Live unnoticed (Philosophia Antiqua)

249 Pages·2007·1.01 MB·English

by  G., Roskam

Live unnoticed
(Λε ισας )
Philosophia Antiqua
A Series of Studies on Ancient Philosophy
Previous Editors
J.H. Waszink†
W.J. Verdenius†
J.C.M. Van Winden
Edited by
K.A. Algra
F.A.J. De Haas
J. Mansfeld
C.J. Rowe
D.T. Runia
Ch. Wildberg
VOLUME 111
Live unnoticed
(Λε ισας )
On the Vicissitudes of an
Epicurean Doctrine
By
Geert Roskam
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2007
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
ISSN: 0079-1678
ISBN: 978 90 04 16171 9
Copyright 2007 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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printed in the netherlands
To my parents
Ipsa enim altitudo attonat summa
(Maecenas, ap. Senec., epist. 19,9)
… le defir que i’ ay de vivre en repos & de continuer
la vie que i’ ay commencée en prenant pour ma
deuife: benè vixit, benè qui latuit …
(Descartes, Letter to Mersenne, April 1634; ed. Adam-
Tannery I, 285–286)
Epikur hat zu allen Zeiten gelebt und lebt noch, un-
bekannt denen, welche sich Epikureer nannten und
nennen, und ohne Ruf bei den Philosophen. Auch
hat er selber den eigenen Namen vergessen: es war
das schwerste Gepäck, welches er je abgeworfen hat.
(Nietzsche, Menschliches, Allzumenschliches, 2,227)
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Chapter One. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter Two. Epicurus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.2. The maxim λε ισας and Epicurus’ extant writings . . . . . . . 33
2.3. The maxim λε ισας in secondary sources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.3.1. The maxim itself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.3.2. The maxim in its broader context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
2.4. The motivations behind λε ισας . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Chapter Three. The Epicureans of the first generation: Epicurus’
συμιλσντες . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.1. A quick glance in the Garden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.2. Metrodorus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.3. Hermarchus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
3.4. Colotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Chapter Four. Later generations of the school . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4.1. Lucretius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4.1.1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4.1.2. Lucretius’ political philosophy in De rerum natura . . . . . . . 86
4.1.3. Living unnoticed? Lucretius’ ultimate ambitions . . . . . . 99
4.2. Philodemus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
4.2.1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
4.2.2. The autonomy of politics… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
4.2.3. … and of philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
4.2.4. The interaction of two separate worlds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
4.2.5. Living unnoticed in the face of death? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
4.2.6. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
4.3. Diogenes of Oenoanda. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
viii contents
Chapter Five. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Chapter Six. Appendix: Augustan poetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
6.1. Virgil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
6.2. Horace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
6.3. Ovid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Indices
Index nominum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Index locorum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Index rerum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
According to later traditions, Epicurus claimed to have learned noth-
ing from his philosophical predecessors. He even gave his own teacher
Nausiphanes the hardly enviable nickname of ‘jelly-fish’. I have abso-
lutely no reason to follow his example.
I have every reason, in fact, to be grateful to L. Van der Stockt,
who was the supervisor of my PhD-dissertation on Plutarch and who
since then has continued and still continues to encourage and support
me. During the years I have been working with him, he has read more
texts of mine than he would probably like to remember. His critical
remarks and suggestions have always considerably improved the final
result.
It has been a great privilege to stay several months at Utrecht Uni-
versity, where I had the opportunity to discuss my work with several
members of the staff, which has led to thorough correction and revi-
sion. I am especially indebted to K. Algra, who went through the whole
manuscript and discussed it with me chapter by chapter. I have bene-
fited greatly from his acute observations and pertinent criticisms, which
often forced me to clarify my argument or give it up. J. Mansfeld like-
wise spent many hours carefully reading the whole manuscript and I
have been glad to adopt many of his helpful suggestions. I am sure
both will recognise their positive influence throughout the book and
they will perhaps remain wisely sceptical about those points where my
stubbornness has not been overcome by their arguments.
I am much indebted to A. Casanova, W. Evenepoel, P.H. Schrijvers,
and T. van Houdt, who read substantial parts of an earlier draft of this
book and especially to M. Erler who read the whole of it. They all saved
me from many embarrassing errors and made extremely valuable, often
challenging, suggestions. I also owe many thanks to C. Steel, who drew
my attention to several interesting passages which I would otherwise
have overlooked and who indirectly contributed more to this book than
he probably realises himself. I am also much indebted to M. Funk
Deckard and to the referee of the series for many useful suggestions
and corrections.