EPICHARMUS. 



EPICURUS. 



173J-43; and the lint three, containing the Syriac, were edited by 

 F>lher Benedetti and Stefino Asseuiani. The Prolegomena to thli 

 edition conUin everything worth knowing respecting the life and 

 writing* of Ephraem. 



(Cure, l/itioria Lite: aria, ToL i p. 188, Ac. ; Fabric! us, Sibliotk. 

 (Awe, vol. viiL p. 217, Ac., ed. Harlea.) 



Kl'li'HAKMl'S, the ion of Helothnles, wu born In the island of 

 Com, and accompanied Cadmus, the ion of Scythes, to Sicily about the 

 year B.C. 485. He mutt hare arrived at maturity by this time ; for 

 he was a pupil of Pythagoras (who died in B.C. 497), and, according to 

 ArUtotle ('Poet,' iii. 5), lived long before Chionides and Magnes(who, 

 if we may believe Suidas, began to exhibit in ac. 487) ; eo that there 

 can be no truth in the statement of Diogenes, that Kpicharmus was 

 brought from Cos to Sicily when a child of three months old (viii. 7S). 

 He and his brother were physician*, and therefore perhaps belonged 

 to the t'oan houao of the Asclepiads. It appears that he redded some 

 abort time at Megan, and possibly removed to Syracuse when Oelo 

 transported the inhabitants of Megan thither (B.C. 484). It was at 

 Megan that Epieharmus probably got the idea of writing comedies ; 

 fur the Mcgareans, as well in Greece as in Sicily, arc always spoken of 

 as the originators of that branch of the drama. Epicharmus is called 

 by Theocritus (' Epigram.,' xvii.) the inventor of comedy, and Plato 

 says that he was the chief comedian, just as Homer was the chief 

 tragedian. ('Themtet,' p. 152, E.) The latter remarks refer, we 

 believe, to his having first furnished the corn us, or band of revellers, 

 who were the original chorus in comedy, with a systematic dialogue 

 and a plot of an epic character. That the comedies of Epicharmus 

 had a chorus, and that this chorus was the representative of the comus, 

 as in the old Athenian comedy, appears probable from the fact that one 

 of his dramas was called ' Vulcan,' or the ' ComastxV " The subjects 

 of the plays of Epicharmus," Bays Muller (' Dorians,' iv. 7, 3 2), 

 ' were mostly mythological, that is, parodies or travesties of 

 mythology, nearly iu the style of the satirical drama of Athens. 

 Thus, in the comedy of ' Busiris,' Hercules was represented in the 

 most ludicrous light, as a voracious glutton ; and he was again 

 exhibited in the same character (with a mixture perhaps of satirical 

 remarks on the luxury of the times), in ' The Marriage of Hebe,' in 

 which an astonishing number of dishes was mentioned. He also, like 

 Aristophanes, bandied political subject* and invented comic characters 

 like the later Athenian poets ; and indeed the extent of his subject* 

 was very wide. The piece called ' The Plundering,' which described 

 the devastation of Sicily in his time, had a political meaning; and 

 this was perhaps also the case with 'The Island-),' at least it was 

 mentioned in this play that Ilierou had prevented Auaxilaa from 

 destroying Locri. In his ' Persians ' also there were allusions to the 

 hUtory of the times. Epicharmus also introduced and almost per- 

 fected characters which were very common iu the drama of later 

 times ; and if the plot of ' The Mtuiivhiui ' of I'lautus was, as the 

 poet seems to state in the prologue, taken from a comedy of Epichar- 

 mus, it must be granted that the ingenious construction of plots was 



et." Epicbarmus lived to the age 

 . , or ninety-seven (Lucian, Macrob., 

 ' his comedies are given in Fabricius 

 (ii. p. 300). 



Kl'l' TKTUS was born at Hierapolis, a city of Pbrygia. The year 

 of bis birth is not known, nor are we able to moke any very close 

 approximation to it He must have been born however before the 

 end of the reign of the emperor Nero, A.D. 68, else he could not 

 have been more than twenty-one when Domitiau published that edict 

 against philosophers, in the year 89, in consequence of which Epictetus 

 retired from Home. At the age of twenty-one, he was not likely to 

 have attained sufficient notoriety to bring him within the operation of 

 such an edict. 



Kpictctus was born most probably during the last eight years of 

 Nero's reign. The names and condition of his parents are unknown ; 

 neither do we know how he came to be brought to Rome. But at 

 Borne he was for some time slave to Epaphrouitus, who was a freed- 

 man of Nero's, and one of his body-guard. An anecdote related by 

 Origen, which illustntes the fortitude of Epictetus, would also show, 

 if it is true, that Epaphroditus was a most cruel master. " Kpictetus, 

 whi u hi* master was twisting his leg one day, smiled and quietly 

 aid, ' you will break it ; ' and when he did break it, only observed, 

 ' Did I not tell you that you would do so ? ' " (Origen, ' C. Gels.' vii., 

 p. 348.) We are not told how or when Epictetus managed to effect 

 hi* freedom ; but he could not havu been still a slave wheu he left 

 Borne in consequence of the edict against philosophers. This, which 

 is the only event in bis life whose date we can assign, took place, as 

 has been said, in the year 89, being the eighth year of Domitiau's 

 tsjjn Epictetus then retired to Nicopolis, in Epirus; and it is a 

 question whether he ever returned to Koine. The chief ground for 

 belkving that he did I* a statement of SparUan (' Vit Hadr.' 16), that 

 Epictetu* lived on terms of intimacy with the emperor Hadrian ; while 

 it i argued on the other hand, that th. re is no evidence of any of 

 hi* dieoounes having been delivered at Rome, but that they contain 

 frequent mention of Nieopolis. This argument is however hardly 

 sufficient to overthrow the express testimony of Spartian. 



We do not know when he died. Suidas says that he lived till the 

 reign of Marcus Aurclius ; and a confirmation of this statement has 



mus, it must be granted tnai me ingenious co 

 not beyond the powers of that poet." Epicl 

 of ninety (Diog., ' Laert, 1 viii. 78), or ninety- 

 xxv.). The titles of thirty-five of hb comedie 



been thought to bo furnished by Themistius, who says (' Oral. V. ad 

 Jovian. Imp.') that the two Antonines patronised Kpictetus. Hut if, 

 as there is good reason to believe, Epictetus was born before 68, the 

 adoption of Suidas's statement would make him almost a hundred 

 years old at his death; and what is said by Themi-tiii* might very 

 well be true, even though Kpictetus did not live under either of the 

 Antonines. It may be added, that Suidas's account of Kpictetus is in 

 other respects inaccurate. But the strongest argument against Suidai 

 is derived from Aului Gellius, who, writing during the reign of the 

 first Antonine, speaks of Epictetus in two places as being dead. 

 ('NoctAtf 11.18; xvii 19.) 



Kpictetus led a life of exemplary contentment, simplicity, and 

 virtue, practi-ing in all particulars the morality he taught Ho lived 

 for a long while in a small hut, with no other furniture than a bed 

 and lamp, and without an attendant ; until he benevolently adopted 

 a child whom a friend had been compelled by poverty to expose, and 

 hired a nurse for its sake. There is a story connected with his lamp 

 which illustrates the equanimity of Epictetus. He had bought one 

 day an iron lamp, which was very soon after stolen from his hut, while 

 he was himself standing in a corner wrapped in meditation ; and when 

 on looking up he came to miss it, he observed with a stuilp, " I shall 

 disappoint this thief to-morrow, for if he comes back for another 

 lamp, he shall only find an earthen one." (Arrian, ' Kpict' ii. 6.) 

 Neither was it in trifles alone that his equanimity was manifest* J, as 

 the anecdote of his patience under his master's cruelty may suffice to 

 prove. The biographers of Epictetus have taken particular care to 

 commemorate his love of neatness. 



Epictetus was a teacher of the Stoic philosophy, and the chief of 

 those who lived during the period of the Roman empire. An anecdote 

 given in the ' Discourses ' collected by Arrian (i. 7) seems to show 

 that he had been a pupil of Musouius Kufus, a Stoic philosopher 

 whom Nero banished to Gyara, and who wai subsequently recalled to 

 Rome by Vespasian. The lessons of Epictetus were principally, if 

 not solely, directed to practical morality. Hb favourite maxim, and 

 that into which he resolved all practical morality, was 'bear and 

 forbear.' He appears to have differed from the Stoics on the matter 

 of suicide. (Arrian, ' Epict' i. 8.) We are told by Arriau in his 

 Preface to the ' Discourses,' that he was a powerful and ex 

 lecturer; and, according to Origen ('C. Cels." vi. ad init), his style 

 was superior to that of Plato. It is a proof of the estimation in 

 which Epictetus was held that, on his death, his lamp was purchased 

 by some moro eager than wise aspirant after philosophy for three 

 thousand drachma.*. (Lucian, 'Adv. Indoct libr. enient,' to 

 p. 3S6.) 



Though it is said by Suidas that Epictetus wrote much, there is 

 good reason to believe that In- liim-.'H rule nothing. His ' Discourses ' 

 were taken down by his pupil Arriau, and published after his death 

 in six books, of which four remain. The same Arrian compiled the 

 ' Encheiridiou,' and wrote a life of Epiotetus, which has been lost. 

 [Ai'iiiAN.] Some fragments have also been preserved by Stobicus. 



The best edition of all the remains of Epictetus is that by 

 Schweighseuser, in six volumes, Leipzig, 1799. The same editor has 

 published the ' Encheiridion,' together with the ' Tablet of Cebes," in 

 a separate volume. Coray published an edition of the ' Kucheiridion,' 

 with a French, translation by another hand, in the seventh volume of 

 the Parerga of his ' Bibliotheca Ortpca,' Paris, 1826, 8vo. There is 

 an English translation of the ' Encheiridion, or Manual,' by Mrs. 

 Carter. 



(Haylo, Dictionary; Fabricii, JIMiotheca Qraca, ed. Harles., voL v., 

 p. 64.) 



EPICU'KUS was born in the year B.C. 341, seven years after the 

 death of Plato. He was boru in the island of Samos, whither his 

 father had gone from Athens in the year B.C. 352, among 2000 colonists 

 then sent out by the Athenians. (Strab. xiv., p. G3S.) He was how- 

 ever an Athenian bom, belonging to the demo Gargettus, and to the 

 tribe -Kgcis, His father Neocles is said to have been a schoolmaster, 

 and his mother (,'hrcristrata to have practised arts of magic, in which 

 it was afterwards made a charge against Kpicurus that, when he was 

 young, he assisted her. (Uiog. Laert, x. 4.) Having passed bU early 

 years in Samos and Teos, Epicurus went to Athens at the age of 

 eighteen. Wo are told that he had begun to study philosophy when 

 only fourteen, having been incited thereto by a desire, which the 

 teachers whom ho had applied to had failed to satisfy, of understanding 

 Hesiod's description of chaos ; and that he began with the writings of 

 Democritus. In Samos he U said to have received lessons fr mi 

 Pamphilus, a follower of Plato. (Suidas; Cic. De Nat. Deor.,' i. 26.) 

 At the time when Epicurus arrived in Athens, Xeuocratca was teaching 

 in the academy, and Theophrastus in the Lyceum; and we may 

 suppose that he did not fail to avail liim-olf of the opportunities of 

 instruction which were thus within his reach. Indeed it was stated 

 by Demetrius Magnes (Diog. Laert., x. 13) that Epicurus was a pupil 

 of Xcnocr.itei. He is also said, on the testimony of Apollodoruii, to 

 have received lessons from I.ysiphanes and Praxiphanes ; and again it 

 U stated that he was a pupil of Nausiphanes. (Id. x. 14 ; Suid.) It 

 was however Kpicurus's wont to boast that he had learnt from no man 

 but himself. 



On the occasion of his first visit to Athens, Epicurus stayed there 

 for a very short time. He left it in consequence of the measures taken 



