Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 205-210).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 205-210).

The discovery of Philodemus' library was a considerable contribution to our knowledge of the Epicurean philosophy. It was excavated two centuries ago at Herculaneum, where the Epicureans settled their school in the first century B.C. The library contains a large number of papyri, among which are works of Philodemus; these documents on religion, logic, and morality, as expounded by the Epicureans. Until the present, such aspects of that singular philosophy were known only from a few testimonia of ancient critics, namely, Diogenes Laertius, Sextus Empiricus, and Cicero. At present, the discovery of the treatises of Philodemus allows us to comprehend thoroughly not only the Epicurean doctrines, but also their intentions and aims. The works of Philodemus were published for the first time at the beginning of the 20th century. Since that time they have been sadly neglected by scholars, with the exception of some Ph.D. dissertations which treat of some parts of Philodemus' philosophical and poetical works. A large part of his works, however, still remains unknown to most classicists. Recently, a new interest in the Philodemian corpus has arisen among classical philologists. I became acquainted with Philodemus' philosophical treatises during the course which I took last winter with Professor H. Jones, in which we studied the De rerum Natura of Lucretius. An assignment, Philodemus as a philosopher and poet, stimulated me to engage in a study of his moral treatises, and more generally of the Epicurean philosophy. In this thesis I intend to present Philodemus' views on the role of frankness in the life of the Epicurean; his observations concerning the life of practicality, resourcefulness, and prudent household management; and his thoughts on the nature of death. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

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The following is a new edition of PHerc. 698 cr. 3-4, including an introduction, English translation and commentary. An in-line reprint of PHerc. 19, including a new English translation, is also included for continuity of thought and language.

Although the Epicurean ethical system is fundamentally egoistic and hedonistic, it attributes a surprisingly significant role to friendship. Even so, I argue that traditional discussions of Epicurean friendship fail to adequately account for the value (or pleasure) of individual friends. In this thesis I present an amended notion of Epicurean friendship that better accounts for all of the pleasure friends afford. However, the success of my project requires rejecting an Epicurean ethical principle. Because of this, I explore textual evidence both in favor and against the amended notion I propose and the problematic ethical principle. After arguing against the problematic ethical principle and dispelling additional objections to my project, I conclude that Epicureans should endorse the amended notion of friendship I have developed.

Thesis (M.A.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Humanities, Classics, and Comparative Literature, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 79-83).

P. Herc. 1570 is an unedited papyrus extant in seven pieces that together measure ca. 1.6 m. long; these are contained in five frames in the Officina dei Papiri Ercolanesi “Marcello Gigante” at the Biblioteca Nazionale “Vittorio Emanuele III&rduo; in Naples, Italy. Like many of the Herculaneum papyri, P. Herc. 1570 has remained unedited largely because of the great difficulty with which traces of letters can be discerned on its surface. It was unrolled more than fifty years after its discovery, as one of ca. 1,100 papyri that were unearthed during the excavation of first-century Herculaneum (1752-1754); but it was a mere artifact, at best, for 110 years, before it was first investigated for its literary content; and since that time 90 more years have passed, with little progress in reading its text, until the recent multispectral images of the papyrus-fragments opened a door to substantial new readings. Via these images, the dark letter-strokes can now be seen in dramatic contrast to the dark papyrus-surface, and this formerly ‘illegible’ papyrus can now be edited much more fully. Pcc. 4-6b comprise the most central part of the roll, and thus reveal the concluding columns of writing for the treatise contained on its surface. On these pieces, ten columns can be seen in breadth and height, and five other columns can be either seen in part or inferred entirely. The parts of these columns that give sense reveal an ethical (economic) treatise that seems to discuss poverty and wealth in light of death, physiologia, friendship, oeconomia, frank speech, respect and contempt, and the necessary vs. the frivolous. Reference is made a few times to Epicurus, and mention is also made of a Phaedrus. Based on vocabulary and thematic content, and by ‘time-honoured convention,’ this work may be ascribed to Philodemus as one book from his multi-volume work De divitiis, sometimes called De divitiis et povertate, of which P. Herc. 163 contains Book 1 and P. Herc. 209 may contain another. And if the text truly refers to Phaedrus, head of the Garden from 75 BC until 70 BC, then Philodemus is the most likely author; for he lived thirty years after Phaedrus' death and also wrote a vast majority of the works among the Herculaneum papyri.

No description available.

The presentation of pietas in Lucretius has often been overlooked since he dismisses all religious practice, but when we consider the poem’s overall theme of growth and decay, a definition for pietas emerges. For humans, pietas is the commitment to maintaining the foedera naturae, “nature’s treaties.” Humans display pietas by procreating and thereby promoting their own atomic movements into the future. In the “Hymn to Venus,” Lucretius uses animals as role models for this aspect of human behavior because they automatically reproduce come spring. In the “Attack on Love,” Lucretius criticizes romantic love because it fails to promote the foedera naturae of the family. Lucretius departs from Epicurus by expressing a concern for the family’s endurance into the future, or for however long natura will allow. It becomes clear that Lucretius sees humans as bound to their communities since they must live together to perpetuate the foedera naturae of the family. / text