Marius The Epicurean
In his philosophical novel Marius the Epicurean (1885), an extended imaginary portrait set in the Rome of the Antonines, which Pater believed had parallels with his own century, he examines the "sensations and ideas" of a young Roman of integrity, who pursues an ideal of the "aesthetic" life – a life based on αἴσθησις, sensation – tempered by asceticism. Leaving behind the religion of his childhood, sampling one philosophy after another, and becoming secretary to the Stoic emperor Marcus Aurelius,
Marius tests his author's theory of the stimulating effect of the pursuit of sensation and insight as an ideal in itself. The novel's opening and closing episodes betray Pater's continuing nostalgia for the atmosphere, ritual, and community of the religious faith he had lost. Marius was favourably reviewed and sold well; a second edition came out in the same year. For the third edition (1892) Pater made extensive stylistic revisions
the book details :Author: Walter Horatio Pater
Publication date: 1896
Company: London, Macmillan
the book details :