Note 51 — Chapter XIV · THE STOIC PHILOSOPHY AS A WHOLE AND ITS HISTORICAL POSITION.

Diog. x. 9, in the first half of the third century, writes: ἥ τε διδαχὴ πασῶν σχεδὸν ἐκλιπουσῶν τῶν ἄλλων ἐσαεὶ διαμένουσα καὶ νηρίθμους ἀρχὰς ἀπολύουσα ἄλλην ἐξ ἄλλης τῶν γνωρίμων. The testimony of Lactantius, Inst. iii. 17, to the wide extension of Epicureanism is not so trustworthy, although he treats it as an existing fact. It may be that he is only following older writers, as Cicero does. See above, p. 412, 1. ↑