EPICURUS. 203 



their fill of pleasure, wherever they could find it, provided it were 

 attended with no pain or grief from any quarter ; for that is the only 

 evil." 



The whole question of ethics, then, comes to a calculation and 

 balancing of pleasures and pains ; in other words, the cardinal virtue Prudence 

 is prudence. This Epicurus lays down explicitly. 



" The principle that guides all our decisions is prudence, the most 

 valuable part of philosophy; for on it are grounded all the other 

 virtues, teaching us that there is no living happily without living pru- 

 dently, and honourably, and justly ; nor prudently, and honourably, 

 and justly, without living happily. For the virtues are indissolubly 

 connected with a happy life." 



Justice. 



The greater part of the ethical doctrines of Epicurus as indeed of 

 the ancient philosophers generally have reference to the individual ; 

 in other words, it is chiefly personal morality that he looks to. Justice Justice 

 is almost the only social virtue on which we have his opinions, at any p r "^en { ce. 

 length, in his own words ; and that he rests on the same prudential 

 basis as he does temperance. Injustice is an evil, because it exposes 

 the individual to disquietude from other men; justice is a virtue, 

 because it secures him from this disquietude. The doctrine is thus 

 established : 



" Natural justice is an agreement of convenience to avoid injuring Has no 

 and being injured. In the case of animals, which are incapable of without 6 

 entering into such contracts, there is no such thing as justice or injus- compact, 

 tice. Justice would have no existence were it not for contracts having 

 been made somewhere or other to abstain from mutual injury. 



" Injustice is not an evil in itself; but becomes so from the fear How 

 that haunts the injurer of not being able to escape the appointed Some* 

 avengers of such acts. When a man does anything, however secretly, an evil 

 in violation of one of those agreements that mankind have entered into 

 for the mutual preservation of their interests, he can never feel sure 

 that he will go undetected, even though he may have already escaped 

 ten thousand times ; for until his death, it is always uncertain whether 

 he will finally escape." 



The duties of friendship and good fellowship are inculcated on the 

 same grounds of security to the individual. 



" The best way to secure one's self from molestation from other and 

 men, is to make friends and allies of all that we can ; and where we a ri v e j? t d u S e. ip 

 cannot make friends, to avoid making enemies. They attain the 

 greatest security who make their social intercourse the most pleasant 

 to one another." 



The great prudential principle, of avoiding everything that can entail 

 anxiety and trouble, is rigorously carried out by Epicurus in every 

 detail of conduct that he notices. He lays down, for instance, as The wise 

 attributes of his wise man,' that he will take no part in politics, and JJJJ office" ' 



