Epicureanism had certainly its sublime side; and from this very
sublimity perhaps arose the greatest flaw in the system, regarded as a
rational philosophy. It was accepted too much as a Revelation, too
little as a mere step in the search for truth. It was based no doubt on
careful and even profound scientific studies, and was expounded by the
master in a vast array of volumes. But the result so attained was
considered sufficient. Further research was not encouraged. Heterodoxy
was condemned as something almost approaching 'parricide'.[113:2] The
pursuit of 'needless knowledge' was deliberately frowned upon.[113:3]
When other philosophers were working out calculations about the size of
the Sun and the commensurability of the sun-cycle and the moon-cycle,
Epicurus contemptuously remarked that the Sun was probably about as big
as it looked, or perhaps smaller: since fires at a distance generally
look bigger than they are. The various theories of learned men were all
possible but none certain. And as for the cycles, how did any one know
that there was not a new sun shot off and extinguished every day?[113:4]
It is not surprising to find that none of the great discoveries of the
Hellenistic Age were due to the Epicurean school. Lucretius, writing 250
years later, appears to vary hardly in any detail from the doctrines of
the Master, and Diogenes of Oenoanda, 500 years later, actually repeats
his letters and sayings word for word.

It is sad, this. It is un-Hellenic; it is a clear symptom of decadence
from the free intellectual movement and the high hopes which had made
the fifth century glorious. Only in one great school does the true
Hellenic _Sophrosyne_ continue flourishing, a school whose modesty of
pretension and quietness of language form a curious contrast with the
rapt ecstasies of Stoic and Cynic and even, as we have seen, of
Epicurean, just as its immense richness of scientific achievement
contrasts with their comparative sterility. The Porch and the Garden
offered new religions to raise from the dust men and women whose spirits
were broken; Aristotle in his Open Walk, or _Peripatos_, brought
philosophy and science and literature to guide the feet and interest the
minds of those who still saw life steadily and tried their best to see
it whole.

Aristotle was not lacking in religious insight and imagination, as he
certainly was not without profound influence on the future history of
religion. His complete rejectio