"Epicurean Kinetics" by Norman DeWitt

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This article is an analysis of a part of the Letter to Herodotus on motion, but it is really directed toward challenging existing views of the Epicurean "Canon of Truth"

This article is an analysis of a part of the Letter to Herodotus on motion, but it is really directed toward challenging existing views of the Epicurean "Canon of Truth"

February 1, 2025 at 1:51 PM

This is an excellent little article. Regarding the letter to Herodotus, DeWitt says "The student who took it in hand was encouraged to consult the larger epitome or even the thirty-seven monographs on physics. These aids are lacking to us. Consequently, the doctrine seems elliptically expressed."

The elliptical expression in the letter to Herodotus is undeniable, but it is often even more present in what survives of On Nature.
February 1, 2025 at 3:33 PM

This may have been what DeWitt had in mind, although he was not so clear:

"Cicero's prose is in fact a joy to read, and he leaves no question that he knows it. He is also admittedly correct that Epicurus' Greek is turgid, clumsy, and sometimes almost barbarous. I once spent a full day translating Epicurus in preparation for a stressful job interview, and by the evening I was on the verge of tears." [Austin, Living for Pleasure, pg. 97]
February 1, 2025 at 4:33 PM
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It seems to me that this is one of those things about Epicurus that we need to find a way to educate people to very early in the process of reading most all of Epicurus' letters, and even the Principal Doctrines and Vatican Sayings.

The Epicureans were philosophers and it seems most of what survives is pretty high-level material intended to be general in effect so as to sweep in the maximum possible number of particular instances. Cicero's giving us the key with all of his complaints about Epicurus talking in an idiom of his own and ignoring standard terminology.

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