188 GREEK PHILOSOPHY. 



the day consecrated to my brothers, in the month Poseideon ; and the 

 day consecrated to the memory of Polygenus, in the month Meta- 

 geitnion. 



Makes " Amynomachus and Timocrates shall be the guardians of Epicurus, 



5 children' the son of Metrodorus, and of the son of Polypus ; * * * also of the 

 of two daughter of Metrodorus ; and when she is of marriageable age, they 



shall give her to whomsoever Hermarchus shall select of his com- 

 panions in philosophy, provided she is well-behaved and obedient to 

 Hermarchus. And Amynomachus and Timocrates shall, out of my 

 income, give them such a sum for their support, as shall appear 

 sufficient, year by year, after due consultation with Hermarchus.* * * 

 And as for the dowry for the girl, when she is come to marriageable 

 age, let them take for the purpose such a sum from my property as 

 shall seem to them, in conjunction with Hermarchus, to be reasonable. 

 And let them also take care of Nicanor, as we ourselves have done ; 

 in order that all those who have studied philosophy with us, and who 

 have assisted us with their means, and who have shown great friend- 

 ship for us, and who have chosen to grow old with us in the study of 

 philosophy, may never be in want of anything as far as our power to 

 Emancipates prevent it may extend. Of my slaves, I hereby emancipate Inus and 

 Nicias, and Lycon : I also give PhaBdrium her freedom." 



PART II. DOCTRINES. 



The writings Epicurus was a most voluminous writer. According to Diogenes 

 Laertius, he left three hundred volumes ; " and in the whole of them 

 there is not one citation from other sources, but they are filled wholly 

 with the sentiments of Epicurus himself." Among others, he had 

 thirty-seven books on Natural Philosophy ; a treatise on Atoms and 

 the Vacuum ; one on Love ; one on Choice and Avoidance ; another on 

 the Chief Good ; four essays on Lives ; one on Sight; one on Touch ; 

 another on Images ; another on Justice and the other Virtues, &c. 

 Almost all these works are lost : the only writings of Epicurus that 

 have come down to us are three letters, and a number of detached 

 sentences, or sayings, preserved by Diogenes Laertius, in his life of 

 the philosopher. 



sources Some knowledge of the doctrines of Epicurus may be gathered 



knowledge from scattered notices in several ancient writers, among others in 

 of his Cicero ' De Finibus,' and ' De Nat. Deorum, and in Seneca. The 



poem also of Lucretius, ' De Rerum Natura,' contains substantially 

 the philosophy of Epicurus. But the principal and only direct 

 source are the letters and the sentences above mentioned. These 

 letters were written for the express purpose of giving to some of 

 his friends an epitome of what he had taught in his discourses and 

 books. In attempting, therefore, to give some account of the philo- 

 sophical system of Epicurus, we mean to confine ourselves, for the 

 most part, to this direct source ; and as it has been the fate of 



