Essay · By Stephen Pasquini · October 6, 2026
Read the first few letters of Seneca and you’ll notice something odd. Seneca, a Stoic, keeps quoting a philosopher from a rival school: Epicurus. Nearly every early letter ends with one of his sayings. So who was Epicurus, why was he supposedly the “enemy,” and why did Seneca love him anyway?
Who was Epicurus?
Epicurus (341–270 BC) was a Greek philosopher, born on the island of Samos to Athenian parents. Around 306 BC he bought a house with a garden just outside Athens and founded a school there. It became known simply as the Garden, and unusually for the time, it welcomed women and enslaved people as well as men.
The Garden was less a lecture hall than a community of friends who lived simply and studied together. Epicurus wrote a huge amount, though only a few letters, sayings and fragments survive. His ideas spread across the Greek and Roman world for centuries; the Roman poet Lucretius later turned them into a famous poem, On the Nature of Things.
What did Epicurus teach?
Epicurus is famous, and often misunderstood, for saying that pleasure is the goal of life. That’s where we get the word “epicurean,” meaning someone who loves fine food and wine. But Epicurus meant almost the opposite.
- Pleasure means peace. The highest pleasure, he taught, is simply the absence of pain in the body and of anxiety in the mind, a calm state the Greeks called ataraxia.
- Keep it simple. Bread, water, a few good friends and freedom from fear were enough. Luxury, he warned, only creates new cravings.
- Friendship above all. He believed friendship was among the greatest goods of a happy life.
- Don’t fear the gods or death. He taught that the universe is made of atoms, that the gods don’t meddle in human lives, and that death is simply the end of feeling, so it’s nothing to fear.
- Live quietly. Stay out of politics and public ambition when you can.
Why were Stoics and Epicureans rivals?
The two schools grew up in Athens at about the same time and disagreed on big questions. Stoics believed virtue, not pleasure, is the only true good. They believed the universe is ordered by a divine reason, not random atoms, and that good people should take part in public life, not withdraw from it. For centuries the two schools argued, sometimes bitterly.
So when Seneca, a committed Stoic and a powerful public figure, quotes Epicurus again and again, it’s a bit like a lifelong fan of one sports team quoting the other team’s coach. He knew it would raise eyebrows.
Why Seneca quoted him anyway
Seneca explains himself early, in Letter 2:
“I’m in the habit of crossing over even into the enemy’s camp, not as a deserter, but as a scout.”
— Seneca, Letter 2
He had a simple principle: a good idea is a good idea, whoever said it. In Letter 12 he imagines Lucilius objecting, “Epicurus said that,” and answers that he’ll keep quoting him anyway, so that people who care more about who said something than what was said will learn that “the best ideas belong to everyone.”
There was probably another reason too. Lucilius, his friend and reader, was drawn to Epicurus. Seneca meets him where he is, using Epicurus’s best lines as a bridge toward Stoicism.
Epicurus’s best lines, as Seneca quoted them
Many of the early letters end with a short saying, a little gift for Lucilius to think about. Again and again, it comes from Epicurus:
“Poverty brought into line with the law of nature is great wealth.”
— Epicurus, quoted by Seneca in Letter 4
“If you live according to nature, you will never be poor; if you live according to opinion, you will never be rich.”
— Epicurus, quoted by Seneca in Letter 16
“If you want to make Pythocles rich, don’t add to his money — subtract from his desires.”
— Epicurus, quoted by Seneca in Letter 21
“Do everything as if Epicurus were watching you.”
— Epicurus, quoted by Seneca in Letter 25
That last one is Seneca passing on Epicurus’s own advice: choose a person you admire and live as if they could see you. Seneca liked it so much he applied it to himself, telling Lucilius in Letter 32 to live as if Seneca were watching.
Where Seneca disagreed
Seneca wasn’t a secret Epicurean. In Letter 9, he takes on Epicurus directly over friendship. Epicurus had said a wise person wants friends so there will be someone to sit beside them when they’re sick or help them in need. Seneca thinks that’s too transactional: a wise person makes friends for the sake of the friendship itself, to have someone to care for. Elsewhere in the letters he rejects pleasure as the highest good and insists on virtue instead.
Seneca also defends Epicurus from his own fans. In Letter 21, he says some people run to Epicurus for the wrong reasons, hoping his talk of pleasure will give them cover for their vices, when in fact Epicurus lived a strict and simple life. Seneca wants them to see that whichever school you follow, you still have to live honorably.
Why it matters
Seneca’s use of Epicurus says something about the kind of thinker he was: open-minded, practical and more interested in what helps than in whose team is winning. In an age of tribal arguments, that might be one of his most useful lessons. Take wisdom wherever you find it, even from the other side.
See Seneca’s “scouting trips” for yourself in Letter 2, Letter 4, Letter 9 and Letter 21. To meet the friend he was writing to, read Who Was Lucilius?
Frequently asked questions
Who was Epicurus?
Epicurus (341–270 BC) was a Greek philosopher who founded a school in Athens called the Garden. He taught that the goal of life is pleasure, understood as freedom from pain and anxiety, achieved through simple living, friendship and freedom from fear of the gods and death.
Why does Seneca quote Epicurus so often?
Seneca believed good ideas belong to everyone, whatever school they come from. He also wrote to a friend, Lucilius, who was drawn to Epicurus, and used Epicurus’s best sayings as a bridge to Stoic ideas, especially in Letters 1–30.
What is the difference between Stoicism and Epicureanism?
Stoics see virtue as the only true good, believe the universe is guided by reason, and encourage public duty. Epicureans see pleasure (peace of mind) as the goal, see the universe as atoms and chance, and prefer a quiet private life. Both value self-control and freedom from fear.
Does “epicurean” mean someone who loves luxury?
In modern English it often does, but Epicurus himself lived simply and warned against luxury. His idea of pleasure was calm and contentment, not indulgence.
Go deeper
The Penguin Classics selection of Seneca’s letters. The best paperback to start with.
Seneca’s essays on tranquility and the shortness of life, plus letters.
One short Stoic passage and reflection for every day of the year.
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