Metrodorus the Autarch: a Theory and Practice of Self-Rule
Fourth Commentary on Metrodorus of Lampsacus
Metrodorus of Lampsacus, the co-founder of the Epicurean lineage of philosophy, was a preacher of autarchy—self-sufficiency and self-governance—and Philodemus of Gadara frequently cited him and appealed to his authority in this regard. Metrodorus wrote a book titled That our happiness depends more on ourselves than on external things. There, he said:
What is the good of the soul, if not the balanced condition of the flesh and the well-founded hope of keeping it.
This quote is paraphrased by Cicero when he said that Metrodorus defined pleasure as “a good bodily constitution and the reassurance that it will remain so”. Some translations say, “well constituted body”. This focus on the body reminds me a bit of Yang Chu, and based on it a case can be made for including some measure of bodily self-care—hygiene, exercise, etc.—as part of our hedonic regimen.
Metrodorus’ self-sufficiency is evident in Vatican Sayings 45 and 47, which are attributed to him by A. Körte. Here, autarchy is framed as reliance on oneself and not on external circumstances that are outside of our control, and preparedness against fate.
45. The study of nature does not create men who are fond of boasting and chattering or who show off the culture that impresses the many, but rather men who are strong and self-sufficient, and who take pride in their own personal qualities, not in those that depend on external circumstances.
47. I have anticipated you, Fortune, and entrenched myself against all your secret attacks. And we will not give ourselves up as captives to you or to any other circumstance; but when it is time for us to go, spitting contempt on life and on those who here vainly cling to it, we will leave life crying aloud in a glorious triumph-song that we have lived well.
The quiet, self-satisfied pride that Metrodorus praises is self-sufficient, internal, content, satisfied, and silent. It is not boastful and loud. It does not need external approval or admiration and does not require expression. We also learn that the study of nature produces a certain type of character, and that to take pride in our own personal qualities we must hold ourselves accountable.
The word translated as strong in VS 45 is "sobarous", which has been translated as "scaring birds away", "serious", "dignified", “imposing”, “impressive”, "thoughtful", respected", and "not easily moved by trivial things".
This focus on self-sufficiency extends to one’s own salvation. As we saw when we studied VS 41, the recognition of the simultaneity between the cause (activities of philosophy) and the effect (pleasures) is empowering because we are not victims or merely passive recipients of previous causes, but proactive creators of new causes and enjoyers of favorable effects here and now thanks to the correct practice of philosophy. This reliance on self rather than on fate is facilitated by a clear prolepsis of our causal responsibility, and ties to Epicurus’ version of the dichotomy of control in Letter to Menoeceus, Portion 133. We are defined by our present choices and rejections at least as much, if not more, than by our past and our luck.
Metrodorus was convinced that wisdom was rooted in the body. Plutarch either cites or paraphrases Metrodorus saying something along the lines that all sorts of beautiful and ingenious inventions of the soul were motivated by the pleasure of the belly and a good hope of procuring it. Cicero paraphrases this as “all the beautiful, wise and remarkable things” are motivated by the pleasures “of the flesh”.
Metrodorus the Economist
The biographer Diogenes Laertius referred to Metrodorus as a great administrator. Metrodorus’ book titled That our happiness depends more on ourselves than on external things must have contained, among his many arguments, instructions related to economics and on the importance of being prudently prepared for economic hardships. Philodemus later cites him frequently giving advice on how to apply hedonic calculus to choices and rejections related to economics.
"It's not easy for a man to make much money starting with little nor, once he makes it, to keep it. Thus, he's perhaps better off measuring what is advantageous to both acquisition and maintenance, so that he does not toil for the sake of possessions more than he enjoys them." - Philodemus of Gadara, On Economics, Column18
The economics—a sub-category under autarchy—must be addressed separately. Metrodorus had a materialist view of economics, but unlike Marx (who apparently was a determinist), Metrodorus was a non-determinist. While Marx has been interpreted as having made false predictions that were misleading and sometimes led to avoidance-worthy experiments, Metrodorus focused on the individuals’s prolepsis of causal responsibility and gave useful guidance concerning choices and rejections to his students, helping them to carry out hedonic calculus based on what was within their power to control. Also, unlike Marx (who led many to utopian idealism or ideology), Metrodorus gives a method or practice. Marx was political and concerned with the masses, Metrodorus was individual and communal.
“kai oikonomein kaj tois loipois oikeiomasi chresthai” - “and (one must) manage one’s household and one’s other affairs” - Metrodorus, Vatican Saying 41
In Vatican Saying 41 Metro says that the philosopher “must practice economics”. Most translators render this as “you must manage your household and your other affairs”, and most commentators of VS 41 focus on how we are to be practical and actively involved in the world, without paying too much attention to the specificity of the instructions regarding economic engagement.
My first observation on the middle portion of VS 41 is that Metrodorus recognizes that we have economic relations (and decision-making) both inside the home and outside it. And so there are two fields of practice in Metrodoran economics: one is private—related to the acquisition, management, and disposition of one’s property—the other one public or communal—related to our ways of earning a living and procuring our needs and wants.
Metrodorus wrote a book titled On Wealth, echoes of which we find in Philodemus’ own work by the same name (Peri Plouton) and in On Property Management (Peri Oikonomias). In this last work, Philodemus says that Metrodorus had demonstrated that “a good man is also a good administrator, and the bad man also a bad administrator”, and in Column XXVIII he says, in closing, that
“It is necessary to hand down a tradition of the most general principles and to outline many details in the treatises concerning the care and preservation of possessions, and chiefly in the treatise on wealth and poverty, the one on the luxurious and the frugal ways of life, the one on things to be chosen and to be avoided, and in any other treatises of this sort.”
Why does Philodemus say that it’s necessary to hand down outlines of our teachings on economics? Consistent with Principal Doctrine 29 (the doctrine of the hierarchy of desires), I believe that the reason why it’s necessary for each Epicurean to have their own Outline and Meleta on personal economics is because (except perhaps in the rare case of those who inherit great wealth) this is the only way for most of us to procure our natural and necessary desires. This does not define us as essentially homo economicus (that is, the social and psychological complexity of human behavior transcends mere economics), but it does indicate that some measure of education on economics is necessary to live a complete life.
Epicurus wrote a book On Lifestyles (also translated as On Ways of Living) which must have, to some extent, involved economics since different types of lifestyles and qualities of life discussed there had to be maintained financially and materially, and these considerations must be included in our choices and rejections. I imagine that this book evaluated the most choice-worthy and the most avoidance-worthy ways of living, and it would be useful for modern students to consider modern versions of available lifestyles—and attached hedonic and economic considerations—as part of our own meleta.
Philodemus reports that Metrodorus paid great attention to detail, and it seems that he looked at many case studies and frequently gave advice to disciples of the Garden concerning hedonic calculus in economic matters. In a previous essay, I distilled all of these reasonings into an Outline of the Epicurean Doctrines On Wealth. Any additional considerations on this subject will be found in that essay. I invite all students (as Philodemus did) to compile your own epitomes on economics.
