Less Known Stoics — Cleanthes and Chrysippus

Their Lessons for Modern Times

11 min readNov 9, 2023

Source: Freepik, AI generated image by ojostudensujono96

Stoicism is the philosophy that was founded in Ancient Greece by Zeno of Citium c. 300 BC. Zeno based Stoicism on the teachings of Socrates and the Cynics and developed it into an independent philosophical framework consisting of three key branches — physics, logic, and ethics. Over the centuries that have passed since then, physics and logic have lost their importance due to advances in science. But the Stoic ethics remain relevant. In fact, Stoicism as a guiding ethical framework has been experiencing something of a resurgence thanks to the books by Ryan Holiday, William B. Irvine, Massimo Pigliucci, Donald J. Robertson, John Sellars, Ward Farnsworth, Pierre Hadot, and many others.

Stoicism originated in Ancient Greece, but barely any written works by Greek Stoics have survived. The most well-known practitioners of Stoicism were the three Romans — Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius. A slave turned philosopher, a statesman/writer, and finally, an emperor. Anyone who says they are aware of or have read the works of Stoic philosophies, they are probably talking about the Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, Enchiridion or Discourses by Epictetus, or Letters from a Stoic by Seneca.

It is a shame that except for some quotes here and there and various fragments, hundreds of volumes written by many brilliant Stoic philosophers are possibly lost forever. Who knows what gems we have not been able to read?

In this article, I will talk about two Stoic philosophers from Ancient Greece — Cleanthes and Chrysippus. Much less known than the great Roman trio of Stoics, or Zeno — the founder of Stoicism, these two philosophers have had a tremendous impact on the development of Stoicism.

I will focus on ethics as much as I can, and not on physics and logic, and try to focus on ethics. We need to keep in mind though, that in ancient philosophies, physics — the study of the universe, and logic — the study of reasoning — were closely tied to ethics. Ethics were derived from physics — the worldview of the ancient philosophers, and logic consisted of propositions to aid reasoning on various subjects.

Cleanthes was born in Assos, on the Aegean coast of the Canakkale province of modern-day Türkiye. Assos, incidentally, is a location of annual Philosophy in Assos events organized since 2000 by the Association of Philosophy, Art, and Science, based in Istanbul. This year, in July, the event focused on Stoicism and was dedicated to the memory of Cleanthes — the first one of the two Stoics we will talk about.

Cleanthes is believed to have lived some one hundred years, from c.330 to 230 BC. He was a boxer, and at some point in his life arrived in Athens, with no money, and eventually found his way to the Stoic school run by its founder, Zeno of Citium. By then, Cleanthes was supporting himself by carrying water and continued this work, as well as other forms of manual labor throughout his life. Thanks to his incorruptible work ethic, the hard-working Cleanthes kept in excellent physical shape, which no doubt, is the main reason for his longevity.

Think about this. Cleanthes was Zeno’s student for almost two decades, after which, upon Zeno’s death, he became the second head of the Stoic school. That means he was in his fifties when he started his philosophical studies.

Cleanthes was also a perfect example of some of the key tenets of stoicism — humility, resilience, simplicity, discipline, and indifference towards money and earthly possessions. Looking at what is known about Cleanthes’ life and personality, most writers agree that it was because he could not see himself NOT doing hard work. It was as much part of his life and who he was, as was the Stoic philosophy.

It is not known whether Cleanthes studied in other philosophical schools — remember, Athens had a few at the time, including Plato’s Academy, Aristotle’s Lyceum, the Epicurean, and the Skeptics. Stoicism may have been where he started studying philosophy. But a strong, humble, and quiet Cleanthes must have found a perfect match in Stoicism. Cleanthes absorbed all of Zeno’s lectures and could observe firsthand how Stoicism gradually shaped into a coherent framework with physics, logic, and ethics being its three components.

As he continued his modest lifestyle of hard work, the embrace of discomfort, and distaste for riches, he became a perfect representative for Stoicism. Every hardship, be it a physical challenge, or a challenge in the form of poets, philosophers, or actors making fun of him, he treated as an opportunity to put Stoicism into practice. As Pierre Hadot beautifully explains in his Philosophy as a Way of Life, the ancient philosophies were not academic endeavors as mostly is the case today. Ancient philosophers developed frameworks to help people handle their daily troubles, master their emotions, acquire good habits, and get rid of bad ones. It went beyond “self-help”, it was comparable to modern cognitive-behavioral therapy, which is actually based on Stoic philosophy.

Cleanthes was not a fast learner, but he studied hard and eventually became one of the most prominent philosophers in Athens. He ended up penning over fifty books on Stoicism, including (according to Diogenes) books on Friendship, Marriage, Gratitude, Pleasure, Time, and so on, potentially putting together a comprehensive set of materials for studying and understanding Stoicism. What a shame none of these survived.

Here are a few lessons from Cleanthes:

Live consistently with nature. Zeno came up with the concept of “living consistently” — which was the objective of the Stoics. Cleanthes was the one who added the words “with nature” to Zeno’s proposition — implying that we need to live consistently with Nature — the universe and its laws. To be clear, this is not an environmental message. At least not only that. We should aim at fulfilling our potential and pursue that which is natural to us — seek virtue — which for Stoics were four — wisdom, justice, courage, and moderation. Stoics did not expect every human to reach the ultimate best version of themselves, but simply to strive towards that, because that is what humans have been designed to do. Whether you believe that’s God’s design, or nature’s is beside the point. Seneca writes: “Virtue is according to nature, vice is opposed to it”. Cleanthes treated pleasure as something worthless and contrary to nature, instead focusing on cultivating discipline and resilience.
The man’s path to happiness is not only through enhancing one’s financial capacity to match his desires but also through reducing his wants to match his financial capacity. Cleanthes may not have come up with this Stoic principle, but he embodied it most authentically. Cleanthes repeatedly refused offers of financial support, including from a Macedonian king. He lived a frugal life and despite earning little, was able to not only support himself but also Zeno. Stoicism recommends practicing hardship — living with the bare minimum, fasting, putting yourself through activity requiring hard physical effort — these train you so when adversity hits you, you are better prepared.
Physical work feeds intellectual and spiritual strength. Cleanthes treated labor and philosophy as two interconnected aspects of his life. We know today, that physical exercise is the best thing we can do for longevity, to combat the most dangerous diseases, and to improve the brain’s work by boosting the blood flow and the size of the hippocampus.
Fate guides the willing, but drags the unwilling. What a profound passage — this is from Cleanthes’ only surviving work, “Hymn to Zeus”. It was often quoted by others, including Seneca and Cicero, and as a result, has been misattributed to them. This is a perfect aphorism on the topic of accepting what we cannot control. If we are smart, we do not fight the fate but follow its lead. Amor Fati — a phrase popularized by Nietzsche — love of fate, is central to many of the Ancient philosophical frameworks. It is about viewing everything that happens in our lives, good and bad, as something that is part of the natural order of things. But it is not about passively accepting your fate. Not at all. It is also not an invitation to be a mindless optimist. Do what you can. Change what you can. Influence what you can. And then accept what the outcome ends up being. It is about not being naive that everything is going to be rosy and beautiful. It is also about not being paralyzed by so much being out of our control. It is about accepting when and where we are, the opportunities we have, and taking advantage of the tools we are given to become better and seek to make the world around us better too.

Chrysippus was born in c.279 in Soli, Cilicia — also in the modern-day Türkiye. Soli is near today’s Mezitli in Mersin province. Chrysippus grew up in a wealthy family, but upon the family’s property being seized by a local king, he moved to Athens and eventually became a student under Cleanthes. In c.230 BC, Chrysippus became the third leader of the Stoic school, after Cleanthes’ passing.

An interesting fact about Chrysippus is that he was a long-distance runner. An endurance athlete. So a very different personality from Cleanthes, who was a boxer. Cleanthes was stocky and strong. Chrysippus was slim and energetic. While Cleanthes was trained in handling an opponent, Chrysippus was trained in competing against himself.

Unlike Cleanthes, Chrysippus came from a wealthy background. He was educated. So he was swift to pick up the new knowledge, and even swifter to become indispensable for the Stoic school. Chrysippus was one of the most remarkable academics of Ancient Greece. He effectively turned Stoicism into a flexible philosophy that was constantly evolving and not a rigid doctrine, essentially systematizing it, but also expanding on the use of language, meaning, and arguments. He would famously study the arguments of other schools, including their arguments against Stoicism, to upgrade his arguments in defense of Stoicism. Chrysippus loved to debate and to win debates. As Ryan Holiday points out, it is interesting to consider how Cleanthes, a fighter, was an enduring type while Chrysippus, a runner, was the aggressive one.

Chrysippus was also a prolific writer with at least 150 (700 according to some sources) volumes to his name. Unfortunately, only a few hundred short excerpts that we find in the works of others have remained to this day.

Here are some of the key lessons from Chrysippus:

Sympatheia — the interconnectedness of everything in the universe. While the idea was known to Stoics before him, it was Chrysippus who developed this into a full-fledged concept, basing it on Stoic physics. We are all in this together. Everyone has a role to play. Every person is an integral part of this world. This is the best reason to be kind to others. To be fair. To be generous. Marcus Aurelius mentions this concept repeatedly in Meditations: “Everything is interwoven, and the web is holy; none of its parts are unconnected. They are composed harmoniously, and together they compose the world.”
Philosophy of Fair Play. As a former athlete, Chrysippus no doubt had seen every good and dirty play in the book. His view on any competition was to compete fairly. It is ok to seek to win. But not by cheating. “He who is running a race ought to endeavor and strive to the utmost of his ability to come off victor, but it is utterly wrong for him to trip up his competitor, or to push him aside.” Chrysippus then applies this to the rest of our lives: “So in life, it is not unfair for one to seek for himself what may accrue to his benefit; but it is not right to take it from another.” His justification for this approach was based on the concept of sympatheia — leading him to the conclusion that there should be a brotherhood between all humans. This is why success is rendered meaningless when we betray our principles and when we let the desire for victory poison our souls. Virtue above all. Yes, the Stoics were preaching indifference to external rewards, but they were still an ambitious bunch. The action was always on top of the agenda.
Soft determinism. Chrysippus sought to reconcile his belief in fate with his recognition of the power of our agency and personal freedom. He gradually developed a nuanced approach to determinism, using many different thought experiments to demonstrate his logic. Here is one of them — cylinder and cone. Both cannot move without a push. Once pushed, however, they don’t both continue moving. A cylinder will roll, following its nature. A cone will spin. If you push both down a slope, a cylinder will follow a straight line downward, while a cone will go sideways. The push — is destiny. It was the same in both cases, but how the two handle their circumstance is largely up to them, their nature. Think about two people put in the same situation — here is an extreme example: two people in a concentration camp. One will wither, unable to survive. The other will find meaning in suffering, a reason to keep going and use this to power his resilience. Both are put into the same situation, but the actions, and their influence on the outcome (although not entirely in their control of course) are different. There are way too many variables of course, but Stoics never said all you have to do is passively accept your fate. There are choices available to us and it is up to us how things play out. Chrysippus thus provided a more nuanced explanation for Cleanthes’ “Fate guides the willing, but drags the unwilling”. Here is Chrysippus’ version of this: “When a dog is tied to a cart, if it wants to follow, it is pulled and follows, making its spontaneous act coincide with necessity. But if the dog does not follow, it will be compelled in any case. So it is with men too: even if they don’t want to, they will be compelled to follow what is destined.” Essentially it comes down to the recognition that external events are beyond our control, but our attitude and action in response are up to us.
Know the value of what you have. “The anchovy which is found in the sea at Athens, men despise on account of its abundance and say that it is a poor man’s fish; but in other cities, they prize it above everything, even where it is far inferior to the Attic anchovy.” This sentence made me smile. Thinking about our daily troubles, the things that make us angry or frustrated, just stop and look at what is happening in Gaza, Ukraine, Syria, or Afghanistan. Riches do not make a man happy. Going back to Cleanthes’ observation about the choice to reduce one’s wants, it is useful to get perspective on the things that we enjoy in our daily lives but perhaps take for granted because someone, somewhere, longs for some of these things. This is common sense, yet so often missed that when it is mentioned, it comes across as a revelation. Just last week I saw Chris Williamson, podcaster and YouTuber make this very point on his channel.

Cleanthes and Chrysippus could not have been more different, in terms of their background, personalities, as well as their approach to the study and development of Stoicism. Yet, both headed the Stoic school in succession. The takeaway from that — there is more than one way to do the job well.

If you want to read more about the Stoics, their philosophy, and their lives, check out Ryan Holiday’s book Lives of the Stoics. Holiday’s website the Daily Stoic has dedicated pages for both Cleanthes and Chrysippus, as well as many other Stoics.

If you want to read more about the philosophy of Stoicism, check out the books by Ryan Holiday, Massimo Pigliucci, William B. Irvine, Ward Farnsworth, Peter Sellars, Donald J. Robertson, and Pierre Hadot. You can also read the original works by Ancient Stoics — Musonius Rufus, Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. Ryan Holiday’s website The Daily Stoic is an excellent resource on Stoicism and there are many, many more great resources.

If you liked this article, here are some of my articles you might want to explore:

Less Known Stoics — Cleanthes and Chrysippus

Their Lessons for Modern Times

Written by Rational Badger