Musonius Rufus in Origen Of Alexandria: A Neglected Aspect of Stoic Wirkungsgeschichte on Patristic Platonism
By Ilaria Ramelli, Durham University
The Patristic exegete and theologian Origen of Alexandria, a major Christian Platonist who was strongly influenced by many aspects of Stoicism, was very well acquainted with the thought of the Roman Stoic Musonius Rufus (as Clement of Alexandria also was) and, noting the coherence between Musonius’s thought and his life, described him as a ‘model of the best kind of moral life’ (παράδειγμα τοῦ ἀρίστου βίου, Cels. 3.66). While Musonius’s influence on Clement of Alexandria has been studied extensively (e.g.
The Norms of Nature: Ethics and Physics in Musonius Rufus
By Christopher Star, Middlebury College
Musonius Rufus has attracted increased attention as an important Stoic guide for how to live a meaningful life. Indeed, the surviving reports of his teaching primarily focus on ethical questions. Following Stoic doctrine, Musonius often backs up his advice noting that one must live “in accordance with nature” (Striker). Despite the importance of nature for Musonius’s ethics there is little discussion nature itself. A key exception is Fragment 42, which contains a brief discussion of the “nature of the cosmos.” This fragment has received little comment.
Musonius’ Nero. A pseudo-Lucianic Dialogue on the Philosopher and the Tyrant
By Martina Russo, Sapienza, Università di Roma
This paper analyses the pseudo-Lucianic dialogue entitled ‘Nero or on the digging of the Isthmus’. This text has been generally neglected by scholars: there is neither a critical edition nor a commentary on it; it pays the price for its complex textual history and its authorship. The aim of this paper is not to partake in its often debated authorship; instead, it will focus on the character of the Stoic philosopher Musonius Rufus.
Roman Ideas in Musonius’ Concept of Freedom
By Gregor Vogt-Spira, Philipps-Universität Marburg
Musonius’ surviving corpus often addresses the theme of freedom. Although this reflects the high value placed on autarky in Stoic philosophy, the argumentation is not reduced to conventional philosophical positions: Occasionally, common topoi are transformed, and the ideas expressed do not always quite fit the context. Instead, connections to traditional Roman notions can be discerned.
The Parrhesia of the Exile: Musonius Rufus and Disentanglement
By Valéry Laurand, Université Bordeaux-Montaigne
The last paragraphs of Musonius' treatise 9, 'That Exile is not an Evil', feature Musonius himself, in a development on parrhesiain exile. Exile, he says in substance, contrary to what Euripides may have written, does not deprive one of straight talk and he proves it by his own experience:
Teles and Musonius on the Exiled Philosopher
By Margaret Graver, Dartmouth College
Musonius’s Discourse Περὶ φυγῆς appeals to the philosopher’s own experience on Gyaros; as Whitmarsh has shown (141-55), exile is an element in his self-fashioning. And the contemporary resonance of the topic cannot be doubted in a period when banishment to an island was an option for imperial censure and when philosophers were soon to be removed from Rome by Vespasian’s decree. Van Geytenbeek (147) and others have noted, however, that the content of Musonius’s work is startlingly close to that of Teles the Cynic, writing on the same subject in the 3rd century BCE.