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Headword:
*)epi/kouros
Adler number: epsilon,2405
Translated headword: Epicurus, Epikouros
Vetting Status: high
Translation: This man assigned no importance to religion;[1] but there were three brothers [sc. of his],[2] who died in the most pitiful way, struck down by countless diseases.[3] As for
Epicurus, although still young, he was not able to easily descend from his bed by himself, but he was short-sighted and fearful of facing the sunlight, for he disliked the most brilliant and shining of the gods. And indeed he turned his eyes away even from the light of fire, and from his lower orifices blood used to drip down, and such was the consumption of his body that he was not even able to carry the weight of his own clothes.[4] And
Metrodorus[5] and
Polyaenus[6], both of them his companions, died in the worst way men can die, and indeed they took for their impiety a requital that nobody might ever blame. So easily overcome by pleasure was
Epicurus that in his last moments he wrote in his will a disposition that a sacrifice be offered once a year to his father, his mother and his brothers, and to the previously mentioned
Metrodorus and
Polyaenus, but twice a year to himself;[7] so that even in this the sage honored the higher degree of profligacy. And he had some tables of stone built, and gave orders that these be put in his tomb, this greedy and gluttonous man. He devised these things not because he was rich, but because his appetites had driven him mad, as if those things should die along with him. They banished the Epicureans from Rome by a public senatorial decree.[8] And also the Messenians, the ones who live in Arcadia, expelled those reputed to be members of this, let us say, "manger", saying that they were corrupters of the youth and attaching to their doctrine the stain of infamy because of their effeminacy and impiety; and they gave orders that, before sunset, the Epicureans be out of the borders of
Messenia and that after they had left, the priests purify the temples and the
timouchoi (this is the name Messenians give to their magistrates) purify the whole city, as delivered from some filthy contaminations and offscourings. [Note] that in Crete the citizens of
Lyktos[9] chased away some Epicureans who had come there. And a law was written in the local language, stating that whoever thought of adhering to this effeminate and ignominious and hideous doctrine were enemies of the gods and should be banished from
Lyktos; but if anybody dared to come and neglect the orders of the law, he should be bound in a pillory near the office of the magistrates for twenty days, naked and with his body spread with honey and milk, so that he would be a meal for bees and flies and the insects would in the stated time kill them. After this time, if he were still alive, he should be thrown from a cliff, dressed in women's clothes.
*)epi/kouros: ou(=tos to\ qei=on par' ou)de\n e)ti/qeto: a)delfoi\ de\ trei=s h)=san, [oi(\] muri/ois a)rrwsth/masi periplake/ntes a)pe/qanon oi)/ktista. o(/ge mh\n *)epi/kouros e)/ti ne/os w)\n au)to\s ou) r(a|di/ws a)po\ th=s kli/nhs oi(=o/s te h)=n katie/nai, a)mbluw/ttwn te kai\ pro\s th\n tou= h(li/ou ai)/glhn deilo\s w)\n kai\ tw=| faidrota/tw| te kai\ e)nargesta/tw| tw=n qew=n a)pexqano/menos. kai\ me/ntoi kai\ th\n tou= puro\s au)gh\n a)pestre/feto ai(=ma/ te au)tw=| dia\ tw=n po/rwn a)pekri/neto tw=n ka/tw, tosau/th de\ a)/ra h( su/nthcis h( tou= sw/matos h)=n, w(s a)dunatei=n kai\ th\n tw=n i(mati/wn fe/rein e)pibolh/n. kai\ *mhtro/dwros de\ kai\ *polu/ainos, a)/mfw tw\ e(tai/rw au)tou=, ka/kista a)nqrw/pwn a)pe/qanon: kai\ me/ntoi th=s a)qei/+as h)ne/gkanto misqo\n ou)dama\ ou)damh= mempto/n. ou(/tw de\ a)/ra h)=n h(donh=s h(/ttwn o( *)epi/kouros, w(/ste dia\ tw=n e)sxa/twn e)n tai=s diaqh/kais au)tou= e)/graye tw=| me\n patri\ kai\ th=| mhtri\ kai\ toi=s a)delfoi=s e)nagi/zein a(/pac tou= e)/tous kai\ *mhtrodw/rw| kai\ *poluai/nw| toi=s proeirhme/nois, e(autw=| de\ dissw=s ei)pei=n, th=s a)swti/as to\ ple/on protimw=n kai\ e)ntau=qa o( sofo/s: kai\ trape/zas li/qwn pepoi/htai, kai\ w(s a)naqh/mata e)n tw=| ta/fw| prose/tace teqh=nai o( prote/nqhs te kai\ o)yofa/gos ou(=tos. kai\ tau=ta e)pe/skhyen ou)k w)\n e)n periousi/a|, luttw=n ou)=n tai=s e)piqumi/ais, w(/sper ou)=n kai\ e)kei/nwn su\n au)tw=| teqnhcome/nwn. e)ch/lasan de\ tou\s *)epikourei/ous th=s *(rw/mhs do/gmati th=s boulh=s koinw=|. kai\ *messh/nioi de\ e)n *)arkadi/a| tou\s e)k th=s au)th=s oi(onei\ fa/tnhs e)dhdoko/tas e)ch/lasan lumew=nas me\n ei)=nai tw=n ne/wn le/gontes, khli=da me\n filosofi/a| prosba/llontes dia/ te malaki/an kai\ a)qeo/thta: kai\ prose/taca/n ge pro\ tw=n tou= h(li/ou dusmw=n e)/cw tw=n o(/rwn th=s *messhni/as gh=s ei)=nai au)tou/s, e)kfrhsqe/ntwn de\ tou\s i(ere/as kaqh=rai ta\ i(era/, tou/s ge mh\n timou/xous [kalou=si dh\ tau/th| tou\s a)/rxontas *messh/nioi] kai\ th\n po/lin kaqh=rai pa=san, oi(=a dh/pou luma/twn tinw=n kai\ kaqarma/twn a)phllagme/nhn. o(/ti e)n *krh/th| *lu/ktioi tw=n *)epikourei/wn tina\s e)kei= paraba/llontas e)ch/lasan. kai\ no/mos e)gra/fh th=| e)pixwri/w| fwnh=|, tou\s th\n qh/leian sofi/an kai\ a)gennh= kai\ ai)sxra\n e)pinoh/santas kai\ me/ntoi toi=s qeoi=s polemi/ous e)kkekhru/xqai th=s *lu/ktou: e)a\n de/ tis a)fi/khtai qrasuno/menos kai\ ta\ e)k tou= no/mou par' ou)de\n poih/shtai, dede/sqw e)n ku/fwni pro\s tw=| a)rxei/w| h(merw=n ei)/kosin, e)pirreo/menos me/liti gumno\s kai\ ga/lakti, i(/na h)=| meli/ttais kai\ mui/ais dei=pnon kai\ a)nalw/swsi xro/nw| tw=| proeirhme/nw| au)tou/s. tou/tou ge mh\n dielqo/ntos, e)a\n e)/ti perih=|, kata\ krhmnou= w)qei/sqw stolh\n gunaikei/an periblhqei/s.
Notes:
For
Epicurus see already
epsilon 2404 (and again
epsilon 2406). The present entry is
Aelian fr. 42a Domingo-Forasté (39 Hercher), from
On Divine Manifestations; cf.
epsilon 715,
eta 630,
kappa 2800,
omicron 773,
pi 2870,
sigma 1637,
tau 510,
phi 132.
Following a scheme familiar in Christian writers (e.g. Lactantius,
De mortibus persecutorum),
Aelian shows in this work the effects of divine punishment -- essentially, in terms of physical ailments -- on individuals guilty of being an "enemy of the gods"; this means, in the surviving fragments, people held to adhere to the Epicurean school. The attitude towards Epicurean doctrine that
Aelian displays is based on the common perception of Epicureans as atheists and effeminates -- one stemming from the misunderstanding of the ethical aspect of Epicureanism, determining pleasure as the highest goal (see
Epicurus,
Epistula ad Meneceum 132 for the definition of pleasure). Like
Plutarch and especially
Athenaeus,
Aelian essentially sees the Epicurean notion of pleasure as over-indulgence in food, and effeminacy.
[1] On
Epicurus' indifference to popular religion see also
Aelian fr. 64a D-F, 61 Hercher (also from
On Divine Manifestation).
[2] Neokles, Chairedemos and Aristoboulos: see under
epsilon 2040.
[3] Neither the diseases which killed
Epicurus' brothers nor the physical ailments that afflicted the philosopher himself are attested elsewhere.
[4] The cause of
Epicurus' death (in 270 BCE) was a urinary blockage and associated dysentery.
[5]
Metrodorus of Lampsacus (c.331-278), a disciple and close friend of
Epicurus, described as a "second
Epicurus" by
Cicero (
De Finibus 2.28.92). After
Metrodorus' death,
Epicurus took care of his family and recommended his children to be cared for in his last will. Only fragments of his work survive.
[6]
Polyaenus of Lampsacus (?340-278), a mathematician, whose friendship with
Epicurus started when the philosopher opened a school in Lampsacus in 307-306. Both
Polyaenus and
Metrodorus, together with Hermarchus, had the rank of
kathegemones, "secondary leaders", in the hierarchically-based Epicurean school.
[7]
Epicurus' birthday was celebrated each year; the twentieth day of each month was celebrated in honor of
Metrodorus. On the flattering attitude of the members of the school towards
Epicurus cf.
Plutarch,
Against Colotes 1117AB.
[8] The reference is to the expulsion of the Epicureans
Alcaeus and
Philiscus in 154 BCE as a result of their ethical teaching.
[9] An ancient city in Crete, a former Lacedaemonian colony mentioned by
Homer and Hesiod as participating to the Trojan War. See
Stephanus of
Byzantium s.v., and
lambda 831.
Translated by: Antonella Ippolito on 26 September 2005@20:58:07.
Vetted by:
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