THE STOICS, EPICUREANS AND SCEPTICS TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF Dr E. ZELLER Professor of the University of Heidelberg BY REV. OSWALD J. REICHEL, B.C.L., M.A. sometime Vice-Principal of Cuddesden College NEW AND REVISED EDITION LONDON LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. AND NEW YORK: 15 EAST 16th STREET 1892 PREFACE. The present translation aims at supplying an introductory volume to a later period of the history of mind in Greece, which may be collectively described as the post-Aristotelian. To the moralist and theologian no less than to the student of philosophy this period is one of peculiar interest; for it supplied the scientific mould into which Christianity in the early years of its growth was cast, and bearing the shape of which it has come down to us. The translation has been carefully revised for the present edition, with the view of rendering more clear any passages which seemed obscure. À la Ronde, near Lympstone, Devon: August 1891. CONTENTS. PART I. STATE OF CULTURE IN GREECE. CHAPTER I. THE INTELLECTUAL AND POLITICAL STATE OF GREECE AT THE CLOSE OF THE FOURTH CENTURY B.C. PAGE A. Merits and defects of the systems of Plato and Aristotle 1 B. Connection between the theories of Aristotle and the Greek character 6 C. Greece after the battle of Chæronea 12 CHAPTER II. CHARACTER AND CHIEF FEATURES OF THE POST-ARISTOTELIAN PHILOSOPHY. A. Causes forming the post-Aristotelian philosophy 15 1. Political causes 15 2. Intellectual causes 17 B. Common characteristics of the post-Aristotelian philosophy 19 1. Theory subordinated to practice 19 2. Peculiar mode of treating the practical problem 21 3. These peculiarities illustrated by subsequent philosophy 22 C. Development of the post-Aristotelian philosophy 25 1. Dogmatic Schools—Stoics and Epicureans, Dogmatic Scepticism 25 2. Sceptical Schools—influences producing—Scepticism and Eclecticism 26 3. Religious School of Neoplatonists 31 PART II.