Gordon Clark: Zeno (Collier's Encyclopedia)

1949. In Collier's Encyclopedia. New York: P.F. Collier and Son. Zeno

ZENO [zi’no] (fl. Late fourth and early third centuries B.C.), Greek philosopher, not to be confused with Zeno the Eleatic, was born in Citium in Cyprus. He cam to Athens about 320 B.C. After studying philosophy under Crates the Cynic, Stilpo the Megarian, and Xenocrates the Academician, he taught philosophy at Athens in the Στοα Ποικιλη, “Painted Stoa” or “Porch,” a piazza the walls of which were decorated with scenes from the Battle of Marathon, and from whose name came the title of Zeno’s followers, the Stoics, and the name of their school, the Porch.

Though he was interested chiefly in ethics, Zeno saw the need of a complete system, including logic and physics, as a foundation for rational conduct. Wisdom, according to Zeno, is the final goal in life, and it is made up of theoretical and practical virtue. The former, which consists in having correct ideas of the nature of things, is subordinate to and exists only to aid the latter, which consists in right living and rational acting. The study of practical ethics, then, caps the philosophy of the Stoics. Zeno was a defender of the propriety of suicide, and he took his life about 260 B.C., leaving a well-established school and an enduring reputation.

G.H.Cl.