“Some Athenians saw Epicurus and his ideas as a threat to social stability. A philosophy that set personal pleasure as life’s highest goal and that openly advocated self-interest could dissolve the glue they believed held the republic together: altruism.  Epicurus’s brand of self-centeredness, they argued, did not make for good citizenship”. (Travels with Epicurus, by Daniel Klein).

But this was a mis-reading of what Epicurus said. He advocated withdrawing from public life and thought society would be the better if everyone adopting a live-and-let-live attitude, doing no harm. “It is impossible”, he said, “to live wisely and well and justly without living a pleasant life”. The emphasis is upon the word “everyone”, whatever his or her gender, age or position in society. If everyone could live a pleasant life that would be ideal, but it was also impossible to achieve if every individual thought only of themselves, running roughshod over the interests and feelings of one’s neighbors. You have to have the peace of mind of knowing that you have been just, kind and thoughtful to others. Common sense? Well, yes.