Stoicism and Epicurism, will perhaps bring out the respective doctrines of these sects, or at least the principles and scope of their systems, in a clearer light than we could obtain if we studied them in their isolation, and out of relation to each other.
19. As Zeno had adopted in part the doctrines of a previous sect, the Cynics, so the ethical theory of Epicurus and his followers was founded on the principles of an antecedent sect called the Cyrenaics, who held that pleasure is the summum bonum, the end of all human endeavour. The lines of Horace are well known, in which he represents himself as an eclectic in moral philosophy.—Ep. I. i. 14.
" Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri,
Quo me cunque rapit tempestas deferor hospes:
Nunc agilis fio et mersor civilibus undis
Virtutis veræ custos rigidusque satelles;
Nunc in Aristippi furtim præcepta relabor
Et mihi res, non me rebus, subjungere conor."
Or, as it is in Pope's imitation—
" But ask not to what doctors I apply,
Sworn to no master, of no sect am I:
As drives the storm at any door I knock,
And house with Montaigne now, or now with Locke;
Sometimes a patriot, active in debate,
Mix with the world, and battle for the State.
Free as young Littleton her cause pursue,
Still true to virtue, and as warm as true;
Sometimes with Aristippus or St Paul,
Indulge my candour, and grow all to all;
Back to my native moderation glide,
And win my way by yielding to the tide."
The last line of Horace seems to give expression
