trifling issues...............................

     Zeno appears to have been trying to synthesize the best aspects of different Athenian philosophical traditions.  However, the Cynic and Academic schools were often seen as representing fundamentally different assumptions about what it means to be a philosopher.  The Cynics sneered at the pretentious and bookish nature of Plato's Academy.  The Academics, in turn, thought the doctrines of the Cynics were crude and too extreme—Plato reputedly called Diogenes "Socrates gone mad."  Zeno must have believed that studying philosophical theory, or subjects like logic and cosmology, can be good insofar as it makes us more virtuous and improves our character.  However, it also can be a bad thing if it becomes so pedantic or overly "academic" that it diverts us from the pursuit of virtue.  Marcus learned the same attitude from his Stoic teachers.  He repeatedly warned himself not to become distracted by reading too many books—thus wasting time on trifling issues in logic and metaphysics—but instead to remain focused on the practical goal of living wisely.

-Donald Robertson,  How To Think Like A Roman Emperor:  The Stoic Philosophy Of Marcus Aurelius