186 GREEK PHILOSOPHY. 



Cynics the Cynosargus, and the Stoics the Portico ; Epicurus esta- 

 blished his school in a garden which he purchased for 80 minse 

 (about 350?.), and laid out for the purpose. From this circumstance 

 his followers were called the philosophers of the garden. 



His . In this garden he and his pupils lived in a state of friendship to 



with hV P which, if the accounts given are to be trusted, there have been few j 

 pupils. parallels. Pythagoras had made his followers throw their property i 

 into a common stock, saying that the possessions of friends should be j 

 held in common ; Epicurus disapproved of this, as implying a distrust i 

 of one another inconsistent with real friendship. The friendship of 1 

 Epicurus and his pupils has been extolled by Cicero in the highest ; 

 terms. 1 



Manner of Although Epicurus laid down the doctrine that pleasure is the chief ; 

 good, the life that he and his friends led was one of the greatest tem- 

 perance and simplicity. They were content, we are told, with a small ] 

 cup of light wine, and all the rest of their drink was water. And an 

 inscription over the gate promised to those who might wish to enter 

 no better fare than barley-cakes and water. The chastity of Epicurus 

 was so incontestable that Chrysippus, one of his principal opponents, 

 in order to deprive him of all merit on the score of it, ascribed it to 

 his being without passions. 



Calumnies of Many stories, it is true, of an opposite character were put in circu- 

 nes ' lation. The Stoics, whose system he chiefly set himself against, hated 

 him bitterly, and broached all manner of calumnies on his mode of 

 life ; which, as he professed himself the advocate of pleasure, would j 

 naturally find ready belief with those who did not know him. Timo- ; 

 crates, who had been his pupil but abandoned him, represented 

 Epicurus as gluttonous and licentious, reporting that he spent a mina 

 (above 41.) a-day on the luxuries of the table, and was in the habit of 1 

 vomiting twice a-day from surfeit ; and that many immodest women j 

 lived in his garden with him and his friends. Diotimus, the Stoic, j 

 carried this system of persecution so far, as to publish a set of obscene j 

 letters and attribute them to Epicurus. 



refuted. Diogenes Laertius, who relates all these stories, declares his utter 



disbelief of them ; and, besides citing direct testimonies to the con- 

 trary, appeals to the universal esteem in which he was held by his 

 friends and pupils, and to the public statues which were erected to = 

 him by his countrymen after his death. If the reports in question 

 had been generally believed in Athens, that could hardly have taken 

 place ; and that they were disbelieved in a city where slander against 

 eminence was always so readily listened to, is a strong proof that they 

 were without foundation. 



His success The success of Epicurus as a teacher was signal. Great numbers 

 as a teacher. fl oc k ec [ to hi s school from all parts of Greece, and from Asia Minor. | 

 The attractiveness of his leading doctrine the very name pleasure I 

 might have considerable effect in bringing together hearers ; but it 

 1 De Fin. i. 20. 



