<Li> Temperance (σωφροσύνη "sophrosyne") </Li> <P> Following Socrates, the Stoics held that unhappiness and evil are the results of human ignorance of the reason in nature . If someone is unkind, it is because they are unaware of their own universal reason, which leads to the conclusion of unkindness . The solution to evil and unhappiness then is the practice of Stoic philosophy: to examine one's own judgments and behavior and determine where they diverge from the universal reason of nature . </P> <P> The Stoics accepted that suicide was permissible for the wise person in circumstances that might prevent them from living a virtuous life . Plutarch held that accepting life under tyranny would have compromised Cato's self - consistency (constantia) as a Stoic and impaired his freedom to make the honorable moral choices . Suicide could be justified if one fell victim to severe pain or disease, but otherwise suicide would usually be seen as a rejection of one's social duty . </P> <P> In philosophical terms, things that are indifferent are outside the application of moral law--that is without tendency to either promote or obstruct moral ends . Actions neither required nor forbidden by the moral law, or that do not affect morality, are called morally indifferent . The doctrine of things indifferent (ἀδιάφορα, adiaphora) arose in the Stoic school as a corollary of its diametric opposition of virtue and vice (καθήκοντα kathekon, "convenient actions", or actions in accordance with nature; and ἁμαρτήματα hamartemata, mistakes). As a result of this dichotomy, a large class of objects were left unassigned and thus regarded as indifferent . </P>

The two most influential stoics were a roman slave and an emperor