among the ancient philosophers, implied an utter privation of passion, and an insensibility of pain. The word is compounded of α priv. and ἀπάθεια, affection. The Stoics affected an entire apathy: they considered it as the highest wisdom to enjoy a perfect calmness or tranquillity of mind, incapable of being ruffled by either pleasure or pain. In the first ages of the church the Christians adopted the term apathy to express a contempt for all earthly concerns, a state of mortification such as the gospel prescribes. Clemens Alexandrinus, in particular, brought it exceedingly in vogue; thinking thereby to draw the philosophers to Christianity who aspired after such a sublime pitch of virtue.