Römische Aristokraten oder griechische Honoratioren? Kontext und Adressaten der Verhaltenslehre des Stoikers Panaitios

Abstract

Panaitios’ treatise Περὶ τοῦ καθήκοντος is considered the most well-known text by a Hellenistic Stoic since it served Cicero as a source in the first two books of De Officiis. Modern scholarship has long thought that Panaitios wrote the code of conduct contained in this text for Roman aristocrats he had encountered in the circle of Scipio Africanus. The communis opinio holds that the Stoic developed a philosophically refined elite ethics for Roman senators. This interpretation is at odds with the view that he produced the text to provide young citizens of late Hellenistic poleis with a code of conduct. This contribution reassesses the communis opinio by investigating the social conventions and cultural norms, as well as the areas of activity and role models Panaitios thematised. Reconstructing the structure and argument of the lost original allows for insights into the characteristics of the implied reader, which in turn sheds light on the intended audience. The analysis shows that in conceiving his code of conduct, Panaitios was primarily thinking of readers from the leading circles of late Hellenistic poleis; this interpretation is supported especially by his critical engagement with euergetism, his clear distinction between mass and elite, and the prominence of an awareness of a Panhellenic past. Apparently, the Stoic paid no attention to the specific features of the Roman Republic. If he nevertheless considered his code of conduct applicable also to Roman senators, this attitude was due to the fact that he, like many Greeks of his time, considered Rome a polis – larger perhaps, but not fundamentally different from
others. An appendix details what is known today about the life and pupils of Panaitios.