The wise man
idea · 7 works · 9 mentions · 23 anchored passages
also in the atlas: The wise man the figure
the wise man · sapiens · he who has taken up wisdom · him · that wise man of yours · the perfect man
spoken of as
1 expressionwise man1 mention
On Tranquillity of Mind (Latin)
if you prefer otherwise, then my wrought and coined silver, my house, my household—I give them back, I restore them.
in the texts
Lucullus
The Stoic/Academic ideal of the perfectly rational person, whose proper relationship to assent, opinion, and perception is the organizing question of the entire debate.
But if I shall assume from myself that there is nothing at all which can be perceived, and shall accept what you grant me, that the wise man holds no opinion, this will be the result — that the wise man will check all his assents;
'"If the wise man shall ever assent to anything, he will sometimes also hold an opinion;
But both, for other things, he has a certain art by which he can distinguish true from false, and for those likenesses of yours practice must be brought to bear:
On the Steadfastness of the Wise Man
The ideal figure who has already achieved invulnerability to insult and injury, contrasted with the aspirant still struggling toward that state.
But the wise man and the aspirant to wisdom will use different remedies.
The wise man has another aid, the opposite of this:
as certain crags, thrust out into the deep, break the sea and show no trace of its fury, though battered for so many ages—just so the mind of the wise man is solid, and has gathered such strength that it is as safe from injury as those things I have named.
Tusculan Disputations
The Stoic ideal of the person free from all disturbances of mind
The Stoics, indeed, both say that the wise man will love, and define love itself as an effort of making friendship from the appearance of beauty.
for you pretend to inquire about the wise man, but you inquire, perhaps, about yourself.
that wisdom is the science and knowledge of things divine and human, and of the cause of each thing;
Letters to Lucilius
The Stoic ideal figure who has achieved perfect virtue and is unshaken by external misfortune.
Therefore the wise man grows accustomed to coming evils, and what others make light by long endurance, he makes light by long forethought.
The wise man is not afflicted by the loss of children or of friends.
31. "What then? Will he not suffer something like perturbation? Will not his color change, and his face be agitated, and his limbs grow cold?" And whatever else is done not at the command of the mind, but by some unconsidered impulse of Nature. I admit it; but the same conviction will remain with him: that none of those things is an evil, or worthy that a sound mind should give way to it. All that …
On Benefits
The Stoic ideal sage, whose paradoxical universal possession of all things versus particular ownership by others is the central puzzle addressed at length.
1 For I so say that all things are the wise man's that nonetheless each man has his own dominion over his own things, just as under the best king the king possesses all things by his sovereignty, individuals by their ownership.
On the Shortness of Life
The Stoic ideal figure who possesses complete, unbroken freedom, above the reach of Fortune, and who faces death without fear.
and so, whenever the last day comes, the wise man will not hesitate to go to his death with a steady step.
But, by Hercules, the wise man will never sink to so lowly a title, never will he be half free;
On Tranquillity of Mind
The Stoic ideal figure who holds all possessions, and life itself, as things merely lent, unshaken by fortune.
if you prefer otherwise, then my wrought and coined silver, my house, my household—I give them back, I restore them.
Nor has he any reason to fear her, since he counts among things merely lent not only his slaves and possessions and rank, but his very body too, and his eyes, and his hand, and whatever makes life dearer to a man, and even his own self;
This is why we say that nothing happens to the wise man contrary to his expectation: