rean is not
founded upon the idea of death, for, considering the miseries of life,
his sovereign good must be at the end of it. Believe me, if Horace and
Petronius had viewed it as painted, they would never have accepted
Epicurus as their master in the science of pleasure. The piety for the
gods attributed to him, is no less ridiculous than the mortification
of the senses. These slothful gods, of whom there was nothing to be
hoped or feared; these impotent gods who did not deserve the labor and
fatigue attendant upon their worship!

Let no one say that worshipers went to the temple through fear of
displeasing the magistrates, and of scandalizing the people, for they
would have scandalized them less by refusing to assist in their
worship, than shocked them by writings which destroyed the established
gods, or at least ruined the confidence of the people in their
protection.

But you ask me: What is your opinion of Epicurus? You believe neither
his friends nor his enemies, neither his adversaries nor his
partisans. What is the judgment you have formed?

I believe Epicurus was a very wise philosopher, who at times and on
certain occasions loved the pleasure of repose or the pleasure of
movement. From this difference in the grade of voluptuousness has
sprung all the reputation accorded him. Timocrates and his other
opponents, attacked him on account of his sensual pleasures; those who
defended him, did not go beyond his spiritual voluptuousness. When the
former denounced him for the expense he was at in his repasts, I am
persuaded that the accusation was well founded. When the latter
expatiated upon the small quantity of cheese he required to have
better cheer than usual, I believe they did not lack reason. When they
say he philosophized with Leontium, they say well; when they say that
Epicurus diverted himself with her, they do not lie. According to
Solomon, there is a time to laugh and a time to weep; according to
Epicurus, there is a time to be sober and a time to be sensual. To go
still further than that, is a man uniformly voluptuous all his life?

Religiously speaking, the greatest libertine is sometimes the most
devout; in the study of wisdom, the most indulgent in pleasures
sometimes become the most austere. For my own part, I view Epicurus
from a different standpoint in youth and health, than when old and
infirm.

Ease and tranquillity, these comforts of the infirm and slothful, can
not be better expressed th