A member of a philosophical school founded by Zeno of Citium c.300 bc, who taught in the Stoa Poikile (painted colonnade in Athens (hence the name). Zeno’s followers propounded various metaphysical systems, united chiefly by their ethical implications. All were variants on the pantheistic theme that the world constitutes a single, organically unified and benevolent whole, in which apparent evil results only from our limited view. Their philosophy had at its core the beliefs that virtue is based on knowledge; reason is the governing principle of nature; individuals should live in harmony with nature. The vicissitudes of life were viewed with equanimity: pleasure, pain, and even death were irrelevant to true happiness.