Peace and Safety for Your 20th of November!

Peace and Safety to the Epicureans among us, no matter where you might be!  As we remember Epicurus and the original pathfinders of Epicureanism, here’s a thought for the day, courtesy of Lucretius, via the Humphries translation of De Rerum Natura:

When human life, all too conspicuous, lay foully groveling on earth, weighed down by grim Religion looming from the skies,
Horribly threatening mortal men, a man,  a Greek, first raised his mortal eyes bravely against this menace.
No report of gods, no lightning-flash, no thunder-peal made this man cower, but drove him all the more
With passionate manliness of mind and will to be the first to spring the tight-barred gates of Nature’s hold asunder.
So his force, his vital force of mind, a conqueror beyond the flaming ramparts of the world
Explored the vast immensities of space with wit and wisdom, and came back to us triumphant,
Bringing news of what can be and what cannot, limits and boundaries, the borderline, the bench mark, set forever.
Religion, so, is trampled underfoot, and by his victory we reach the stars.

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As Seneca recorded:  Sic fac omnia tamquam spectet Epicurus!  So do all things as though watching were Epicurus!

And as Philodemus wrote: “I will be faithful to Epicurus, according to whom it has been my choice to live.“