Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers

​The books of Metrodorus are the following: Against the Physicians, in three books. On Sensations. Against Timocrates. On Magnanimity. On Epicurus' Illness. Against the Dialecticians. Against the Sophists, in nine books. On the Road to Wisdom. On Change. On Wealth. Against Democritus. On Noble Birth. There was also Polyaenus, son of Athenodorus, of Lampsacus, a fair-minded and friendly man, as Philodemus and his circle say. And there was Hermarchus, son of Agemortus, of Mytilene, who succeeded him; he was the son of a poor father and initially devoted himself to rhetoric. The following very fine books of his are also in circulation:

​Epistolary Writings on Empedocles, in twenty-two books. On the Branches of Knowledge. Against Plato. Against Aristotle. He died of paralysis, having been an able man. There were also Leonteus of Lampsacus likewise, and his wife Themista, to whom Epicurus also wrote; furthermore, Colotes and Idomeneus, themselves also Lampsacenes. These were indeed eminent men, among whom was also Polystratus, who succeeded Hermarchus; whom Dionysius succeeded; and whom Basilides succeeded. Apollodorus, known as the "Garden Tyrant," also became eminent, who composed over four hundred books; and two Ptolemies of Alexandria, the "Black" and the "White"; and Zeno of Sidon, a hearer of Apollodorus, a prolific writer;

​and Demetrius, surnamed the Laconian; Diogenes of Tarsus, who composed the Selected Lectures; and Orion, and others whom the genuine Epicureans call sophists. There were also three other men named Epicurus: the son of Leonteus and Themista; another a Magnesian; and a fourth a fencing-master. Epicurus was exceedingly prolific, surpassing everyone in the quantity of his books; for the rolls amount to around three hundred. In them there is not a single citation from outside written, but they are Epicurus' own utterances. Chrysippus rivaled him in prolific writing, as Carneades also says when calling him a "parasite of books"; for if Epicurus wrote anything, Chrysippus was eager to write just as much.

​And for this reason he also frequently wrote the same things and whatever came into his head, leaving them uncorrected on account of his haste; and his citations are so numerous that his books are filled with them alone, just as can be found in Zeno and in Aristotle. Such and so great were the writings of Epicurus, of which the best are the following: On Nature, thirty-seven books. On Atoms and the Void. On Love. Epitome of the Works against the Physicists. Against the Megarians. Problems. Principal Doctrines. On Choices and Avoidances. On the Chief End. On the Criterion, or the Canon. Chaeredemus. On the Gods. On Piety.

​Hegesianax. On Ways of Life, four books. On Just Dealing. Neocles to Themista. Symposium. Eurylochus to Metrodorus. On Seeing. On the Angle in the Atom. On Touch. On Fate. Opinions on the Passions, against Timocrates. Prognostic. Exhortation. On Images. On Representation. Aristobulus. On Music. On Justice and the Other Virtues. On Gifts and Gratitude. Polymedes. Timocrates, three books. Metrodorus, five books. Antidorus, two books. Opinions on Diseases, against Mithres. Callistolas. On Kingship. Anaximenes. Letters. Now, what his views are in them I will attempt to set forth by quoting three of his letters, in which he has summarized his whole philosophy;

​and we shall also append his Principal Doctrines and whatever sayings have seemed worthy of selection, so that you may thoroughly learn the man from every side and know how to judge him. The first letter he writes to Herodotus, 〈which is on physics; the second to Pythocles,〉 which is on celestial phenomena; the third to Menoeceus, and in it are the matters concerning ways of life. We must begin, then, from the first, having said a few preliminary words about the division of philosophy according to him. It is divided, therefore, into three parts: the Canonic, the Physical, and the Ethical.