STOICISM
Rhetoric, was the necessary instrument of all speculation;[1] but Marcus found no satisfaction in either branch of it, nor in such Physics as dealt with Meteorology.[2]
The key-note of Stoicism was Life according to Nature, and Marcus was converted to the pursuit of this possibly by Sextus the Boeotian.[3] By "Nature" was meant the controlling Reason of the Universe.[4] A study of Physics was necessary for a proper understanding of the Cosmos and our position in it, and thus formed the scientific basis of philosophy; but it was regarded as strictly subordinate, and merely a means to an end.
Though he confesses to some disappointment in his progress therein,[5] there is no doubt that Marcus was well versed in Stoic Physics. Fully recognizing the value of a scientific spirit of enquiry,[6] he describes it as a characteristic of the rational soul to "go the whole Universe through and grasp its plan"[7] affirming that "no man can be good without correct notions as to the Nature of the Whole and his own constitution."[8]
To the Stoics the Universe—God and Matter—[9]was One, all Substance, unified by the close sympathy [10] and interdependence of the parts, forming with the rational Power, that was co-extensive with it, a single entity. The Primary Being, by means of its inform-
