ss and precision, Yet taken all in all, it was greatly
inferior to its predecessor. From the moral point of view it is a
decided retrogression. The god of Aristotle is indifferent to virtue. He
is pure thought rather than moral perfection. He takes no cognizance of
man. Morality has no eternal basis, no divine type, and no future
reward. Therefore Aristotle's philosophy had little power over the
conscience and heart.

During the grand Platonic period human reason made its loftiest flight,
it rose aloft and soared towards heaven, but alas! its wings, like those
of Icarus, melted in the sun and it fell to earth again. Instead of wax
it needed the strong "eagle pinions of faith" which revelation only can
supply. The decadence is strongly marked both in the Epicurean and Stoic
schools. They both express the feeling of exhaustion, disappointment,
and despair. The popular theology had lost its hold upon the public
mind. The gods no longer visited the earth. "The mysterious voice which,
according to the poetic legend related by Plutarch, was heard out at
sea--'Great Pan is dead'--rose up from every heart; the voice of an
incredulous age proclaimed the coming end of paganism. The oracles were
dumb." There was no vision in the land. All faith in a beneficent
overruling Providence was lost, and the hope of immortality was
well-nigh gone. The doctrines of a resurrection and a judgment to come,
were objects of derisive mockery.[921] Philosophy directed her attention
solely to the problem of individual well-being on earth; it became
simply a philosophy of life, and not, as with Plato, "a preparation for
death." The grosser minds sought refuge in the doctrines of Epicurus.
They said, "Pleasure is the chief good, the end of life is to enjoy
yourself;" to this end "dismiss the fear of gods, and, above all, the
fear of death." The nobler souls found an asylum with the Stoics. They
said, "Fata nos ducunt--The Fates lead us! Live conformable to reason.
Endure and abstain!" Notwithstanding numerous and serious errors, the
ethical system of the Stoics was wonderfully pure. This must be
confessed by any one who reads the "Enchiridion" of Epictetus, and the
"Meditations" of Aurelius. "The highest end of life is to contemplate
truth and to obey the Eternal Reason. God is to be reverenced above all
things, and universally submitted to. The noblest office of reason is to
subjugate passion and conduct to virtue. Virtue is the supreme good,
which