Verse 18 Epicureans and--Stoics; two prominent sects of philosophers. The doctrine of the Epicureans was, that the true end and aim of life was enjoyment, and that the test and the essence of philosophy was to carry human happiness to the highest point, and to give it the most permanent and uninterrupted character; the rules of virtue were inculcated as the best means to this end. The philosophers of this class saw no evidence of any future state, or of the existence of any divine being to whom they were accountable. Their theory, therefore, was, that every man should aim to secure for himself and for others the highest degree of rational and substantial pleasure in the present state, and all possible exemption from pain. The Stoics, on the other hand, believed in the existence of God, and in a future state, and in the moral accountability of man; and they held up an ideal of virtue, which they maintained was the highest good, and should be the end and aim of human efforts, without regard to the pain or the pleasure which might attend the pursuit. While, therefore, the Epicureans taught men to value enjoyment, and to seek for it through all the safe avenues by which it might be attained, the Stoics inculcated indifference and insensibility to sensations of pain and pleasure, and supreme devotedness to the principles of a stern and inflexible virtue. The terms Epicurean and Stoic have gradually acquired, in modern times, opprobrious significations; and the ordinary representations of the two systems, made to set off, by contrast, the superiority of Christianity, are caricatures, which convey no just idea of the intent and meaning of their originals. They were both right, and both wrong; for Christianity shows us that virtue and happiness, one and indivisible, constitute the highest and only good, and the proper end and aim of being.