The Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics - College of Stoic Philosophers

PART I.
STATE OF CULTURE IN GREECE.
CHAPTER I.
THE INTELLECTUAL AND POLITICAL STATE OF GREECE
AT THE CLOSE OF THE FOURTH CENTURY.
In Plato and Aristotle Greek Philosophy reached its Chap.
greatest perfection. In their hands the Socratic philo-
sophy of conceptions grew into elaborate systems,
which embraced the whole range of contemporary
knowledge, and grouped it from definite points of a. Merits
view so as to afford a connected view of the universe, '^^f '^^" ,
jects of till'
The study of nature was by them supplemented by systenu of
careful enquiries into the subject of morals. It was, j^^'!gf^^iJ
moreover, transformed, enlarged, and enriched by
Aristotle. In metaphysics, the foundations for a
philosophical structure were deeply laid, everything
being referred to first principles, in a way which no
previous philosopher had before attempted. A mul-
titude of phenomena which earlier thinkers had care-
lessly passed over, more particularly the phenomena
of mental life, were pressed into the service of
research ; new questions were raised ; new answers
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