Stoics
    a sect of Greek philosophers at Athens, so called from the Greek
    word stoa i.e., a "porch" or "portico," where they have been
    called "the Pharisees of Greek paganism." The founder of the
    Stoics was Zeno, who flourished about B.C. 300. He taught his
    disciples that a man's happiness consisted in bringing himself
    into harmony with the course of the universe. They were trained
    to bear evils with indifference, and so to be independent of
    externals. Materialism, pantheism, fatalism, and pride were the
    leading features of this philosophy.