Cleanthes of Assos · Philosophy
In four lines of verse that became the most quoted words of the early Stoa, Cleanthes prays to be led by fate - and adds that if he refuses, he will be dragged anyway. The prayer locates human freedom not in escaping destiny but in consenting to it: the wise are led, the foolish are dragged.
You learned that Cleanthes’s four-line prayer (preserved by Epictetus and by Seneca) asks to be led by Zeus and Destiny, and declares that whoever refuses will follow all the same - so that the difference between the wise and the foolish is not the outcome but consent: being led versus being dragged. Explain the…
Leads to Seneca.
Begin this lesson →epoché — a humanities education that remembers you.