Note 5 — Chapter XXII · PYRRHO.

Besides the passage quoted from Sextus, p. 515, 1, which is little known, we have no proof of the sceptical tone in Anaxarchus which Sextus, Math. vii. 48, attributes to him, and since the latter quotes no proofs, it may be assumed that he had none. Anaxarchus appears to have been unjustly included among the Sceptics, like so many others who were called Sceptics by later writers on the strength of a single word or expression. According to other accounts, he belonged to the School of Democritus. Plut. Tranq. An. 4, p. 466. In Valer. Max. viii. 14, ext. 2, he propounds to Alexander the doctrine of an infinite number of worlds; and Clemens, Strom. i. 287, B, quotes a fragment, in which, agreeing with Democritus, he observes that πολυμαθία is only useful when it is properly made use of. Like Epicurus, Anaxarchus followed Democritus, calling happiness the highest object of our desire; and this assertion probably gained for him the epithet ὁ εὐδαιμονικός (Clemens, l.c.; Athen. vi. 250; xii. 548, b; Æl. V. H. ix. 37). In other respects, he differed from Democritus. For first he is charged by Clearchus in Athen. xii. 548, b, with a luxurious indulgence far removed from the earnest and pure spirit of Democritus; and according to Plut. Alex. 52, he had, when in Asia, renounced the independence of a philosopher for a life of pleasure; Timon also in Plut. Virt. Mor. 6, p. 446, says he was led away by φύσις ἡδονοπλὴξ contrary to his better knowledge. Again, he is said to have commended in Pyrrho (Diog. ix. 63) an indifference which went a good deal beyond the imperturbability of Democritus; and Timon commends him for his κυνικὸν μένος. He meets external pain with the haughty pride expressed in his much-admired dictum under the blows of Nitocreon’s club—Diog. ix. 59; Plut. Virt. Mor. c. 10, p. 449; Clemens, Strom. iv. 496, D; Valer. Max. iii. 3, ext. 4; Plin. Hist. Nat. vii. 87; Tertull. Apol. 50; Dio Chrysos. Or. 37, p. 126, B. But he treats men with the same contempt; and whilst meeting the Macedonian conqueror with an air of independence, he spoils the whole by adroit flattery. Conf. Plut. Alex. 52; Ad Princ. Iner. 4, p. 781; Qu. Conv. ix. 1, 2, 5; Æl. V. H. ix. 37; Athen. vi. 250. His indifference was, at any rate, very much lacking in nobility. Respecting Anaxarchus see Lusac. Lect. Att. 181. ↑