A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

ARISTIPPUS. ARISTIPPUS. 299
deservedly rejected as forgeries by Bentley. (Dis- sure and what pain. Both are positive, i. e. pleasertation on Phalaris, &c. p. 104.) One of these is sure is not the gratification of a want, nor does
to Arete, and its spuriousness is proved, among the absence of pleasure equal pain. The absence
other arguments, by the occurrence in it of the of either is a mere negative inactive state, and
name of a city near Cyrene, BepEvfKtc, which must both pleasure and pain are motions of the soul (6v
have been given by the Macedonians, in whose KLIaOTEL). Pain was defined to be a violent, pleadialect 3 stands for <p, so that the name is equiva- sure a moderate motion,-the first being compared
lent to Iepev'iKi, the victorious, to the sea in a storm, the second to the sea under
We shall now give a short view of the leading a light breeze, the intermediate state of no-pleasure
doctrines of the earlier Cyrenaic school in gene- and no-pain to a calm-a simile not quite apposite,
ral, though it is not to be understood that the since a calm is not the middle state between a
system was wholly or even chiefly drawn up by storm and a gentle breeze. In this denial of
the elder Aristippus; but, as it is impossible from pleasure as a state of rest, we find Aristippus
the loss of contemporary documents to separate again opposed to Epicurus.
the parts which belong to each of the Cyrenaic 3. Actions are in themselves morally indifferent,
philosophers, it is better here to combine them all. the only question for us to consider being their
From the fact pointed out by Ritter (Geschichte der result; and law and custom are the only authoriPhilosophie, vii. 3), that Aristotle chooses Eudoxus ties which make an action good or bad. This
rather than Aristippus as the representative of the monstrous dogma was a little qualified by the
doctrine that Pleasure is the summum bonum (Eth. statement, that the advantages of injustice are
Nic. x. 2), it seems probable that but little of the slight; but we cannot agree with Brucker (Hist.
Cyrenaic system is due to the founder of the Crit. ii. 2), that it is not clear whether the Cyreschool.* naics meant the law of nature or of men. For
The Cyrenaics despised Physics, and limited their Lairtius says expressly, o o-rovaios od5iv 6rosrov
inquiries to Ethics, though they included under 7rpcieas i'd rds ErIuceseMVas rmias Kal So as, and
that term a much wider range of science than can to suppose a law of nature would be to destroy
fairly be reckoned as belonging to it. So, too, the whole Cyrenaic system. Whatever conduces
Aristotle accuses Aristippus of neglecting mathe- to pleasure, is virtue-a definition which of course
matics, as a study not concerned with good and includes bodily exercise; but they seem to have
evil, which, he said, are the objects even of the conceded to Socrates, that the mind has the greatcarpenter and tanner. (Metaphys. ii. 2.) They est share in virtue. We are told that they predivided Philosophy into five parts, viz. the study ferred bodily to mental pleasure; but this stateof (1) Objects of Desire and Aversion, (2) Feel- ment must be qualified, as they did not even confine
ings and Affections, (3) Actions, (4) Causes, their pleasures to selfish gratification, but admitted
(5) Proofs. Of these (4) is clearly connected with the welfare of the state as a legitimate source of
physics, and (5) with logic. happiness, and bodily pleasure itself they valued
1. The first of the five divisions of science is for the sake of the mental state resulting from it.
the only one in which the Cyrenaic view is con- 4. There is no universality in human concepnected with the Socratic. Socrates considered tions; the senses are the only avenues of knowhappiness (i. e. the enjoyment of a well-ordered ledge, and even these admit a very limited range
mind) to be the aim of all men, and Aristippus, of information. For the Cyrenaics said, that men
taking up this position, pronounced pleasure the could agree neither in judgments nor notions,
chief good, and pain the chief evil; in proof of in nothing, in fact, but names. We have all
which he referred to the natural feelings of men, certain sensations, which we call white or swzeet;
children, and animals; but he wished the mind to but whether the sensation which A calls white is
preserve its authority in the midst of pleasure. similar to that which B calls by that name, we
Desire he could not admit into his system, as it cannot tell; for by the common term white every
subjects men to hope and fear: the rEhos of hu- man denotes a distinct object. Of the causes
man life was momentary pleasure (govo'Xpovos, which produce these sensations we are quite ignopIepLKc). For the Present only is ours, the Past is rant; and from all this we come to the doctrine of
gone, and the Future uncertain; present happiness modern philological metaphysics, that truth is
therefore is to be sought, and not vevaijAgovia, what each man troweth. All states of mind are
which is only the sum of a number of happy states, motions; nothing exists but states of mind, and
just as he considered life in general the sum of they are not the same to all men. True wisdom
particular states of the soul. In this point the consists therefore in transforming disagreeable into
Cyrenaics were opposed to the Epicureans. All agreeable sensations.
pleasures were held equal, though they might ad- 5. As to the Cyrenaic doctrine of proofs, no
mit of a difference in the degree of their purity. evidence remains.
So that a man ought never to covet more than he In many of these opinions we recognize the
possesses, and should never allow himself to be happy, careless, selfish disposition which characovercome by sensual enjoyment. It is plain that, terized their author; and the system resembles in
even with these concessions, the Cyrenaic system most points those of Heracleitus and Protagoras,
destroys all moral unity, by proposing to a man as as given in Plato's Theaetetus. The doctrines
many separate TrE/\q as his life contains moments. that a subject only knows objects through the
2. The next point is to determine what is plea- prism of the impression which he receives, and
that man is the measure of all things, are stated
* Ritter believes that Aristippus is hinted at or implied in the Cyrenaic system, and lead at
(Efh. Nic. x. 6), where Aristotle refutes the opi- once to the consequence, that what we call reality
nion, that happiness consists in amusement, and is appearance; so that the whole fabric of human
speaks of persons holding such a dogma in order knowledge becomes a fantastic picture. The printo recommend themselves to the favour of tyrants. ciple on which all this rests, viz. that knowledge