Doctrines of Epicurus
Guardians of Darkness
Sovran Maxims
1.
A blessed and indestructible being has no trouble himself and brings
no trouble
upon any other being; so he is free from anger and partiality,
for all such
things imply weakness.
2.
Death is nothing to us; for that which has been dissolved into its
elements
experiences no sensations, and that which has no sensation is
nothing to us.
3.
The magnitude of pleasure reaches its limit in the removal of all
pain. When
such pleasure is present, so long as it is uninterrupted,
there is no pain
either of body or of mind or of both together.
4.
Continuous bodily pain does not last long; instead, pain, if extreme,
is present
a very short time, and even that degree of pain which slightly
exceeds bodily
pleasure does not last for many days at once. Diseases of
long duration allow
an excess of bodily pleasure over pain.
5.
It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and
honorably
and justly, and it is impossible to live wisely and honorably
and justly without
living pleasantly. Whenever any one of these is
lacking, when, for instance,
the man is not able to live wisely, though
he lives honorably and justly,
it is impossible for him to live a
pleasant life.
6.
In order to obtain protection from other men, any means for attaining
this
end is a natural good.
7.
Some men want fame and status, thinking that they would thus make
themselves
secure against other men. If the life of such men really were
secure, they
have attained a natural good; if, however, it is insecure,
they have not attained
the end which by nature's own prompting they
originally sought.
8.
No pleasure is a bad thing in itself, but the things which produce
certain
pleasures entail disturbances many times greater than the
pleasures themselves.
9.
If every pleasure had been capable of accumulation, not only over time
but
also over the entire body or at least over the principal parts of our
nature,
then pleasures would never differ from one another.
10.
If the things that produce the pleasures of profligate men really
freed them
from fears of the mind concerning celestial and atmospheric
phenomena, the
fear of death, and the fear of pain; if, further, they
taught them to limit
their desires, we should never have any fault to
find with such persons, for
they would then be filled with pleasures from
every source and would never
have pain of body or mind, which is what is
bad.
11.
If we had never been troubled by celestial and atmospheric phenomena,
nor
by fears about death, nor by our ignorance of the limits of pains and
desires,
we should have had no need of natural science.
12.
It is impossible for someone to dispel his fears about the most
important
matters if he doesn't know the nature of the universe but still
gives some
credence to myths. So without the study of nature there is no
enjoyment of
pure pleasure.
13. There
is no advantage to obtaining protection from other men so long
as we are alarmed
by events above or below the earth or in general by
whatever happens in the
boundless universe.
14. Protection
from other men, secured to some extent by the power to
expel and by material
prosperity, in its purest form comes from a quiet
life withdrawn from the
multitude.
15. The wealth
required by nature is limited and is easy to procure; but
the wealth required
by vain ideals extends to infinity.
16.
Chance seldom interferes with the wise man; his greatest and highest
interests
have been, are, and will be, directed by reason throughout his
whole life.
17.
The just man is most free from disturbance, while the unjust is full
of the
utmost disturbance.
18. Bodily
pleasure does not increase when the pain of want has been
removed; after that
it only admits of variation. The limit of mental
pleasure, however, is reached
when we reflect on these bodily pleasures
and their related emotions, which
used to cause the mind the greatest
alarms.
19.
Unlimited time and limited time afford an equal amount of pleasure,
if we
measure the limits of that pleasure by reason.
20.
The flesh receives as unlimited the limits of pleasure; and to
provide it
requires unlimited time. But the mind, intellectually grasping
what the end
and limit of the flesh is, and banishing the terrors of the
future, procures
a complete and perfect life, and we have no longer any
need of unlimited time.
Nevertheless the mind does not shun pleasure, and
even when circumstances
make death imminent, the mind does not lack
enjoyment of the best life.
21.
He who understands the limits of life knows that it is easy to obtain
that
which removes the pain of want and makes the whole of life complete
and perfect.
Thus he has no longer any need of things which involve
struggle.
22.
We must consider both the ultimate end and all clear sensory
evidence, to
which we refer our opinions; for otherwise everything will
be full of uncertainty
and confusion.
23. If you
fight against all your sensations, you will have no standard
to which to refer,
and thus no means of judging even those sensations
which you claim are false.
24.
If you reject absolutely any single sensation without stopping to
distinguish
between opinion about things awaiting confirmation and that
which is already
confirmed to be present, whether in sensation or in
feelings or in any application
of intellect to the presentations, you
will confuse the rest of your sensations
by your groundless opinion and
so you will reject every standard of truth.
If in your ideas based upon
opinion you hastily affirm as true all that awaits
confirmation as well
as that which does not, you will not avoid error, as
you will be
maintaining the entire basis for doubt in every judgment between
correct
and incorrect opinion.
25.
If you do not on every occasion refer each of your actions to the
ultimate
end prescribed by nature, but instead of this in the act of
choice or avoidance
turn to some other end, your actions will not be
consistent with your theories.
26.
All desires that do not lead to pain when they remain unsatisfied are
unnecessary,
but the desire is easily got rid of, when the thing desired
is difficult to
obtain or the desires seem likely to produce harm.
27.
Of all the means which wisdom acquires to ensure happiness throughout
the
whole of life, by far the most important is friendship.
28.
The same conviction which inspires confidence that nothing we have to
fear
is eternal or even of long duration, also enables us to see that in
the limited
evils of this life nothing enhances our security so much as
friendship.
29.
Of our desires some are natural and necessary, others are natural but
not
necessary; and others are neither natural nor necessary, but are due
to groundless
opinion.
30. Those natural
desires which entail no pain when unsatisfied, though
pursued with an intense
effort, are also due to groundless opinion; and
it is not because of their
own nature they are not got rid of but because
of man's groundless opinions.
31.
Natural justice is a pledge of reciprocal benefit, to prevent one man
from
harming or being harmed by another.
32.
Those animals which are incapable of making binding agreements with
one another
not to inflict nor suffer harm are without either justice or
injustice; and
likewise for those peoples who either could not or would
not form binding
agreements not to inflict nor suffer harm.
33.
There never was such a thing as absolute justice, but only agreements
made
in mutual dealings among men in whatever places at various times
providing
against the infliction or suffering of harm.
34.
Injustice is not an evil in itself, but only in consequence of the
fear which
is associated with the apprehension of being discovered by
those appointed
to punish such actions.
35.
It is impossible for a man who secretly violates the terms of the
agreement
not to harm or be harmed to feel confident that he will remain
undiscovered,
even if he has already escaped ten thousand times; for
until his death he
is never sure that he will not be detected.
36.
In general justice is the same for all, for it is something found
mutually
beneficial in men's dealings, but in its application to
particular places
or other circumstances the same thing is not
necessarily just for everyone.
37.
Among the things held to be just by law, whatever is proved to be of
advantage
in men's dealings has the stamp of justice, whether or not it
be the same
for all; but if a man makes a law and it does not prove to be
mutually advantageous,
then this is no longer just. And if what is
mutually advantageous varies and
only for a time corresponds to our
concept of justice, nevertheless for that
time it is just for those who
do not trouble themselves about empty words,
but look simply at the
facts.
38.
Where without any change in circumstances the things held to be just
by law
are seen not to correspond with the concept of justice in actual
practice,
such laws are not really just; but wherever the laws have
ceased to be advantageous
because of a change in circumstances, in that
case the laws were for that
time just when they were advantageous for the
mutual dealings of the citizens,
and subsequently ceased to be just when
they were no longer advantageous.
39.
The man who best knows how to meet external threats makes into one
family
all the creatures he can; and those he can not, he at any rate
does not treat
as aliens; and where he finds even this impossible, he
avoids all dealings,
and, so far as is advantageous, excludes them from
his life.
40.
Those who possess the power to defend themselves against threats by
their
neighbors, being thus in possession of the surest guarantee of
security, live
the most pleasant life with one another; and their
enjoyment of the fullest
intimacy is such that if one of them dies
prematurely, the others do not lament
his death as though it called for
pity.