See Bossu,Traité du poeme épique(1675); Voltaire,Sur la poésie épique; Fauviel,L’Origine de l’épopée chevaleresque(1832); W.P. Ker,Epic and Romance(1897), andEssays in Medieval Literature(1905); Gilbert Murray,History of Ancient Greek Literature(1897); W. von Christ,Geschichte der griechischen Litteratur(1879); Gaston Paris,La Littérature française au moyen âge(1890); Léon Gautier,Les Épopées françaises(1865-1868). For works on the Greek epics see alsoGreek LiteratureandCycle.
See Bossu,Traité du poeme épique(1675); Voltaire,Sur la poésie épique; Fauviel,L’Origine de l’épopée chevaleresque(1832); W.P. Ker,Epic and Romance(1897), andEssays in Medieval Literature(1905); Gilbert Murray,History of Ancient Greek Literature(1897); W. von Christ,Geschichte der griechischen Litteratur(1879); Gaston Paris,La Littérature française au moyen âge(1890); Léon Gautier,Les Épopées françaises(1865-1868). For works on the Greek epics see alsoGreek LiteratureandCycle.
(E. G.)
EPICTETUS(bornc.A.D.60), Greek philosopher, was probably a native of Hierapolis in south-west Phrygia. The name Epictetus is merely the Greek for “acquired” (fromἐπικτᾶσθαι); his original name is not known. As a boy he was a slave in the house of Epaphroditus, a freedman and courtier of the emperor Nero. He managed, however, to attend the lectures of the Stoic Musonius Rufus, and subsequently became a freedman. He was lame and of weakly health. In 90 he was expelled with the other philosophers by Domitian, who was irritated by the support and encouragement which the opposition to his tyranny found amongst the adherents of Stoicism. For the rest of his life he settled at Nicopolis, in southern Epirus, not far from the scene of the battle of Actium. There for several years he lived, and taught by close earnest personal address and conversation. According to some authorities he lived into the time of Hadrian; he himself mentions the coinage of the emperor Trajan. His contemporaries and the next generation held his character and teaching in high honour. According to Lucian, the earthenware lamp which had belonged to the sage was bought by an antiquarian for 3000 drachmas. He was never married. He wrote nothing; but much of his teaching was taken down with affectionate care by his pupil Flavius Arrianus, the historian of Alexander the Great, and is preserved in two treatises, of the larger of which, called theDiscourses of Epictetus(Διατριβαί), four books are still extant. The other treatise is a shorter and more popular work, theEncheiridion(“Handbook”). It contains in an aphoristic form the main doctrines of the longer work.
The philosophy of Epictetus is intensely practical, and exhibits a high idealistic type of morality. He is an earnest, sometimes stern and sometimes pathetic, preacher of righteousness, who despises the mere graces of style and the subtleties of an abstruse logic. He has no patience with mere antiquarian study of the Stoical writers. The problem of how life is to be carried out well is the one question which throws all other inquiries into the shade. True education lies in learning to wish things to be as they actually are; it lies in learning to distinguish what is our own from what does not belong to us. But there is only one thing which is fully our own,—that is, our will or purpose. God, acting as a good king and a true father, has given us a will which cannot be restrained, compelled or thwarted. Nothing external, neither death nor exile nor pain nor any such thing, can ever force us to act against our will; if we are conquered, it is because we have willed to be conquered. And thus, although we are not responsible for the ideas that present themselves to our consciousness, we are absolutely and without any modification responsible for the way in which we use them. Nothing is ours besides our will. The divine law which bids us keep fast what is our own forbids us to make any claim to what is not ours; and while enjoining us to make use of whatever is given to us, it bids us not long after what has not been given. “Two maxims,” he says, “we must ever bear in mind—that apart from the will there is nothing either good or bad, and that we must not try to anticipate or direct events, but merely accept them with intelligence.” We must, in short, resign ourselves to whatever fate and fortune bring to us, believing, as the first article of our creed, that there is a god, whose thought directs the universe, and that not merely in our acts, but even in our thoughts and plans, we cannot escape his eye. In the world the true position of man is that of member of a great system, which comprehends God and men. Each human being is in the first instance a citizen of his own nation or commonwealth; but he is also a member of the great city of gods and men, whereof the city political is only a copy in miniature. All men are the sons of God, and kindred in nature with the divinity. For man, though a member in the system of the world, has also within him a principle which can guide and understand the movement of all the members; he can enter into the method of divine administration, and thus can learn—and it is the acme of his learning—the will of God, which is the will of nature. Man, said the Stoic, is a rational animal; and in virtue of that rationality he is neither less nor worse than the gods, for the magnitude of reason is estimated not by length nor by height but by its judgments. Each man has within him a guardian spirit, a god within him, who never sleeps; so that even in darkness and solitude we are never alone, because God is within, our guardian spirit. The body which accompanies us is not strictly speaking ours; it is a poor dead thing, which belongs to the things outside us. But by reason we are the masters of those ideas and appearances which present themselves from without; we can combine them, and systematize, and can set up in ourselves an order of ideas corresponding with the order of nature.
The natural instinct of animated life, to which man also is originally subject, is self-preservation and self-interest. But men are so ordered and constituted that the individual cannot secure his own interests unless he contribute to the common welfare. We are bound up by the law of nature with the whole fabric of the world. The aim of the philosopher therefore is to reach the position of a mind which embraces the whole world in its view,—to grow into the mind of God and to make the will of nature our own. Such a sage agrees in his thought with God; he no longer blames either God or man; he fails of nothing which he purposes and falls in with no misfortune unprepared; he indulges in neither anger nor envy nor jealousy; he is leaving manhood for godhead, and in his dead body his thoughts are concerned about his fellowship with God.
The historical models to which Epictetus reverts are Diogenes and Socrates. But he frequently describes an ideal character of a missionary sage, the perfect Stoic—or, as he calls him, the Cynic. This missionary has neither country nor home nor land nor slave; his bed is the ground; he is without wife or child; his only mansion is the earth and sky and a shabby cloak. He must suffer stripes, and must love those who beat him as if he were a father or a brother. He must be perfectly unembarrassed in the service of God, not bound by the common ties of life, nor entangled by relationships, which if he transgresses he will lose the character of a man of honour, while if he upholds them he will cease to be the messenger, watchman and herald of the gods. The perfect man thus described will not be angry with the wrong-doer; he will only pity his erring brother; for anger in such a case would only betray that he too thought the wrong-doer gained a substantial blessing by his wrongful act, instead of being, as he is, utterly ruined.
The best editions of the works of Epictetus are by J. Schweighäuser (6 vols., Leipzig, 1799-1800) and H. Schenkl (Leipzig, 1894, 1898). English translations by Elizabeth Carter (London, 1758); G. Long (London, 1848, ed. 1877, 1892, 1897); T.W. Higginson (Boston, 1865, new ed. 1890); of theEncheiridionalone by H. Talbot (London, 1881); T.W.H. Rolleston (London, 1881). See A. Bonhöffer,Epiktet und die Stoa(Stuttgart, 1890) andDie Ethik des Stoikers Epiktet(1894): E.M. Schranka,Der Stoiker Epiktet und seine Philosophie(Frankfort, 1885); T. Zahn,Der Stoiker Epiktet und sein Verhältnis zum Christentum(2nd ed. Erlangen, 1895). See alsoStoicsand works quoted.
The best editions of the works of Epictetus are by J. Schweighäuser (6 vols., Leipzig, 1799-1800) and H. Schenkl (Leipzig, 1894, 1898). English translations by Elizabeth Carter (London, 1758); G. Long (London, 1848, ed. 1877, 1892, 1897); T.W. Higginson (Boston, 1865, new ed. 1890); of theEncheiridionalone by H. Talbot (London, 1881); T.W.H. Rolleston (London, 1881). See A. Bonhöffer,Epiktet und die Stoa(Stuttgart, 1890) andDie Ethik des Stoikers Epiktet(1894): E.M. Schranka,Der Stoiker Epiktet und seine Philosophie(Frankfort, 1885); T. Zahn,Der Stoiker Epiktet und sein Verhältnis zum Christentum(2nd ed. Erlangen, 1895). See alsoStoicsand works quoted.
(W. W.; X.)
EPICURUS(342-270B.C.), Greek philosopher, was born in Samos in the end of 342 or the beginning of 341B.C., seven years after the death of Plato. His father Neocles, a native of Gargettos, a small village of Attica, had settled in Samos, not later than 352, as one of the cleruchs sent out after the victory of Timotheus in 366-365. At the age of eighteen he went to Athens, where the Platonic school was flourishing under the lead of Xenocrates. A year later, however, Antipater banished some 12,000 of the poorer citizens, and Epicurus joined his father, who was now living at Colophon. It seems possible that he had listened to the lectures of Nausiphanes, a Democritean philosopher, and Pamphilus the Platonist, but he was probably, like his father, merely an ordinary teacher. Stimulated, however, by the perusal of some writings of Democritus, he began to formulate a doctrine of his own; and at Mitylene, Colophon and Lampsacus, he gradually gathered round him several enthusiastic disciples. In 307 he returned to Athens, which had just been restored to a nominal independence by Demetrius Poliorcetes, and there he lived for the rest of his life. The scene of his teaching was a garden which he bought for about £300 (80minae). There he passed his days as the loved and venerated head of a remarkable, and up to that time unique, society of men and women. Amongst the number were Metrodorus (d. 277), his brother Timocrates, and his wife Leontion (formerly a hetaera), Polyaenus, Hermarchus, who succeeded Epicurus as chief of the school, Leonteus and his wife Themista, and Idomeneus, whose wife was a sister of Metrodorus. It is possible that the relations between the sexes—in this prototype of Rabelais’s Abbey of Thélème—were not entirely what is termed Platonic. But there is on the other hand scarcely a doubt that the tales of licentiousness circulated by opponents are groundless. The stories of the Stoics, who sought to refute the views of Epicurus by an appeal to his alleged antecedents and habits, were no doubt in the main, as Diogenes Laertius says, the stories of maniacs. The general charges, which they endeavoured to substantiate by forged letters, need not count for much, and in many cases they only exaggerated what, if true, was not so heinous as they suggested. Against them trustworthy authorities testified to his general and remarkable considerateness, pointing to the statues which the city had raised in his honour, and to the numbers of his friends, who were many enough to fill whole cities.
The mode of life in his community was plain. The general drink was water and the food barley bread; half a pint of wine was held an ample allowance. “Send me,” says Epicurus to a correspondent, “send me some Cythnian cheese, so that, should I choose, I may fare sumptuously.” There was no community of property, which, as Epicurus said, would imply distrust of their own and others’ good resolutions. The company was held in unity by the charms of his personality, and by the free intercourse which he inculcated and exemplified. Though he seemsto have had a warm affection for his countrymen, it was as human beings brought into contact with him, and not as members of a political body, that he preferred to regard them. He never entered public life. His kindliness extended even to his slaves, one of whom, named Mouse, was a brother in philosophy.
Epicurus died of stone in 270B.C.He left his property, consisting of the garden (Κῆποι Ἐπικούρου), a house in Melite (the south-west quarter of Athens), and apparently some funds besides, to two trustees on behalf of his society, and for the special interest of some youthful members. The garden was set apart for the use of the school; the house became the house of Hermarchus and his fellow-philosophers during his lifetime. The surplus proceeds of the property were further to be applied to maintain a yearly offering in commemoration of his departed father, mother and brothers, to pay the expenses incurred in celebrating his own birthday every year on the 7th of the month Gamelion, and for a social gathering of the sect on the 20th of every month in honour of himself and Metrodorus. Besides similar tributes in honour of his brothers and Polyaenus, he directed the trustees to be guardians of the son of Polyaenus and the son of Metrodorus; whilst the daughter of the last mentioned was to be married by the guardians to some member of the society who should be approved of by Hermarchus. His four slaves, three men and one woman, were left their freedom. His books passed to Hermarchus.
Philosophy.—The Epicurean philosophy is traditionally divided into the three branches of logic, physics and ethics. It is, however, only as a basis of facts and principles for his theory of life that logical and physical inquiries find a place at all. Epicurus himself had not apparently shared in any large or liberal culture, and his influence was certainly thrown on the side of those who depreciated purely scientific pursuits as one-sided and misleading. “Steer clear of all culture” was his advice to a young disciple. In this aversion to a purely or mainly intellectual training may be traced a recoil from the systematic metaphysics of Plato and Aristotle, whose tendency was to subordinate the practical man to the philosopher. Ethics had been based upon logic and metaphysics. But experience showed that systematic knowledge of truth is not synonymous with right action. Hence, in the second place, Plato and Aristotle had assumed a perfect state with laws to guide the individual aright. It was thus comparatively easy to show how the individual could learn to apprehend and embody the moral law in his own conduct. But experience had in the time of Epicurus shown the temporary and artificial character of the civic form of social life. It was necessary, therefore, for Epicurus to go back to nature to find a more enduring and a wider foundation for ethical doctrine, to go back from words to realities, to give up reasonings and get at feelings, to test conceptions and arguments by a final reference to the only touchstone of truth—to sensation. There, and there only, one seems to find a common and a satisfactory ground, supposing always that all men’s feelings give the same answer. Logic must go, but so also must the state, as a specially-privileged and eternal order of things, as anything more than a contrivance serving certain purposes of general utility.
To the Epicureans the elaborate logic of the Stoics was a superfluity. In place of logic we find canonic, the theory of the three tests of truth and reality. (1) The only ultimate canon of reality is sensation; whatever we feel, whatever we perceive by any sense, that we know on the most certain evidence we can have to be real, and in proportion as our feeling is clear, distinct and vivid, in that proportion are we sure of the reality of its object. But in what that vividness (ἐνάργεια) consists is a question which Epicurus does not raise, and which he would no doubt have deemed superfluous quibbling over a matter sufficiently settled by common sense. (2) Besides our sensations, we learn truth and reality by our preconceptions or ideas (προλήψεις). These are the fainter images produced by repeated sensations, the “ideas” resulting from previous “impressions”—sensations at second-hand as it were, which are stored up in memory, and which a general name serves to recall. These bear witness to reality, not because we feel anything now, but because we felt it once; they are sensations registered in language, and again, if need be, translatable into immediate sensations or groups of sensation. (3) Lastly, reality is vouched for by the imaginative apprehensions of the mind (φανταστικαὶ ἐπιβολαί), immediate feelings of which the mind is conscious as produced by some action of its own. This last canon, however, was of dubious validity. Epicureanism generally was content to affirm that whatever we effectively feel in consciousness is real; in which sense they allow reality to the fancies of the insane, the dreams of a sleeper, and those feelings by which we imagine the existence of beings of perfect blessedness and endless life. Similarly, just because fear, hope and remembrance add to the intensity of consciousness, the Epicurean can hold that bodily pain and pleasure is a less durable and important thing than pain and pleasure of mind. Whatever we feel to affect us does affect us, and is therefore real. Error can arise only because we mix up our opinions and suppositions with what we actually feel. The Epicurean canon is a rejection of logic; it sticks fast to the one point that “sensation is sensation,” and there is no more to be made of it. Sensation, it says, is unreasoning (ἄλογος); it must be accepted, and not criticized. Reasoning can come in only to put sensations together, and to point out how they severally contribute to human welfare; it does not make them, and cannot alter them.
Physics.—In the Epicurean physics there are two parts—a general metaphysic and psychology, and a special explanation of particular phenomena of nature. The method of Epicurus is the argument of analogy. It is an attempt to make the phenomena of nature intelligible to us by regarding them as instances on a grand scale of that with which we are already familiar on a small scale. This is what Epicurus calls explaining what we do not see by what we do see.
In physics Epicurus founded upon Democritus, and his chief object was to abolish the dualism between mind and matter which is so essential a point in the systems of Plato and Aristotle. All that exists, says Epicurus, is corporeal (τὸ πᾶν ἐστι σῶμα); the intangible is non-existent, or empty space. If a thing exists it must be felt, and to be felt it must exert resistance. But not all things are intangible which our senses are not subtle enough to detect. We must indeed accept our feelings; but we must also believe much which is not directly testified by sensation, if only it serves to explain phenomena and does not contravene our sensations. The fundamental postulates of Epicureanism are atoms and the void (ἄτομα καὶ κενόν). Space is infinite, and there is an illimitable multitude of indestructible, indivisible and absolutely compact atoms in perpetual motion in this illimitable space. These atoms, differing only in size, figure and weight, are perpetually moving with equal velocities, but at a rate far surpassing our conceptions; as they move, they are for ever giving rise to new worlds; and these worlds are perpetually tending towards dissolution, and towards a fresh series of creations. This universe of ours is only one section out of the innumerable worlds in infinite space; other worlds may present systems very different from that of our own. The soul of man is only a finer species of body, spread throughout the whole aggregation which we term his bodily frame. Like a warm breath, it pervades the human structure and works with it; nor could it act as it does in perception unless it were corporeal. The various processes of sense, notably vision, are explained on the principles of materialism. From the surfaces of all objects there are continually flowing thin filmy images exactly copying the solid body whence they originate; and these images by direct impact on the organism produce (we need not care to ask how) the phenomena of vision. Epicurus in this way explains vision by substituting for the apparent action of a body at a distance a direct contact of image and organ. But without following the explanation into the details in which it revels, it may be enough to say that the whole hypothesis is but an attempt to exclude the occult conception of action at a distance, and substitute a familiar phenomenon.
The Gods.—This aspect of the Epicurean physics becomes clearer when we look at his mode of rendering particular phenomena intelligible. His purpose is to eliminate the common idea ofdivine interference. That there are gods Epicurus never dreams of denying. But these gods have not on their shoulders the burden of upholding and governing the world. They are themselves the products of the order of nature—a higher species than humanity, but not the rulers of man, neither the makers nor the upholders of the world. Man should worship them, but his worship is the reverence due to the ideals of perfect blessedness; it ought not to be inspired either by hope or by fear. To prevent all reference of the more potent phenomena of nature to divine action Epicurus rationalizes the processes of the cosmos. He imagines all possible plans or hypotheses, not actually contradicted by our experience of familiar events, which will represent in an intelligible way the processes of astronomy and meteorology. When two or more modes of accounting for a phenomena are equally admissible as not directly contradicted by known phenomena, it seems to Epicurus almost a return to the old mythological habit of mind when a savant asserts that the real cause is one and only one. “Thunder,” he says, “may be explained in many other ways; only let us have no myths of divine action. To assign only a single cause for these phenomena, when the facts familiar to us suggest several, is insane, and is just the absurd conduct to be expected from people who dabble in the vanities of astronomy.” We need not be too curious to inquire how these celestial phenomena actually do come about; we can learn how they might have been produced, and to go further is to trench on ground beyond the limits of human knowledge.
Thus, if Epicurus objects to the doctrine of mythology, he objects no less to the doctrine of an inevitable fate, a necessary order of things unchangeable and supreme over the human will. The Stoic doctrine of Fatalism seemed to Epicurus no less deadly a foe of man’s true welfare than popular superstition. Even in the movement of the atoms he introduces a sudden change of direction, which is supposed to render their aggregation easier, and to break the even law of destiny. So, in the sphere of human action, Epicurus would allow of no absolutely controlling necessity. In fact, it is only when we assume for man this independence of the gods and of fatality that the Epicurean theory of life becomes possible. It assumes that man can, like the gods, withdraw himself out of reach of all external influences, and thus, as a sage, “live like a god among men, seeing that the man is in no wise like a mortal creature who lives in undying blessedness.” And this present life is the only one. With one consent Epicureanism preaches that the death of the body is the end of everything for man, and hence the other world has lost all its terrors as well as all its hopes.
The attitude of Epicurus in this whole matter is antagonistic to science. The idea of a systematic enchainment of phenomena, in which each is conditioned by every other, and none can be taken in isolation and explained apart from the rest, was foreign to his mind. So little was the scientific conception of the solar system familiar to Epicurus that he could reproach the astronomers, because their account of an eclipse represented things otherwise than as they appear to the senses, and could declare that the sun and stars were just as large as they seemed to us.
Ethics.—The moral philosophy of Epicurus is a qualified hedonism, the heir of the Cyrenaic doctrine that pleasure is the good thing in life. Neither sect, it may be added, advocated sensuality pure and unfeigned—the Epicurean least of all. By pleasure Epicurus meant both more and less than the Cyrenaics. To the Cyrenaics pleasure was of moments; to Epicurus it extended as a habit of mind through life. To the Cyrenaics pleasure was something active and positive; to Epicurus it was rather negative—tranquillity more than vigorous enjoyment. The test of true pleasure, according to Epicurus, is the removal and absorption of all that gives pain; it implies freedom from pain of body and from trouble of mind. The happiness of the Epicurean was, it might almost seem, a grave and solemn pleasure—a quiet unobtrusive ease of heart, but not exuberance and excitement. The sage of Epicureanism is a rational and reflective seeker for happiness, who balances the claims of each pleasure against the evils that may possibly ensue, and treads the path of enjoyment cautiously. Prudence is, therefore, the only real guide to happiness; it is thus the chief excellence, and the foundation of all the virtues. It is, in fact, says Epicurus—in language which contrasts strongly with that of Aristotle on the same topic—“a more precious power than philosophy.” The reason or intellect is introduced to balance possible pleasures and pains, and to construct a scheme in which pleasures are the materials of a happy life. Feeling, which Epicurus declared to be the means of determining what is good, is subordinated to a reason which adjudicates between competing pleasures with the view of securing tranquillity of mind and body. “We cannot live pleasantly without living wisely and nobly and righteously.” Virtue is at least a means of happiness, though apart from that it is no good in itself, any more than mere sensual enjoyments, which are good only because they may sometimes serve to secure health of body and tranquillity of mind. (See furtherEthics.)
The Epicurean School.—Even in the lifetime of Epicurus we hear of the vast numbers of his friends, not merely in Greece, but in Asia and Egypt. The crowds of Epicureans were a standing enigma to the adherents of less popular sects. Cicero pondered over the fact; Arcesilaus explained the secession to the Epicurean camp, compared with the fact that no Epicurean was ever known to have abandoned his school, by saying that, though it was possible for a man to be turned into a eunuch, no eunuch could ever become a man. But the phenomenon was not obscure. The doctrine has many truths, and is attractive to many in virtue of its simplicity and its immediate relation to life. The dogmas of Epicurus became to his followers a creed embodying the truths on which salvation depended; and they passed on from one generation to another with scarcely a change or addition. The immediate disciples of Epicurus have been already mentioned, with the exception of Colotes of Lampsacus, a great favourite of Epicurus, who wrote a work arguing “that it was impossible even to live according to the doctrines of the other philosophers.” In the 2nd and 1st centuriesB.C.Apollodorus, nicknamedκηποτύραννος(“Lord of the Garden”), and Zeno of Sidon (who describes Socrates as “the Attic buffoon”: Cic.De nat. deor.i, 21, 33, 34) taught at Athens. About 150B.C.Epicureanism established itself at Rome. Beginning with C. Amafinius or Amafanius (Cic.Acad.i. 2,Tusc.iv. 3), we find the names of Phaedrus (who became scholarch at Athensc.70B.C.) and Philodemus (originally of Gadara in Palestine) as distinguished Epicureans in the time of Cicero. But the greatest of its Roman names was Lucretius, whoseDe rerum naturaembodies the main teaching of Epicurus with great exactness, and with a beauty which the subject seemed scarcely to allow. Lucretius is a proof, if any were needed, that Epicureanism is compatible with nobility of soul. In the 1st century of the Christian era, the nature of the time, with its active political struggles, naturally called Stoicism more into the foreground, yet Seneca, though nominally a Stoic, draws nearly all his suavity and much of his paternal wisdom from the writings of Epicurus. The position of Epicureanism as a recognized school in the 2nd century is best seen in the fact that it was one of the four schools (the others were the Stoic, Platonist, and Peripatetic) which were placed on a footing of equal endowment when Marcus Aurelius founded chairs of philosophy at Athens. The evidence of Diogenes proves that it still subsisted as a school a century later, but its spirit lasted longer than its formal organization as a school. A great deal of the best of the Renaissance was founded on Epicureanism, and in more recent times a great number of prominent thinkers have been Epicureans in a greater or less degree. Among these may be mentioned Pierre Gassendi, who revived and codified the doctrine in the 17th century; Molière, the comte de Gramont, Rousseau, Fontenelle and Voltaire. All those whose ethical theory is in any degree hedonistic are to some extent the intellectual descendants of Epicurus (seeHedonism).
Works.—Epicurus was a voluminous writer (πολυγραφώτατος, Diog. Laërt. x. 26)—the author, it is said, of about 300 works. He had a style and vocabulary of his own. His chief aim in writing was plainness and intelligibility, but his want of order and logical precision thwarted his purpose. He pretended tohave read little, and to be the original architect of his own system, and the claim was no doubt on the whole true. But he had read Democritus, and, it is said, Anaxagoras and Archelaus. His works, we learn, were full of repetition, and critics speak of vulgarities of language and faults of style. None the less his writings were committed to memory and remained the text-books of Epicureanism to the last. His chief work was a treatise on nature (Περὶ φύσεως), in thirty-seven books, of which fragments from about nine books have been found in the rolls discovered at Herculaneum, along with considerable treatises by several of his followers, and most notably Philodemus. An epitome of his doctrine is contained in three letters preserved by Diogenes.
Authorities.—The chief ancient accounts of Epicurus are in the tenth book of Diogenes Laërtius, in Lucretius, and in several treatises of Cicero and Plutarch. Gassendi, in hisDe vita, moribus, et doctrina Epicuri(Lyons, 1647), and hisSyntagma philosophiae Epicuri, systematized the doctrine. TheVolumina Herculanensia(1st and 2nd series) contain fragments of treatises by Epicurus and members of his school. See also H. Usener,Epicurea(Leipzig, 1887) andEpicuri recogniti specimen(Bonn, 1880);Epicuri physica et meteorologica(ed. J.G. Schneider, Leipzig, 1813); Th. Gomperz in hisHerkulanische Studien, and in contributions to the Vienna Academy (Monatsberichte), has tried to evolve from the fragments more approximation to modern empiricism than they seem to contain. For criticism see W. Wallace,Epicureanism(London, 1880), andEpicurus; A Lecture(London, 1896); G. Trezza,Epicuro e l’Epicureismo(Florence, 1877; ed. Milan, 1885); E. Zeller,Philosophy of the Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics(Eng. trans. O.J. Reichel, 1870; ed. 1880); Sir James Mackintosh,On the Progress of Ethical Philosophy(4th ed.); J. Watson,Hedonistic Theories(Glasgow, 1895); J. Kreibig,Epicurus(Vienna, 1886); A. Goedeckemeyer,Epikurs Verhältnis zu Demokrit in der Naturphil.(Strassburg, 1897); Paul von Gizycki,Über das Leben und die Moralphilos. des Epikur (Halle, 1879), and Einleitende Bemerkungen zu einer Untersuchung über den Werth der Naturphilos. des Epikur(Berlin, 1884); P. Cassel,Epikur der Philosoph(Berlin, 1892); M. Guyau,La Morale d’Épicure et ses rapports avec les doctrines contemporaines(Paris, 1878; revised and enlarged, 1881); F. Picavet,De Epicuro novae religionis sectatore(Paris, 1889); H. Sidgwick,History of Ethics(5th ed., 1902).
Authorities.—The chief ancient accounts of Epicurus are in the tenth book of Diogenes Laërtius, in Lucretius, and in several treatises of Cicero and Plutarch. Gassendi, in hisDe vita, moribus, et doctrina Epicuri(Lyons, 1647), and hisSyntagma philosophiae Epicuri, systematized the doctrine. TheVolumina Herculanensia(1st and 2nd series) contain fragments of treatises by Epicurus and members of his school. See also H. Usener,Epicurea(Leipzig, 1887) andEpicuri recogniti specimen(Bonn, 1880);Epicuri physica et meteorologica(ed. J.G. Schneider, Leipzig, 1813); Th. Gomperz in hisHerkulanische Studien, and in contributions to the Vienna Academy (Monatsberichte), has tried to evolve from the fragments more approximation to modern empiricism than they seem to contain. For criticism see W. Wallace,Epicureanism(London, 1880), andEpicurus; A Lecture(London, 1896); G. Trezza,Epicuro e l’Epicureismo(Florence, 1877; ed. Milan, 1885); E. Zeller,Philosophy of the Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics(Eng. trans. O.J. Reichel, 1870; ed. 1880); Sir James Mackintosh,On the Progress of Ethical Philosophy(4th ed.); J. Watson,Hedonistic Theories(Glasgow, 1895); J. Kreibig,Epicurus(Vienna, 1886); A. Goedeckemeyer,Epikurs Verhältnis zu Demokrit in der Naturphil.(Strassburg, 1897); Paul von Gizycki,Über das Leben und die Moralphilos. des Epikur (Halle, 1879), and Einleitende Bemerkungen zu einer Untersuchung über den Werth der Naturphilos. des Epikur(Berlin, 1884); P. Cassel,Epikur der Philosoph(Berlin, 1892); M. Guyau,La Morale d’Épicure et ses rapports avec les doctrines contemporaines(Paris, 1878; revised and enlarged, 1881); F. Picavet,De Epicuro novae religionis sectatore(Paris, 1889); H. Sidgwick,History of Ethics(5th ed., 1902).
(W. W.; X.)
EPICYCLE(Gr.ἐπί, upon, andκύκλος, circle), in ancient astronomy, a small circle the centre of which describes a larger one. It was especially used to represent geometrically the periodic apparent retrograde motion of the outer planets, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, which we now know to be due to the annual revolution of the earth around the sun, but which in the Ptolemaic astronomy were taken to be real.
EPICYCLOID, the curve traced out by a point on the circumference of a circle rolling externally on another circle. If the moving circle rolls internally on the fixed circle, a point on the circumference describes a “hypocycloid” (fromὑπό, under). The locus of any other carried point is an “epitrochoid” when the circle rolls externally, and a “hypotrochoid” when the circle rolls internally. The epicycloid was so named by Ole Römer in 1674, who also demonstrated that cog-wheels having epicycloidal teeth revolved with minimum friction (seeMechanics:Applied); this was also proved by Girard Desargues, Philippe de la Hire and Charles Stephen Louis Camus. Epicycloids also received attention at the hands of Edmund Halley, Sir Isaac Newton and others; spherical epicycloids, in which the moving circle is inclined at a constant angle to the plane of the fixed circle, were studied by the Bernoullis, Pierre Louis M. de Maupertuis, François Nicole, Alexis Claude Clairault and others.
In the annexed figure, there are shown various examples of the curves named above, when the radii of the rolling and fixed circles are in the ratio of 1 to 3. Since the circumference of a circle is proportional to its radius, it follows that if the ratio of the radii be commensurable, the curve will consist of a finite number of cusps, and ultimately return into itself. In the particular case when the radii are in the ratio of 1 to 3 the epicycloid (curvea) will consist of three cusps external to the circle and placed at equal distances along its circumference. Similarly, the corresponding epitrochoids will exhibit three loops or nodes (curveb), or assume the form shown in the curvec. It is interesting to compare the forms of these curves with the three forms of the cycloid (q.v.). The hypocycloid derived from the same circles is shown as curved, and is seen to consist of three cusps arranged internally to the fixed circle; the corresponding hypotrochoid consists of a three-foil and is shown in curvee. The epicycloid shown is termed the “three-cusped epicycloid” or the “epicycloid of Cremona.”The cartesian equation to the epicycloid assumes the formx = (a + b) cosθ − b cos(a + b/b)θ, y = (a + b) sinθ − b sin(a + b/b)θ,when the centre of the fixed circle is the origin, and the axis of x passes through the initial point of the curve (i.e.the original position of the moving point on the fixed circle), a and b being the radii of the fixed and rolling circles, and θ the angle through which the line joining the centres of the two circles has passed. It may be shown that if the distance of the carried point from the centre of the rolling circle be mb, the equation to the epitrochoid isx = (a + b) cosθ − mb cos(a + b/b)θ, y = (a + b) sinθ − mb sin(a + b/b)θ,The equations to the hypocycloid and its corresponding trochoidal curves are derived from the two preceding equations by changing the sign of b. Leonhard Euler (Acta Petrop.1784) showed that the same hypocycloid can be generated by circles having radii of ½(a ± b) rolling on a circle of radius a; and also that the hypocycloid formed when the radius of the rolling circle is greater than that of the fixed circle is the same as the epicycloid formed by the rolling of a circle whose radius is the difference of the original radii. These propositions may be derived from the formulae given above, or proved directly by purely geometrical methods.The tangential polar equation to the epicycloid, as given above, is p = (a + 2b) sin(a/a + 2b)ψ, while the intrinsic equation is s = 4(b/a)(a + b) cos(a/a + 2b)ψ and the pedal equation is r² = a² + (4b·a + b)p²/(a + 2b)². Therefore any epicycloid or hypocycloid may be represented by the equations p = A sin Bψ or p = A cos Bψ, s = A sin Bψ or s = A cos Bψ, or r² = A + Bp², the constants A and B being readily determined by the above considerations.If the radius of the rolling circle be one-half of the fixed circle, the hypocycloid becomes a diameter of this circle; this may be confirmed from the equation to the hypocycloid. If the ratio of the radii be as 1 to 4, we obtain the four-cusped hypocycloid, which has the simple cartesian equation x2/3+ y2/3= a2/3. This curve is the envelope of a line of constant length, which moves so that its extremities are always on two fixed lines at right angles to each other,i.e.of the line x/α + y/β = 1, with the condition α² + β² = 1/a, a constant. The epicycloid when the radii of the circles are equal is the cardioid (q.v.), and the corresponding trochoidal curves are limaçons (q.v.). Epicycloids are also examples of certain caustics (q.v.).For the methods of determining the formulae and results stated above see J. Edwards,Differential Calculus, and for geometrical constructions see T.H. Eagles,Plane Curves.
In the annexed figure, there are shown various examples of the curves named above, when the radii of the rolling and fixed circles are in the ratio of 1 to 3. Since the circumference of a circle is proportional to its radius, it follows that if the ratio of the radii be commensurable, the curve will consist of a finite number of cusps, and ultimately return into itself. In the particular case when the radii are in the ratio of 1 to 3 the epicycloid (curvea) will consist of three cusps external to the circle and placed at equal distances along its circumference. Similarly, the corresponding epitrochoids will exhibit three loops or nodes (curveb), or assume the form shown in the curvec. It is interesting to compare the forms of these curves with the three forms of the cycloid (q.v.). The hypocycloid derived from the same circles is shown as curved, and is seen to consist of three cusps arranged internally to the fixed circle; the corresponding hypotrochoid consists of a three-foil and is shown in curvee. The epicycloid shown is termed the “three-cusped epicycloid” or the “epicycloid of Cremona.”
The cartesian equation to the epicycloid assumes the form
x = (a + b) cosθ − b cos(a + b/b)θ, y = (a + b) sinθ − b sin(a + b/b)θ,
when the centre of the fixed circle is the origin, and the axis of x passes through the initial point of the curve (i.e.the original position of the moving point on the fixed circle), a and b being the radii of the fixed and rolling circles, and θ the angle through which the line joining the centres of the two circles has passed. It may be shown that if the distance of the carried point from the centre of the rolling circle be mb, the equation to the epitrochoid is
x = (a + b) cosθ − mb cos(a + b/b)θ, y = (a + b) sinθ − mb sin(a + b/b)θ,
The equations to the hypocycloid and its corresponding trochoidal curves are derived from the two preceding equations by changing the sign of b. Leonhard Euler (Acta Petrop.1784) showed that the same hypocycloid can be generated by circles having radii of ½(a ± b) rolling on a circle of radius a; and also that the hypocycloid formed when the radius of the rolling circle is greater than that of the fixed circle is the same as the epicycloid formed by the rolling of a circle whose radius is the difference of the original radii. These propositions may be derived from the formulae given above, or proved directly by purely geometrical methods.
The tangential polar equation to the epicycloid, as given above, is p = (a + 2b) sin(a/a + 2b)ψ, while the intrinsic equation is s = 4(b/a)(a + b) cos(a/a + 2b)ψ and the pedal equation is r² = a² + (4b·a + b)p²/(a + 2b)². Therefore any epicycloid or hypocycloid may be represented by the equations p = A sin Bψ or p = A cos Bψ, s = A sin Bψ or s = A cos Bψ, or r² = A + Bp², the constants A and B being readily determined by the above considerations.
If the radius of the rolling circle be one-half of the fixed circle, the hypocycloid becomes a diameter of this circle; this may be confirmed from the equation to the hypocycloid. If the ratio of the radii be as 1 to 4, we obtain the four-cusped hypocycloid, which has the simple cartesian equation x2/3+ y2/3= a2/3. This curve is the envelope of a line of constant length, which moves so that its extremities are always on two fixed lines at right angles to each other,i.e.of the line x/α + y/β = 1, with the condition α² + β² = 1/a, a constant. The epicycloid when the radii of the circles are equal is the cardioid (q.v.), and the corresponding trochoidal curves are limaçons (q.v.). Epicycloids are also examples of certain caustics (q.v.).
For the methods of determining the formulae and results stated above see J. Edwards,Differential Calculus, and for geometrical constructions see T.H. Eagles,Plane Curves.
EPIDAURUS,the name of two ancient cities of southern Greece.
1. A maritime city situated on the eastern coast of Argolis, sometimes distinguished asἡ ἱερὰ Ἐπίδαυρος, or Epidaurus the Holy. It stood on a small rocky peninsula with a natural harbour on the northern side and an open but serviceable bay on the southern; and from this position acquired the epithet ofδίστομος, or the two-mouthed. Its narrow but fertile territory consisted of a plain shut in on all sides except towards the sea by considerable elevations, among which the most remarkable were Mount Arachnaeon and Titthion. The conterminous states were Corinth, Argos, Troezen and Hermione. Its proximity to Athens and the islands of the Saronic gulf, the commercial advantages of its position, and the fame of its templeof Asclepius combined to make Epidaurus a place of no small importance. Its origin was ascribed to a Carian colony, whose memory was possibly preserved in Epicarus, the earlier name of the city; it was afterwards occupied by Ionians, and appears to have incorporated a body of Phlegyans from Thessaly. The Ionians in turn succumbed to the Dorians of Argos, who, according to the legend, were led by Deiphontes; and from that time the city continued to preserve its Dorian character. It not only colonized the neighbouring islands, and founded the city of Aegina, by which it was ultimately outstripped in wealth and power, but also took part with the people of Argos and Troezen in their settlements in the south of Asia Minor. The monarchical government introduced by Deiphontes gave way to an oligarchy, and the oligarchy degenerated into a despotism. When Procles the tyrant was carried captive by Periander of Corinth, the oligarchy was restored, and the people of Epidaurus continued ever afterwards close allies of the Spartan power. The governing body consisted of 180 members, chosen from certain influential families, and the executive was entrusted to a select committee ofartynae(fromἀρτύνειν, to manage). The rural population, who had no share in the affairs of the city, were calledκονίποδες(“dusty-feet”). Among the objects of interest described by Pausanias as extant in Epidaurus are the image of Athena Cissaea in the Acropolis, the temple of Dionysus and Artemis, a shrine of Aphrodite, statues of Asclepius and his wife Epione, and a temple of Hera. The site of the last is identified with the chapel of St Nicolas; a few portions of the outer walls of the city can be traced; and the name Epidaurus is still preserved by the little village of Nea-Epidavros, or Pidhavro.
TheHieron(sacred precinct) of Asclepius, which lies inland about 8 m. from the town of Epidaurus, has been thoroughly excavated by the Greek Archaeological Society since the year 1881, under the direction of M. Kavvadias. In addition to the sacred precinct, with its temples and other buildings, the theatre and stadium have been cleared; and several other extensive buildings, including baths, gymnasia, and a hospital for invalids, have also been found. The sacred road from Epidaurus, which is flanked by tombs, approaches the precinct through a gateway or propylaea. The chief buildings are grouped together, and include temples of Asclepius and Artemis, the Tholos, and the Abaton, or portico where the patients slept. In addition to remains of architecture and sculpture, some of them of high merit, there have been found many inscriptions, throwing light on the cures attributed to the god. The chief buildings outside the sacred precinct are the theatre and the stadium.
The temple of Asclepius, which contained the gold and ivory statue by Thrasymedes of Paros, had six columns at the ends and eleven at the sides; it was raised on stages and approached by a ramp at the eastern front. An inscription has been found recording the contracts for building this temple; it dates fromabout 460B.C.The sculptor Timotheus—one of those who collaborated in the Mausoleum—is mentioned as undertaking to make the acroteria that stood on the ends of the pediments, and also models for the sculpture that filled one of them. Some of this sculpture has been found; the acroteria are Nereids mounted on sea-horses, and one pediment contained a battle of Greeks and Amazons. The great altar lay to the south of the temple, and a little to the east of it are what appear to be the remains of an earlier altar, built into the corner of a large square edifice of Roman date, perhaps a house of the priests. Just to the south of this are the foundations of a small temple of Artemis. The Tholos lay to the south-west of the temple of Asclepius; it must, when perfect, have been one of the most beautiful buildings in Greece; the exquisite carving of its mouldings is only equalled by that of the Erechtheum at Athens. It consisted of a circular chamber, surrounded on the outside by a Doric colonnade, and on the inside by a Corinthian one. The architect was Polyclitus, probably to be identified with the younger sculptor of that name. In the inscription recording the contracts for its building it is called the Thymele; and this name may give the clue to its purpose; it was probably the idealized architectural representative of a primitive pit of sacrifice, such as may still be seen in the Asclepianum at Athens. The foundations now visible present a very curious appearance, consisting of a series of concentric walls. Those in the middle are thin, having only the pavement of the cella to support, and are provided with doors and partitions that make a sort of subterranean labyrinth. There is no evidence for the statement sometimes made that there was a well or spring below the Tholos. North of the Tholos is the long portico described in inscriptions as the Abaton; it is on two different levels, and the lower or western portion of it had two storeys, of which the upper one was on a level with the ground in the eastern portion. Here the invalids used to sleep when consulting the god, and the inscriptions found here record not only the method of consulting the god, but the manner of his cures. Some of the inscriptions are contemporary dedications; but those which give us most information are long lists of cases, evidently compiled by the priests from the dedications in the sanctuary, or from tradition. There is no reason to doubt that most of the records have at least a basis of fact, for the cases are in accord with well-attested phenomena of a similar nature at the present day; but there are others, such as the miraculous mending of a broken vase, which suggest either invention or trickery.
In early times, though there is considerable variety in the cases treated and the methods of cure, there are certain characteristics common to the majority of the cases. The patient consulting the god sleeps in the Abaton, sees certain visions, and, as a result, comes forth cured the next morning. Sometimes there seem to be surgical cases, like that of a man who had a spear-head extracted from his jaw, and found it laid in his hands when he awoke in the morning, and there are many examples resembling those known at the present day at Lourdes or Tenos, where hysterical or other similar affections are cured by the influence of imagination or sudden emotion. It is, however, difficult to make any scientific use of the records, owing to the indiscriminate manner in which genuine and apocryphal cases are mingled, and circumstantial details are added. We learn the practice of later times from some dedicated inscriptions. Apparently the old faith-healing had lost its efficacy, and the priests substituted for it elaborate prescriptions as to diet, baths and regimen which must have made Epidaurus and its visitors resemble their counterparts in a modern spa. At this time there were extensive buildings provided for the accommodation of invalids, some of which have been discovered and partially cleared; one was built by Antoninus Pius. They were in the form of great courtyards surrounded by colonnades and chambers.
Between the precinct and the theatre was a large gymnasium, which was in later times converted to other purposes, a small odeum being built in the middle of it. In a valley just to the south-west of the precinct is the stadium, of which the seats and goal are well preserved. There is a gutter round the level space of the stadium, with basins at intervals for the use of spectators or competitors, and a post at every hundred feet of the course, thus dividing it into six portions. The goal, which is well preserved at the upper end, is similar to that at Olympia; it consists of a sill of stone sunk level with the ground, with parallel grooves for the feet of the runners at starting, and sockets to hold the posts that separated the spaces assigned to the various competitors, and served as guides to them in running. For these were substituted later a set of stone columns resembling those in the proscenium of a theatre. There was doubtless a similar sill at the lower end for the start of the stadium, this upper one being intended for the start of the diaulos and longer races.The theatre still deserves the praise given it by Pausanias as the most beautiful in Greece. The auditorium is in remarkable preservation, almost every seat being stillin situ, except a few where the supporting walls have given way on the wings. The whole plan is drawn from three centres, the outer portion of the curves being arcs of a larger circle than the one used for the central portion; the complete circle of the orchestra is marked by a sill of white limestone, and greatly enhances the effect of the whole. There are benches with backs not only in the bottom row, but also above and below the diazoma. The acoustic properties of the theatre are extraordinarily good, a speaker in the orchestra being heard throughout the auditorium without raising his voice. The stage buildings are not preserved much above their foundations, and show signs of later repairs; but their general character can be clearly seen. They consist of a long rectangular building, with a proscenium or column front which almost forms a tangent to the circle of the orchestra; at the middle and at either end of this proscenium are doors leading into the orchestra, those at the end set in projecting wings; the top of the proscenium is approached by a ramp, of which the lower part is still preserved, running parallel to the parodi, but sloping up as they slope down. The proscenium was originally about 14 ft. high and 12 ft. broad; so corresponding approximately to the Greek stage as described by Vitruvius. M. Kavvadias, who excavated the theatre, believes that the proscenium is contemporary with the rest of the theatre, which, like the Tholos, was built by Polyclitus (the younger); but Professor W. Dörpfeld maintains that it is a later addition. In any case, the theatre at Epidaurus ranks as the most typical of Greek theatres, both from the simplicity of its plan and the beauty of its proportions.See Pausanias i. 29;Expédition de la Morée, ii.; Curtius,Peloponnesus, ii.;Transactions of Roy. Soc. of Lit., 2nd series, vol. ii.; Weclawski,De rebus Epidauriorum(Posen, 1854).The excavations at the Hieron have been recorded as they went on in theΠρακτικάof the Greek Archaeological Society, especially for 1881-1884 and 1889, and also in theἘφημερὶς Ἀρχαιολογική, especially for 1883 and 1885; see also Kavvadias, LesFouilles d’ÉpidaureandΤὸ Ἱερὸν τοῦ Ἀσκληπιοῦ ἐν Ἐπιδαύρῳ καὶ ἡ θεράπεια τῶν ἀσθενῶν; Defrasse and Lechat,Épidaure. A museum was completed in 1910.
Between the precinct and the theatre was a large gymnasium, which was in later times converted to other purposes, a small odeum being built in the middle of it. In a valley just to the south-west of the precinct is the stadium, of which the seats and goal are well preserved. There is a gutter round the level space of the stadium, with basins at intervals for the use of spectators or competitors, and a post at every hundred feet of the course, thus dividing it into six portions. The goal, which is well preserved at the upper end, is similar to that at Olympia; it consists of a sill of stone sunk level with the ground, with parallel grooves for the feet of the runners at starting, and sockets to hold the posts that separated the spaces assigned to the various competitors, and served as guides to them in running. For these were substituted later a set of stone columns resembling those in the proscenium of a theatre. There was doubtless a similar sill at the lower end for the start of the stadium, this upper one being intended for the start of the diaulos and longer races.
The theatre still deserves the praise given it by Pausanias as the most beautiful in Greece. The auditorium is in remarkable preservation, almost every seat being stillin situ, except a few where the supporting walls have given way on the wings. The whole plan is drawn from three centres, the outer portion of the curves being arcs of a larger circle than the one used for the central portion; the complete circle of the orchestra is marked by a sill of white limestone, and greatly enhances the effect of the whole. There are benches with backs not only in the bottom row, but also above and below the diazoma. The acoustic properties of the theatre are extraordinarily good, a speaker in the orchestra being heard throughout the auditorium without raising his voice. The stage buildings are not preserved much above their foundations, and show signs of later repairs; but their general character can be clearly seen. They consist of a long rectangular building, with a proscenium or column front which almost forms a tangent to the circle of the orchestra; at the middle and at either end of this proscenium are doors leading into the orchestra, those at the end set in projecting wings; the top of the proscenium is approached by a ramp, of which the lower part is still preserved, running parallel to the parodi, but sloping up as they slope down. The proscenium was originally about 14 ft. high and 12 ft. broad; so corresponding approximately to the Greek stage as described by Vitruvius. M. Kavvadias, who excavated the theatre, believes that the proscenium is contemporary with the rest of the theatre, which, like the Tholos, was built by Polyclitus (the younger); but Professor W. Dörpfeld maintains that it is a later addition. In any case, the theatre at Epidaurus ranks as the most typical of Greek theatres, both from the simplicity of its plan and the beauty of its proportions.
See Pausanias i. 29;Expédition de la Morée, ii.; Curtius,Peloponnesus, ii.;Transactions of Roy. Soc. of Lit., 2nd series, vol. ii.; Weclawski,De rebus Epidauriorum(Posen, 1854).
The excavations at the Hieron have been recorded as they went on in theΠρακτικάof the Greek Archaeological Society, especially for 1881-1884 and 1889, and also in theἘφημερὶς Ἀρχαιολογική, especially for 1883 and 1885; see also Kavvadias, LesFouilles d’ÉpidaureandΤὸ Ἱερὸν τοῦ Ἀσκληπιοῦ ἐν Ἐπιδαύρῳ καὶ ἡ θεράπεια τῶν ἀσθενῶν; Defrasse and Lechat,Épidaure. A museum was completed in 1910.
2. A city of Peloponnesus on the east coast of Laconia, distinguished by the epithet of Limera (either “The Well-havened” or “The Hungry”). It was founded by the people of Epidaurus the Holy, and its principal temples were those of Asclepius and Aphrodite. It was abandoned during the middle ages; its inhabitants tookpossessionof the promontory of Minoa, turned it into an island, and built and fortified thereon the city of Monembasia, which became the most flourishing of all the towns in the Morea, and gave its name to the well-known Malmsey or Malvasia wine. The ruins of Epidaurus are to be seen at the place now called Palaea Monemvasia.
A third Epidaurus was situated in Illyricum, on the site of the present Ragusa Vecchia; but it is not mentioned till the time of the civil wars of Pompey and Caesar, and has no special interest.