In Order To Protect Ourselves We

From Fragment 36 of Musonius Rufus's lectures. The medical metaphor is characteristic of the Stoic tradition: just as the body requires constant medical attention to remain healthy, the soul requires constant philosophical attention to resist the infections of passion and false judgment. Epictetus used the same metaphor, calling the philosopher's school a "hospital for souls." Musonius was unusual among ancient philosophers in demanding that this therapeutic regimen be applied equally to men and women — he argued explicitly for the philosophical education of women in his Discourse 3.