Stoics

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Stoics Followers of the school of philosophy founded (c.300 bc) by Zeno of Citium. Founded on the premise that virtue is attainable only by living in harmony with nature, stoicism stressed the importance of self-sufficiency and of equanimity in adversity. The philosophy was first expressed by Chrysippus in the 3rd century bc. It was introduced into Rome in the 2nd century bc, where it found its greatest adherents: Seneca in the 1st century ad; Epictetus in the 1st and 2nd centuries; and the 2nd-century Emperor Marcus Aurelius.