Epicurus

(-kū'rus,) founder of the Epicurean sect of Greek philosophers, was B. in Samos abt. 340 B. c. After studying under Xenocrates, at Athens, he travelled in Ionia, Mitylene, and Lampsacus. In 309 he removed to Athens, where he established a school of philosophy which exercised a popular and important influence both in his own day and in after-ages. The doctrine of E. may be defined as a mixture of pantheism and materialism based upon utilitarian principles. Utterly antagonistic to the Stoics, he laid it dow nas an axiom that to attain the highest po ible degree of pleasure and happine ought to be the chief aim of human nature. His most notable follower is Lucretius. D. 270 B. c. [s. 334]