Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1811-06-27

IN the most estimation. Antisthenes was foun-
der of the sect the Cynics. He placed the
happiness OF mankind in virtue, and virtue in
The contempt of riches and of the enjoyments
OF HE. Diogepes, his disciple, pushed these
maxims almost to delirium, and the idea ofper-
sonal independence almost to the neglect of
every thing like decorum. 1t was Diogenes
who connected ideas of ch'rontery and impu-
dence with the word cg7iic, and thereby ru-
ined the reputation of his sect. Zeno resus-
citated 1t under the name Stoic, st y. -,
all its v.ces and sslit'StiisiiCu WIN ali is9 NA-
tues. Properly understood IT IS the most eN-
reIIept that has been conceived, and is the
.,s'5sS suitable TO the true dignity of the hui
man mind. The real stole pursues virtue
from inclination, and does good from choice:
equally inaccessible to pleasure and to grief,
he flies from hcnors and applauses, and
supports with equanimity. the favors and the
trowns Of fortune. Always calm, always
just, always master of himself, his fortitude
and his reason are constantly employed for
the preservation, in his soul, in all its intcg-
rity, of that divine essence which ought al
ways TO maintain its empire over the brutal
part of our nature. The true stole is the i
mage OF all that approaches nearest to the
Deity; in word, he is a perfect sage,
which perhaps never existed. The most adj
mirabIe characters of antiquity, such as e
paminondas, Trajan and Marcus Aurelius,
protested the emaxims of the stole school,
which ought tobe those of all kings and of all
who have thegovcrnment of men, The doc
trinc of the stoics, as well as that of other phi
losophical sects, will be found pourtrayed in
a very lively and interesting manner in the
essays of David Hume.
The second of these principal Schools was
the Italian, founded by Pythagoras, who liv-
ed about the year $50 before Jesus Christ
lie LETT Samos, his native country, and fixed
himself IN Italy, where he produced a revo-
luton IN ideas and in morals. He taught
the metempsychosis, or RECONSIDERATION of
! souls from one body to another, which occasi-
oned those Of his sect to abstain from the
use OF meats The present system of the
| Universe was first conceived by Pythagcras,
who held that the sun was placed in the CEN
ire OF the planets, which moved in eliptical
orbits round it. This system, was, however,
regarded as chimera, till it was verified in
the sixteenth century of our era. The Italian
school produced four sects, which were more
| celebrated for their singularity than for their
business or utility; that of HeracGtus of
which misanthropy formed the chief char
| actel1suc: he wept at every thing. Demo-
critus, on the contrary, the most celebrated
| OF the eleatic sect, laughed at every thing,
/ 6anished care, and inCulcated Indifference.
Virtue, according to him, does not differ
| from vice, only in the opinions of men: He
| believed that the soul perishes with the BODY
he did not admit a supreme author of the
| Universe, but substituted the doctrine of a
conclusion of atoms, which, by their rem
contre in grand vacuum, composed the
| organization of the world he moreover
maintained that every thing is Incompetence
| slble, and that he was not certain OF his own
existence. PyrTho has given his name to the
| Pyrrhoncans or Sceptics that is to say
those who doubted every thing, because, in
every thing, they found reasons for affirming
| and for denying; he held that there was no
| difference between life and death. Epicurus
has given his name to the sect of Epicureans,
| the basis of whose principles may be found in
the doctrine OF Democritus. Epicurus pro-
| pagated the system Of atoms, did not be-
lieve that the deity interfered in the affairs
of this world, and placed happiness, or the
| supreme good, in vuluptuousness. But, in
truth, many contend that Epicurus merely
| alluded to voluptuousness of soul namely,
those delicious emotions which arise from the
practice Of virtue and are the sweetest re-
compense of good actions. Be this as it may,
his disciples, abandoned to their natural in
| clinations, exempt, by their principles, from
the restraint of religion and belief in God,
have recognized nothing but sensual vol
| up dousness, by which they have discredited
their master and ruined his doctrines.
Before / close this letter, it may be proper
to remark, that the prevailing opinion is,
that the Greeks received the germs Of their
knowledge from the Egyptians. Lcsagc as
| serts, that French enquirer into the sound
ness Of this opinion, of the name Of Petit-Ra-
del, has given to the institute Of France Sc
veral lectures to prove that Greece was CT
vilized a long time before the arrival of col
onies from Egypt; and by the analogy Of GER
! tain fortiicaticns, Detwoen which and those
Of the Peruvians he has also discovered
| singular IDENTIFY Petit-Radel does not dcs-
pair Of being enabled to trace up an original
connection between the Greeks and the Hy-
perbOnian nations, whOinhabited the northern
parts Of Europe and Asia. in corroborati-
on of this nav theory will add that De
Paw, Quoting Dicdorus,) states thatuo pas
! sage Of Athenian history discovers The slight,
est proof that any colony ever arrived there
from Egypt. Totelminate this matteI ICON
! tinues De Pauw) VIC have the testnnony-.cf
Plato, who afirms that not single dropEf
Egyptian blood ever circulated in 'thc veirs
OF the Athenians.
c.
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