Pre-American Philosophy [pp. 757-767]

1885.] PRE-AMEMcAK PKiLOsOP1?Y, 76z
the Epicurean philosophers practised or inculcated either debauchery or intemperance. That was a sincere inscription at the entrance of their garden: "The hospitable keeper of this mansion,
where you will find pleasure the highest good, will present you
liberally with barley-cakes and water fresh from the spring. The
gardens will not provoke your appetite by artificial dainties, but
satisfy it with natural supplies. Will you not be well entertained?"
It is very interesting to study the histories of the Epicureans
and their rivals and enemies, the Stoics, by whom they suffered
from misrepresentations that by the majority of mankind are believed to this day. The times were favorable to two just such
rival sects. The glories of Athens were departing. Greece was
fast getting to be
"Living Greece, no more."
Epicurus and Zeno, both good men, revering the name of Socrates, looked upon the decay of civilization with different eyes.
The former would console himself with the search and attainment of whatever pleasures were attainable, but always with
the purpose of temperate use. To him there was no good, not
even pleasure, either in evil indu]gences or in the intemperate
use of those that were good. See how often Horace, a disciple,
commends economy, temperance, and other virtues. How in
that most touching of his odes,
"Eheu fugaces Posthume, Posthume,"
he commends to his opulent friend thoughts of the tomb, over
which, alone of all the trees in his garden, the cypress, neglected
in life, will stand. Pleasure, but pleasure not too eagerly pursued, and especially not intemperately indulged, was the rule
of Epicurus. Yet when the pursuit of pleasure is the rule of
life, effeminacy and intemperance must ensue among the most.
It was, therefore, a noble purpose when Zeno, the father of the
Stoics, with sorrow for the general decay of Grecian manhood,
and indignant with the men of culture who merely counselled
every possible avoidance of pain, undertook to restore that manhood which he saw departing from his countrymen and taking
its abode with the barbarians who had built their city upon the
banks of the Tiber. Zeno was as earnest and solemn a preacher
as Socrates or Plato. Yet, though he derided the softness of the
Epicureans, he could not endure the railings, the rags, the indecencies of the Cynics. So he formulated his own doctnne,