Are We to Choose Our Actions?

The stoics believed that all events, including human choices and actions, arise out of unbreakable chains of prior events. This may be captured in the image of time as an unwinding rope, which cicero uses to describe the stoic theory. The thought that all things are fated to occur as they do by divine providence might fill us with a deep peace,. leading us to accept even the most horrifying events with equanimity. We might take what we have come to call a stoic attitude towards misfortune and suffering. What happens is inevitable, so there is no point getting upset about it.