224 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2'"» S. VI. 142., Sept. 18. '58, 



difficulties in Komanism (" N". & Q." 1" S. vlil. 

 294.) T. J. BucKTON. 



Lichfield. 



EPICUKISM : UNGUAL COINCIDENCES : QUIETISM : 

 JEWISH SCIENCE, ETC.* 



The Jewish opinion advanced by Mr. Elmes — 

 referring the word " Epicurean " to the Talmudic 

 " aipikurios," an " infidel " — may be very inge- 

 nious for " a learned philosopher, grammarian, 

 and poet " like the Rabbi Jehudah Ilallevy : but, 

 like a vast deal of Jewish interpretation, it is evi- 

 dently absurd. " Infidel " can no how be twisted 

 into an appropriate epithet for the " porcus " of 

 Horace ; or as Mr. Elmes gives it — " the fat 

 swine of Epicurus' sty " — unless applied exclu- 

 sively by a Jew — who holds that savoury and 

 succulent grunter in hideous aversion — and 

 therefore may deem him worthy of any epithet, 

 however defamatory. 



By the testimony of all antiquity it is certain 

 that the " term of reproach," Epicurean was the 

 result of a very common misrepresentation — 

 natural enough, perhaps, but still the result of 

 calumny. Observing that the Athenians were at 

 the time immersed either in pleasures or in ideal 

 and useless disputes, Epicurus attempted to lead 

 them to such an enjoyment of their rational facul- 

 ties as would be conducive to the true enjoyment 

 of life, and for this purpose introduced amongst 

 them a system of philosophy the professed object 

 of which was to enable men to preserve them- 

 selves from pain, grief, and sorrow of every kind, 

 and to secure to themselves the uninterrupted 

 possession of tranquillity and happiness. The 

 great end, he assured himself, would be efiected 

 if, by taking off the forbidding mask with which 

 the Stoics had concealed the fair face of Virtue, 

 he could persuade men to embrace her as the 

 only guide to a happy life. (Laert. 1. x. s. 122, 

 144, quoted by Enfield abridging Brucker — Hist, 

 of Phil. b. ii. c. 15.) 



Now, the preceptor pointing out such a seem- 

 ingly royal and enticing road to Virtue could not 

 fail to make numerous proselytes : his school was 

 more frequented than any other — a circumstance 

 which, of course, excited great jealousy and envy 

 amongst his contemporaries — especially the Stoics, 

 whose futile system and ostentatious hypocrisy 

 Epicurus spared no pains to expose. Pleasure, 

 rightly understood, was the proposed end of his 

 doctrine — wisdom w"as his guide to happiness. 

 The Stoics perceived that a preceptor who at- 

 tempted to correct the false and corrupt taste of 

 the times, and to lead men to true pleasure by 

 natural and easy steps in the path of virtue, 

 would be more likely to command public atten- 

 tion than one who rested his authority and influ- 



* 2"i S. vi. 183. 



ence upon a rigid system of doctrine, and an 

 unnatural severity of manners. In order, there- 

 fore, to secure their own popularity they thought 

 it necessary to misrepresent the principles and 

 character of Epicurus, and held him up to public 

 censure as an advocate for — infamous pleasures ; 

 and they supported their misrepresentations by 

 inventing and circulating many scandalous tales, 

 which obtained a ready reception among the in- 

 dolent and credulous Athenians. (See Enfield, 

 2ibi supra, for authorities.) In fact, the quarrel 

 was exceedingly like that between the Jesuits 

 and the Jansenists or Port-Royalists with Pascal 

 and his Provincial Letters in their hands — and 

 everybody knows the popular meaning of the word 

 " Jesuit " in consequence of certain apprehensions 

 or misapprehensions — according to the side we 

 take in the controversy. 



The irregularities of some of his disciples re- 

 flected dishonour on the master ; and at Rome, 

 Cicero, with his usual vehemence, inveighed 

 against the sect — giving easy credit to the ca- 

 lumnies circulated against its founder : — finally, 

 Amafanius, Catius Insuber and others, borrowing 

 their notions of pleasure — not from the founder 

 of the School — but from some of his degenerate 

 followers, under the guise of Epicurean doctrine 

 wrote precepts cfluxiii-y. (See Enfield, uhi suprii, 

 book iii. c. 1.) The true doctrine of Epicurus 

 was not fully stated by any Roman writer until 

 Lucretius unfolded the Epicurean system in his 

 poem De Rerum Natura. Meanwhile, however, 

 the mud of slander stuck to the name of Epicurus 

 — as is usual in such cases — and as all the facts 

 herein stated are incontestable, surely they are 

 sufficient to explain the etymology of " Epicu- 

 rism" — precisely like the facts which exalt or 

 stigmatise any other ism in the estimation of men. 

 Vainly, therefore, did Epicurus write to his dis- 

 ciple : — 



" Whilst we contend that Pleasure is the end of hap- 

 piness in life, it must not be thought that we mean those 

 pleasures which consist in the enjoyments of luxurj', in 

 effeminacy — as certain blockheads and the opponents of 

 our principles have pretended by a malignant interpreta- 

 tion of our sentiments. Our Pleasure is nothing but the 

 possession of a tranquil mind, and a body free from paiu." 



Vainly did Seneca exclaim : — I do not be- 

 lieve, like most of our Stoics, that the sect of 

 Epicurus is the school of vice : but this I say — 

 male audit, it has got a bad name, infamis est, it is 

 stigmatised, et immeritb, and undeservedly. The 

 fable was invented from appearances which give 

 rise to the misapprehension — frons ipsa dat locum 

 fahulce et ad malain spem invitat. {De beaid Vila, 

 c. 13.) Vainly has Gassendi put forth all his 

 erudition and zeal in defending Epicurus from 

 the calumnies which were originally concocted 

 by the Stoics ; — the mud sticks, and will stick for 

 ever, — everybody will call a sensualist or volup- 



