VS63 - "Frugality Too Has A Limit..."

I think there's a subtle, nautical metaphor Epíkouros encrypted here.

I'm looking at the active particle (in the dative singular) τῷ ἐκπίπτοντι (tõi ekpíptonti), which Bailey translates as "him who errs". The phrase is referring to "the one doing the ekpíptō-ing", or "the one falling out of...", as in "...out of a boat", for example, "being cast ashore".

With this in mind, consider the second part of the prepositional phrase διʼ ἀοριστίαν (di' aoristían) that Bailey translates as "through excess". The word ἀοριστίαν (aoristían) comes from ἀ- ("not") and οριστικός ("definite"), which is the root word from which we receive "horizon" and "horizontal".

So, "the one doing the ekpíptō-ing" is doing so διά (diá) "by way of", "on account of", or "due to" something being "indefinite" (for example, a boundary, limit, or horizon). If there aren't any lighthouses, and the captain views an indefinite horizon, the boat is likely to crash.

I think he's calling someone who can't "live simply" a trainwreck, or in this case, a "ship-wreck".

Quote from Eikadistes

is doing so διά (diá) "by way of", "on account of", or "due to" something being "indefinite"

Here I think we have the feminine abstract noun "ἡ ἀοριστία, indefiniteness" itself -- but it is an odd one, and I only have examples of the adjective being used elsewhere.

For example (of the adjective):

Porphyry of Tyre (_fl. 275 ^CE), Letter to Marcella, 29.459-461

"ἐφʼ ὅσον δ’ ἂν Ἀμηχανῇς: Λήθῃ τῆς φύσεως Ἀμηχανεῖς· σαυτῷ γὰρ ἀορίστους φόβους καὶ ἐπιθυμίας Προσβάλλεις"

"to the extent that you have no means: you have no means because you fail to notice nature – for you apply undefined fears and desires upon yourself"

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Epicurus, On Nature, Book 25, P.Herc. 1056 col. 15 (fr. B 37) et alia

^{…{[μ]νήμ̣η̣ ἢ τὸ τε̣͂ι [μνή]μηι πά}θος ἀνάλογον ὧν ἔδει μ̣ᾶλλον ἐνεγείνετο πρὸς τὸ ὡρισμ̣ένον καὶ τὰ πάντα {ἐξελέγχον τῆς ἀναφορᾶς γινομένης κα̣ὶ οὐ πρὸς ἀόριστα καὶ κρίσεως προσδεόμενα –– αὕτη δ' αὖ πάλιν ἡ {τούτου μνήμ̣η̣ ἢ ἀνάλογος μνήμηι κίνησις τὰ μὲν συνεγε}γέν[νη]το εὐθὺς, τὰ δ' ηὔξητο τὴν [ἀρχὴ]ν ἔχουσα καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν.}

…Memory, or the Experience of those [movements] analogous to memory. It would have been more necessary that [the memory] was implanted in relation to what [experience] was being defined – even with Everything refuting out the reference [to the definition] as it was being produced ¬ and not in relation to the undefined things, that are also in need of distinction. but again, this Memory of [an experience] or a Movement analogous to memory: with Some [aspect of memory] having been generated together directly [from experiences] – while Other [aspects of memory] had increased, although they have a foundation and a cause [from former experiences].

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For ἐκπίπτειν of course we also have:

ΚΔ 15. ὁ τῆς φύσεως Πλοῦτος καὶ ὥρισται καὶ εὐπόριστός ἐστιν – ὁ δὲ τῶν κενῶν δοξῶν εἰς ἄπειρον ἐκπίπτει.

The wealth of nature is limited and well acquirable – but the [wealth] of empty judgments falls out into infinity.