaeus of Citium: A Lapsed Stoic?

Kenneth Moore

Rosetta: Papers of the Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity, Issue 7, Autumn (2009) 1-21

Abstract

This article examines the historical evidence on the life of Persaeus of Citium, a Stoic philosopher and immediate student of Zeno, the founder of Stoicism. It also considers the anecdotal accounts of Persaeus’ actions with regard to Stoic philosophy as it was understood to apply during his lifetime. Persaeus was one of an elite group of scholars present at the court of Antigonus II Gonatus, King of Macedon and appears to have had a direct involvement in the political affairs of Macedonia. His activities, as recounted in the surviving sources, seem to run contrary to established Stoic customs, in particular the preference for praxis over theoria.1 However, there is also some indication that he may have been vilified by his scholarly and political enemies. This article provides a brief glimpse into the life and times of Persaeus as well as the turbulent fourth/third centuries in Greece.

Persaeus (ca. 306-243 BCE), of Citium, son of Demetrius, was a Stoic philosopher. He was also a student and close acquaintance of Zeno of Citium (ca. 334-262 BCE), the founder of Stoicism. It is difficult to obtain a clear picture of his life and philosophy since none of his own works survive and most of the sources that deal with him come from late antiquity and provide relatively little, albeit potentially quite significant, information. By far the most detailed account comes from Diogenes Laertius (ca. first half of the third century CE), who, like most of Persaeus’ biographers, was relying on earlier sources no longer extant. Plutarch (46-120 CE) provides some biographical information on him and Cicero (106-43 BCE), who is possibly the earliest source on Persaeus, gives some further details on his philosophical views.

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