Entries of the category „Texts“

This is a curated collection of important fragments collected by Usener. The full User material can be accessed either here at Epicurism.info or here at Attalus.org. The Attalus.org version appears to be largely a copy of the Epicurism.info version, which was originally prepared by Erik Anderson, proprietor of the original Epicurus.info, who is now deceased.

Selections from Diogenes Laertius, Lucretius, and from sources which are too fragmentary or short to be of significant usefulness have been removed. The purpose of this collection is to provide better access to significant quotes by or about Epicurus which are not already familiar through review of Diogenes Laertius and Lucretius.

When the first round of editing is complete, we can attack the project of going back and supplementing the topic headings with material from more recently-discovered sources and translations. Eventually we can also fold back in quotes from Diogenes Laertius Book Ten and Lucretius so that the topical aspect is more complete, but the first task is to make more accessible substantial fragments which are rarely discussed.

Anyone interested in assisting with the editing of this document please message Cassius.

This will be a collection of objections gathered from our Lucretius Today Podcast review of Cicero's "On Ends," annotated with comments as to proper responses.

Initially this will be in sequential order as the argument appears in the book. As the argument gets repetitive we can re-order.

Backup of Attalus.org

Transcribed by Cassius Amicus and Ilkka Vouristo. This transcription was very difficult for a variety of reasons, and the reader is advised to check the PDF for the greatest accuracy.

This text comes from http://thelatinlibrary.com/lucretius.html)

Other Editions:

The 1743 Translation Published By Daniel Brown

The translator of this edition is unknown, but it was published in England by Daniel Brown in 1743. This translation has the advantage that despite being older, it can sometimes be easier to read than later versions.

The 1893 Translation of HAJ Munro

This is one of the most memorable and literal translations available.

The 1920's Loeb translation by William Rouse

The 1936 Translation Of Cyril Bailey

This is the most recent edition in the public domain.

The Latin Edition

This text comes from LatinLibrary.com.

Editions at EpicureanFriends.com

The 1743 Translation Published By Daniel Brown

The translator of this edition is unknown, but it was published in England by Daniel Brown in 1743. This translation has the advantage that despite being older, it can sometimes be easier to read than later versions.

The 1893 Translation of HAJ Munro

This is one of the most memorable and literal translations available.

The 1920's Loeb translation by William Rouse

The 1936 Translation Of Cyril Bailey

This is the most recent edition in the public domain.

The Latin Edition

This text comes from LatinLibrary.com.

Plutarch’s Morals. Translated from the Greek by Several Hands. Corrected and Revised by William W. Goodwin, with an Introduction by Ralph Waldo Emerson. 5 Volumes. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1878).

This version comes from here: http://demonax.info/doku.php?id=te…ine_of_epicurus

First posted at EpicureanFriends 07/09/23 - this version needs cleaning up.

Diogenes Laertius' Book Ten - his biography of Epicurus - is the primary source of information about Epicurus remaining to us from the ancient world. The version on this page is that of Cyril Bailey as prepared forhis 1926 work "Epicurus - The Extant Remains." The text here was prepared from a PDF of the original which can be found at Archive.org here. The original PDF contains the full Greek, footnotes, and commentary. Approximate line numbers matching the Bailey edition are placed in brackets such as [20]. Placement of these numbers should not be considered to be exact, and should be used primarily as an aid in looking up the same section in other translations. Headings are not a part of the original text. The Perseus Greek edition, from which individual words can be looked up for English definitions, is here.

NOTE:

A PDF prepared by Tau Phi with three parallel public domain translations of this and the other letters of Epicurus is here. As of this writing 4/7/25, a work-in-progress of a side-by-side page is here, but the text and especially the line numbers are not yet reliable.

Except where noted, this translation is by Cyril Bailey, as contained in his text “Epicurus - The Extant Remains.” The doctrine number is hyperlinked to our Lexicon for additional translations and notes.

For detailed discussion of each doctrine, please post here: The Principal Doctrines.

For those who may wish to print this page, several notes are included at the bottom of this page as to the source of the translation of each doctrine listed here. The "Scholia Commentary" to PD01 and PD29 are included at the end as well.

For an excellent resource useful in comparing each of these in different translations, see Nate's compilation of alternate translations here.

The purpose of this page is to present a table of major passages from the core texts for which there are translation controversies and as to the real meaning. In many or most cases, the issue involved is controversial, and the choice of words used to translate the text assumes that one among various possibilities is correct. The purpose here is to highlight the ambiguity and the various possibilities so as not to obscure the difficulty, but make it possible to explore the difficulty more deeply, in the spirit of PD24.

PD24. If you reject any single sensation, and fail to distinguish between the conclusion of opinion, as to the appearance awaiting confirmation, and that which is actually given by the sensation or feeling, or each intuitive apprehension of the mind, you will confound all other sensations, as well, with the same groundless opinion, so that you will reject every standard of judgment. And if among the mental images created by your opinion you affirm both that which awaits confirmation, and that which does not, you will not escape error, since you will have preserved the whole cause of doubt in every judgment between what is right and what is wrong.

Edits and contributions to this table by Level 3 or above participants at EpicureanFriends.com are welcome. If you attempt to edit and do not have access, please message a moderator.

This lexicon entry replaces the old entry located here: Table of Texts With Translation or Corruption Difficulties

This book has a lot of good information about Epicurean ethics, because it is an exchange in which Cicero dispute's Torquatus' statement of Epicurean ethics. Unfortunately we don't talk about it nearly as much as we talk about Book One. Part of the reason it is less referenced is that rather than being a straightforward narrative by Torquatus, this section is a question / answer dialog as in Plato's works. Unfortunately, the standard texts do not break the exchanges down by speaker, so the text is hard to follow in the standard editions. This page has been set up to prepare a version that is broken down into dialog presentation form and is therefore easier to read.

If anyone would like to help edit this text, or knows of a printed version where we can more easily pull out the changes in speakers, please let Cassius know.

This is a work in process. The place where editing stops is marked with a horizontal line divider, but it's easy to tell also because the names of the speakers stop appearing.

Tyndall - Address at Belfast

VS63. Frugality too has a limit, and the man who disregards it is like him who errs through excess.

Reid Translation PDF at Archive.org

"We must laugh and philosophize at the same time, and do our household duties, and employ our other faculties, and never cease proclaiming the sayings of the true philosophy." Epicurus VS41 (Bailey)

"For I would certainly prefer, as I study Nature, to announce frankly what is beneficial to all people, even if none agrees with me, rather than to compromise with common opinions, and thus reap the frequent praise of the many." - Epicurus VS29. (Bailey)

Boris Nikolsky is the author of the article "Epicurus on Pleasure"which explains that the kinetic / katastematic distinction was not of significance to Epicurus and was a much later non-Epicurean accretion.

"As many as possess the power to procure complete immunity from their neighbours, these also live most pleasantly with one another, since they have the most certain pledge of security, and, after they have enjoyed the fullest intimacy, they do not lament the previous departure of a dead friend, as though he were to be pitied." Epicurus PD40 (Bailey)

"The man who has best ordered the element of disquiet arising from external circumstances has made those things that he could akin to himself, and the rest at least not alien; but with all to which he could not do even this, he has refrained from mixing, and has expelled from his life all which it was of advantage to treat thus." Epicurus PD39 (Bailey)

Bailey: 38. Where, provided the circumstances have not been altered, actions which were considered just have been shown not to accord with the general concept, in actual practice, then they are not just. But where, when circumstances have changed, the same actions which were sanctioned as just no longer lead to advantage, they were just at the time, when they were of advantage for the dealings of fellow-citizens with one another, but subsequently they are no longer just, when no longer of advantage.

Bailey: 37. Among actions which are sanctioned as just by law, that which is proved, on examination, to be of advantage, in the requirements of men's dealings with one another, has the guarantee of justice, whether it is the same for all or not. But if a man makes a law, and it does not turn out to lead to advantage in men's dealings with each other, then it no longer has the essential nature of justice. And even if the advantage in the matter of justice shifts from one side to the other, but for a while accords with the general concept, it is nonetheless just for that period, in the eyes of those who do not confound themselves with empty sounds, but look to the actual facts.

Bailey: 36. In its general aspect, justice is the same for all, for it is a kind of mutual advantage in the dealings of men with one another; but with reference to the individual peculiarities of a country, or any other circumstances, the same thing does not turn out to be just for all.

Bailey: 35. It is not possible for one who acts in secret contravention of the terms of the compact not to harm or be harmed to be confident that he will escape detection, even if, at present, he escapes a thousand times. For up to the time of death it cannot be certain that he will indeed escape.

Bailey: 34. Injustice is not an evil in itself, but only in consequence of the fear which attaches to the apprehension of being unable to escape those appointed to punish such actions.

Bailey: 33. Justice never is anything in itself, but in the dealings of men with one another, in any place whatever, and at any time, it is a kind of compact not to harm or be harmed.

Bailey: 32. For all living things which have not been able to make compacts not to harm one another, or be harmed, nothing ever is either just or unjust; and likewise, too, for all tribes of men which have been unable, or unwilling, to make compacts not to harm or be harmed.

Bailey: 31. The justice which arises from nature is a pledge of mutual advantage, to restrain men from harming one another, and save them from being harmed.

Bailey: 30. Wherever, in the case of desires which are physical, but do not lead to a sense of pain if they are not fulfilled, the effort is intense, such pleasures are due to idle imagination; and it is not owing to their own nature that they fail to be dispelled, but owing to the empty imaginings of the man.

Bailey: 29. Among desires, some are natural (and necessary, some natural) but not necessary, and others neither natural nor necessary, but due to idle imagination.

Essential Epicurus (Eugene O'Connor): 28. The same knowledge that makes one confident that nothing dreadful is eternal or long-lasting also recognizes, in the face of these limited evils, the security afforded by friendship.

Bailey: 27. Of all the things which wisdom acquires to produce the blessedness of the complete life, far the greatest is the possession of friendship.

Bailey: 26. Of desires, all that do not lead to a sense of pain, if they are not satisfied, are not necessary, but involve a craving which is easily dispelled when the object is hard to procure, or they seem likely to produce harm.

Bailey: 25. If on each occasion, instead of referring your actions to the end of nature, you turn to some other, nearer, standard, when you are making a choice or an avoidance, your actions will not be consistent with your principles.

Bailey: 24. If you reject any single sensation, and fail to distinguish between the conclusion of opinion, as to the appearance awaiting confirmation, and that which is actually given by the sensation or feeling, or each intuitive apprehension of the mind, you will confound all other sensations, as well, with the same groundless opinion, so that you will reject every standard of judgment. And if among the mental images created by your opinion you affirm both that which awaits confirmation, and that which does not, you will not escape error, since you will have preserved the whole cause of doubt in every judgment between what is right and what is wrong.

Bailey: 23. If you fight against all sensations, you will have no standard by which to judge even those of them which you say are false.

Bailey: 22. We must consider both the real purpose, and all the evidence of direct perception, to which we always refer the conclusions of opinion; otherwise, all will be full of doubt and confusion.

Bailey: 21. He who has learned the limits of life knows that that which removes the pain due to want, and makes the whole of life complete, is easy to obtain, so that there is no need of actions which involve competition.

Bailey: 20. The flesh perceives the limits of pleasure as unlimited, and unlimited time is required to supply it. But the mind, having attained a reasoned understanding of the ultimate good of the flesh and its limits, and having dissipated the fears concerning the time to come, supplies us with the complete life, and we have no further need of infinite time; but neither does the mind shun pleasure, nor, when circumstances begin to bring about the departure from life, does it approach its end as though it fell short, in any way, of the best life.

Bailey: 19. Infinite time contains no greater pleasure than limited time, if one measures, by reason, the limits of pleasure.

Bailey: 18. The pleasure in the flesh is not increased when once the pain due to want is removed, but is only varied: and the limit as regards pleasure in the mind is begotten by the reasoned understanding of these very pleasures, and of the emotions akin to them, which used to cause the greatest fear to the mind.

Bailey: 17. The just man is most free from trouble; the unjust most full of trouble.

Bailey: 16. In but few things chance hinders a wise man, but the greatest and most important matters, reason has ordained, and throughout the whole period of life does and will ordain.

Bailey: 15. The wealth demanded by nature is both limited and easily procured; that demanded by idle imaginings stretches on to infinity.

Bailey: 13. There is no profit in securing protection in relation to men, if things above, and things beneath the earth, and indeed all in the boundless universe, remain matters of suspicion.

Bailey: 12. A man cannot dispel his fear about the most important matters if he does not know what is the nature of the universe, but suspects the truth of some mythical story. So that, without natural science, it is not possible to attain our pleasures unalloyed.

Bailey: 11. If we were not troubled by our suspicions of the phenomena of the sky, and about death, fearing that it concerns us, and also by our failure to grasp the limits of pains and desires, we should have no need of natural science.

"If the things that produce the pleasures of profligates could dispel the fears of the mind about the phenomena of the sky, and death, and its pains, and also teach the limits of desires (and of pains), we should never have cause to blame them: for they would be filling themselves full, with pleasures from every source, and never have pain of body or mind, which is the evil of life." Epicurus PD10 (Bailey)

"If every pleasure could be intensified so that it lasted, and influenced the whole organism or the most essential parts of our nature, pleasures would never differ from one another." Epicurus PD9 (Bailey)

"No pleasure is a bad thing in itself; but the means which produce some pleasures bring with them disturbances many times greater than the pleasures." Epicurus PD8 (Bailey)

"Some men wished to become famous and conspicuous, thinking that they would thus win for themselves safety from other men. Wherefore if the life of such men is safe, they have obtained the good which nature craves; but if it is not safe, they do not possess that for which they strove at first by the instinct of nature." Epicurus PD7 (Bailey)