For the Stoic philosophers, the ultimate goal was to live a life of virtue in accordance with nature. The ideal figure in this philosophy was the Sage, a perfectly rational and virtuous human being who was free from destructive passions. This ideal had profound implications for their understanding of law, crime, and justice.
This episode explores the Stoic conception of the ideal Sage and their relationship to the law. For the Stoics, only the Sage was truly free and a true citizen of the cosmos. All others, the fools, were slaves to their passions and ignorance. We examine the radical Stoic idea that all crimes are equal, because any act not born of perfect virtue is equally wrong.
While a purely theoretical concept, the ideal of the Sage provided a powerful moral compass for Stoic thinkers who were also practical lawyers and statesmen, like Seneca and Marcus Aurelius. It held up a mirror to the flawed laws of the human city, judging them against the perfect, rational law of nature.
