Quintus Sextius

Quintus Sextius the Elder ( _la. Quinti Sextii Patris) was a Roman philosopher, lived c. 50 BC, whose philosophy combined Pythagoreanism with Stoicism. His praises were frequently celebrated by Seneca. [Seneca, "Epistles", lix. 6, lxiii. 11, 13, xcviii. 13, cviii. 17; "De Ira", ii. 36, iii. 36.]

Seneca delighted much in a work of Sextius, the title of which he does not give, but which he praises, as written with great power:

Ye Gods, what strength and spirit one finds in him! This is not the case with all philosophers; there are some men of illustrious name whose writings are sapless. They lay down rules, they argue, and they quibble; they do not infuse spirit simply because they have no spirit. But when you come to read Sextius you will say: "He is alive; he is strong; he is free; he is more than a man; he fills me with a mighty confidence before I close his book." I shall acknowledge to you the state of mind I am in when I read his works: I want to challenge every hazard; I want to cry: "Why keep me waiting, Fortune? Enter the lists! Behold, I am ready for you!" [Seneca, "Epistles", lxiv, 3.]

Seneca describes Sextius as a Stoic but mentions that Sextius himself denied it. [Seneca, "Epistles", lxiv, 2.] From other Epistles of Seneca we learn that Sextius, though born of an illustrious family, had declined the dignity of Senator when offered him by Julius Caesar; [Seneca, "Epistles", xcviii. 13.] that he subjected himself to a scrupulous self-examination at the close of each day; [Seneca, "De Ira", iii. 36.] and that he abstained from animal food, though for different reasons than those ascribed to Pythagoras:

Sextius believed that man had enough sustenance without resorting to blood, and that a habit of cruelty is formed whenever butchery is practised for pleasure. [Seneca, "Epistles", cviii. 18.]

It appears that Sextius attempted to found a school of philosophy combining some features of the Pythagoreans with others of the Stoics; and which was consequently classed sometimes with one, and sometimes with the other of those sects. Seneca writes (c. 65 AD) that the school was extinct. [Seneca, "Naturales Quaestiones", vii. 32]

A "Xystus Pythagoricus philosophus" is recorded in Jerome's version of the "Chronicon" of Eusebius. He is also mentioned by Plutarch, [Plutarch, "De Profect. Virtut. Sentent. Opp." vol. vi.] and by the elder Pliny. [Pliny, "H. Nat." xviii. 68, alibi.] It has sometimes been suggested that the extant "Sentences of Sextus" were (in their original form) written by Sextius.

Bibliography

* Edmund Zeller, "Die Philosophie der Grieschen" (1880-1892), t. III, 1, p. 675-682.

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