Study of the reception accorded to Stoic philosophy in major 17th century German tragedies reveals the conceptual foundations of the incipient modern age from the vantage of tradition. In this approach, Stoic philosophy is freed of the reduction to the phenomenon of constantia typical of previous research on the Baroque and is taken seriously as a philosophy of culture of the kind represented throughout the works of Seneca. The analysis from the viewpoint of the history of ideas foreground the Stoic premise of secundum naturam vivere and shows how the early modern age represented a dead end for Stoic philosophy in a 'modern', practical form.