The three most famous such systems of thought were Stoicism, Epicureanism and Scepticism: the philosophies collectively known as Hellenistic1 because they had their origins in the era when Greek thought and culture spread to Rome and other Mediterranean regions, from the third century BC onwards. They differed in details, but were so close in essentials as to be hard to distinguish much of the time. Like everyone else, Montaigne mixed and matched them according to his needs.
