Stoics, whose opinions he combated with great zeal and vehemence. I, however, shall handle the question with more temper; for if the Stoics have rightly settled the ends of goods, the affair is at an end; for a wise man must necessarily be always happy. But let us examine, if we can, the particular opinions of the others, that so this excellent decision, if I may so call it, in favor of a happy life, may be agreeable to the opinions and discipline of all.
XXX. These, then, are the opinions, as I think, that are held and defended—the first four are simple ones: “that nothing is good but what is honest,” according to the Stoics; “nothing good but pleasure,” as Epicurus maintains; “nothing good but a freedom from pain,” as Hieronymus[1] asserts; “nothing good but an enjoyment of the principal, or all, or the greatest goods of nature,” as Carneades maintained against the Stoics—these are simple, the others are mixed propositions. Then there are three kinds of goods: the greatest being those of the mind; the next best those of the body; the third are external goods, as the Peripatetics call them, and the Old Academics differ very little from them. Dinomachus[2] and Callipho[3] have coupled pleasure with honesty; but Diodorus[4] the Peripatetic has joined indolence to honesty. These are the opinions that have some footing; for those of Aristo,[5] Pyrrho,[6] Herillus,[7] and of some others, are quite out of date. Now let us see what weight these men have in
- ↑ Hieronymus was a Rhodian, and a pupil of Aristotle, flourishing about 300 b.c. He is frequently mentioned by Cicero.
- ↑ We know very little of Dinomachus. Some MSS. have Clitomachus.
- ↑ Callipho was in all probability a pupil of Epicurus, but we have no certain information about him.
- ↑ Diodorus was a Syrian, and succeeded Critolaus as the head of the Peripatetic School at Athens.
- ↑ Aristo was a native of Ceos, and a pupil of Lycon, who succeeded Straton as the head of the Peripatetic School, 270 b.c. He afterward himself succeeded Lycon.
- ↑ Pyrrho was a native of Elis, and the originator of the sceptical theories of some of the ancient philosophers. He was a contemporary of Alexander.
- ↑ Herillus was a disciple of Zeno of Cittium, and therefore a Stoic. He did not, however, follow all the opinions of his master: he held that knowledge was the chief good. Some of the treatises of Cleanthes were written expressly to confute him.
