Posts by Bryan

  • Comments on Greek Monetary Units

    I think we are all in agreement about the mina as a unit. A mina was basically a pound -- and that could be a pound of anything, but in context of large purchases, was a reference to a pound of silver.

    While Epíkouros occasionally spending a mina in a day was part of Timokrátēs' smear campaign, it seems that Epíkouros admitted that it was true: "Timokrátēs [also claims that]… [Epíkouros] spent a mina within a day on his table, as [Epíkouros] himself writes in a letter to Leóntion and in a letter to the philosophers in Mytilene." (Laë́rtios 10.7)

    Unless we understand instead "as [Timokrátēs] himself writes in a letter to Leóntion and in a letter to the philosophers in Mytilene" which would be possible, but Αὐτὸς seems more naturally to refer to Epíkouros, it seems to me.

  • Did Epicurus Advise Marriage or Not? Diogenes Laertius Text Difficulty

    Quote from Eikadistes

    καὶ διατραπήσεσθαί τινας

    Yes I think we can ignore that period some editors add and can connect this with the preceding κατὰ περίστασιν δέ ποτε βίου γαμήσειν.

    With Τινας as a subject-accusative which pluralizes its reference to τὸν Σοφόν and takes the infinitives γαμήσειν and διατραπήσεσθαί (taken as middle), we could have:


    ...and [Epíkouros says] in "On Nature" that some [wise men] will marry at some point in [their] life according to circumstance and [some] will refuse [to marry].

  • Dating the Works of Epicurus

    Quote from Eikadistes

    On Nature, Book 26, c. 296-295 BCE

    I think you intended this to say book 28, which ends:

    "Epíkouros' On Nature Book 28, from the early writings… written in the period of Nicias, who followed Antiphátēs."

    Nicias was eponymous archon in 296/295 BC, following Antiphátēs who was eponymous archon in 297/296 BC. Therefore, book 28 was probably written in 295 BC, when Epíkouros was 45 years old. As Sedley points out, it is possible instead that 295 BC is the date of the republication of this particular edition (and Book 28 was originally written earlier).

    Thank you for the list!

  • Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar"

    Thank you for sharing. It is strange that Cassius is still present when Brutus is told the news. It almost seems as though Brutus had and believed some vision about her death, and then he just was not surprised when the messenger confirmed what he already "knew."

  • Episode 249 - Cicero's OTNOTG 24 - Are The Epicurean Gods Totally Inactive, And Are We To Emulate Them Through Laziness?

    Quote from TauPhi

    column 34 seems to be a refutation of philosophers endorsing the four elements as building blocks of reality coming directly from Epicurus in his 'On Nature - Book 14'

    Thank you for bringing this up! Here is one version of what remains from columns 33-35. This is very interpretive, the bracketed and rubricated version with comments is attached.


    Epíkouros, Peri Phýseōs, Book 14, P.Herc. 1148, columns 33-35:

    (about monism) ...for these situations are not generated from this one single underlying substance by its concentrating or by its dispersing ¬ but rather, what situation prevails is produced out of the differences in the variations of the shapes…

    (about Platonic solids) ...such is the case for those who define one particular shape for fire, or earth, or water, or air: since they are more ridiculous than those who do not define one particular shape for each element – given that, in their comparative juxtapositions, those who define shape for elements should have agreed, either willingly or unwillingly, that certain multiple particular forms of shapes are produced which can affirmatively be said to be substantial [i.e., really existing] in accordance with each compound: but some miss the mark regarding these component elements, and there is something more consistent to be said that pertains to these elements – speaking in this way, those who define one particular shape for each element could also wholly refer to the difference in the mixtures – but those people who… for the…

    …how could someone perceive water or air or fire as solid and indissoluble, when one cannot even perceive earth as solid and indissoluble? not to mention the fact that those people representing these ideas of indissoluble elements do in reality divide them: given that each of these elements is not conceived as solid, then one could provide many and varied images of shapes according to the divisions of elements – and there will not be just triangles, or pyramids, or cubes, or any other finite shape specific to each element – for those who define a particular shape for each element would have nothing persuasive to say to convince us that it is more fitting to think that these four visible forms are apprehended by us according to their divisions of a specific shape for each element rather than the elements being varied in their specific class of shapes…

  • Tetrapharmakos in Philodemus's On Choices and Rejections

    Quote from Cassius

    do you know if there is a translation of what exists most closely before and after this passage?

    I have never seen it translated anywhere. I have the next column, number 6, in Epicurea -- it is where Philodemus mentions the rumors that "Leóntion and another ‹companion› are mentioned in the treatise – and that the lover of Idomeneús was Nikídion, and of Leonteús was Mammárion, and of Hérmarchos was Dēmētría – and such a kind also was Polýaenus, tutor of Pythoclês."

  • Discussion of New Substack Article: "A Gate To Be Burst: Absence of Pain"

    Quote from Cassius

    In the same era of Epicurus lived Demetrius I Poliorcetes = "The Besieger" the son of Antigonus I Monophthalmus and Stratonice. He was a Macedonian Greek military leader, and finally king of Macedon (294–288 BC). He belonged to the Antigonid dynasty and was its first member to rule Macedonia and Athens.

    When Demetrius removed Cassander's aristocrats that ruled Athens in 307 BC, many Athenians were grateful to have Demetrius as their more lenient master compared to Cassander's men. Epicurus moved back to Athens just a year later.

    It seems likely that Epicurus also favored this political turn, as control by Demetrius I Poliorcetes may well have made an environment more conducive to start the community Epicurus wanted to establish -- scholars seem generally allow that he fostered a favorable intellectual climate compared to Cassander. Demetrius also used his "Besieging" know-how to build up-to-date fortifications for Athens... And also, a glance as his personality will show that he just probably would have looked upon Epicurus' philosophy with casual approbation.

    But politics is complicated and it seems that 13 years later Athens rebelled against him, unsuccessfully, but it was at that point in 294 BC that I think Epicurus probably did his famous rationing.

  • «Embraced (Entangled) Forever and Ever» (Post By Elli At Facebook from Dimitri Liantinis - Excerpt From Gemma)

    Quote from Martin

    Epicurus did not claim the existence of a smallest unit of length either

    He seems to get very close to this topic at 58c:

    "We observe visible minima in succession, beginning with the first, and do not observe them in the same space as another, nor do we observe them intertwining any parts with any other part. Rather, we observe the visible minima fully measuring size according to their particularity of being visibly indivisible: a greater amount of visible minima measures a greater-sized object, and a lesser amount measures a lesser-sized object. It is necessary to think that the minimum in the atom also follows this analogy – although clearly in minuteness it differs from what is observed by sensation – but it follows the same analogy: since We have also fully indicated that the atom has size, according to the analogy from the immediate surroundings – by extending a small thing, only by a long way. Also, it is necessary to think of atomic minima as pure limits of length – providing from themselves as primary units the full measurement for the larger and for the smaller atoms – by our observation, through reasoning, of what is unseen."