A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

(Ἐπίκουρος), a celebrated Greek philosopher and the founder of a philosophical school called after him the Epicurean. He was a son of Neocles and Charestrata, and belonged to the Attic demos of Gargettus, whence he is sometimes simply called the Gargettian. (Cic. Fam. 15.16.) He was born, however, in the island of Samos, in B. C. 342, for his father was one of the Athenian cleruichi, who went to Samos and received lands there. Epicurus spent the first eighteen years of his life at Samos, and then repaired to Athens, in B. C. 323, where Xenocrates was then at the head of the academy, by whom Epicurus is said to have been instructed, though Epicurus himself denied it. (D. L. 10.13; Cic. de Nat. Deor. 1.26.) He did not, however, stay at Athens long, for after the outbreak of the Lamian war lie went to Colophon, where his father was then residing, and engaged in teaching. Epicurus followed the example of his father: he collected pupils and is said to have instructed them in grammar, until gradually his attention was drawn towards philosophy. Epicurus himself asserted that lie had entered upon his philosophical studies at the early age of fourteen, while according to others it was not till five or six years later. Some said that he was led to the study of philosophy by his contempt of the rhetoricians and grammarians who were unable to explain to him the passage in Hesiod about Chaos; and others said that the first impulse was given to him by the works of Democritus, which fell into his hands by accident. It is at any rate undeniable that the atomistic doctrines of Democritus exercised a very great influence upon Epicurus, though he asserted that he was perfectly independent of all the philosophical schools of the time, and endeavoured to solve the great problems of life by independent thought and investigation. From Colophon Epicurus went to Mytilene and Lampsacus, in which places he was engaged for five years in teaching philosophy. In B. C. 306, when he had attained the age of 35, he again went to Athens. He there purchased for eighty minae a garden--the famous Κῆποι Ἐπικούρου--which apparently was situated in the heart of the city, and in

which he established his philosophical school. Surrounded by numerous friends and pupils and by his three brothers, Neocles, Charidemus, and Aristobulus, who likewise devoted themselves to the study of philosophy, Epicurus spent the remainder of his life in his garden at Athens. His mode of living was simple, temperate, and cheerful, and the aspersions of comic poets and of later philosophers who were opposed to his philosophy and describe him as a person devoted to sensual pleasures, do not seem entitled to the least credit, although they have succeeded in rendering his name proverbial with posterity for a sensualist or debauchee. The accounts of his connexion with Leontium, Marmarium, and other well known hetaerae of the time, perhaps belong to the same kind of slander and calumny in which his enemies indulged. The life in Diogenes Laertius affords abundant proof that Epicurus was a man of simple, pure, and temperate habits, a kind-hearted friend, and even a patriotic citizen. He kept aloof from the political parties of the time, and took no part in public affairs. His maxim was λάθε Βιώσας, which was partly the result of his peculiar philosophy, and partly of the political condition of Athens, which drove men to seek in themselves happiness and consolation for the loss of political freedom. During the latter period of his life Epicurus was afflicted with severe sufferings, and for many years he was unable to walk. In the end his sufferings were increased by the formation of a stone in his bladder, which terminated fatally after a severe illness of a fortnight. He bore his sufferings with a truly philosophical patience, cheerfulness, and courage, and died at the age of 72, in Olymp. 127. 2, or B. C. 270. His will, which is preserved in Diogenes Laertius (10.16, &c.), shews the same mildness of character and the same kind disposition and attachment to his friends, which he had manifested throughout life. Among his many pupils Epicurus himself gave the preference to Metrodorus of Lampsacus, whom he used to call the philosopher, and whom he would have appointed to succeed him (D. L. 10.22, &c.); but Metrodorus died seven years before his master, and in his will Epicurus appointed Hermarchus of Mytilene his successor in the management of his school at Athens. Apollodorus, the Epicurean, wrote a life of Epicurus, of which Diogenes made great use in his account of Epicurus, but this is now lost, and our principal source of information respecting Epicurus is the tenth book of Diogenes Laertius, who however, as usual, only puts together what he finds in others; but at the same time he furnishes us some very important documents, such as his will, four letters and the κύριαι δόξαι, of which we shall speak below. With the account of Diogenes we have to compare the philosophical poem of Lucretius, and the remarks and criticisms which are scattered in the works of later Greek and Roman writers, nearly all of whom, however, wrote in a hostile spirit about Epicurus and his philosophy and must therefore be used with great caution. Among them we must mention Cicero in his philosophical treatises, especially the De Finibus, and the De Natura Deorum ; Seneca in his letter to Lucilius, and some treatises of Plutarch in his so-called Moralia.

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