SOURCE: “Hellenistic Background for Gassendi's Theory of Ideas,” in Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. XLIX, No. 3, July-Sept., 1988, pp. 405-24.

In this essay, Glidden demonstrates how Gassendi's reading of Epicurus—transmitted via Thomas Stanley's translation of Philosophiae Epicuri Syntagma—influenced the development of Epicureanism in England. The critic also argues that Gassendi's interpretation of Epicurean philosophy is influenced by his reading of the Stoics.

Renaissance humanism is characterized by a revival of interest in ancient Greek and Latin writings. At the same time, the uses to which these ancient texts were put were typically contemporary, as Renaissance authors borrowed eclectically from their favorite ancients to make their modern claims. Montaigne wrote this way, but so did many others, many of whom did not feel obliged to cite their sources. For one thing, the audience they were writing for did not need to be informed of these allusions...