Epicurus
3 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Epicurus. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
ep-1-ku'rus (341-270 B. C.), the founder of a Greek school of philosophy. His father, Neocles, was a schoolmaster, and there is a story that his mother practiced witchcraft. He studied and taught until about thirty-five years of age, when he purchased a garden in Athens, and therein established his school for philosophy. From this time until his death, he was the "loved and venerated head of a remarkable society." He taught that pleasure is the chief good, explaining the statement by saying, "When we say that pleasure is the end of life, we mean by pleasure freedom of the body from pain and of the soul from anxiety." He taught that the great evil is fear--fear of the gods, and fear of death. He attempted to rid men of this fear by teaching that the legends of mythology were untrue. He claimed that, if gods existed at all, these "happy and imperishable beings could have nothing to do with the affairs of the universe or of men." As to death, he taught that the dissolution of the body involved that of the soul, so that death need not be feared. Virtue is not a good in itself, but is a means of happiness. Prudence, which means the wise avoidance of physical pain and anxiety of soul, is the great good. It is prudent to cultivate justice, temperance, friendship, and good fellowship. Epicurus' philosophy, and possibly even more, his personality, attracted an immense number of followers, who remained loyal to him as long as he lived, and to his teachings after his death. It was a constant wonder to less popular sects why there were so many Epicureans. The members of the sect lived very simply. An inscription over the gate of Epicurus' garden warned those who entered to expect no more sumptuous fare than barley bread and water. This, with a little wine, and, when they wished to "fare sumptuously," some Cythnian cheese, formed their living. It is from a misunderstanding of their philosophy that the word Epicurean has come to be a synonym for the doctrine of taking pleasure in eating and drinking, and that we say of food, in order to praise it, that it is fit for an epicure. Epicurus was a voluminous writer. According to his biographer, Diogenes Laertius, he left 300 volumes. Three letters and a few sayings are all that remain of these works. His system of philosophy found followers in Egypt, Asia Minor , and in Rome. In the seventeenth century a revival of the Epicurean ideas became popular in France. Moliere, Rousseau, Voltaire, and other eminent Frenchmen professed these principles. SAYINGS OF EPICURUS. When we are, death is not; and when death is, we are not. We cannot live pleasantly without living wisely and nobly and righteously.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a famous Grecian philosopher; lived from about 341 b. c to 270 b. c. He was a teacher of philosophy rather as a rule of life than as a system of knowledge, and began to teach when he was about 32 years old, first at Mitylene, then at Lampsacus; but his great school was at Athens, where he settled about 305 B. c. According to him the supreme good of life is found in pleasure, but not in the momentary gratification of sense, rather in the delight inseparable from the practice of virtue. The Epicurean doctrines were in time misinterpreted and misunderstood, and Epicureanism became a synonym of selfindulgent and sensuous pleasure.
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
A celebrated philosopher, born in Attica of obscure parents. He distinguished himself at school by the brilliancy of his genius. He taught that the happiness of mankind consisted in pleasure, which arises from mental enjoyment, and the sweets of virtue. His death occurred B. c. 270, his age being seventy-two years. Epigoni (The Descendants). The name of the sons of the seven heroes who perished before Thebes . Ten years after their death the descendants of the seven heroes marched against Thebes, which they took and razed to the ground.