It is, however, the ethical system of Epicurus which is the heart of his teaching, and it is this system that the term Epicureanism usually suggests to one's mind. With Epicurus man's chief end is the attainment of pleasure,— not in the sense, however, that life is a heedless pur suit of pleasure here, there and everywhere. The end is pleasure, not pleasures. The supreme pleasure, the constant source of all other pleas ures, is the tranquil and happy mind. In plac ing the true source of pleasure within, Epicurus here differs from the earlier Cyrenaic who re garded man's happiness as consisting in the full round of delights, the sum total of all his actual enjoyments. Epicurus taught that mere bodily pleasures were not an end in themselves, but only as they minister to peace of mind. Vio lent excesses disturb, extreme asceticism tor ments the inner spirit of man. Therefore be not too indulgent, nor too rigorous with self. Study to attain the maximum of enjoyment with the minimum of distress. Let a wise prudence transmute both the good and the evil of life into a tranquillity of soul. In this conception of conduct, virtue is never an end in itself. It is always a means to an end. The end is happiness and so far as a life of virtue contributes to well-being, so far only is it to be commended.
We find in Epicureanism and in Stoicism alike, the common endeavor to free man from the dominion of circumstance, and to establish an inner world of mind wholly independent of the outer world of chance events, of untoward influences, of hostile forces and fleeting delights. The Stoic, however, urged the repression of all desire; the Epicurean, on the other hand, urged its wise regulation. As Epicurus himself puts it, dlt is not an unbroken succession of drinking feasts and of revelry, not the pleasures of sexual love, nor the enjoyment of the fish and other delicacies of a splendid table, which pro duce a pleasant life, it is sober reasoning, searching out the reasons for every choice and avoidance, and banishing those beliefs through which greatest tumults talce possession of the soul. Of all this, the beginning and the great
est good is prudence. Wherefore prudence is a more precious thing even than philosophy: from it grow all the other virtues,— for, it teaches that we cannot lead a life of pleasure which is not also a life of prudence, honor and justice, nor lead a life of prudence, honor and justice which is not also a life of pleasure. For the virtues have grown into one with a pleasant life, and a pleasant life is inseparable from them.'" In dealing with the fear of death Epicurus proved that the dissolution of the body involves that of the soul, and therefore death is nothing to us, because when we are, death is not; and when death is, we are not.
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