Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/693

EPICURUS (Leipsic, 1818). Philosophy, according to Epi- curus, is the exertion to obtain happiness by reasoning. The supreme bliss (evdaifj.ovia) is en- joyment and perfect freedom from pain. En- joyment is either passive, when a perfect re- pose of mind is its principal condition, or ac- tive. The former is preferable to the latter. It is the state of absolute freedom from pain. Sensations, whether agreeable or disagreeable, are of the same nature; it is only the con- sequences which constitute their difference. Hence it is the province of reason to dis- cern them according to the ultimate effect they produce. Virtue in itself, irrespective of its consequences, has no value. It is merely the result of wisdom and sagacity, which prove to man that happiness is only to be attained by chanty, peacefulness, tem- perance, patience, self-cornmand. Human or natural rights are merely restraints of individ- ual action, imposed by the necessities of social life. It is self-interest which enjoins us to do right. The repose of mind which constitutes human happiness being continuously disturbed by the uncertainty of the relations of man to the universe and divinity, Epicurus proposed to dispel that uncertainty by a reconstruction of the atomistic theories of Democritus in the following manner : Nothing comes from noth- ing. That which exists can never be annihi- lated. All matter consists of atoms, and these are unchangeable and indivisible, although fill- ing a certain space. Besides shape, volume, gravity, and motion, they have no properties. Their number is infinite, their shape infinite- ly varied. The universe is infinite, and, con- sidered as a unit, unchangeable ; for the aggre- gate quantity of matter remains always the same, however its component parts may com- bine. The universe cannot be the product of divine action, or else the existence of evil could not be accounted for. The atoms, blindly drift- ing through infinite space, and declining some- what from their course (through an accidental cause, whose nature Epicurus fails to explain), are mingled together, shove and push one another (the chaos), until the homogeneous ones associate. The light round atoms (the atoms of fire) are pushed upward, where they form the celestial bodies; those which are somewhat heavier form the air, while the heaviest are precipitated as water and earth. In a similar way the different objection earth are formed. But the whole process is merely an accidental aggregation of atoms; higher ends and divine laws are mere inventions of the human mind. The psychology of Epicurus flows directly from his natural philosophy. The human soul, according to him, is a deli- $ cate and extremely mobile substance, consist- ing of the minutest round atoms. Its elements are warmth, air, breath, and another nameless substance on which sensibility depends. While the three first named are distributed through the whole body, the fourth has its seat princi- pally in the pectoral cavity, and is, as it were, EPIDAURUS 681 the soul of the soul. The soul is not immortal ; nevertheless death is by no means to be con- sidered as an evil, since after death no con- sciousness of annihilation remains. Of all ob- jects filling space infinitely delicate images are secreted. These images, coming into contact with the organs of sense, create perceptions. The conceptions of imagination are arbitrary combinations of such delicate images of real objects. By frequent perceptions the human mind attains to general abstractions, which are merely collective conceptions of the features common to a larger or smaller number of indi- vidual perceptions. Since the senses are the receivers of mechanical secretions of objects (images), the knowledge obtained through them is real and objective, the only correct standard of truth ; but the workings of imagi- nation, being likewise the result of sensitive perception, although an indirect one, point also to existing realities. Hence it follows that the universality of the belief in the existence of a Supreme Being is proof conclusive of such ex- istence. The gods are living beings, of human shape but colossal proportions. They also con- sist of atoms. They are immortal, although their bodies are similar to the human body. This contradiction is explained by a certain equilibrium of contrasts in the universe. The gods are living in eternal bliss, that is to say, in absolute inactivity, in the quiet enjoyment of sublime wisdom and virtue., The spaces between the different celestial bodies (inter- mundia) are the seats of the gods. EPIDAMOTS. See DYEEHACHIUM. EPIDAURUS (now Epidavro), an ancient city of Greece, on the eastern shore of the Pelopon- nesus, on the Saronic gulf, nearly opposite the harbors of Athens, from which it was distant only a six hours' sail, in the district called Argolis after the decline of Grecian power. Throughout the period of the country's great- ness the city and its adjacent territory form- ed a small independent state. According to Strabo, it was founded by a Carian colony, and originally named Epicarus. It subsequently received an Argive colony, and became a part of the Doric league, of which Argos was the head. It severed its connection with Argos, however, and during the Peloponnesian war was an ally of Sparta. It had an aristocratic constitution, was an important commercial city, and colonized ^Egina ; but it rapidly declined in the 6th century B. C., its commerce passing into the hands of the ^Eginetans. It was chiefly distinguished for its splendid temple of ^Escula- pius, bearing the inscription, "Let only pure souls enter here," which stood five miles west of the city on the road to Argos, between two mountains, in a thickly wooded grove, in which it was unlawful for any one to be born or to die. The temple was near the centre of this sa- cred grove, and contained a gold and ivory statue of the god. Fear the temple were the Tholus, a circular structure containing medicines for all diseases, a theatre, the bath of ^Esculapius,