fect life in four different ways. They constitute the guidance
of nature, the impulse of feeling; they give rise to the
traditions of customs and laws, and make the teaching of the
arts important.[5] According to the tradition of laws and
customs, piety is a good in daily life, but it is not in itself
an abstract good. The Sceptic of Sextus' time also inculcated
the teaching of the arts, as indeed must be the case with
professing physicians, as most of the leading Sceptics were.
Sextus says, "We are not without energy in the arts which we
undertake."[6] This was a positive tendency which no philosophy,
however negative, could escape, and the Sceptic tried to avoid
inconsistency in this respect, by separating his philosophy from
his theory of life. His philosophy controlled his opinions, and
his life was governed by phenomena.

[1] _Hyp._ I. 19.

[2] _Hyp._ I. 19.

[3] _Hyp._ I. 22; Diog. IX. 11, 105.

[4] _Hyp._ I. 22.

[5] _Hyp._ I. 23.

[6] _Hyp._ I. 24.

The aim of Pyrrhonism was ataraxia in those things which pertain
to opinion, and moderation in the things which life imposes.[1]
In other words, we find here the same natural desire of the
human being to rise above and beyond the limitations which pain
and passion impose, which is expressed in other forms, and under
other names, in other schools of philosophy. The method,
however, by which ataraxia or peace of mind could be reached,
was peculiar to the Sceptic. It is a state of psychological
equilibrium, which results from the equality of the weight of
different arguments that are opposed to each other, and the
consequent impossibility of affirming in regard to either one,
that it is correct.[2] The discovery of ataraxia was, in the
first instance, apparently accidental, for while the Sceptic
withheld his opinion, unable to decide what things were true,
and what things were false, ataraxia fortunately followed.[3]
After he had begun to philosophize, with a desire to
discriminate in regard to ideas, and to separate the true from
the false[4] during the time of [Greek: epoche], or suspension
of judgement, ataraxia followed as if by chance, as the shadow
follows the body.[5]

[1] _Hyp._ I. 25.

[2] _Hyp._ I. 26.

[3] _Hyp._ I. 26.

[4] Diog. IX. 11, 107.

[5] _Hyp._ I. 29.

The Sceptic in seeking ataraxia in the things of opinion, does
not entirely escape from suffering from his sensations. He is
not who