shall never hasten!--nor thine arm,
With deeds heroic, guard thy country's weal!--
Oh mournful, mournful fate!' thy friends exclaim!
'One envious hour of these invalued joys
Robs thee forever!--But they add not here,
'_It robs thee, too, of all desire of joy_'--
A truth, once uttered, that the mind would free
From every dread and trouble. 'Thou art safe
The sleep of death protects thee, _and secures
From all the unnumbered woes of mortal life!_
While we, alas! the sacred urn around
That holds thine ashes, shall insatiate weep,
Nor time destroy the eternal grief we feel!'
What, then, has death, if death be mere repose,
And quiet only in a peaceful grave,--
What has it thus to mar this life of man?"[820]

[Footnote 820: Lucretius, "On the Nature of Things," bk. iii. l.
906-926.]

This is all the comfort that Epicureanism can offer; and if "the wretch
still laments the approach of death," she addresses him "with voice
severe"--

"Vile coward! dry thine eyes--
Hence with thy snivelling sorrows, and depart!"

It is evident that such a system of philosophy outrages the purest and
noblest sentiments of humanity, and, in fact, condemns itself. It was
born of selfishness and social degeneracy, and could perpetuate itself
only in an age of corruption, because it inculcated the lawfulness of
sensuality and the impunity of injustice. Its existence at this precise
period in Grecian history forcibly illustrates the truth, that Atheism
is a disease of the heart rather than the head. It seeks to set man free
to follow his own inclinations, by ridding him of all faith in a
Divinity and in an immortal life, and thus exonerating him from all
accountability and all future retribution. But it failed to perceive
that, in the most effectual manner, it annihilated all real liberty, all
true nobleness, and made of man an abject slave.

STOICISM.

The Stoical school was founded by Zeno of Citium, who flourished B.C.
290. He taught in the Stoa Poecile, or Painted Porch; and his disciples
thence derived the name of Stoics. Zeno was succeeded by Cleanthes (B.C.
260); and Cleanthes by Chrysippus (B.C. 240), whose vigorous intellect
gave unity and completeness to the Stoical philosophy. He is reported to
have said to Cleanthes,--"Give me your doctrines, and I will find the
demonstrations."[821]

[Footnote 821: Diogenes Laertius, "Lives of the Philosopher