Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/169

Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age 113 ( IIQ) a school of his own known as the Peripatetic School, because it occupied a terrace called the u Walk" (Greek, peripatos). But many Greeks desired some teaching which would lead them to a happy and con- tented frame of mind and guide men in their attempts to live successfully. To meet this de- sire two more schools of phi- losophy arose at Athens. The first was the Stoic School, which derived its name from a portico in Athens called the Stoa. This school taught that the great aim of life should be a forti- tude of soul indifferent both to pleasure and to pain. Its fol- lowers were famous for their fortitude, and hence our com- mon use of the word " stoicism " to indicate indifference to suf- fering. The Stoic School was very popular and finally be- came the greatest of the schools of philosophy. The second, the Epicurean School, founded by Epicurus in his own garden at Athens, taught that the highest good was happiness, both of body and of mind, but always in moderation and in accord- ance with virtue. Its views GREEK YOUTH READING FROM A ROLL, OR BOOK It will be seen that the young man holds the roll so that he rolls up a portion of it with one hand as he unrolls another portion with the other. He soon has a roll in each hand, while he holds smoothly stretched out between the two rolls the exposed portion, from which he reads a column of writing like that which we see photographed from the oldest-preserved Greek book (roll). Such a column formed for him a page, but when it was read, in- stead of turning a page as we do, he rolled it away to the left side and brought into view a new column from the other roll on the right side were high-minded but often misunderstood, hence even now we call a man devoted to pleasure, especially in eating, an "epicure." The School of Epicurus, like the Stoics, flourished and attracted many disciples.