and qualities of bodies from the most obvious and familiar, the figure, motion and arrange|ment of the small parts of matter, felt no doubt a similar satisfaction, when he ac|counted, in the same manner, for all the sen|timents and passions of the mind from those which are most obvious and familiar.
The system of Epicurus agreed with those of Plato, Aristotle, and Zeno, in making vir|tue consist in acting in the most suitable man|ner to obtain the * 1.1 primary objects of natural desire. It differed from all of them in two other respects; first, in the account which it gave of those primary objects of natural de|sire; and secondly, in the account which it gave of the excellence of virtue or of the rea|son why that quality ought to be esteemed.
The primary objects of natural desire con|sisted, according to Epicurus in bodily plea|sure and pain, and in nothing else: whereas, according to the other three philosophers, there were many other objects, such us know|ledge, such as the happiness of our relations, of our friends, of our country, which were ultimately desireable for their own sake.
