Although the Stoics viewed the Epicureans as their primary philosophic competitors, Epicureans apparently exercised little influence in this period except among the educated elite.2831 In Rome, even among the elite, their influence, though strong in the first century B.C.E., declined in the imperial period.2832 Scholars have noted some organizational similarities between Epicureans and early Christians,2833 but most of these resemble more general social patterns.2834 Epicureans, like Christians,