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.