66 



EPICIIARMUS EPICURUS. 



precision, and an agreeable and often charming viva- 

 city, is not very well adapted for the epic, which, 

 not to become tedious in the slow progress of the nar- 

 rative, requires a copious and descriptive language ; 

 qualities tor which the French language is by no 

 means remarkable. The Henriade strikes most 

 foreigners as a failure, in which the author's intellect 

 was superior to his genius. Boileau's comic epic, 

 the Lulrin, is much esteemed. 



Of the Greek epics, it is well known that Homer's 

 Iliad and Odyssey are the principal. Much the most 

 distinguished Roman epic is the ^Eneid of Virgil. 

 Lucan's Pharsalia is rather a historical chronicle 

 than an epic. It is intended as an apotheosis of Pom- 

 pey. The licentious Petronius also wrote an epic on 

 the civil wars of Caesar and Pompey. Valerius Flac- 

 cus, contemporary of Vespasian, wrote an epic on 

 the Argonauts, too close an imitation of the Argonau- 

 tica of Apollonius Rhodius. There are, however, 

 some noble passages in Valerius Flaccus. Silius 

 Italicus, wrote an epic on the second Punic war. 

 Statius contemporary of Domitian, is the author of 

 the Thebaid, which he dedicated to this corrupt 

 tyrant. His style is bombastic and affected ; but 

 he is a writer of genius. Dante acknowledges this 

 in his poem. 



EPICHARMUS OF COS, a philosopher of the 

 Pythagorean school, lived in the latter part of the 

 fifth century before Christ, at Syracuse, and there 

 wrote his celebrated comedies, now lost. Their 

 number is reckoned at fifty-two, and the titles of 

 forty of them have been preserved. The tyrant 

 Hiero banished him from Syracuse, on account of 

 his philosophical principles, and some allusions in his 

 comedies. He ended his days in his native place, 

 at an advanced age. The Sicilian comedy of Epi- 

 charmus, prior to the Attic, grew out of the mimes, 

 which were peculiar to this island, making a sort of 

 popular poetry. He arranged the separate uncon- 

 nected scenes, exhibited in the mimes, into continued 

 plots, as in tragedy. His comedies were long re- 

 garded as models in this species of composition, and 

 are as much distinguished by their knowledge of hu- 

 man nature as by their wit and lively dialogue. The 

 Sicilian comedy, in opposition to the Attic Ionic, is 

 also designated as the Doric comedy. 



EPICHIREMA is the name given, in logic and 

 rhetoric, to a conclusion, whose premises are at the 

 same time proved by reasons annexed, so that an 

 abridged compound argument (polysyllogism) is 

 formed. 



EPICTETUS. This celebrated Stoic was born at 

 Hieropolis, in Phrygia, A.D. 90, and lived at Rome, 

 where he was the slave of Epaphroditus, a brutal 

 freedman of Nero, whose abuse and mal-treatment 

 he bore with the fortitude of a Stoic. It is related 

 of him, that, his master once striking a severe blow 

 upon his leg, he calmly remonstrated, telling him 

 tliat he would break the limb. The tyrant redoubled 

 his blows, and broke the bone. " Did I not tell thee 

 so?" was the only exclamation of the philosopher. 

 He was afterwards set at liberty, but always lived in 

 the greatest poverty. The foundation of his mor- 

 ality was patience and abstinence. The excellence 

 of his system was universally acknowledged. Domi- 

 tian banished him, with other philosophers, from 

 Koine ; for the tyrant could not but hate men whose 

 principles breathed scorn of all injustice and wick- 

 edness. Epictetus settled in Epirus, but retumod 

 after the death of Domitian, and was in high esteem 

 with Adrian and Marcus Aurelius, and, A. D. 134. 

 was made governor of Cappadocia. Arrian collected 

 the sayings of Epictetus, his teacher ; we have them 

 till, under the title of Enchiridion, Besides this 

 manual, we have, four books more of philosophical 



maxims, by him. Of both works, especially of 

 the Enchiridion, there have been many editions. 

 Schweighauser has published them together (Leip- 

 sic, 1799, seqq. 5 vols.). As a proof of the high 

 respect in which Epictetus was held, it is said that his 

 study lamp was sold after his death for three thou* 

 sand drachmas. 



EPICURUS ; born at Gargettus.near Athens, 342 

 B. C. This Greek philosopher was the son of poor 

 parents, and of so studious a disposition, tliat, in his 

 12th year, he went to Athens to attend the instruc- 

 tions of the grammarian Pamphilius. Once hearing 

 him repeat a verse of Hesiod, in which Chaos is cal- 

 led the first of all created beings, he inquired who 

 created Chaos, for he must be the first of existences. 

 The grammarian referred him to the philosophers, 

 whom Epicurus henceforth zealously attended. But 

 he was not contented with seeing Athens only. In 

 order to cultivate his mind, and to collect informa- 

 tion, he travelled through various countries, and at 

 last, in his 36th year, opened his school in a garden 

 at Athens. He was soon surrounded by crowds oi 

 scholars. He taught that the greatest good consists 

 in a happiness, springing not from sensual gratifica- 

 tion or vicious pleasures, but from virtue, and con- 

 sisting in the peace and harmony of the soul with 

 itself. He accordingly renounced vice, and em- 

 braced virtue, not for their own sakes, but for their 

 connexion with liappiness, vice being as incompatible 

 with it as virtue is essential to it He recommended 

 wisdom, moderation, temperance, seclusion from 

 political affairs, gentleness, forbearance towards the 

 self-love of men, firmness of soul, the enjoyment ol 

 decent pleasures (so far as it does not incapacitate us 

 for new pleasures), and contempt of life. Freedom 

 from pain he regarded as desirable, but, at the same 

 time, he bore with fortitude the most excruciating 

 pains of body. Although he distinctly showed the 

 meaning of his doctrines by his own exemplary life 

 (which some, however, charged with pride and envy), 

 yet they have been often misunderstood or misrepre- 

 sented. His doctrine of the origin of the universe, 

 borrowed from Democritus, is atomical and material. 

 Proceeding upon the axiom, that nothing can be pro- 

 duced from nothing, he assumed two necessary, 

 eternal and infinite first causes space, and atoms, or 

 indivisible bodies, arranged in endless variety. These 

 atoms, by virtue of their natural gravity, moved in 

 space, and mingled with one another. To make the 

 union possible, he supposed them to move, not in 

 straight but in curved lines. By these motions, they 

 crossed and hit each other in all possible ways ; and 

 from their numberless combinations and intervolu- 

 tions, arose bodies and beings of all kinds. Although 

 single atoms had no other qualities than figure and 

 gravity, they produced, when combined in bodies, 

 the various qualities that affect the senses, as colour, 

 sound, smell, &c. He further taught, that as all 

 things arose from the union of atoms, so all things will 

 be again destroyed by their dissolution; that there are 

 multitudes of worlds, formed by chance, which are 

 continually rising and falling. The world, as it has had 

 a beginning, must have an end ; and out of its ruins, 

 a new one will be formed. He found no difference 

 between men and brutes, and ascribed the origin of 

 the soul to the same material process above described. 

 The gods, he thought, lived in eternal tranquillity, 

 unconcerned about the world. This doctrine, which 

 was not unjustly charged with atheism and material- 

 ism, drew upon him much opposition and calumny. 

 He lived to the age of seventy-two (270 B. C.). His 

 system found many followers in Rome, among whom 



