Cleanthes (331—232 BCE)

Cleanthes was a Stoic philosopher of Assus in Lydia, and a disciple of
Zeno of Citium. After the death of Zeno he presided over his school.
He was originally a wrestler, and in this capacity he visited Athens,
where he became acquainted with philosophy. Although he possessed no
more than four drachma, he was determined to put himself under an
eminent philosopher. His first master was Crates, the Academic. He
afterward became Zeno's disciple and an advocate of his doctrines. By
night he drew water as a common laborer in the public gardens so that
he would have leisure to attend lectures in the daytime. The Athenian
citizens observed that, although he appeared strong and healthy, he
had no visible means of subsistence; they then summoned him before the
Areopagas, according to the custom of the city, to give an account of
his manner of living. He then produced the gardener for whom he drew
water, and a woman for whom he ground meal, as witnesses to prove that
he lived by the labor of his hands. The judges of the court were
struck with such admiration of his conduct, that they ordered ten
minae to be paid him out of the public treasury. Zeno, however, did
not allow him to accept it. Antigonus afterward presented him with
three thousand minae. From the manner in which this philosopher
supported himself, he was called "the well drawer." For many years he
was so poor that he was compelled to take notes on Zeno's lectures on
shells and bones, since he could not afford to buy better materials.
He remained, however, a pupil of Zeno for nineteen years.

His natural faculties were slow. But resolution and perseverance
enabled him to overcome all difficulties. At last he became so
complete a master of Stoicism that he was perfectly qualified to
succeed Zeno. His fellow disciples often ridiculed him for his
dullness by calling him an ass. However, his answer was, that if he
were an ass he was the better able to bear the weight of Zeno's
doctrine. He wrote much, but none of his writings remain except a hymn
to Zeus. After his death, the Roman senate erected a statue in honor
of him at Assus. It is said that he starved himself to death in his
99th year.