Ancient Greek scepticism was rediscovered in Europe in the fifteenth century. Montaigne was influenced by its most radical strand, Pyrrhonism, named after Pyrrho of Elis (c.360–c.270 BC), who travelled with the army of Alexander the Great to India, where he is reputed to have studied with the gymnosophists (‘naked sages’) or yogis. It may have been from these sages that Pyrrho imported the idea that the aim of philosophy was ataraxia, a term signifying a state of tranquillity, which he may have been the first to use. Suspending belief and disbelief, the sceptical philosopher could be safe from
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