Chapter XIII

THE PHILOSOPHERS OF ATHENS (continued)

POST-SOCRATIC SCHOOL.

EPICURUS AND ZENO.

Philosophy, after the time of Aristotle, takes a new direction. In the pre-Socratic schools, we have seen it was mainly a philosophy of nature; in the Socratic school it was characterized as a philosophy of mind; and now in the post-Socratic schools it becomes a philosophy of life--a moral philosophy. Instead of aiming at the knowledge of real Being--of the permanent, unchangeable, eternal principles which underlie all phenomena, it was now content to aim, chiefly, at individual happiness. The primary question now discussed, as of the most vital importance, is, What is the ultimate standard by which, amid all the diversities of human conduct and opinion, we may determine what is right and good in individual and social life?

This remarkable change in the course of philosophic inquiry was mainly due--

1st. To the altered circumstances of the times. An age of civil disturbance and political intrigue succeeded the Alexandrian period. The different states of Greece lost their independence, and became gradually subject to a foreign yoke. Handed over from one domination to another, in the struggles of Alexander's lieutenants, they endeavored to reconquer their independence by forming themselves into confederations, but were powerless to unite in the defense of a common cause. The Achæan and Etolian leagues were weakened by internal discords; and it was in vain that Sparta tried to recover her ancient liberties.

During this period of hopeless turmoil and social disorder, all lofty pursuits and all great principles were lost sight of and abandoned. The philosophic movement followed the downward course of society, and men became chiefly concerned for their personal interest and safety. The wars of the Succession almost obliterated the idea of society, and philosophy was mainly directed to the securing of personal happiness; it became, in fact, "the art of making one's self happy." The sad reverses to which the Grecian mind had been subjected produced a feeling of exhaustion and indifference, which soon reflected itself in the philosophy of the age.

2d. In connection with the altered circumstances of the age, we must also take account of the apparent failure of the Socratic method to solve the problem of Being.

The teaching of Aristotle had fostered the suspicion that the dialectic method was a failure, and thus prepared the way for a return to sensualism. He had taught that individuals alone have a real existence, and that the "essence" of things is not to be sought in the elements of unity and generality, or in the idea, as Plato taught, but in the elements of diversity and speciality. And furthermore, in opposition to Plato, he had taught his disciples to attach themselves to sensation, as the source of all knowledge. As the direct consequence of this teaching, we find his immediate successors, Dicearchus and Straton, deliberately setting aside "the god of philosophy," affirming "that a divinity was unnecessary to the explanation of the existence and order of the universe." Stimulated by the social degeneracy of the times, the characteristic skepticism of the Greek intellect bursts forth anew. As the skepticism of the Sophists marked the close of the first period of philosophy, so the skepticism of Pyrrhonism marked the close of the second. The new skepticism arrayed Aristotle against Plato as the earlier skeptics arrayed atomism against the doctrine of the Eleatics. They naturally said: "We have been seeking a long time; what have we gained? Have we obtained any thing certain and determinate? Plato says we have. But Aristotle and Plato do not agree. May not our opinion be as good as theirs? What a diversity of opinions have been presented during the past three hundred years! One may be as good as another, or they may be all alike untrue!" Timon and Pyrrhon declared that, of each thing, it might be said to be, and not to be; and that, consequently, we should cease tormenting ourselves, and seek to obtain an absolute calm, which they dignified with the name of ataraxie. Beholding the overthrow and disgrace of their country, surrounded by examples of pusillanimity and corruption, and infected with the spirit of the times themselves, they wrote this maxim: "Nothing is infamous; nothing is in itself just; laws and customs alone constitute what is justice and what is iniquity." Having reached this extreme, nothing can be too absurd, and they cap the climax by saying, "We assert nothing; no, not even that we assert nothing!"

And yet there must some function, undoubtedly, remain for the "wise man" (σοφός).

Reason was given for some purpose. Philosophy must have some end. And inasmuch as it is not to determine speculative questions, it must be to determine practical questions. May it not teach men to act rather than to think? The philosopher, the schools, the disciples, survive the darkening flood of skepticism.

Three centuries before Christ, the Peripatetic and Platonic schools are succeeded by two other schools, which inherit their importance, and which, in other forms, and by an under-current, perpetuate the disputes of the Peripatetics and Platonists, namely, the Epicureans and Stoics. With Aristotle and Plato, philosophy embraced in its circle nature, humanity, and God; but now, in the systems of Epicurus and Zeno, moral philosophy is placed in the foreground, and assumes the chief, the overshadowing pre-eminence. The conduct of life--morality--is now the grand subject of inquiry, and the great theme of discourse.

In dealing with morals two opposite methods of inquiry were possible:

1. To judge of the quality of actions by their RESULTS.

2. To search for the quality of actions in the actions them selves.

Utility, which in its last analysis is Pleasure, is the test of right, in the first method; an assumed or discovered Law of Nature, in the second. If the world were perfect, and the balance of the human faculties undisturbed, it is evident that both systems would give identical results. As it is, there is a tendency to error on each side, which is fully developed in the rival schools of the Epicureans and Stoics, who practically divided the suffrages of the mass of educated men until the coming of Christ.

EPICUREANS.

Epicurus was born B.C. 342, and died B.C. 270. He purchased a Garden within the city, and commenced, at thirty-six years of age, to teach philosophy. The Platonists had their academic Grove: the Aristotelians walked in the Lyceum: the Stoics occupied the Porch: the Epicureans had their Garden, where they lived a tranquil life, and seem to have had a community of goods.

There is not one of all the various founders of the ancient philosophical schools whose memory was cherished with so much veneration by his disciples as that of Epicurus. For several centuries after his death, his portrait was treated by them with all the honors of a sacred relic: it was carried about with them in their journeys, it was hung up in their schools, it was preserved with reverence in their private chambers; his birthday was celebrated with sacrifices and other religious observances, and a special festival in his honor was held every month.

Physics and Psychology are thus the only studies which Epicurus would tolerate as "conducive to the happiness of man." The pursuit of truth for its own sake was useless. Dialectics, which distinguish the true from the false, the good from the bad, on à priori grounds, must be banished as an unnecessary toil, which yields no enjoyment. Theology must be cancelled entirely, because it fosters superstitious fears. The idea of God's taking knowledge of, disapproving, condemning, punishing the evil conduct of men, is an unpleasant thought. Physics and Psychology are the most useful, because the most "agreeable," the most "comfortable" sciences.

EPICUREAN PHYSICS.

And now Lucretius shall describe the formation of the different parts of the world according to the cosmogony of Epicurus. We quote from Good's translation:

But from this boundless mass of matter first

How heaven, and earth, and ocean, sun, and moon,

Rose in nice order, now the muse shall tell.

For never, doubtless, from result of thought,

Or mutual compact, could primordial seeds

First harmonize, or move with powers precise.

But countless crowds in countless manners urged,

From time eternal, by intrinsic weight

And ceaseless repercussion, to combine

In all the possibilities of forms,

Of actions, and connections, and exert

In every change some effort to create--

Reared the rude frame at length, abruptly reared,

Which, when once gendered, must the basis prove

Of things sublime; and whence eventual rose

Heaven, earth, and ocean, and the tribes of sense.

Yet now nor sun on fiery wheel was seen

Riding sublime, nor stars adorned the pole,

Nor heaven, nor earth, nor air, nor ocean lived,

Nor aught of prospect mortal sight surveyed;

But one vast chaos, boisterous and confused.

Yet order hence began; congenial parts

Parts joined congenial; and the rising world

Gradual evolved: its mighty members each

From each divided, and matured complete

From seeds appropriate; whose wild discortderst,

Reared by their strange diversities of form,

With ruthless war so broke their proper paths,

Their motions, intervals, conjunctions, weights,

And repercussions, nought of genial act

Till now could follow, nor the seeds themselves

E'en though conjoined in mutual bonds, co

Thus air, secreted, rose o'er laboring earth;

Secreted ocean flowed; and the pure fire,

Secreted too, toward ether sprang sublime.

But first the seeds terrene, since ponderous most

And most perplext, in close embraces clung,

And towards the centre conglobating sunk.

And as the bond grew firmer, ampler forth

Pressed they the fluid essences that reared

Sun, moon, and stars, and main, and heaven's high wall.

For those of atoms lighter far consist,

Subtiler, and more rotund than those of earth.

Whence, from the pores terrene, with foremost haste

Rushed the bright ether, towering high, and swift

Streams of fire attracting as it flowed.

Then mounted, next, the base of sun and moon,

'Twixt earth and ether, in the midway air

Rolling their orbs; for into neither these

Could blend harmonious, since too light with earth

To sink deprest, while yet too ponderous far

To fly with ether toward the realms extreme:

So 'twixt the two they hovered; vital there

Moving forever, parts of the vast whole;

As move forever in the frame of man

After explaining the origin and causes of the varied celestial phenomena, he proceeds to give an account of the production of plants, animals, and man:

Once more return we to the world's pure prime,

Her fields yet liquid, and the tribes survey

First she put forth, and trusted to the winds.

And first the race she reared of verdant herbs,

Glistening o'er every hill; the fields at large

Shone with the verdant tincture, and the trees

Felt the deep impulse, and with outstretched arms

Broke from their bonds rejoicing. As the down

Shoots from the winged nations, or from beasts

Bristles or hair, so poured the new-born earth

Plants, fruits, and herbage. Then, in order next,

Raised she the sentient tribes, in various modes,

By various powers distinguished: for not heaven

Down dropped them, nor from ocean's briny waves

Sprang they, terrestrial sole; whence, justly Earth

Claims the dear name of mother, since alone

Flowed from herself whate'er the sight surveys.

E'en now oft rears she many a sentient tribe

Whence less stupendous tribes should then have risen

More, and of ampler make, herself new-formed,

Of these birds first, of wing and plume diverse,

Broke their light shells in spring-time: as in spring

Still breaks the grasshopper his curious web,

And seeks, spontaneous, foods and vital air.

Then rushed the ranks of mortals; for the soil,

Exuberant then, with warmth and moisture teemed.

So, o'er each scene appropriate, myriad wombs

Shot, and expanded, to the genial sward

By fibres fixt; and as, in ripened hour,

Their liquid orbs the daring foetus broke

Of breath impatient, nature here transformed

Th' assenting earth, and taught her opening veins

With juice to flow lacteal; as the fair

Now with sweet milk o'erflows, whose raptured breast

First hails the stranger-babe, since all absorbed

Of nurture, to the genial tide converts.

Earth fed the nursling, the warm ether clothed,

A state of pure savagism, or rather of mere animalism, was the primitive condition of man. He wandered naked in the woods, feeding on acorns and wild fruits, and quenched his thirst at the "echoing waterfalls," in company with the wild beast.

Through the remaining part of book v. Lucretius describes how speech was invented; how society originated, and governments were instituted; how civilization commenced; and how religion arose out of ignorance of natural causes; how the arts of life were discovered, and how science sprang up. And all this, as he is careful to tell us, without any divine instruction, or any assistance from the gods.

Such are the physical theories of the Epicureans. The primordial elements of matter are infinite, eternal, and self-moved. After ages upon ages of chaotic strife, the universe at length arose out of an infinite number of atoms, and a finite number of forms, by a fortuitous combination. Plants, animals, and man were spontaneously generated from ether and earth. Languages, society, governments, arts were gradually developed. And all was achieved simply by blind, unconscious nature-forces, without any designing, presiding, and governing Intelligence--that is, without a God.

EPICUREAN PSYCHOLOGY.

Such being the nature of the soul, inasmuch as it is material, all its knowledge must be derived from sensation. The famous doctrine of perception, as taught by Epicurus, is grounded upon this pre-supposition that the soul is corporeal. "The ειδωλα ἀπόῤῥοιαι--imagines, simulacra rerum, etc., are, like pellicles, continually flying off from objects; and these material 'likenesses,' diffusing themselves everywhere in the air, are propelled to the perceptive organs." These images of things coming in contact with the senses produce sensation (αἴσθησις). A sensation may be considered either as regards its object, or as regards him who experiences it. As regards him who experiences it, it is simply a passive affection, an agreeable or disagreeable feeling, passion, or sentiment (τὸ πάθος). But along with sensation there is inseparably associated some knowledge of the object which excites sensation; and it is for this reason that Epicurus marked the intimate relation of these two phenomena by giving them analogous names. Because the second phenomenon is joined to the first, he calls it ἐπαίσθησις-- perception. It is sensation viewed especially in regard to its object--representative sensation, or the "sensible idea" of modern philosophy. It is from perception that we draw our general ideas by a kind of prolepsis (πρόληψις) an anticipation or laying hold by reason of that which is implied in sensation. Now all sensations are alike true in so far as they are sensations, and error arises from false reasoning about the testimony of sense. All knowledge is purely relative and contingent, and there is no such thing as necessary and absolute truth.

"Death is nothing, and naught after death,"

The concluding portion of the third book, in which Lucretius discourses on death, is a mournful picture of the condition of the heathen mind before Christianity "brought life and immortality fully to light." It comes to us, like a voice from the grave of two thousand years, to prove they were "without hope." To be delivered from the fear of future retribution, they would sacrifice the hope of an immortal life. To extintinguish guilt they would annihilate the soul. The only way in which Lucretius can console man in prospect of death is, by reminding him that he will escape the ills of life.

"'But thy dear home shall never greet thee more!

No more the best of wives!--thy babes beloved,

Whose haste half-met thee, emulous to snatch

The dulcet kiss that roused thy secret soul,

Again shall never hasten!--nor thine arm,

With deeds heroic, guard thy country's weal!--

Oh mournful, mournful fate!' thy friends exclaim!

'One envious hour of these invalued joys

Robs thee forever!--But they add not here,

'It robs thee, too, of all desire of joy'--

A truth, once uttered, that the mind would free

From every dread and trouble. 'Thou art safe

The sleep of death protects thee, and secures

From all the unnumbered woes of mortal life!

While we, alas! the sacred urn around

That holds thine ashes, shall insatiate weep,

Nor time destroy the eternal grief we feel!'

What, then, has death, if death be mere repose,

And quiet only in a peaceful grave,--

This is all the comfort that Epicureanism can offer; and if "the wretch still laments the approach of death," she addresses him "with voice severe"--

It is evident that such a system of philosophy outrages the purest and noblest sentiments of humanity, and, in fact, condemns itself. It was born of selfishness and social degeneracy, and could perpetuate itself only in an age of corruption, because it inculcated the lawfulness of sensuality and the impunity of injustice. Its existence at this precise period in Grecian history forcibly illustrates the truth, that Atheism is a disease of the heart rather than the head. It seeks to set man free to follow his own inclinations, by ridding him of all faith in a Divinity and in an immortal life, and thus exonerating him from all accountability and all future retribution. But it failed to perceive that, in the most effectual manner, it annihilated all real liberty, all true nobleness, and made of man an abject slave.

STOICISM.

The philosophy of the Stoics, like that of the Epicureans, was mainly a philosophy of life--that is, a moral philosophy. The manner in which they approached the study of morals, and the principles upon which they grounded morality, were, however, essentially different.

The grand object of Epicurus was to make the current of life flow on as comfortably as possible, without any distracting thoughts of the past or any disturbing visions of the future. He therefore starts with this fundamental principle, that the true philosophy of life is to enjoy one's self--the aim of existence is to be happy. Whatever in a man's beliefs or conduct tends to secure happiness is right; whatever awakens uneasiness, apprehension, or fear, is wrong. And inasmuch as the idea of a Divine Creator and Governor of the universe, and the belief in a future life and retribution, are uncomfortable thoughts, exciting superstitious fears, they ought to be rejected. The Physics and the Psychology of Epicurus are thus the natural outgrowth of his Morality.

PHYSIOLOGY.

Most glorious of the immortal Powers above!

O thou of many names! mysterious Jove:

For evermore almighty! Nature's source!

Thou governest all things in their order'd course!

All hail to thee! since, innocent of blame,

E'en mortal creatures may address thy name;

For all that breathe, and creep the lowly earth,

Echo thy being with reflected birth--

Thee will I sing, thy strength for aye resound:

The universe, that rolls this globe around,

Moves wheresoe'er thy plastic influence guides,

And, ductile, owns the god whose arm presides.

The lightnings are thy ministers of ire;

The double-forked and ever-living fire;

In thy unconquerable hands they glow,

And at the flash all nature quakes below.

Thus, thunder-armed, thou dost creation draw

To one immense, inevitable law:

And, with the various mass of breathing souls,

Thy power is mingled, and thy spirit rolls.

Dread genius of creation! all things bow

To thee: the universal monarch thou!

Nor aught is done without thy wise control,

On earth, or sea, or round the ethereal pole,

Save when the wicked, in their frenzy blind,

Act o'er the follies of a senseless mind,

Thou curb'st th' excess; confusion, to thy sight,

Moves regular; th' unlovely scene is bright.

Thy hand, educing good from evil, brings

To one apt harmony the strife of things.

One ever-during law still binds the whole,

Though shunned, resisted, by the sinner's soul.

Wretches! while still they course the glittering prize

The law of God eludes their ears and eyes.

Life, then, were virtue, did they thus obey;

But wide from life's chief good they headlong stray.

Now glory's arduous toils the breast inflame;

Now avarice thirsts, insensible of shame;

Now sloth unnerves them in voluptuous ease,

And the sweet pleasures of the body please.

With eager haste they rush the gulf within,

And their whole souls are centred in their sin.

But, oh, great Jove! by whom all good is given!

Dweller with lightnings and the clouds of heaven!

Save from their dreadful error lost mankind!

Father! disperse these shadows of the mind!

Give them thy pure and righteous law to know;

Wherewith thy justice governs all below.

Thus honored by the knowledge of thy way,

Shall men that honor to thyself repay;

And bid thy mighty works in praises ring,

As well befits a mortal's lips to sing:

More blest, nor men, nor heavenly powers can be,

PSYCHOLOGY.

As in the world there are two principles, the passive and the active, so in the understanding there are two elements: a passive element--sensation, and an active element--reason.

Associate with sensibility is thought--the faculty of general ideas--the ὀρθὸς λόγος, or right reason, as the supreme power and the guiding light of humanity. This active principle is of divine origin, "a part or shred of the Divinity."

This "right reason," or "common reason," is the source and criterion of all truth; "for our individual natures are all parts of the universal nature," and, therefore, all the dictates of "common reason" are "identical with that right reason which pervades every thing, being the same with Jupiter, who is the regulator and chief manager of all things."

The fundamental canon of the logic of the Stoics, therefore, was that "what appears to all, that is to be believed, for it is apprehended by the reason, which is common and Divine."

It is needless to remark that the Stoics were compelled by their physiological theory to deny the proper immortality of the soul. Some of them seem to have supposed that it might, for a season, survive the death of the body, but its ultimate destination was absorption into the Divine essence. It must return to its original source.

ETHICS.