Zeno of Citium, << ZEE noh of SIHSH ee uhm >> (335?-265? B.C.), was the founder of Stoic philosophy in Athens. He was born in Citium on the island of Cyprus. It is reported that he was originally a merchant, but was shipwrecked and lost all his property traveling to Athens in 314 B.C. He stayed there and took up the study of philosophy, meeting his students on a stoa (porch), from which the name stoic came (see Stoic philosophy ).
Zeno taught that it is foolish to try to shape circumstances to our desires. The world process is not like a blindly running machine. Instead, a divine intelligence guides and governs it, and directs all things ultimately toward what is good. Wise people will “follow nature” and fit their desires to the pattern of events. They will find happiness in freedom from desire, from fear of evil, and in knowing that they are in tune with the divine purpose directing all things. The Stoic philosophy spread to Rome and flourished there for several centuries after the birth of Christ.
