When Universal Human Roles and Acquired Roles Conflict: Appropriate Action when Ruled by a Tyrant

Stoicism, particularly Epictetan Stoicism, is a role ethics system.  One question that arises in role ethics is what to do when different roles conflict with each other.  What follows is a fictional dialogue between Avidius, a Roman centurion, and his Stoic teacher, Quartus, as they work through what to do when the universal human role conflicts with an acquired role.  Editor’s note: Citations to sources, including contemporary sources, are not typical for dialogues; the author has provided them here for those wishing to explore specific arguments more deeply.

Avidius was stationed in Antioch, Syria, circa 200 CE.  A new governor was appointed to Syria, and things carried on as usual for a time, but then a drought and plague struck Syria.  The new governor blamed the twin calamities on the impiety of religious minorities failing to properly worship the Roman pantheon and the Imperial cult in particular.  For their impiety, the Roman governor began persecuting the religious minorities, and using it as an excuse to seize property and wealth. Troubled, Avidius sought out his childhood Stoic teacher, Quartus:

Quartus: Well met Avidius, it’s been some years since I last saw you.  I am glad you are here, but I sense that something is troubling you.  What brings you to see me?

Avidius: The last governor, Marius Maximus, was a man of restraint, and conducted himself with justice and concern for the well-being of the citizenry and Rome. 

[ Quartus knew that it was dangerous to directly speak ill of powerful men.  One convention was to praise other people for their positive traits, and the implication was that the person who remained unnamed was the opposite of what was described.  Consequently, Quartus immediately knew that Avidius’s praise of the previous governor was actually referring to the moral corruption of the new governor of Syria.]

Quartus: You have been away from my school for some long years, and I would like to test whether you remember your lessons. What is the foundation of Stoic ethics?

Avidius: Every creature is born with an affinity for its own constitution. This is a gift from Nature. Each animal will seek what it perceives as being conducive and supportive of their self-preservation, and will try to avoid anything that the animal judges to be injurious. This affinity is called oikeiosis (Diogenes Laertius 7.85 and Cicero, De Finibus 3.16). 

Each animal has the common End of Living According to Nature, but their natures are diverse.  The nature of the ox and horse are not identical to the nature of humanity (Cicero, De Finibus 5.26). What sets humanity apart from the other animals is that for most animals, oikeiosis and Living According to Nature means just seeing to their physical well-being and reproducing.  However, rationality and sociability are what makes human nature unique among the other animals.  As humans mature and develop mentally, our rational and social nature gradually extends our affinity beyond ourselves.  We first recognize affinity for our parents and siblings, then it gradually extends to our broader families, communities, our country, and ultimately all of humanity. These ever broadening Circles of Concern were described by Hierocles (Stobaeus, Florilegium 4.671). The goal as Stoic practitioners is to pull the Circles of Concern inward.  We do this by performing actions that demonstrate care for the well-being of the Cosmopolis, the World City.

Zeno taught that the End of life is to live in agreement with nature. This is true for all animals, but rationality is what defines humanity. Humanity derives their rational nature from the Divine Logos, and consequently, living in accordance with nature means to live in agreement with our rational human nature as well as the nature of the Universe (Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, 7.87 and 7.88).

When each person asks themself what would be an appropriate action in a given situation, the way to know is to consider what roles we have in life. For example, as a soldier it is my duty to hold the line in battle alongside my brothers and bear up under threat. In the exact same external circumstances, appropriate action for a civilian would be radically different from mine.

Each person has roles that are particular to each individual, but every human also has a universal human role which is common to everyone (Cicero, De Officiis, 1.107).

The universal human role is bound up in our connection with the Divine Logos, which has many names – God, Zeus, Nature, Cosmos, Universe, the All, among others. The Universe is living, supremely rational, and perfectly ordered. The Logos is imminent and pervades the physical universe, permeating and interwoven with all matter, plants, and animals. As rational animals, humans have a special closeness with the Logos, and are entrusted with a portion of the Logos for however long we are alive.  Our portion of the Logos is only on loan to us from the Universe, and is returned to the Universe upon our deaths.  As caretakers of our portion of the Logos, it is our duty to Live According to Nature, which is to live in accord with Universal Nature, as well as our nature as human beings. 

Human nature is composed of two prongs.  Firstly, as we are reflections of the Logos, humans are rational animals.  Secondly, humans are born for each other and are social by nature (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.24, 4.33, 9.23). Our social nature is evidenced by the fact that we form families, communities, and nations. In sum, to fulfill our universal human role is to Live According to Nature by developing our reason to the extent possible, and fulfilling our social roles and duties by conducting appropriate actions.

In addition to the universal human role, we have roles that are particular to each individual.  The particular roles are divided into three subcategories.  The first category of particular roles is our individual inborn and natural predispositions and traits, such as our strength, speed, beauty, intelligence, gregariousness, and dignity, or the lack thereof (Seneca, Letters, 11).  Second, we are assigned social roles in relation to external circumstances, such as son or daughter, sibling, or citizen.  The third category of particular roles are our acquired roles, which are the roles we choose for ourselves, such as our profession and whether we marry (Cicero, De Officiis, 1.107–121).

Quartus: You do seem to recall the teachings of our school even after all these years, Avidius. That being the case, why are you consulting me today?

Avidius: I feel an unsettling tension between my universal human role and my acquired role of centurion.  My universal human role calls me to treat every person with Justice and to have the Courage to make the world a better place for all members of the Cosmopolis.  However, there is a strong possibility that I will receive orders in my acquired role as centurion that would contradict my universal human role by implicating myself in injustice. 

Quartus: Are all roles held in equal regard, or is one held to be higher than the others? 

Avidius: In his description of Stoicism, Cicero said that “we must so act as not to oppose the universal laws of human nature, but, while safeguarding those, to follow the bent of our own particular nature”(Cicero, De Officiis, 1.110). And when asked what place a person should hold in the state, Epictetus said, “Whatever [place] you can hold with the preservation of your fidelity and honor” (Epictetus, Enchiridion, 24.4, and Johnson, Role Ethics). This means that our universal human role takes precedent over our individual particular roles, such as our acquired roles, like that of centurion.  We are free to pursue our various professions, but not at the expense of Virtue.

Quartus: Now that you have fleshed out the composition of human nature, Avidius, it is important to revisit oikeiosis. Does the unique nature of humanity result in any surprising implications?

Avidius: Each animal has an affinity for their own constitution and will pursue what it perceives to be conducive to that constitution and will avoid what it perceives to be injurious. To fulfill their duty to Live According to Nature, most animals only have to seek that which is conducive and supportive of their physical self-preservation, and try to avoid anything that the animal perceives to be injurious. However, more is necessary for humanity. The constitution and defining characteristics of human nature are our rationality and sociability.  To preserve our constitution as humans, we must conduct appropriate actions to fulfill our social roles, and shun irrational and anti-social actions.  Safeguarding our rational and social nature is of higher importance than the preservation of our physical bodies, because our rationality is what makes us closer to the Logos. Our rationality and sociability is what makes us uniquely human, and it is paramount that our rationality and sociability be safeguarded in order to preserve what makes us human (John Sellars, The Art of Living, Chapter 3.1). To behave viciously for the sake of preserving our physical body, or for any other external, would be to throw away what it is that makes us human.  This means that to preserve our constitution, prokoptontes may have to take actions that are hazardous or even be called upon to sacrifice our very lives to fulfill our social roles. 

Quartus: Who is it that has power over us?

Avidius: As Epictetus said, “A man’s master is he who is able to confer or remove whatever that man seeks or shuns. Whoever then would be free, let him wish nothing, let him decline nothing which depends on others; else he must necessarily be a slave” (Epictetus, Enchiridion, 14).

When I am troubled, it is because I am fearful of the power the tyrant has over things which I would rather avoid – imprisonment, exile, torture, and death.  This is an error, because I am putting value on things that are under the control of others, and that gives them power over me. 

There is a path to freedom, however. The tyrant is fearsome to most people because of the soldiers and swords at his command, and his propensity to use that power to cruelly and joyfully harm others through imprisonment, torture, and even death (Epictetus, Discourses 4.17.1). However, to a prokopton, exile, torture, imprisonment, and death are not harms.  All these things which most people fear above all others relate only to externals.  The only true good is Virtue, and the only evil is Vice. The only evil or harm is that which would corrupt the character of the person.  Being tortured, imprisoned, exiled, or killed has no negative implication on the Virtue of the person receiving the adverse conditions. In fact, to bear up well under adversity is conducive to Virtue (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.49). The only person being harmed is the brute, the torturer and killer, as they corrupt their own character. 

A tyrant cannot harm a Stoic, because a prokopton knows the true value of externals, and views them as indifferents. When I feel inner turbulence at the thought of the potential repercussions for refusing unjust orders, it demonstrates that I am not yet sure in my philosophy.  I have to become unshakeably certain of the value of externals as being truly indifferent. 

The cause of my distress is that I have not yet mastered what is up to me, and what is not up to me. Epictetus said, “If you attribute freedom to things by nature dependent and take what belongs to others for your own, you will be hindered, you will lament, you will be disturbed, you will find fault both with gods and men. But if you take for your own only that which is your own and view what belongs to others just as it really is, then no one will ever compel you” (Epictetus, Enchiridion, 1.3). 

And he went on, “I must die.  Must I then die lamenting?  I must be put in chains.  Must I then also lament?  I must go into exile.  Does any man, then, hinder me from going with smiles and cheerfulness and contentment?” (Epictetus, Discourses, 1.1.21 to 22). 

The tyrant can imprison my body, but he cannot imprison my faculty of choice. He said, “These are the things which philosophers should meditate upon, on which they should write daily, in which they should exercise themselves” (Epictetus, Discourses, 1.1.25).

Quartus: Are tyrants a new phenomenon?  Does our school provide no role models for how to behave toward a tyrant?

Avidius: Tyrants are not new, and our school boasts many heroes who set examples of how to resist tyranny. Cato the Younger resisting Julius Caesar is the Stoic hero with the most renown in this regard.  No less worthy of praise are Helvidius Priscus, Thrasea, and Agrippinus, among many others (Epictetus, Discourses, 1.2).  But Socrates was the man with the most fame for his stalwart actions in the face of tyranny. Socrates refused to cooperate when the Thirty Tyrants tried to implicate him in their crimes, and he never faltered even when the full weight of Athens itself was eventually brought against him. Although Socrates predates our school, he is the best humanity can offer as an exemplar of Virtue.

When faced with a situation that threatens to cause me to assent to a false impression and give way to Passion, overwhelming my faculty of choice, I can Withhold Assent and hearken back to these heroes and envision how these men would have handled the present situation, and act the role of a Socrates, or a Helvidius Priscus (Seneca, Letters, 11). In our imitation of a role model’s Virtue, we will make progress toward Virtue ourselves, until appropriate action becomes a habit, and eventually a rock solid disposition.

When I faced bandits and the Parthians, I never wavered.  I relied on my brother soldiers, and together we succeeded and prospered. I think perhaps what has unsettled my mind is that it had never occurred to me that a serious threat to Virtue might come from within my own command structure.  I would argue that the present danger is more perilous than the Parthians. The Parthians were only a danger to my life and limb, but the present danger is to my very soul.

I must redouble my practice of the Premeditatio Malorum spiritual exercise – the premeditation of adversity.  By daily meditation on the calamities that befall humans, we can become familiar with them from a distance, and having mentally prepared ourselves ahead of time, keep our heads and act appropriately when adverse circumstances inevitably present themselves in real life.  If someone is to keep their head when the crisis comes, they must train before the crisis presents itself (Seneca, Letters, 18).

Seneca wrote, “It is the unexpected that puts the heaviest load upon us. Strangeness adds to the weight of calamities, and every mortal feels the greater pain as a result of that which also brings surprise.  Therefore, nothing ought to be unexpected by us.  Our minds should be sent forward in advance to meet all problems, and we should consider, not just what [commonly happens], but what can [possibly] happen.  For what is there in existence that Fortuna, when she has so willed, does not drag down from the very height of its prosperity?…We should therefore reflect upon all contingencies, and should fortify our minds against the evils which may possibly come. Exile, the torture of disease, wars, shipwreck – we must think on these. Chance may tear you from your country or your country from you, … Let us place before our eyes in its entirety the nature of [humanity’s] lot, if we would not be overwhelmed, or even dazed, by those unwonted evils, as if they were [unprecedented]” (Seneca, Letters, 91).

Another grave concern is wrapped up in this, noblest teacher.  What of my wife? She is fearful for me and for herself. For she will pay consequences along with me, if I bear the brunt of punishment.

Quartus: Which is higher, our universal role as a human being or that of an acquired role, like being a spouse or parent?

Avidius: As we have already reasoned, the universal human role is higher and must be given priority over all acquired roles (Epictetus, Enchiridion 24.4).

Quartus: A spouse’s fears are not to be ignored, but are good and noble deeds to be performed only by the unmarried and childless? In the legion, which troops tend to be unmarried?

Avidius: The younger and less experienced troops. Those that have not yet become established enough to support a family.

Quartus: Do we look to the young and inexperienced to lead us and set the example for the rest of us?

Avidius: No, that would turn the world upside down. The young and inexperienced troops look to the veterans and officers for examples of how to conduct themselves.  If a leader is undisciplined and unjust, their troops will reflect that temperament. 

I shall look back to Hector of Troy as my role model in this.  Before going forth to fight for his city, Hector acknowledged the fears and concerns of his wife, Andromache, and consoled her as best he could. Then Hector blessed his son, donned his helmet, and fulfilled his duty to his city (Homer, Iliad, Book 6). I owe my own allegiance and duty to Rome and Antioch, but also to the World City, the Cosmopolis (Epictetus, Discourses, 1.9.1).

Teacher, thank you for telling me how I should conduct myself!

Quartus: I have not issued you any orders, Avidius. I have merely asked you a few questions, and you determined the appropriate actions for yourself. May you have the mettle to stay true to what you have concluded, so as to ensure your progress toward Virtue, and to set an example for others through your actions. If you do, you will be the purple thread in the tunic (Epictetus, Discourses 1.2.22).

Fortuna permitting, you are always welcome in my school and my home, Avidius, and you can come whenever you feel you need someone to help you reason through whatever is troubling you. Prokoptontes live for each other, after all. However, it is clear to me that you knew the answer to your troubles before you sought me out. You have the legs to stand on your own, Avidius. 

Avidius: It may be true that I had the answers to my query already, but my visit was not without reward.  Honored teacher, you have been invaluable in assisting me to organize my thoughts so that I will have a firm framework to refer to in moments when externals test my limits. Ave atque vale, Quartus.

Notes:

Oikeiosis – Avidius stopped oikeiosis at the borders of the human family.  However, modern Stoic practitioners frequently extend the Circles of Concern beyond the confines of humanity so as to include the biosphere and environment.  See Kai Whiting and Leonidas Konstantikos, Being Better, Chapter 6 and 8Role Models – Avidius listed role models that were familiar to him as a 3^rd century Roman.  For modern examples of exemplary persons resisting tyranny, think of abolitionists in the 19th century, suffragettes in the early 20th century, Civil Rights leaders resisting Jim Crow and apartheid, and LGBTQ+ rights advocates from the mid 20th century to the present.