EPICURUS. 187 



required something more to produce that steady adherence for which 

 the school was remarkable. While many left other teachers to join 

 Epicurus, only two instances were on record of Epicurus being deserted 

 by a pupil. This could arise only from the ascendency which his 

 character was calculated to acquire. That ascendency must have been 

 due partly to the force of intellect which is otherwise manifest in his 

 speculations ; but partly also to the amiability and benevolence for 

 which he was distinguished. He is said to have had so many friends, 

 " that they could not be contained in whole cities." It says as much, 

 perhaps, for the personal character of Epicurus as for his doctrines, 

 that his three brothers were adherents of his system, and also one of 

 his slaves, Inus, whom he made free at his death. Epicurus never 

 married : according to his theory of happiness, marriage was not con- 

 sistent with prudence ; but in the important relations of a son, a brother, 

 and a friend, he was confessedly most exemplary. 



He continued to conduct a flourishing school till his death, in the His death, 

 seventy-second year of his age, thirty-six years after he had settled as B - c - 27 - 

 a teacher in Athens. He died of the stone, after a fortnight's illness. 

 Writing to his friend Idomeneus during this illness, he says, that the 

 violence of his sufferings were such that nothing could be added to it. 

 " But the joy of mind arising from the habitual recollection of all my 

 philosophical speculations, counterbalances all these afflictions." Dio- 

 genes Laertius gives us a glimpse, as it were, of his last moments. 

 Finding his end approaching, " he entered a warm bath, called for a 

 cup of pure wine and drank it, and having recommended his friends 

 to remember his doctrines, he expired." 



He left his house and garden for the use of the adherents of his 

 philosophy, and appointed Hermarchus of Mitylene as his first suc- 

 cessor. Metrodorus, to whom of all his followers he was most 

 attached, died seven years before him ; and Epicurus at his death 

 made generous provision for the children of his friend. His will, His will, 

 which we fortunately possess, is an interesting document, and gives 

 us much more genuine insight into the affectionateness and generosity 

 of Epicurus's character, than any of the third-hand reports that we are 

 obliged to content ourselves with on other points concerning him. 

 The following are extracts : l 



" Out of the income which is derived from that property, which is here 

 bequeathed by me to Amynomachus and Timocrates (the executors), 

 I will that they, consulting with Hermarchus, shall arrange in the best 

 manner possible the offerings to the manes in honour of the memory Appoints 

 of my father, and mother, and brothers, and myself; and that my jJemSy rf 

 birth-day may be kept, as it has been in the habit of being kept, on his parents, 

 the tenth day of the month Gamelion; and that the reunion of all His birth -day 

 the philosophers of our school, established in honour of Metrodorus to be kept * 

 and myself, may take place on the twentieth day of every month. 

 They shall also celebrate, as I have been in the habit of doing myself, 

 1 Quoted from the translation in Bohn's Classical Library. 



