Abstract

Plutarch, at De Stoicorum repugnantiis 1038e–1039a, quotes and briefly discusses a fragment from Chrysippus' On Zeus. This quotation is to some extent paralleled by the scrap, taken from Chrysippus' On the Gods, which immediately follows at SR 1039a. Both quotations are again referred to by Plutarch at De communibus notitiis 1061a. Although the correct constitution of the text is controversial, it is at least clear that the fragment from the On Zeus deals with the fact that not all virtuous acts are ipso facto also praiseworthy. Plutarch characteristically creates a first and more general contradiction between the On Zeus text and other passages in which Chrysippus argued that virtue and vice do not admit of gradations. In addition, he creates a specific contradiction between it and another quotation, this time from the On the Honourable, in which Chrysippus seems to draw the conclusion that the good is praiseworthy.