Page 127 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

practical inventor. He may have devised the so-called Archimedean screw, used to pump water out of mines and to lift irrigation water, as well as a compound pul- ley for transporting heavy weights. During the Roman siege of his native city of Syracuse, he constructed a number of devices to thwart the attackers. According to Plutarch’s account, the Romans became so fright- ened “that if they did but see a little rope or a piece of wood from the wall, instantly crying out, that there it was again, Archimedes was about to let fly some device at them, they turned their backs and fled.”4 Archime- des’s accomplishments inspired a wealth of semilegen- dary stories. Supposedly, he discovered specific gravity by observing the water he displaced in his bath and became so excited by his realization that he jumped out of the water and ran home naked, shouting “Eureka!” (“I have found it!”). He is said to have emphasized the importance of levers by proclaiming to the king of Syracuse, “Give me a lever and a place to stand on, and I will move the earth.” The king was so impressed that he encouraged Archimedes to lower his sights and build defensive weapons instead.
Philosophy: New Schools of Thought
While Alexandria and Pergamum became the renowned cultural centers of the Hellenistic world, Athens remained the prime center for philosophy and contin- ued to attract the most illustrious philosophers, who chose to establish their schools there. Two entirely new schools of philosophical thought reinforced Athens’s reputation as a philosophical center.
EPICUREANISM Epicurus (ep-i-KYOOR-uss) (341–270 B.C.E.), the founder of Epicureanism (ep-i-kyoo-REE-uh-ni- zum), established a school in Athens before 300 B.C.E. Epicurus’s famous belief in a doctrine of pleasure began with his view of the world. Though he did not deny the existence of the gods, he did not believe they played any active role in the world. The universe ran on its own. This left human beings free to follow self-interest as a basic motivating force. Happiness was the goal of life, and the means to achieving it was the pursuit of pleasure, the only true good. But the pursuit of pleas- ure was not meant in a physical, hedonistic sense:
When, therefore, we maintain that pleasure is the end, we do not mean the pleasures of profligates and those that consist in sensuality, as is supposed by some who are either ignorant or disagree with us or do not under- stand, but freedom from pain in the body and from trou- ble in the mind. For it is not continuous drinkings and
revelings, nor the satisfaction of lusts, nor the enjoyment of fish and other luxuries of the wealthy table, which produce a pleasant life, but sober reasoning, searching out the motives for all choice and avoidance, and banish- ing mere opinions, to which are due the greatest disturb- ance of the spirit.5
Pleasure was not satisfying one’s desire in an active, gluttonous fashion but rather freedom from emotional turmoil and freedom from worry—the freedom that came from a mind at rest. To achieve this passive pleas- ure, one had to free oneself from public activity: “We must release ourselves from the prison of affairs and politics.” They were too strenuous to give peace of mind. But this was not a renunciation of all social life, for to Epicurus, a life could be complete only when it was centered on the basic ideal of friendship: “Of all the things which wisdom acquires to produce the bless- edness of the complete life, far the greatest is the pos- session of friendship.”6 Epicurus’s own life in Athens was an embodiment of his teachings. He and his friends created their own private community where they could pursue their ideal of true happiness.
STOICISM Epicureanism was eventually overshadowed by another school of thought known as Stoicism (STOH-i- siz-um), which became the most popular philosophy of the Hellenistic world and persisted in the Roman Empire as well. It was the product of a teacher named Zeno (335–263 B.C.E.), who came to Athens and began to teach in a public colonnade known as the Painted Portico (the Stoa Poikile—hence, Stoicism). Like Epicureanism, Stoi- cism was concerned with how individuals find happiness. But Stoics took a radically different approach to the prob- lem. To them, happiness, the supreme good, could be found only in virtue, which meant essentially living in harmony with the divine will. To the Stoics, following the divine will meant abiding by the natural laws that the gods established to run the universe.
Virtuous living, then, was living in accordance with the laws of nature. This led to the acceptance of what- ever one received in life, since the divine will was by its very nature good. By accepting divine law, people mas- tered themselves and gained inner peace. Life’s prob- lems could not disturb such individuals, and they could bear whatever life offered (hence, our word stoic).
Unlike Epicureans, Stoics did not believe in the need to separate oneself from the world and politics. Public service was regarded as noble. The real Stoic was a good citizen and could even be a good government offi- cial. Because Stoics believed that a divine principle was present throughout the universe, each human being
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