6661. PHILOSOPHY, Epicureanism.—
I am Epicurean. I consider the genuine (not
the imputed) doctrines of Epicurus as containing
everything rational in moral philosophy
which Greece and Rome have left us. Epictetus,
indeed, has given us what was good of the
Stoics; all beyond, of their dogmas being hypocrisy
and grimace. Their great crime was
in their calumnies of Epicurus and misrepresentations
of his doctrines; in which we lament
to see the candid character of Cicero engaging
as an accomplice.—
To William Short. Washington ed. vii, 138.
Ford ed., x, 143.
(M.
1819)
