Threads of Epicureanism in Art and Literature

Great idea Joshua! Let me know if you'd like subdivisions or other structure that the forum software can help with. Like you said it probably makes sense to just list things first, then we can break down by category and maybe provide more in depth descriptions.

I know nothing about that Thomas Moore novel. Have you read any of it?

Ben Jonson; "The Alchemist"; 1610; A comedic play about conmen and the philosopher's stone. With a character named "Sir Epicure Mammon", who is a rich man funding the conman purporting to be researching the means to produce The Philosopher's Stone. Mammon has exorbitant desires and is extremely extravagant, clearly he isn't Epicurean, as he is an ultra-hedonist, but his name is quite obviously a call to Epicurus.

Yay, I love this thread! I have a feeling there are more Epicureans who never heard of Epicurus than among those who have. Thanks for starting this section.

Julien Offray de la Mettrie; "System of Epicurus" 1750; A short treatise of 31 independent paragraphs explaining the origins of animals and of other human mechanisms. Paragraphs 10 and 11 bring up Epicureanism and Lucretius.

Paragraph 10

"If humans have not always existed as we see them today (and how can we believe they came into the world grown up as mother and father, and perfectly capable of procreating beings like themselves!), the earth must have acted as the uterus of mankind. It must have opened up its bosom to seeds of humans, already prepared so that, given certain laws, this proud animal could come forth. Why, I ask you, modern Anti-Epicureans, why should the earth, that mother and nurse of all objects, have refused to seed the animal when she has allowed the vilest, most useless, and most pernicious of plants?"

Paragraph 11

"But the Earth is no longer the cradle of humanity! We do not see it produce men! Let us not reproach him for his present sterility; she made her reach on this side. An

old hen does not lay anymore eggs, an old woman does not lay anymore

children; that’s pretty much Lucretius’s answer to

this objection."

I know I said I was finished with the translation, but the break in the holidays and the revision and editing process has been rather slow.

Charles de Saint-Évremond; "Discours sur Épicure" 1613-1703; No idea what it's about and its in French, maybe I need to start a translation if I can't find one online.

Evremond was a very reclusive writer who never allowed to have his works be published unless he had died, but he was a libertine and a student of Gassendi, spending the later half of his life frequenting a hedonist salon.

Lucilio 'Giulio Cesare' Vanini; "De Admirandis" 1616; Full title being "De Admirandis Naturae Reginae Deaeque Mortalium Arcanis" or "On the Marvelous Secrets of Nature, the Queen and Goddess of Mortals"

Vanini, despite being a pantheist, rejected much of Aristotle and sought to explain everything through the teachings of Epicurus and Lucretius, but developed his own view of mechanistic-materialism.

I seem to remember that Saint-Evremond was the one who was corresponding with Ninon De Lenclos and there is material from him mixed in with that material. The Ninon material is highly interesting but I just haven't had time to go through it or really to pin her down on how "Epicurean" she was in anything but ethics.

Ninon de Lenclos - Preliminary Thread

Another book by Evremond

"Pensées d'Épicure précédées d'un Essai sur la morale d’Épicure" which translates directly into "Thoughts of Epicurus preceded by an Essay on the Morals of Epicurus"

I'll be crossposting between here and on my new thread here. What I post in here will be expanded on the glossary, as well as having download links to the texts.

Marquis de Sade; "Aline and Valcour"; 1793.

Supposedly the island paradise of Tamoé is heavily inspired and based off of Lucretius. Worth noting its not overtly explicit like much of his work. 4th volume has yet to be translated as opposed to the first 3 volumess translated for the first time in 2019.

Good to hear from you Charles - hope you are well!

I've been fine, work has been slow because of the virus but I've been lurking here each day and reading a ton of material and teaching others about Epicurus in various group chats and DMs online.

My copies of the 3 volumes of Aline and Valcour arrived at the same time, likely due to covid-19 interrupting Amazon's schedule.

It opens up with a line from Lucretius, in Book 3

"Just as children in the night tremble & fear everything,
so we in the light sometimes fear
what is no more to be feared than the things
children shudder at in the dark
and imagine will come true. This terror,
this darkness of the mind's eye must be scattered,
not by the rays of the sun & glistening shafts of daylight,
but by a dispassionate view of the inner laws of Nature."

I am pretty sure I at least glanced at "Upon the Gardens of Epicurus" and I remember not being particularly impressed. However that was in a phase when I was trying to identify and skim through material to organize for future readings, so I may have misread it -- would be happy to find that I did.

For some reason this calls to my mind how someone on facebook asked me if I had ever read "A Few Days In Athens." I thought at that point that I had identified most of the important material out there, so I was prepared to be disappointed once again, and then - pow - AFDIA turned out to be in my view phenomenally good.

I am sure there are many good works out there still to be identified.