t motives to human action. The especial
materialistic standpoint from which Pyrrhonism judged all that
pertains to knowledge and life shut out the ideal, and all
possibility of absolute truth. It was an expression of the
philosophic decadence of the age when it flourished, and
although it possessed some philosophic worth, yet it bore in
itself the causes of its decay.

PYRRHONIC SKETCHES

BY

SEXTUS EMPIRICUS.

BOOK I.

CHAPTER I.

_The Principal Differences between Philosophers._

It is probable that those who seek after anything whatever, will 1
either find it as they continue the search, will deny that it
can be found and confess it to be out of reach, or will go on
seeking it. Some have said, accordingly, in regard to the things
sought in philosophy, that they have found the truth, while 2
others have declared it impossible to find, and still others
continue to seek it. Those who think that they have found it are
those who are especially called Dogmatics, as for example, the
Schools of Aristotle and Epicurus, the Stoics and some others.
Those who have declared it impossible to find are Clitomachus, 3
Carneades, with their respective followers, and other
Academicians. Those who still seek it are the Sceptics. It
appears therefore, reasonable to conclude that the three 4
principal kinds of philosophy are the Dogmatic, the Academic,
and the Sceptic. Others may suitably treat of the other Schools,
but as for the Sceptical School, we shall now give an outline of
it, remarking in advance that in respect to nothing that will be
said do we speak positively, that it must be absolutely so, but
we shall state each thing historically as it now appears to us.

CHAPTER II.

_Ways of Treating Scepticism._

One way of treating the Sceptical philosophy is called 5
general, and the other special. The general method is that by
which we set forth the character of Scepticism, declaring what
its idea is, what its principles are, its mode of reasoning, its
criterion, and its aim. It presents also, the aspects of doubt,
[Greek: hoi tropoi tes epoches], and the way in which we should
understand the Sceptical formulae, and the distinction between
Scepticism and the related Schools of philosophy. The special
method, on the contrary, is that by which we 6 speak against 6
each part of so-called philosophy. Let us then treat Scepticism
at first in the g