EPICURUS, one of the most celebrated philosophers of antiquity, was descended of an illustrious family, that of the Philaides, which derived its origin from Philaeus, grandson of Ajax. Neocles, his father, resided in Gargettium, a borough of Attica; but finding himself ill provided in point of fortune, he passed into the island of Samos, when the Athenians sent a colony thither, in the year 352 before Christ. As Diogenes Laertius fixes the birth of Epicurus in the year 341 before Christ, it is therefore probable that the philosopher first saw the light at Samos, and not at Gargettium, as is commonly supposed. In his early youth he is said to have followed his mother, who appears to have been an itinerant sorceress, reading the formularies of exorcism and expiation, whilst she performed the ceremonies usual on such occasions; but as he advanced in years he assisted his father in keeping a school, which the latter had established at Samos. At the age of fourteen Epicurus began to devote himself to philosophy. He at first attended Pamphilus, one of the disciples of Plato, and Nausiphanes, of the school of Democritus; not the disciple of Pyrrho, as Diogenes Laertius affirms, Pyrrho having been the contemporary of Epicurus. But the lessons he received from these teachers did not satisfy his mind; and having applied himself to the study of the writings of Democritus, he made great progress in philosophy, and soon thought himself in a condition to form a new sect. At the age of eighteen he proceeded to Athens, but he sojourned there only a short time, by reason of the troubles which ensued after the death of Alexander. He then repaired to his father’s at Calophon, in Ionia, whence he afterwards went to Mitylene and Lampsacus, where he began to profess his new principles of philosophy. Having attracted a great number of disciples, amongst whom were the three brothers Neocles, Cheredemus, and Aristobulus, he returned with them to Athens in the year before Christ 309; and having there purchased a garden for eighty minae, or L.288 sterling, he immediately commenced teaching his philosophy· All the world was not admitted to his lessons; but is disciples, in imitation of the Pythagoreans, formed a sort of community by themselves. Nevertheless, he did not recommend or encourage a community of goods, which θ considered as calculated to excite distrust; but each paid a portion of the general expense, which, however, w as inconsiderable, as they were content with the sim-P est fare. The most perfect union reigned amongst cm, and indeed subsisted undisturbed long after the eath of Epicurus. Cicero says that the Epicureans of his time still lived in common, and in the best understanding with one another. Women were even admitted into this society; and amongst its most celebrated disciples are mentioned Leontium, courtezan of Athens, and Themista, , wife of Leontius of Lampsacus. As Epicurus never taught in public, the sect was little celebrated during his lifetime; but after his death, when his writings became generally known, the doctrine therein taught was warmly attacked by the Stoics, who did not blush even to have recourse to the most atrocious calumnies. Diotimus the Stoic went so far as to fabricate, in the name of Epicurus, fifty letters addressed to courtezans, in which the philosopher is made to express himself in the most obscene manner; but Chrysippus himself bears testimony to the blameless conduct and manners of Epicurus; and although the latter alleged that this was not the result of philosophy, but attributable solely to coldness and insensibility of temperament, it is certain that his life was wholly free from those vices with which his enemies have reproached him. For a short account of the system, canonical, physical, and ethical, taught by this philosopher, see Epicurean Philosophy. Epicurus died of the stone in the seventy-second year of his age. He was never married; not that he blamed marriage, tor he taught that a wise man ought to marry and have children; but as he was of a feeble constitution, and seldom enjoyed good health, he did not think it incumbent on him to observe the maxim which he inculcated on others. By his will, which Diogenes Laertius has preserved, he bequeathed his garden and a house which he had at Melitus to Hermachus his successor, and to those who should after him be at the head of his school, as long as it should subsist, in order that his followers might assemble on the spot where his system was first taught. His memory was held in veneration by his disciples, among whom the anniversary of his birth was celebrated as a festival; they had his portrait engraved on their rings and on their cups, as well as placed in their chambers; and they never spoke of him but with the greatest respect. In the number of Greek manuscripts discovered at Herculaneum have been found several of the works of Epicurus, the unravelling of which, however, has as yet been only partially effected. Some fragments of the second book of his treatise On the Nature of Things were published at Naples in 1814. No one has better developed the philosophical system of Epicurus than Gassendi in his Syntagma de Vita et Moribus Epicuri, lib. viii. Lyons, 1647. See also Durondel, Vie d , Epicure, Paris, 1679; Coutures, La Morale d’Epicure, Paris, 1685; Apologie pour Epiczire, and Discours sur Epicure, Paris, 1651 and 1684, in 12mo.