Fill Life To The Rim – With Pleasure

Here is an illustration of Lucretius’ vessel analogy in Book 6 that may hit home with my American friends of a certain age. With Pleasure, why be ascetic and settle for half a cup, when you can work to fill life with as much pleasure as possible under your personal circumstances, and without unnecessary pain, if you act intelligently?

Fill it to the rim ….

You might think also about this from Torquatus in On Ends: “In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided.”

Yes, my friends, you are correct. I believe the concept of “painlessness” in Epicurean philosophy is so simple, so clear, and so straightforward, that I believe its essential principle can be fully explained in a decaffeinated coffee commercial!