1001Philosophers

Epicurus vs Marcus Aurelius

Epicurus and Marcus Aurelius represent the two competing Hellenistic accounts of how a person should live. Marcus read Epicurus and engaged him at points in the Meditations, often respectfully but always against the grain.

At a glance

EpicurusMarcus Aurelius
Dates341 BC – 270 BC121 – 180
NationalityGreekRoman
EraAncientAncient
Movements Epicureanism, Hellenistic, Ancient Greek Philosophy Stoicism, Hellenistic
Profile Epicurus → Marcus Aurelius →

Where they agree

Both treated philosophy as a discipline for becoming undisturbed in the face of fortune, both held that fear of death and superstitious fear of the gods are major sources of human suffering, and both taught that the wise person can be largely unmoved by external misfortune.

Where they disagree

Epicurus identified the highest good with stable pleasure achieved through moderation and friendship; the gods exist but do not concern themselves with us; the soul is mortal; political life is a source of disturbance to be avoided. Marcus held that the highest good is virtue exercised in accordance with the rational order of the cosmos; the gods govern the whole; the soul is a fragment of the cosmic reason; and one's station — for him, the burdens of empire — is to be embraced as one's portion of nature's allotment.

Representative quotes

Epicurus

  • “It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and well and justly, and it is impossible to live wisely and well and justly without living pleasantly.”

    Οὐκ ἔστιν ἡδέως ζῆν ἄνευ τοῦ φρονίμως καὶ καλῶς καὶ δικαίως, οὐδὲ φρονίμως καὶ καλῶς καὶ δικαίως ἄνευ τοῦ ἡδέως. ὅτῳ δὲ τοῦτο μὴ ὑπάρχει ἐξ οὗ ζῆν φρονίμως, καὶ καλῶς καὶ δικαίως ὑπάρχει, οὐκ ἔστι τοῦτον ἡδέως ζῆν.

  • “ἄφοβον ὁ θεός, ἀνύποπτον ὁ θάνατος, καὶ τἀγαθὸν μὲν εὔκτητον, τὸ δὲ δεινὸν εὐεκκαρτέρητον.”

    Don't fear god , Don't worry about death ; What is good is easy to get, and What is terrible is easy to endure. (tr. D. S. Hutchinson, 1994 ) The Tetrapharmakos , or "four-part cure", a summary of the first four Principal Doctrines . Composed by an unidentified Epicurean philosopher ( Usener 1887:69 ); reported by Philodemus , P.Herc. 1005, IV.10–14.

  • “Don't fear god , Don't worry about death ; What is good is easy to get, and What is terrible is easy to endure. (tr. D. S. Hutchinson, 1994 ) The Tetrapharmakos , or "four-part cure", a summary of the first four Principal Doctrines . Composed by an unidentified Epicurean philosopher ( Usener 1887:69 ); reported by Philodemus , P.Herc. 1005, IV.10–14.”

    ἄφοβον ὁ θεός, ἀνύποπτον ὁ θάνατος, καὶ τἀγαθὸν μὲν εὔκτητον, τὸ δὲ δεινὸν εὐεκκαρτέρητον.

Marcus Aurelius

  • “Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.”

    Μηκέθ᾽ ὅλως περὶ τοῦ οἷόν τινα εἶναι τὸν ἀγαθὸν ἄνδρα διαλέγεσθαι, ἀλλὰ εἶναι τοιοῦτον. | X, 16

  • “The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.”

    The universe is flux, life is opinion.

  • “Confine yourself to the present.”

    VII, 29

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