Correspondence · Essential works
Letter to Herodotus
Ἐπιστολὴ πρὸς Ἡρόδοτον
A summary of Epicurean physics addressed to a disciple. It sets out the principles: nothing comes from nothing or perishes into nothing; the whole consists of bodies and void; compound bodies are made of indivisible atoms, of varied though not infinite shapes, moving ceaselessly at equal speed; there are infinitely many worlds. It explains perception through the images (eidola) that flow from things, the bodily nature of the soul and its dispersal at death, and ends by showing that the study of celestial phenomena serves to free us from fear, not to foretell.
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Authorship note
Authentic. Preserved in full by Diogenes Laertius (X 35–83), with ancient scholia referring to the books of On Nature and to the "Larger Epitome". The letter presents itself as a compendium for those unable to study the longer writings.
Editions and translations
Editions in your language first, without hiding the others. Each with its cover and its store.
English
The Epicurus Reader: Selected Writings and Testimonia
Hackett Publishing, 1994
Translation: Brad Inwood y L. P. Gerson
ISBN 9780872202412
Introducción de D. S. Hutchinson.
Epicurus
Epicurus: The Extant Remains
The Conscious LibraryEpicurus: The Extant Remains
Clarendon Press (ed. digital en Internet Archive), 1926
Translation: Cyril Bailey
Texto griego y traducción inglesa; dominio público en EE. UU. (publicado en 1926), no en la UE hasta 2028 (Bailey murió en 1957).
Epicurus
Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, Book X
The Conscious LibraryLives of the Eminent Philosophers, Book X
Wikisource (trad. de R. D. Hicks, Loeb, 1925), 1925
Translation: R. D. Hicks
Dominio público (Hicks murió en 1929).
Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Volume II: Books 6–10 (Loeb Classical Library 185)
Harvard University Press (Loeb Classical Library), 1925
Translation: R. D. Hicks
ISBN 9780674992047
Edición bilingüe griego-inglés; el libro X contiene los textos de Epicuro.
Español
Epicurus
Los diez libros de Diógenes Laercio sobre las vidas, opiniones y sentencias de los filósofos más ilustres, tomo II
The Conscious LibraryLos diez libros de Diógenes Laercio sobre las vidas, opiniones y sentencias de los filósofos más ilustres, tomo II
Imprenta Real (ed. digital en Internet Archive), 1792
Translation: José Ortiz y Sanz
Dominio público; incluye el libro X.
Obras completas
Cátedra (Letras Universales), 1995
ISBN 9788437613307
Reúne las tres cartas, las Máximas capitales, las Sentencias vaticanas y fragmentos; Open Library registra la reimpresión de 2004. Traductor no comprobado en catálogo.
Obras
Tecnos (Clásicos del Pensamiento), 2007
ISBN 9788430942572
Registro de Open Library de 2007; traductor no comprobado en catálogo.
Vidas y opiniones de los filósofos ilustres
Alianza Editorial, 2013
Translation: Carlos García Gual
ISBN 9788420676975
Traducción completa de Diógenes Laercio; el libro X contiene las cartas, las Máximas y el testamento.
Griego antiguo
Epicurus
Epicurea (ed. Hermann Usener)
The Conscious LibraryEpicurea (ed. Hermann Usener)
Teubner (ed. digital en Internet Archive), 1887
Edición crítica clásica de textos y testimonios; dominio público.
Other works by Epicurus
- Letter to Menoeceus
- Letter to Pythocles
- Principal Doctrines (Kyriai Doxai)
- Vatican Sayings
- On Nature · 300
- Last Will · 270
- Letter to Idomeneus (on his last day) · 270
- Letters (fragments)
- On Atoms and Void
- On Love
- Epitome of Objections to the Physicists
- Against the Megarians
- Problems
- On Choice and Avoidance
- On the End
- On the Criterion, or Canon
- Chaeredemus
- On the Gods
- On Piety
- Hegesianax
- On Lives (4 books)
- On Just Dealing
- Neocles, to Themista
- Symposium
- Eurylochus, to Metrodorus
- On Vision
- On the Angle in the Atom
- On Touch
- On Fate
- Opinions on the Feelings, against Timocrates
- Prognostic
- Exhortation (Protrepticus)
- On Images
- On Presentation
- Aristobulus
- On Music
- On Justice and the Other Virtues
- On Gifts and Gratitude
- Polymedes
- Timocrates (3 books)
- Metrodorus (5 books)
- Antidorus (2 books)
- Opinions on Diseases, to Mithres
- Callistolas
- On Kingship
- Anaximenes
- On Rhetoric
- Larger Epitome
Sources
- Diógenes Laercio. Vidas y opiniones de los filósofos ilustres, libro X (Epicuro: vida, testamento, cartas a Heródoto, Pitocles y Meneceo, Máximas capitales), s. III d. C. Trad. inglesa de R. D. Hicks, Loeb Classical Library 185, 1925 (Wikisource en inglés); texto griego en Wikisource griega; trad. de C. D. Yonge, Bohn, 1853 (Project Gutenberg n.º 57342).
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