272 GREEK PHILOSOPHY. 



the dogmatic teachers. When, however, his biographers proceed to 

 relate, that he adopted in practice those principles which he defended 

 in theory, it is, we think, sufficiently manifest that they have mistaken 

 for authentic anecdotes the satirical inventions of his enemies, whose 

 design was, probably, to prove that, whatever might be the triumphs 

 of Pyrrhonism in the shade of the schools, the slightest occurrence in 

 real life dispelled the illusion, and left the refined caviller precisely in 

 the same situation as vulgar mortals. 1 What, indeed, can be more 

 ridiculously absurd than the idle tales of Antigonus Carystius, 2 that 

 Pyrrho would not stir a step to avoid a chariot or a precipice, and 

 was frequently indebted to the kind assistance of the friends who 

 attended him, for the preservation of his life ! 3 The honours which 

 were paid to him, may be deemed a proof that the tenour of his 

 conduct was not at variance with the received customs of society, 

 customs which he considered as causing, by their arbitrary decision, 

 the only difference between right and wrong. 



In conformity with existing prejudices, he suffered himself to be 

 appointed one of the priests of a religion, 4 the truth of which his own 

 opinions must have led him to question, if not to deny. This circum- 

 stance will, however, excite no surprise in those who have attended to 

 the peculiar train of thinking, with respect to the political utility of 

 polytheism, which pervades the writings of the ancient philosophers, 

 and appears to have produced the same effect on the least scrupulous 

 as on the most superstitious sects. Impressed with a conviction of 

 the vanity of earthly pursuits, Pyrrho is said to have constantly 

 repeated the well-known lines, in which Homer compares the race of 

 men to leaves, " now green in youth, now with'ring to the ground," 

 and from which he probably passed, by an easy transition, to reflections 

 on the vicissitudes of fortune, the fluctuations of fashion, and the 

 mutability of opinion. The remaining instances, intended to illustrate 

 his manner of life, which may be found in the ill-connected, but enter- 

 taining collections of Diogenes Laertius, are trivial and contradictory : 

 at one time he is represented as secluding himself even from his 

 nearest relations, whilst at another he is described as joining his family 

 in the management of their domestic affairs, and as performing the 

 meanest duties with cheerfulness and indifference. From the general 

 language of his biographers, however, we may conclude that both the 



1 See Hume's Essays, vol. ii. pp. 183-186. Having observed, that " the great 

 subverter of Pyrrhonism is action and employment, and the occupations of common 

 life," he allows, that even the determinate Sceptic will " be the first to join in the 

 laugh against himself, and to confess, that all his objections are mere amusement, 

 and can have no other tendency than to show the whimsical condition of mankind, 

 who must act, and reason, and believe ; though they are not able, by their most 

 diligent inquiry, to satisfy themselves concerning the foundation of these operations, 

 or to remove the objections which may be raised against them." 



2 Quoted by Diog. Laert. in Vit. Pyrrhon. 



3 Comp. La Mothe le Vayer, De la Vertu des Payens, p. 243 ; Bayle, Diet. Hist, 

 art. Pyrrhon. 4 Diog. Laert. in Vit.j Hesych. Miles. 



