Cardinal Virtues

The four chief virtues of Stoic ethics – Sophrosyne, Dikaiosyne, Andreia, and Phronesis – understood as an inseparably interconnected system.

The Stoics adopted the Platonic system of the four cardinal virtues and interpreted it as a unified framework in which possessing one virtue implies possessing all the others. They are not isolated traits but distinct manifestations of a single moral excellence (Areté). Zeno of Citium and his successors regarded these four virtues as necessary and sufficient for the happy life (Eudaimonia).