Saturday, May 13, 2023
Epicureans and Christians
Ronald Syme, "Praesens the Friend of Hadrian," in his Roman Papers, V (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988), pp. 563-578 (at 577):
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In the second century, sporadic evidence brings Epicureans into close proximity with Christians. Atheists both, so Alexander, the false prophet declared.90 The features they exhibited in common are numerous enough. Both denied the gods, divination, the science of the Chaldaeans; and both asserted freedom of the will, the primacy of friendship, community of living, the practice of charity. Finally, they rejected distinctions of birth, wealth, or rank.
90 Lucian, Alex. 25.
