Continence is pleasure

In place of Academia a man with beard and chiton is speaking to three young whose names were Alcaeus Filisco and Phaedrus, and joined Apollodorus, that asked to Epicurus. “Are you atheist or no?”, Epicurus smiled and answered: “It is effect of slanders that commonly are said around me, because I was saying to them that above all you must consider the divinity as a living being blissful incorruptible, and you must not attribute them nothing that is contrary to immortality or contrary to blissfulness. The goods certainly exist but not as the plebs consider them, hence isn’t atheist who deny the opinions about the goods of plebs; because these aren’t knowledge but alone presumptions2; and Phaedrus: “What is your think about the death?” for this question Epicurus smiled and answered: “For this is stupid who says of scared from death, and no certainly because is come damn him, but because previewed become grief; in fact that presently doesn’t worries, when it is waited anguished us. The more horrible of hells is nothing to us, because rationally when we are life the death isn’t, but when it arrives we aren’t more, whereby nothing can worry us. When I can advise alone the indifference toward the death because so we don’t grief or worry, and our life continues. Ermarco from Mitilene asked: “The pleasure what do you think?”, and Epicurus: “Of pleasure we need when we grief to absence of it, and when we don’t grief the pleasure is to us indifferent; for this we declare that the pleasure is principle and end of happiness; because when we haven’t it the our condition is of worry, thereupon the pleasure must be constant, because we want suffer; also because we begin form it, every our choice is determined from consideration if this action bring to us the pleasure or grief.” Apollodorus asked: “Every pleasure is to us opportune or no?”, and Epicurus: “No certainly every pleasure, but we choose that are true pleasure, this is that enjoyment of a pleasure not be motive after of grief or pain, hence is necessary avoid a pleasure so that after is a major hell, and much griefs we preferred when we are sure that after it major pleasure is going to arrive; for this every pleasure is good to its nature, but not every pleasure we can consider beautiful, and so every dolor to its nature id hell, but not every dolor we must escape”, and Diogenes from Tarsio, other pupil that was joined short before asked: “Desire of pleasure is in every man, and the mankind searches always it, or not?”, and Epicurus gazing him: “We consider very good independence from desires, and not certainly because we must be content from scant, but alone because if we have short it is sufficient; in fact the frugal foods bring equal quantity of pleasure of sumptuous, when is lack the grief of need, and water and bread give the supreme pleasure when eats it who needs. When we say the sake is the pleasure, we don’t think the dissolute pleasures, as somebody or ignorant think, or they misunderstand, but it is don’t pain and grief. It is my advises and now you must spread to future generation and now thereabouts.”, and he goes away, and Alcaeus asked: “Where do you are going?”, Epicurus turn to him and: “I have end my life now you must continue my think, if it brings to you pleasure. Good bye”

Alessandro Lusana