Diogenes Laertius
The Epicurean wise man — what he will and will not do
Βίοι καὶ γνῶμαι τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ εὐδοκιμησάντων 10.117–121 · The doctrines go back to Epicurus (341-270 BCE) and his school, and the sources Diogenes cites are Epicurus's own lost books and a later Epicurean epitome. Diogenes Laertius compiled the Lives roughly five hundred years later, usually placed in the first half of the third century CE.
Between two of Epicurus's letters, Diogenes Laertius puts down a list of what the Epicurean wise man will and will not do, and it is stranger than the modern word 'epicurean' suggests. He will not marry or raise a family, except sometimes. He will not go into politics. He will feel more than other people, and cry out under torture, and still be happy. He will like the countryside, look after his property, earn money by his wisdom only if he is poor, and pay court to a king if he has to. He will not punish his slaves. He will die for a friend. Five sections, and the most compact picture of the Epicurean life that survives.
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Robert Drew Hicks (Q7343637, 1850-1929) translated the Lives for the Loeb Classical Library in 1925, and Perseus serves it under a CC BY-SA licence, which is why this text can be published here at all. The English is plain and close, and it tracks the Greek clause by clause. This passage is textually difficult and Hicks's English smooths over it. Several sentences are corrupt or disputed in the Greek, and editors disagree in places about whether a negative belongs, which reverses the claim. Hicks prints one choice without signalling the doubt. Where a note turns on the exact claim, the Greek is the thing to check.