# Zeno — Discourses character guide

> Zeno in Discourses by Epictetus.

**Role:** minor

**First appearance:** 0004-i-of-the-things-which-are-in-our-power-and-not-in-our-power

## Who they are

Founder of Stoicism, cited as a philosophical authority.

## Relationships

### [Antigonus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/characters/antigonus)

_professional_

Antigonus, a king, seeks Zeno's philosophical counsel, creating a patron-philosopher dynamic.

## In the story

### [That the Logical Art Is Necessary](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/xvii-that-the-logical-art-is-necessary)

Mentioned alongside Chrysippus and Cleanthes as a Stoic philosopher who affirms the value of logic.

### [About Reason, How It Contemplates Itself](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/xx-about-reason-how-it-contemplates-itself)

Cited as a source for the brief statement of the chief philosophical doctrine: man's end is to follow the gods and the nature of good is the proper use of appearances.

### [XIII: On Anxiety (Solicitude)](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/xiii-on-anxiety-solicitude)

Example of a philosopher who was not anxious when meeting Antigonus because he valued nothing that Antigonus could control.

### [To Those Who Read and Discuss for the Sake of Ostentation](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/xxiii-to-those-who-read-and-discuss-for-the-sake-of-ostentation)

Mentioned alongside Socrates and Cleanthes as an example of a philosopher who did not engage in ostentatious display.

### [VIII: Against Those Who Hastily Rush Into the Use of the Philosophic Dress](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/viii-against-those-who-hastily-rush-into-the-use-of-the-philosophic-dress)

Referenced for his definition of the philosopher's theorems: to know the elements of reason and how they are fitted to one another.

### [To a Person Who Had Been Changed to a Character of Shamelessness](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/chapters/ix-to-a-person-who-had-been-changed-to-a-character-of-shamelessness)

Mentioned alongside Chrysippus as a philosopher whose teachings the person has abandoned.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/characters/zeno
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_se/characters