eek spiritual life in
which Greek thought lost its belief in itself, it was, however, very far
from supporting atheism. On the contrary, according to the correct Sceptic
doctrine atheism was a dogmatic contention which theoretically was as
objectionable as its antithesis, and in practice was to be utterly
discountenanced.

A more radical standpoint than this as regards the gods of the popular
faith is not found during the Hellenistic period except among the less
noted schools, and in the beginning of the period. We have already
mentioned such thinkers as Strato, Theodorus, and Stilpo; chronologically
they belong to the Hellenistic Age, but in virtue of their connexion with
the Socratic philosophy they were dealt with in the last chapter. A
definite polemical attitude towards the popular faith is also a
characteristic of the Cynic school, hence, though our information is very
meagre, we must speak of it a little more fully.

The Cynics continued the tendency of Antisthenes, but the school
comparatively soon lost its importance. After the third century we hear no
more about the Cynics until they crop up again about the year A.D. 100.
But in the fourth and third centuries the school had important
representatives. The most famous is Diogenes; his life, to be sure, is
entangled in such a web of legend that it is difficult to arrive at a true
picture of his personality. Of his attitude towards popular belief we know
one thing, that he did not take part in the worship of the gods. This was
a general principle of the Cynics; their argument was that the gods were
"in need of nothing" (cf. above, pp. 60 and 41). If we find him accused of
atheism, in an anecdote of very doubtful value, it may, if there is
anything in it, be due to his rejection of worship. Of one of his
successors, however, Bion of Borysthenes, we have authentic information
that he denied the existence of the gods, with the edifying legend
attached that he was converted before his death. But we also hear of Bion
that he was a disciple of the atheist Theodorus, and other facts go to
suggest that Bion united Cynic and Hedonistic principles in his mode of
life--a compromise that was not so unlikely as might be supposed. Bion's
attitude cannot therefore be taken as typical of Cynicism. Another Cynic
of about the same period (the beginning of the third century) was Menippus
of Gadara (in northern Palestine). He wrote tales and dialogues in a
mixture of prose and verse