Epicurus - Principal Doctrines 1-40

10/8/12 1:43 PM Epicurus, Principal Doctrines 1-40
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Principal Doctrines, 140
About This Work | Epic. KD 140 (end) | Table of Contents
1
That which is blissful and immortal has no
troubles itself, nor does it cause trouble for others,
so that it is not affected by anger or gratitude (for
all such things come about through weakness).
[1]
2
Death is nothing to us; for what has
disintegrated lacks awareness, and what lacks
awareness is nothing to us.
3
The limit of enjoyment is the removal of all
pains. Wherever and for however long pleasure is
present, there is neither bodily pain nor mental
distress.
[2]
4
Pain does not last continuously in the flesh;
instead, the sharpest pain lasts the shortest time, a
pain that exceeds bodily pleasure lasts only a few
days, and diseases that last a long time involve
delights that exceed their pains.
5
It is not possible to live joyously without also
living wisely and beautifully and rightly, nor to live
wisely and beautifully and rightly without living
joyously; and whoever lacks this cannot live
joyously.
[3]
6
It is a natural benefit of leadership and
kingship to take courage from other men (or at
least from the sort of men who can give one
Epic. KD 140 translated by Peter Saint-Andre
courage).
[4]
7
Some people want to be well esteemed and
widely admired, believing that in this way they will
be safe from others; if the life of such people is
secure then they have gained its natural benefit, but
if not then they have not gained what they sought
from the beginning in accordance with what is
naturally appropriate.
8
No pleasure is bad in itself; but the means of
paying for some pleasures bring with them
disturbances many times greater than the pleasures
themselves.
9
If every pleasure were condensed and were
present at the same time and in the whole of ones
nature or its primary parts, then the pleasures
would never differ from one another.
10
If the things that produced the delights of
those who are decadent washed away the minds
fears about astronomical phenomena and death
and suffering, and furthermore if they taught us the
limits of our pains and desires, then we would have
no complaints against them, since they would be
filled with every joy and would contain not a single
pain or distress (and thats what is bad).
11
If our suspicions about astronomical
phenomena and about death were nothing to us
and troubled us not at all, and if this were also the
case regarding our ignorance about the limits of
our pains and desires, then we would have no need
for studying what is natural.
[5]
12
It is impossible for someone who is completely
ignorant about nature to wash away his fears about
the most important matters if he retains some
suspicions about the myths. So it is impossible to
experience undiluted enjoyment without studying
what is natural.
13
It is useless to be safe from other people while
retaining suspicions about what is above and below
the earth and in general about the boundless
unknown.
14
Although some measure of safety from others
comes from the power to fight them off and from
abundant wealth, the purest security comes from
solitude and breaking away from the herd.
[6]
15
Natural wealth is both limited and easy to
acquire, but the riches incited by groundless
opinion are boundless.
16
Chance steals only a bit into the life of a wise
person: for throughout the complete span of his life
the greatest and most important matters have been,
are, and will be directed by the power of reason.
17
One who acts aright is utterly steady and
serene, whereas one who goes astray is full of
trouble and confusion.
[7]
18
As soon as the pain produced by the lack of
something is removed, pleasure in the flesh is not
increased but only embellished. Yet the limit of
enjoyment in the mind is produced by reasoning
out these very things and similar things, which
once provoked the greatest fears in the mind.
19
Infinite time and finite time contain the same
amount of joy, if its limits are measured out
through reasoning.
20
The flesh assumes that the limits of joy are
infinite, and that infinite joy can be produced only
through infinite time. But the mind, reasoning out
the goal and limits of the flesh and dissolving fears
about eternity, produces a complete way of life and
therefore has no need of infinite time; yet the mind
does not flee from joy, nor when events cause it to
exit from life does it look back as if it has missed
any aspect of the best life.
[8]
21
One who perceives the limits of life knows how
easy it is to expel the pain produced by a lack of
something and to make ones entire life complete;
so that there is no need for the things that are
achieved through struggle.
[9]
22
You must reflect on the fundamental goal and
everything that is clear, to which opinions are
referred; if you do not, all will be full of trouble and
confusion.
[10]
23
If you fight against all your perceptions, you
will have nothing to refer to in judging those which
you declare to be false.
24
If you reject a perception outright and do not
distinguish between your opinion about what will
happen after, what came before, your feelings, and
all the layers of imagination involved in your
thoughts, you will throw your other perceptions
into confusion because of your trifling opinions; as
a result, you will reject the very criterion of truth.
And if when forming concepts from your opinions
you treat as confirmed everything that will happen
and what you do not witness thereafter, then you
will not avoid what is false, so that you will remove
all argument and all judgment about what is and is
not correct.
25
If at all critical times you do not connect each
of your actions to the natural goal of life, but
instead turn too soon to some other kind of goal in
thinking whether to avoid or pursue something,
then your thoughts and your actions will not be in
harmony.
26
The desires that do not bring pain when they
go unfulfilled are not necessary; indeed they are
easy to reject when they are hard to achieve or
when they seem to produce harm.
27
Of all the things that wisdom provides for the
complete happiness of ones entire life, by far the
greatest is friendship.
[11]
28
The same judgment produces confidence that
dreadful things are not everlasting, and that
security amidst the limited number of dreadful
things is most easily achieved through friendship.
29
Among desires, some are natural and
necessary, some are natural and unnecessary, and
some are unnatural and unnecessary (arising
instead from groundless opinion).
30
Among natural desires, those that do not
bring pain when unfulfilled and that require
intense exertion arise from groundless opinion;
and such desires fail to be stamped out not by
nature but because of the groundless opinions of
humankind.
31
Natural justice is a covenant for mutual
benefit, to not harm one another or be harmed.
[12]
32
With regard to those animals that do not have
the power of making a covenant to not harm one
another or be harmed, there is neither justice nor
injustice; similarly for those peoples who have
neither the power nor the desire of making a
covenant to not harm one another or be harmed.
33
Justice does not exist in itself; instead, it is
always a compact to not harm one another or be
harmed, which is agreed upon by those who gather
together at some time and place.
[13]
34
Injustice is not bad in itself, but only because
of the fear caused by a suspicion that you will not
avoid those who are appointed to punish
wrongdoing.
35
It is impossible to be confident that you will
escape detection when secretly doing something
contrary to an agreement to not harm one another
or be harmed, even if currently you do so countless
times; for until your death you will be uncertain
that you have escaped detection.
36
In general, justice is the same for all: what is
mutually advantageous among companions. But
with respect to the particulars of a place or other
causes, it does not follow that the same thing is just
for all.
[14]
37
Among things that are thought to be just, that
which has been witnessed to bring mutual
advantage among companions has the nature of
justice, whether or not it is the same for everyone.
But if someone legislates something whose results
are not in accord with what brings mutual
advantage among companions, then it does not
have the nature of justice. And if what brings
advantage according to justice changes, but for
some time fits our basic grasp of justice, then for
that time it is just, at least to the person who is not
confused by empty prattle but instead looks to the
facts.
[15]
38
When circumstances have not changed and
things that were thought to be just are shown to not
be in accord with our basic grasp of justice, then
those things were not just. But when circumstances
do change and things that were just are no longer
useful, then those things were just while they
brought mutual advantage among companions
sharing the same community; but when later they
did not bring advantage they were not just.
39
The person who has put together the best
means for confidence about external threats is one
who has become familiar with what is possible and
at least not unfamiliar with what is not possible,
but who has not mixed with things where even this
could not be managed and who has driven away
anything that is not advantageous.
40
All those who have the power to obtain the
greatest confidence from their neighbors also live
with each other most enjoyably in the most
steadfast trust; and experiencing the strongest
fellowship they do not lament as pitiful the
untimely end of those who pass away.
[16]
Notes
[1] The Greek word !"#$, translated
here as "blissful", could also be translated as
"blessed" or as "completely happy".
[2] The word !%&'( is often translated
solely as "pleasure"; however, depending on
the context I also translate it as "delight",
"joy", or "enjoyment" because the Greek
word !%&'( refers to any physical,
emotional, or mental state that is filled with
sweetness (!%)*), whereas the English word
"pleasure" carries stronger connotations of a
purely physical state (although compare
phrases such as "the pleasures of
philosophy"). Furthermore, although there is
no hard and fast distinction between "+,&*
as bodily pain and +-.&)/'&* as mental
distress, the former word tends to be used
more in relation to the body and the latter
more in relation to the mind or emotions.
[3] The word 0$&'12*, translated here
as "wisely", derives from the word for
practical wisdom; although it is often
translated as "prudently", that word is no
longer commonly used in current English and
to the modern ear sounds positively
Victorian, which is why I have opted to
translate 0$&'12* as "wisely". The word
"#+#*, translated here as "beautifully", has
many meanings, including "nobly" and
"honorably"; however, the root meaning of
"#+3* is "beauty" in either the aesthetic or
the ethical sense. On the word %4"#12* as
"rightly" instead of "justly", see the note to
Principal Doctrine #17 [note 7]. It is not
clear what Epicurus means by "this" when he
says "whoever lacks this cannot live
joyously"; I take that phrase to mean that
one cannot live joyously if one lacks the
integration or harmony of wisdom, beauty,
and rightness.
[4] The phrase "taking courage"
translates the verb 5#$$/$', which is derived
from the word for courage, daring, boldness,
or confidence.
[5] I translate the word 0-64&+&,1# as
"the study of what is natural".
[6] The word !6-71#, translated here as
"solitude", can also mean "quietude" or
"stillness" (translations that would also be
quite consistent with the philosophy of
Epicurus). The phrase "breaking away from
the herd" is my attempt to render the Greek
phrase %"72$(6/2* 8#' .&++#', which
means literally "departing from the many" (&&
.&++&1 are "the masses"a phrase so useful
it has been transliterated directly in English
as "hoi polloi"). Note also that although the
received text reads %"72$(6/2*
("departing"), the Greek word %"7&$(6/2*
means "stepping out from the chorus" and
thus draws a vivid contrast between the
vibrant leading characters and the stolid
mass of citizens in ancient Greek tragedies;
scribal error could account for a change from
omicron to omega here, especially because
%"7&$(6/2* is much less common than
%"72$(6/2*.
[7] I have expanded the translation here
to capture several meanings of the key
terms: '8#$#"838#8&* means "utterly
without disturbance" and by extension steady
or serene, whereas .+/1689* 8#$#7(* means
full of trouble, disorder, or tumult (expanded
here to "full of trouble and confusion"). The
words ) %1"#4&* and ) "%4"&* are often
translated "the just man" and "the unjust
man", but the modern concept of justice is
almost purely social whereas the Greek word
%1"#4&* has a wider range of meaning that
encompasses what is right, fitting, balanced,
ordered, decent, civilized, and the like; I
have attempted to capture this ambiguity
through the phrases "one who acts aright"
and "one who goes astray".
[8] In the Greek, this paragraph is written
in the past tense. Because it is confusing to
read that way, I have rendered it in the
present tense.
[9] The word ',:', translated here as
"struggle", originally referred to the contests
pursued by athletes at public festivals such
as the Olympic games; Epicurus is not
necessarily counselling against personal
discipline (such as that involved in learning
true philosophy), but against the trials and
dangers of action in the public arena.
[10] Here the translated phrase "trouble
and confusion" reflects the Greek words
'"$461# (literally "indistinctness") and 8#$#7(
(literally "trouble", "disorder", or "tumult").
[11] The concept of #"#$1#, translated
here as "complete happiness", is also
referenced in Principal Doctrine #1 when
Epicurus speaks of the gods.
[12] The word 6);&+&' refers to a
covenant, contract, or other mutual
agreement, especially (in a legal sense) a
treaty between two city-states to safeguard
trading between them. The verb ;+!.82
means to hurt or damage someone or
something, but not in a way that reflects
willful injustice or wrongdoing (for which the
verb '%4"<2 is used).
[13] The word 6-'5("9, translated here
as "compact", means essentially the same as
the word 6);&+&' from Principal Doctrine
#31.
[14] The word "&4'2'1# means a
fellowship, an association, a partnership, a
community; I have chosen to translate
6-0<$&' %' 8* .$+* '++(+&-* "&4'2'1, as
"what is mutually advantageous among
companions" to emphasize the sense of a
shared venture that is implicit in the Greek
verb "&4'2'<2.
[15] The Greek phrase 845<'#4 '3&'
means to make legislation; here Epicurus
contrasts man-made legislation with natural
justice, which in somewhat old-fashioned
English we might call natural law. The word
.$3+9=4* has a special meaning in the
philosophy of Epicurus: it is the basic grasp
that one has of a concept.
[16] Somewhat reluctantly, I have
translated the word &-"/4389* (from the
Greek word for household) as "fellowship". I
say reluctantly because my preferred
translation is the obsolete English word
"frith", which referred to the bonds of mutual
loyalty and trust between family members,
kinsmen, and friends, as well as the resulting
feeling of mutual security. Unfortunately, the
word "frith" has passed out of common usage
and therefore is not appropriate for a modern
translation of Epicurus (although the concept
it identifies deserves to be resurrected).
Other alternatives might include "intimacy",
"kindliness", "friendly relations",
"friendliness", "sense of community", even
"sense of belonging".
About This Work | Epic. KD 140 (end) | Table of Contents
Epic. KD 140

Epicurus - Principal Doctrines 1-40

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