... the word “epicurean” came to mean a seeker of luxury, a sybarite; but in fact, Greenblatt shows, the original Epicureans led a modest lifestyle. Their philosophy was intended not as a license for indulgence but as a therapy for the fear of death. “Against other things it is possible to obtain security, but when it comes to death we human beings all live in an unwalled city,” Epicurus said, and this message is at the heart of De rerum natura.
Saturday, October 01, 2011
Not quite ...
... Stephen Greenblatt’s The Swerve: Did Lucretius’s Poem Really Bring Us Modernity? - Slate Magazine. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Peter Green has some interesting things to say about the background and implications of Epicureanism in From Alexander to Actium.
ReplyDelete\