less virtue is the sole end of life, but the sole end of virtue
is one's own advantage, that is to say, pleasure. One may as well say
at once that the sole end of life is pleasure.

The influence of Protagoras and the Sophists also played its part in
moulding the thought of Aristippus. Protagoras had denied the
objectivity of truth, and the later Sophists had applied the same
theory to morals. Each man is a law unto himself. There is no moral
code binding upon the individual against his own wishes. Aristippus
combined this with his doctrine of pleasure. Pleasure being the sole
end of life, no moral law externally imposed can invalidate its
absolute claims. Nothing is wicked, nothing evil, provided only it
satisfies the individual's thirst for pleasure.

Whether such a philosophy will lead, in practice, to the complete
degradation of its devotees, depends chiefly upon what sort of
pleasure they have in mind. If refined and intellectual pleasures are
meant, there is no reason why a comparatively good life should not
result. If bodily pleasures are intended, the results are not likely
to be noble. The Cyrenaics by no means wholly ignored the pleasures of
the mind, but they pointed out that feelings of bodily pleasure are
more potent and intense, and it was upon these, therefore, that they
chiefly {162} concentrated their attention. Nevertheless they were
saved from the lowest abysses of sensuality and bestiality by their
doctrine that, in the pursuit of pleasure, the wise man must exercise
prudence. Completely unrestrained pursuit of pleasure leads in fact to
pain and disaster. Pain is that which has to be avoided. Therefore the
wise man will remain always master of himself, will control his
desires, and postpone a more urgent to a less urgent desire, if
thereby in the end more pleasure and less pain will accrue to him. The
Cyrenaic ideal of the wise man is the man of the world, bent indeed
solely upon pleasure, restrained by no superstitious scruples, yet
pursuing his end with prudence, foresight, and intelligence. Such
principles would, of course, admit of various interpretations,
according to the temperament of the individual. We may notice two
examples. Anniceris, the Cyrenaic, believed indeed that pleasure is
the sole end, but set such store upon the pleasures that arise from
friendship and family affection, that he admitted that the wise man
should be ready to sacrifice himself for his friends or family--a
gleam of