![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() These, along with the unfinished, book-length poem De Rerum Natura by his Roman admirer Lucretius and the dialogue On Moral Ends by his Roman critic Cicero-both of whom lived three centuries after him-provide nearly all we know about Epicureanism. All we have of his own words are four letters to friends and some collections of quotations. The loss of Epicurus’s writings puts Austin at a disadvantage, though. That’s why it’s so fitting-and so welcome-that Oxford University Press’s new series of “Guides to the Good Life” would include Emily Austin’s volume exploring the ideas of this oft-neglected thinker. He rejected mysticism in favor of an atomic theory of matter and urged people to jettison religious morality in favor of a secularism that focused on living a fulfilling life on Earth. ![]() What little we know about him shows that Epicurus was among history’s greatest advocates of reason and happiness. Most probably were destroyed by medieval Christian monks who thought his views incompatible with their own. The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus is said to have written four hundred books on subjects ranging from physics to morality, but almost all his writings are lost today. ![]()
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