Editorial note — LESSON IX.

[Footnote A: "Hedonism: The doctrine of certain Greek philosophers; in ethics, gross self-interest. Hedonism is the form of eudemonism that regards pleasure (including avoidance of pain) as the only conceivable object in life, and teaches that as between the lower pleasures of sense and the higher enjoyments of reason or satisfactory satisfied-respect, there is no difference except in the degree, duration and hedonic value of the experience, there being, in strictness, no such thing as ethical or moral value." Standard Dictionary.]

[Footnote B: In Cicero's description of the Epicurean conception of the gods he says: "That which is truly happy cannot be burdened with any labor Itself, nor can it impose any labor on another, nor can it be influenced by resentment or favor, because things which are liable to such failings must be weak and frail. * * Their life [i. e. of the gods] is most happy and the most abounding with all kinds of blessings which can be conceived. They do nothing. They are embarrassed with no business; nor do they perform any work. They rejoice in the possession of their own wisdom and virtue. They are satisfied that they shall ever enjoy the fulness of eternal pleasure. * * * Nothing can be happy that is not at ease." (Tusculan Disputations, The Nature of the Gods).]