Philosophumena; or, The refutation of all heresies, Volume I
David Hume · en
[Sidenote: p. 43.] But Epicurus held an opinion almost the opposite
of all others. He supposed that the beginnings of the universals
were atoms and a void; that the void was as it were the place of the
things that will be; but that the atoms were matter, from which all
things are. And that from the concourse of the atoms both God and all
the elements came into being and that in them were all animals and
other things, so that nothing is produced or constructed unless it be
from the atoms. And he said that the atoms were the most subtle of
things, and that in them there could be no point, nor mark nor any
division whatever; wherefore he called them atoms.[140] And although
he admits God to be eternal and imperishable, he says that he cares
for no one and that in short there is no providence nor destiny, but
all things come into being automatically. For God is seated in the
metacosmic spaces, as he calls them. For he held that there was a
certain dwelling-place of God outside the cosmos called the metacosmia,
and that He [Sidenote: p. 44] took His pleasure and rested in supreme
delight; and that He neither had anything to do Himself nor provided
for others. In consequence of which Epicurus made a theory about wise
men, saying that the end of all wisdom is pleasure. But different
people take the name of pleasure differently. For some understood by it
the desires, but others the pleasure that comes by virtue. But he held
that the souls of men were destroyed with their bodies as they are born
with them. For that these souls are blood, which having come forth or
being changed, the whole man is destroyed. Whence it follows that there
are no judgments nor courts of justice in the House of Hades, so that
whatever any one may do in this life and escapes notice, he is in no
way called to account for it.[141] Thus then Epicurus.
20. _About (the) Academics._
But another sect of philosophers was called Academic, [Sidenote: p.
45.] from their holding their discussions in the Academy, whose founder
was Pyrrho, after whom they were called Pyrrhonian philosophers. He
first introduced the dogma of the incomprehensibility of all things, so
that he might argue on either side of the question, but assert nothing
dogmatically. For he said that there is nothing grasped by the mind
or perceived by the senses which is true, but that it only appears to
men to be so. And that all substance is flowing and changing and never
remains in the same state. Now some of the Academics say that we ought
not to make dogmatic assertions about the principle of anything, but
simply argue about it and let it be; while others favoured more the
“no preference”[142] adage, saying that fire was not fire rather than
anything else. For they did not assert what it is, but only what sort
of a thing it is.[143]
21. _About (the) Brachmans among the Indians._