Posts by Bryan

When we develop intense desires for what is unnecessary (οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον) -- and also not easy to get (οὐκ εὐπόριστον) -- we then have a problem that arises completely from our thoughts and not from any actual need.

Definitions set boundaries around particular characteristics.

From a certain angle, definitions (or "limits,") can only say what something is not -- and it is "examples" that say what something is.

Consider an ancient scholiast on Dionysius Thrax's Τέχνη Γραμματική (The Art of Grammar):

"And Epíkouros – although he used examples (αἱ ὑπογραφαί) all the time – he shows that limits (οἱ ὅροι) are more valuable, [because he used] limits instead of examples in his work of his natural philosophy lecture: while dividing everything into atom and void by using limits – and while saying that an atom is a solid body having no share of interposition with the void. Void is an intangible nature, that is, untouchable."

This inscription is in praise of Dicaearchus (brother of our Philōnídēs). Their father, also mentioned here, was also named Philōnídēs.

SGDI II 2677 - PHI Greek Inscriptions

It says the family is from Laodicea on-the-sea "Λαοδικέα τῶν ποτὶ θαλάσσαι."

Antiochus IV Epiphanes is famously mentioned in the Christian Bible and alluded to in the Tanakh. Our man Philōnídēs of Laodíkeia certainly interacted with him closely and was, in general, a long-standing friend of the Seleucid royal family.

To read a bit of the news from the time of Philōnídēs, we have Diodorus Siculus on Antiochus IV Epiphanes:

https://attalus.org/translate/diodorus34.html

Wikipedia says Philōnídēs is from "Laodicea in Syria" but P.Herc. 1044, fr. 45 says that, after leaving Athens:

"… during Philōnídēs’ voyage to Syria – having detoured homeward, he was planning to return into Caria (εἰς Καρία[ν]), so that he might not be away from his parents…"

(Syrian) Laodicea on-the-sea OR (Carian) Laodicea on-the-Lycus?

It seems that for many of the cells, the final sentence in Greek is placed into the next cell. A few examples:

The Cambridge edition conforms to the general sequence of the Loeb (except at 120, which it splits by placing 121 in between — though this is only a matter of numbering; the text remains in the same order). Using the Hicks/Loeb as the standard will work.

Most editors follow the same order, and those who have proposed changes to that order have lost the argument over time (and thus have only added unnecessary confusion). As far as I have seen, the order followed in this PDF is the one currently being published by Cambridge.

The ‘f’ issue is also occurring on my computer.

Great topic. I wish we had full access to pictures of all of O or Q. As we know, they both have, at least for books 4-6, titles and subtitles from a few hundred years after Lucretius' death. Smith's version of DRN does include these.

For example book six (from O) and five (from Q):

Yes I was happy to see you, TauPhi, did not follow Bailey's order for the letter to Herodotus. Giving little explanations why his translation is missing/moved in some places is the perfect way to deal with it.

This is exciting -- this is a brilliant and fun translation! You are bringing out a lot of different aspects and it is a joy looking over this!

For 91, I see "κατὰ μὲν τὸ πρὸς ἡμᾶς, according to what it is to us," as a contrast with "κατὰ δὲ τὸ καθ᾽ αὑτὸ, in relation to itself, or according to what it is in-and-of-itself." What do you think?

This is excellent, very clear and will certainly prove helpful. Although the idea is simple, I do not think I have seen it done before. A link to this should probably be on the main page, as it really has the essential texts, in a beautifully accessible format. Thank you!

This looks beautiful! There is an insignificant font disparity at 1-859 and 1-998, but the text is correctly matched.

One mismatch here:

We do have evidence of Epíkouros directly praising individual people. He dedicated books to his brothers, Neoklês, Chairédēmos, and Aristóbuolos, and wrote other books where the entire topic seems to have been praise, for examples his books Eurýlochos, Hēgēsiánax, Themísta, and Mētródōros.

If said to oneself, this could be a type of self-affirmation that feels similar to a prayer:

You possess an inherited impulse toward action.
You were well brought up by your parents,
You have added to this upbringing, your own proportionate self-control.
You are strong in body, insofar as is possible for a mortal.
You have set aside discussion concerning incidental matters.
You are diligent — especially in having separated
the disturbance of all desire
from what is in accordance with nature.

— Demetrius Laco, The Harms of Drifting Thought (P.Herc. 831) col. 15

First try for a possible ring variation. A version without the bubbling will look nice.

(Just throwing this in before I listen).

Cats exist. How do we know? For one, most people can see that they exist.

What is a cat? A living cat will have some necessary (συμβεβηκότα) qualities—characteristics that reveal what is universal (τὸ καθόλου) to all cats, such as being a mammal, having a head, and possessing a bone structure unique to cats.

You cannot assume anything about a cat you have not seen beyond qualities necessarily associated with any and every cat.

The anticipations are what we mentally sense before active thinking.

If you cannot imagine a cat without a particular quality, then that quality is part of the anticipation of a cat.

I wanted to highlight this section 19 from Lucian's "The Runaways" where he says, of hypocritical philosophers, (particularly the cynics):

"I will not tire you with a description of their drunken orgies; observe, however, that these are the men who preach against drunkenness and adultery and avarice and lewdness. Could any contrast be greater than that presented by their words and their deeds? They speak their detestation of flattery: a Gnathonides and a Struthias are less fulsome than they. They bid men tell the truth: yet their own tongues cannot move but to utter lies. To hear them, you would say they were at war with pleasure, and Epicurus their bitterest foe: yet nothing do they do but for pleasure's sake. Querulous, irritable, passionate as cradled babes, they are a derision to the beholder; the veriest trifle serves to move their ire, to bring the purple to their cheeks, ungoverned fury to their eyes, foam–call it rather venom–to their lips."

The Runaways | Fugitivi [The Lucian of Samosata Project]

From Cynicism to Christianity to Brahmanism and self-immolation. All new to me. Surprised Lucian mentions the Brahmans, "τους Βραχμανάς" by name (section 39).

From the Loeb edition: "Death of Peregrinus is an account of the life and death of a Cynic philosopher who for a time in his early life went over to Christianity, practicing it to the point of imprisonment under a very tolerant administration, and after returning to Cynicism became in his old age so enamored of Indic ideas and precedents that he cremated himself at Olympia, just after the games of A.D. 165, even as Calanus had done at Susa in the presence of Alexander the Great and as Zarmarus had done at Athens, after initiation into the mysteries, in the presence of Augustus.

Writing soon after the event, of which he was a witness, Lucian makes his main theme the story of what went on at Olympia."

Wow! Excellent idea for the reading! In all the versions I’ve seen lately that read the T.D., I have not heard a version that used two voices. Kalosyni and Joshua, you both really did a superb job. THANK YOU!

Following the Democritus' zombies, I was expecting ghosts, and at 1.13.29:

"they had no grasp of a reasoned system of causation and were influenced by the frequent sight of apparitions, mostly seen in the hours of night, to think that those who had departed from life still lived." Which is very reminiscent of the apparitions Lucretius talks about.

But the necromancy surprised me! Cicero uses the greek ἡ νεκυομαντεία, nekyomanteia. 1.16.36, and says his friend Appius practiced the rituals, but the ghosts were uncommunicative. "none the less they wish the phantoms to speak and this cannot take place without tongue and palate."

Cicero even gives a sample of the Latin.

"Unde animae excitantur obscura umbra aperto ex ostio Altae Acheruntis, falso sanguine, mortuorum imagines!"

Please never say that three times by candlelight.