[Greek:  Pollo to phronein eudaimonias
  proton uparchei.][1]

he says in one place—­wisdom is the greatest part of happiness; and again, in another passage, he declares that the life of the thoughtless is the most pleasant of all—­

  [Greek:  En ta phronein gar maeden aedistos bios.][2]

The philosophers of the Old Testament find themselves in a like contradiction.

The life of a fool is worse than death[3]

and—­

In much wisdom is much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.[4]

[Footnote 1:  Antigone, 1347-8.]

[Footnote 2:  Ajax, 554.]

[Footnote 3:  Ecclesiasticus, xxii. 11.]

[Footnote 4:  Ecclesiastes, i. 18.]

I may remark, however, that a man who has no mental needs, because his intellect is of the narrow and normal amount, is, in the strict sense of the word, what is called a philistine—­an expression at first peculiar to the German language, a kind of slang term at the Universities, afterwards used, by analogy, in a higher sense, though still in its original meaning, as denoting one who is not a Son of the Muses.  A philistine is and remains [Greek:  amousos anaer].  I should prefer to take a higher point of view, and apply the term philistine to people who are always seriously occupied with realities which are no realities; but as such a definition would be a transcendental one, and therefore not generally intelligible, it would hardly be in place in the present treatise, which aims at being popular.  The other definition can be more easily elucidated, indicating, as it does, satisfactorily enough, the essential nature of all those qualities which distinguish the philistine.  He is defined to be a man without mental needs.  From this is follows, firstly, in relation to himself, that he has no intellectual pleasures; for, as was remarked before, there are no real pleasures without real needs.  The philistine’s life is animated by no desire to gain knowledge and insight for their own sake, or to experience that true aeesthetic pleasure which is so nearly akin to them.  If pleasures of this kind are fashionable, and the philistine finds himself compelled to pay attention to them, he will force himself to do so, but he will take as little interest in them as possible.  His only real pleasures are of a sensual kind, and he thinks that these indemnify him for the loss of the others.  To him oysters and champagne are the height of existence; the aim of his life is to procure what will contribute to his bodily welfare, and he is indeed in a happy way if this causes him some trouble.  If the luxuries of life are heaped upon him, he will inevitably be bored, and against boredom he has a great many fancied remedies, balls, theatres, parties, cards, gambling, horses, women, drinking, traveling and so on; all of which can not protect a man from being bored, for