The after growths of virtue were joy, cheerfulness, and the
like. These were the gambolings of the spirit like the frolicsomeness
of an animal in the full flush of its vitality or like the blooming
of a plant. For one and the same power manifested itself in all ranks
of nature, only at each stage on a higher level. To the vegetative
powers of the plant the animal added sense and Impulse. It was in
accordance therefore with the nature of an animal to obey the
Impulses of sense, but to sense and Impulse man superadded reason so
that when he became conscious of himself as a rational being, it was
in accordance with his nature to let all his Impulses be shaped by
this new and master hand. Virtue was therefore pre-eminently in
accordance with nature. What then we must now ask is the relation of
reason to impulse as conceived by the Stoics? Is reason simply the
guiding, and impulse the motive power? Seneca protests against this
view, when impulse is identified with passion. One of his grounds for
doing so is that reason would be put on a level with passion, if the
two were equally necessary for action.
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