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Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Schubert on St. Augustine's Teaching on the Eternal Law, Part 14

Augustine's Lex Aeterna Teaching
Its Content and its Source

by: P. Alois Schubert, S.V.D.

Part II
What Sources Inform St. Augustine's Teaching on the Eternal Law?


Bust of the Stoic Philosopher Chrysippus of Sol (ca. 278-206 B.C.)

D. THE STOA (336-207 B.C.)
(continued)

2. Attributes of the Common Law According to the Stoa.

a) Cleanthes calls this law the eternal applicable law. He writes in his hymn: "For the entirety of existence there is an eternal and subsisting law."(16) This law governs the things of the world and is eternal, just like Zeus himself.(17)

b) This law is, further, unchanging, in that it stays always one and the same.(18) It is right Reason which impresses itself upon and rules all things.(19)

c) This law is ultimately universal. Zeus rules the All by this law.(20) Even the evil are rejected and are confined back to it. The disorderly he brings into order, and the unlovely he makes lovely. You, O Zeus, sings Cleanthes, lead the law, the common, which impresses upon all things. You reign in your greatest power as the highest Lord of the entire world. Without you, Ruling Lord, nothing in the All occurs.(21) Even the deeds of the sinners, evil, you know, in your wisdom, how to even. The disorderly you place back into order, and the unlovely you make lovely."(22) Therefore everything, the orderly and disorderly, good and evil, is under the common law. It is therefore universal in the widest sense of that term.

Note well: the Stoics did not teach that the evil were destroyed by the common law. By this clarification they generally drew back to theodicy. Compare Anathon Aall in his The History of the Logos Idea (Die Geschichte der Logosidee) [Leipzig 1896].

The Stoa placed on the Logos the same qualities as Augustine did on the eternal law. Even here Augustine stands under a stoic influence.

STOAAUGUSTINE
1. λόγον αἰὲν ἐόντα. S. 52, Anm. 16.
λόγον καὶ ἐόντα ἀΐδιον
1. lex est aeterna, sempiterna, perpetua. S. 63, Anm. 1 and 2.
2. νόμου μέτα πάντα κυβερνῶν. S. 52, Anm. 20.
2. lex est universalis. S.7, Anm. 8 and S. 8, Anm. 10 and 12.












3. The Logos koinos is the Fundamental Norm of all Laws


The Stoics linked justice upon the natural law. They taught that justice or right has its wellspring not as a result of any human warrant, but as an outflow of reason be that from nature.(22) According to Chrysippus, there is no other wellspring for right that may be found, no other path other than that of Zeus and the common nature. From there must all human law find its source if we want to talk in terms of good and evil.(24) This common law is the king of all divine and human things, the dominant ruler of the good and the ugly, the most-high guide from which nature commands what things are permitted, what prohibited, and what is allowed in terms of political custom, and thereby is the norm and measure of justice and injustice.(25) The measure for good and evil, for the just and unjust is also the common law. All right and law, the law of nature, the moral law, and the law of the state all point backwards to the Logos orthos. Looking at these individually, we get the following picture:

a) The Law of Nature stems from the Logos koinos

The Logos impresses itself upon all things of this world.(26) Certainly, the Logos is but one.(27) It divides itself, however, in myriad subordinated rational individuals, the logoi spermatikoi. These rational seeds are the cause of the always renewing individuals, the never corrupting forms, the measure of propriety, the measure, the relationship, the beauty, the order, and the security of all earthly things.(28) The Logoi spermatikoi are the primary moving powers for the Stoic diakosmesis, the world environment (Weltausstattung). The Logos koinos can appropriately divide itself into are myriad of appropriate displays of its power. Through this principle the world is created and holds together.(29) The innumerable laws of of individual things run together into the one eternal law. Felicitously, there is preserved in an Armenian text alone some of the writing of the Stoic Poseidonius which deals with the role of the Logoi spermatikoi in the underlying law of things. In that text it says: "The earth does not stop in bringing forth the same plants. The heavens continues in its unending order. Sun, moon, and the stars overhead do not vary from their joint paths. The sea does not overstep its indicated boundaries. The creatures of the waters, the creatures of the air, the creatures of the land live in fidelity to their tasks; only man, that has authority over all things, is entrusted with the quality of freedom, and is able to disregard Providence and neglect the law of what is right."(30) The Logoi spermatikoi express themselves as the power that holds together all inorganic things, (hexis) as the physis of organic things, as psyche in the things that live, and as nous in mankind.(31) These laws run together into the one Logos orthos to the most high God.(32) In this manner the Stoics the natural law upon the eternal law. The Stoic manner of thinking about the derivation of the temporal law, especially the natural law, is the same as that in Augustine.

STOAAUGUSTINE
1. The Stoa derived all right and law back to the Logos koinos: οὐδὲ γάρ ἐστιν εύρεΐν της δικαιοσύνης ἄλλης ἄρκὴν . . . ἤ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ Διὸς καὶ τὴν ἐκ τὴς κοινὴς φύσεως. S. 53, Anm. 241. Augustine derived the inner order of things (the natural law) from the divine wisdom and righteousness. S. 9, Anm. 3 and 4.
2. The Stoa derived the Logoi spermatikoi back to the Logos koinos tes physeos. Οἱ Στωικοί νοερὸν θεὸν ἀποφαίνονται πῦρ τεκνικον ὁδῶ βαδίζον ἐπὶ γένεσιν κόσμου ἐμπεριειληφὸς πάντας τους σπερματικούς λόγους, καθ’οὓς ἕκαστα καθ’ ειρομένην γίνεται. Diels, Doxographi Graeci 1879, S. 305.
2. Augustine derived the rationes seminales (the literal translation of Logoi spermatikoi) upon the divine power and wisdom.
Aug., PL 34, lib. 9, 17. Potestas creatoris habet apud se posse de his omnibus aliud facere, quam eorum quasi seminales rationes habent.
Aug., De gen. ad lit. PL 34, lib. X, 20; lib. X, 21.
Vgl. Hans Meyer, Geschichte der Lehre von den Keimkräften, Bonn 1914, S. 63ff.
Aug. in Heptat, II, 21. Insunt enim corporeis rebus per omnia elementa mundi quaedam occultae seminariae rationes, quibus cum data fuerit opportunitas temporalis atque causalis, prorumpunt in species debitas suis modis et finibus.









































b) The Logos koinos is the principal source of the moral law.

Chrysippus teaches expressly: "There is simply no other source and background for justice that may be found other than Zeus and the common nature.(33) Nature and reason are the only measure for good and evil. Reason tells everyone what he should do and what he ought to avoid.(34) The highest morality is equivalent to living according to nature, that is reason."(35) Ergo the famous Stoic canon: "One must live according to Nature, that is to say Reason."(36) Living a life in accordance with reason is, at the final end, life in accordance with the Logos koinos. From this Logos, man takes a part in through reason, which he obtains by nature. The part of him that is reason lives in him as Logos andiathetos.(37) According to the Stoics, the moral law also is based upon the Logos koinos. Augustine holds that the moral law is innate. God writes it in the heart of man. The Stoa and Augustine both trace back the moral law to the divinity.

c) The Logos koinos is the Fundamental Norm of the Laws of the State.

The common law ties both the gods and men. Both use the world as a common home.(38) Cleanthes prays to Zeus from there: "Your progeny are we and part of your form, all which lives and is composed to die on earth."(39) Man and God are bound by the same law, and so it naturally follows that human laws, the laws of the State, must be arranged to conform to the One, the divine one. This is so because justice has its source, not in human law, but in the outflow from reason, that is nature.(40). Augustine derives in the same way the law of the State from the eternal law. Nihil esse iustum atque legitimum quod non ex aeterna lege homines sibi derivaverint.

d) Conclusion regarding the Stoic teaching on the Logos.

The concept of the Logos is at the center of the Stoic philosophy. The concepts of taxis, heimarmene, pronoia, physis koine, logos orthos, nomos koinos become in many cases synonymously used. The Stoics name the Logos eternal and universal. The evil are under the law of the Logos. The law of nature, the moral law, the law of the State all are derived from that source. The same or similar termini and manners of thinking in Augustine show the reliance of Augustine on the Stoa. Cicero and Plotinus are Augustine's bridge to them.

____________________


(16) v. Arnim, Joh. St. v. fr. I, No. 537. ὥσθ’ ἕνα γίγνεσθαι πάντων λόγον αἰὲν ἐόντα . . .
(17) v. Arnim, Joh. St. v. fr. II, No. 300. τοῦτον γὰρ ἀΐδιον ὄντα διὰ πάσης αὐτῆς (= τῆς ύλης) δημιουργεῖν ἕκαστα.
(18) v. Arnim, Joh. St. v. fr. I, No. 537. λόγον αἰέν ἐόντα . . .
(19) v. Arnim, Joh. St. v. fr. I, No. 162. ὀρθὸς λόγος, διὰ πάντων ἐρχόμενος . . .
(20) v. Arnim, Joh. St. v. fr. I, No. 537. Ζεῦ, φύσεως ἀρχηγέ, νόμου μέτα πάντα κυβερνῶν, χαῖρε . . .
(21) v. Arnim, Joh. St. v. fr. I, No. 537. σὺ κατευθύνεις κοινὸν λόγον, ὃς διὰ πάντων
φοιτᾷ, μιγνύμενος μεγάλῳ μικροῖς τε φάεσσιν ᾧ σὺ τόσος γεγαὼς ὕπατος βασιλεὺς διὰ παντός. οὐδέ τι γίγνεται ἔργον ἐπὶ χθονὶ σοῦ δίχα, δαῖμον . . . πλὴν ὁπόσα ῥέζουσι κακοὶ σφετέραισιν ἀνοίαις . . .

(22) v. Arnim, Joh. St. v. fr. I, No. 537. ἀλλὰ σὺ καὶ τὰ περισσὰ ἐπίστασαι ἄρτια θεῖναι, καὶ κοσμεῖν τἄκοσμα, καὶ οὐ φίλα σοὶ φίλα ἐστίν .
(23) v. Arnim, Joh. St. v. fr. III, No. 308. φύσει δὲ τὸ δίκαιον είναι καὶ μὴ θέσει ὡς καὶ τὸν ὀρθὸν λόγον καθάφησι Χρύσιππος ἐν τῷ περὶ τοῦ καλοῦ. . .
(24) v. Arnim, Joh. St. v. fr. III 326. Χρύσιππος ἐν τῴ περί θεῶν οὐ γὰρ ἐστίν εὑρείν τὴς δικαιοσύνης ἀλλην ἄρκὴν, οὐδέ ἀλλην γένεσιν ἤ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ Διὸς καὶ τὴν ἐκ τὴς κοινὴς φύσεως ἐντεῦθεν γὰρ δεῖ πᾶν τὸ τοιοῦτον τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔχειν, εἰ μέλλομεν ὀρθῶς τι ἐρεῖν περὶ ἀγαθῶν καὶ κακῶν.
(25) v. Arnim, Joh. St. v. fr. III, No. 314. ὁ νόμος παντων ἐστί βασιλεὺς ϑείων τε καὶ ἀνϑρωπίνων πραγμάτων, δεῖ δὲ αὐτὸν προστάτην τε εἶναι τῶν καλῶν καὶ τῶν αἰσχρῶν καὶ ἄρχοντα καὶ ἡγεμόνα καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο κανόνα τε εἶναι δικαίων καὶ ἀδίκων καὶ τῶν φύσει πολιτικῶν ζῴων προστακτικὸν μὲν ὧν ποιητέον ἀπαγορευτικὸν δὲ ὧν οὐ ποιητέον . . .
(26) v. Arnim, Joh. St. v. fr. I, No. 162. ὁ νόμος ὁ κοινός, ὅσπερ ἐστὶν ὁ ὀρθὸς λόγος, διὰ πάντων ἐρχόμενος . . .
(27) v. Arnim, Joh. St. v. fr. II, No. 1128. ὡς μέν οἱ Στωϊκοί λέουσιν εἰς τε ἐστὶν ὁ λόγος καὶ ἤ αυτή πάντως διανοίησις.
(28) Vgl. Anathon Aall, Geschichte der Logosidee, Bonn 1914, S. 129.
(29) Stobaeus, Ecl. I 374 and Anathon Aall S. 129. καὶ ὥσπερ τίνες λόγοι των μερών εις σπέρμα συνιόντες μίγνονται καὶ αύθις διακρίνονται γινομένων των μερών οὗτος ἐξ ενόζ τε πάντα γίνεσθαι και εκ πάντων εις ἐν συγκρίνεςθαι.
(30) Anathon Aal, Geschichte der Logosidee, Bonn 1914, S. 129. Sol et luna ceteraeque stellae a cedenti cursu non cessant, mare regulam mandati non excedit, aquatilia, volatilia et terrestria debitis officiis non desunt, solus libertate praeditus mundi civis homo, cui etiam principatus imperialis concessus fuit, talis, inquam, providentiam, dimisit, legemque iustitiae neglexit.
(31) Cf. v. Arnim, Joh. St. v. fr. II, No. 708, nos. 773-911, I nos. 134-151, nos. 518-526.
(32) St. v. fr. I 537. Ζεῦ φύσεως ἀρχηγέ, νόμου μετὰ πάντα κυβερνῶν. St. v. f. III 326. οὐδὲ γάρ ἐστιν εύρεΐν της δικαιοσύνης ἄλλης ἄρκὴν ἤ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ Διὸς καὶ τὴν ἐκ τὴς κοινὴς φύσεως.
(33) v. Arnim, Joh. St. v. fr. III, No. 326. Χρύσιππος ἐν τῴ περί θεῶν οὐ γὰρ ἐστίν εὑρείν τὴς δικαιοσύνης ἀλλην ἄρκὴν, οὐδέ ἀλλην γένεσιν ἤ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ Διὸς καὶ τὴν ἐκ τὴς κοινὴς φύσεως .
(34) v. Arnim, Joh. St. v. fr. III, No. 314. [νόμον] κανόνα τε εἶναι δικαίων καὶ ἀδίκων καὶ τῶν φύσει πολιτικῶν ζῴων προστακτικὸν μὲν ὧν ποιητέον ἀπαγορευτικὸν δὲ ὧν οὐ ποιητέον.
(35) v. Arnim, Joh. St. v. fr. I, No. 179. Διόπερ πρῶτος ὁ Ζήνων ἐν τῷ Περὶ ἀνθρώπου φύσεως τέλοςεἶπε τὸ ὁμολογουμένως τῇ φύσει ζῆν, ὅπερ ἐστὶ κατ' ἀρετὴν ζῆν·ἄγει γὰρ πρὸς ταύτην ἡμᾶς ἡ φύσις.
(36) v. Arnim, Joh. St. v. fr. I, No. 179. τὸ δε τέλος ὁ μὲν Ζήνων οΰτως ἀπέδωκεν τὸ ὁμολογουμένως ζῆν τούτο δ' εστί καθ' ένα λόγον ζῆν καὶ σύμφωρον ζῆν.
(37) De plac. phil. III 11. 900 B. Οἱ Στωϊκοί φασιν· ὅταν γεννηθῇ ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ἔχει τὸ ἡγεμονικόν μέρος τῆς ψυχῆς. St. v. fr. II 837. ἡγεμονικόν δὲ εἶναι τὸ κυριώτατον τῆς ψυχῆς.
(38) Stobaeus, Ecl. I 444. Χρύσιππος κόσμον ἔναι τὸ ἐκ τῶν θεῶν καὶ ἀνθρώπων καὶ σύστημα τῶν ἕνεκα τοῦτον γεγονότον. . . cf. Cicero, De finibus bon. et mal. III 20, 27.
(39) v. Arnim, Joh. St. v. fr. I, No. 537. Έκ σου γάρ γένος είσ' ήχου μίμημα λαχόντες. μούνοι, όσα ζώει τε και έρπει θνήτ' έπί γαίαν.
(40) v. Arnim, Joh. St. v. fr. III, No. 308. φύσει δὲ τὸ δίκαιον είναι καὶ μὴ θέσει . . .

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