The First Ancestor of the Twentiers

First Commentary on Metrodorus of Lampsacus

When he had already survived by many years his friend Metrodorus, (Epicurus) added in a letter these last words, proclaiming with thankful appreciation the friendship that had existed between them: "So greatly blest were Metrodorus and I that it has been no harm to us to be unknown, and almost unheard of, in this well-known land of Greece." Is it not true, therefore, that men did not discover him until after he had ceased to be? Has not his renown shone forth, for all that?

Metrodorus also admits this fact in one of his letters: that Epicurus and he were not well known to the public; but he declares that after the lifetime of Epicurus and himself any man who might wish to follow in their footsteps would win great and ready-made renown. - Seneca, Letter 79 to Lucilius, 15-16

At the Society of Friends of Epicurus, we celebrate our monthly Eikas (feast of the Twentieth) by raising a toast to the memory of Epicurus and Metrodorus, but (although many are familiar with Epicurus) very few people know much about who our main co-founder was. Still, Metrodorus of Lampsacus is the most successful, accomplished, celebrated, and best-known disciple of Epicurus, his closest and most intimate friend, first among the Kathegemones (Guides), and first among the Twentier ancestors—since he died prior to Epicurus by almost eight years, and the first Eikas were celebrated in his memory by Epicurus. In my review of How one can be a god, I mentioned Philodemus of Gadara’s “hagia trapeza” (sacred table) passage, and there I speculated on whether Metro’s tombstone was near the Kepos. If it was, this would mean that the very first Eikas probably was a sacred meal and libation offered at the tombstone of Metrodorus, as was the custom in the cthonic cults.

Hero cults and ancestral reverence traditions were often highly local, since they were distinguished from Olympian cults by centering around tombstones while offerings to the Olympians had to be presented to the heavens. Since Epicurus celebrated Eikas originally in his memory (in addition to praising him often while he lived, as we will see), this means that Epicurus considered Metrodorus blessed and worshiped him like a god or hero with a monthly cult, and that Metro is the first ancestor of the Twentiers.

Since the monthly feast of Eikas is tied to continuity, transmission, and preservation of our collective memory, one way to think about Epicurus’ establishment of Eikas in memory of Metrodorus is to consider that Epicurus was pointing the finger at Metrodorus and saying: “HE is the reason why these doctrines are worth preserving, why this philosophical transmission deserves to continue, and HIS LIFE is the proof that these doctrines help us to live pleasantly and correctly, with his laughter, his loyalty to friends, his self-sufficiency and other virtues”.

For all these reasons, in the essay series that follows, I will explore the legacy of Metrodorus of Lampsacus, who was called “another Epicurus” and a Sofos (Sage) on his own right.

Most of what we know of Metrodorus of Lampsacus is found in Book 10:18-24 of Diogenes Laertius’ Lives of Eminent Philosophers. In Portion 22, we learn that Metrodorus was the son of Atheneus and Sande of Lampsacus, and from the time of his conversion to philosophy he was inseparable from Epicurus except for six months of his life. Seneca, in Letter 52 to Lucilius, 3-4, reports that Epicurus counted Metrodorus among the second class of philosophers “who need outside help, who will not proceed unless someone leads the way, but who will follow faithfully”.

He lived to be 53 years old and died almost eight years prior to Epicurus. According to Laertius, Metrodorus was known for his dauntless courage during difficulties and death, and in On Death, Philodemus reports that it was Epicurus who cared for Metrodorus during his sickness, and that Metrodorus died during the reign of Damocles.

Metrodorus and the Birth of the Epicurean Tribe

Ye lonesome ones of to-day, ye seceding ones, ye shall one day be a people: out of you who have chosen yourselves, shall a chosen people arise, and out of it the Superman. Verily, a place of healing shall the earth become! And already is a new odor diffused around it, a salvation-bringing odor—and a new hope! - Friedrich Nietzsche, in Thus Spake Zarathustra, 1.XXII

In Portion 19, Laertius reports that Metrodorus had a son named Epicurus and an unnamed daughter. Both of his children are mentioned by Epicurus in his Last Will, and Laertian Portion 21 reiterates how Epicurus cared for the children of Metrodorus. Epicurus treated them as his heirs and specifically arranged to have Metro’s daughter married to another member of the school upon reaching adulthood.

Let them likewise provide for the maintenance of Metrodorus's daughter, so long as she is well-ordered and obedient to Hermarchus; and, when she comes of age, give her in marriage to a husband selected by Hermarchus from among the members of the School.

I imagine that Metro’s unnamed daughter chose her husband or gave her consent before taking a husband, but even in this case, arranged marriage sounds awfully traditionalist. Perhaps the idea was that her husband should be at least well-disposed towards the Epicureans so as to avoid another Timocrates-like conflict within the family. Perhaps they wanted to, on behalf of their dead friend, certify the good character of the suitor. This, plus the conversion of Epicurus’ and some of Metrodorus’ own siblings to Epicurean philosophy, tradition, and community, gives the impression of the school as a case study in philosophical ethnogenesis. Epicurus and Metrodorus were expanding their family traditions to include friends so as to build a new tribe or sect with a shared ethos. The many family traditions adapted by the Epicureans, including practices related to ancestor reverence and funerary practices, confirm the founders’ intention of tribe-building.

The meleta portion of the Epistle to Menoeceus says that an Epicurean practice of philosophy is not complete without others of like mind. Meleta (philosophical study, practice, and deliberation) with others of like mind is the second field of practice, and the ethical, social, and character-building benefits of it are necessary for living like a “makarion zoon” (blissful being). In my Eikas Manifesto, I argued that Eikas was part of the tribe-building toolkit of the Gardens. Part of why the first Epicureans jealously guarded their privileged privacy with each other was their intention to become a distinct koinonia, a community, a people with its own founders, narratives, beliefs, cultural spaces, ceremonies, etc.

Laertian Portion 22 contains the Epistle that Epicurus wrote on the last day of his life to Idomeneus, and where he asked him to take care of Metro’s children. Idomeneus was their uncle through marriage to Batis (Portion 23), who was Metrodorus’ sister, and he was a wealthy benefactor of the Garden. Batis was related to her niece and nephew by blood, and yet Epicurus (who is not a blood relative) is asking Idomeneus and Batis to take care of their own nephew and niece. Epicurus was worried about them until the very end, on the last day of his life. He felt responsible for them and loved them as if they were his own children.

Concerning Metrodorus’ children, the adage was true that it took a village to raise them. In an extant fragment of an Epistle to Mithras (as reported by Philodemus in PHerc 1418), Epicurus requested his interlocutor to help take care of Metrodorus’ children “for (at least) four or five (more) years” with similar annual contributions as he had been making to Epicurus. Having been orphaned, they still needed the support, and students of philosophy helped to feed and educate them. Epicurus was allocating some of the fees that he was getting from his teaching efforts for the care of Metrodorus’ children.

The community around them therefore must have felt like an extended family, much more intimate than a philosophical school. Epicurus felt Metrodorus’ blood family as if it was his own and honored Metro after his death exactly like an ancestor. 

On Timocrates

Timocrates—Metrodorus’ brother who left the Epicurean community—lost some part of his sense of belonging among his own people when he disrespected them and vigorously rejected their belief system, which united them strongly. Since they shared both familial and creedal bonds, this indicates that they were both a tribe and a sect. In Principal Doctrine 39, Epicurus contrasts ὁμόφυλα (omophyla, same-tribe) versus ἀλλόφυλά (allophyla, other-tribe), and says that we should try to make everyone part of our tribe, or at least not treat them as foreign. Phyla denotes tribal or communal identity, and yet Norman Dewitt and other scholars would interpret this part of PD 39 as an invitation to missionary work, to spread the gospel of Epicureanism and invite others to join the Epicurean tribe. PD 39 also calls for avoidance of vitriolic individuals so as to avoid conflict.

Nevertheless, sometimes those who are angry come to blows, even with people much stronger than themselves. In fact, rage takes away all discernment (this is precisely how, according to Metrodorus, Timocrates behaved towards the eldest of their brothers, Mentorides), and their haste subsequently brings them a bitter reward. (Anger, 12, p. 576.)

According to Philodemus, in On Frank Criticism, Timocrates once said that he both loved and hated his brother. I won’t delve further into the Timocrates affair here, but anyone interested in it should read my essay on Metrodorus’ “Letter to Timocrates”. The main point I wish to stress here is that the positive value placed on community and tribalism is part of what made Timocrates’ apostasy hurtful to all parties, even for Timocrates himself who was known for his fiery and passionate temper.

Works written

Metrodorus wrote a work against Democritus and, according to Philodemus in On Piety, he participated in speculation on the nature of the gods. Laertius reports that he wrote a book titled The Path to Wisdom, where he apparently discussed the stages of philosophical development. He wrote a work against his own brother titled Against Timocrates, in which he mentions the distinction between kinetic and katastematic pleasures (Laertian Portion 136).

Metrodorus the Healer of the Soul

In the “therapeutic method” section of Four Methods of Exegesis for the Study of Kyriai Doxai, I made the case that Metrodorus is the very first modern psychotherapist in history—although he lived 2,300 years ago—because he kept a record (the “Historiai”) of the mental health of the people whose souls he tried to heal and, for the first time in history, applied a methodical approach to psychological healthcare: diagnosing mental and ethical diseases by signs, giving treatments, and following-up on how patients responded to these treatments.

Laertius reports that Metrodorus wrote three books against the ancient physicians. In these books, I imagine that Metrodorus evaluated what aspects of the physicians’ craft in the care of the body would be useful to apply in the care of the soul.

We have already discussed the activities of Vatican Sayings 27 and 41, both of which are attributed to Metrodorus (by the scholar A. Körte, according to the French-language tome Les Epicuriens). Here, I wish to accentuate the relation between the fifth precept of VS 41 and the therapeutic method of exegesis: this precept requires us to constantly utter out loud the words of true philosophy. The narratives we weave and things we tell ourselves about ourselves, about situations, about our emotions, etc. have a great effect on shaping our identity, our character, and our happiness. I believe there is a soul-healing utility to this precept, and if we are to judge Metrodorus by VS 41 (with the assumption that he exemplified its precepts), we must imagine him as a type of laughter-master or bliss-master who heals the souls. Two other VSs attributed to him offer consolations, in this case, for death, advising acceptance.

30. Some men spend their whole life furnishing for themselves the things proper to life without realizing that at our birth each of us was poured a mortal brew to drink.

31. It is possible to provide security against other things, but as far as death is concerned, we all live in a city without walls.

In VS 51, addressed to a young man,

51. [addressing a young man] I understand from you that your natural disposition is too much inclined toward sexual passion. Follow your inclination as you will, provided only that you neither violate the laws, disturb well-established customs, harm any one of your neighbors, injure your own body, nor waste your possessions. That you be not checked by one or more of these provisos is impossible; for a man never gets any good from sexual passion, and he is fortunate if he does not receive harm.

There is one final example of how Metrodorus helped to take care of the soul of his loved ones. He wrote many Epistles to his sister Batis, including one when she lost her son, which is cited by Seneca:

“There is in fact a pleasure parent to pain, that we must chase in this circumstance”. - Seneca, citing Metrodorus in his Letters to Lucilius, XCIX, 25

Therefore, I consider it remarkable what Metrodorus said in one letter addressed to his sister who had just lost her son, a child of excellent nature: “All the goods of mortals are mortal”. - Seneca, Letters to Lucilius, XCVIII, 9

Here, Metrodorus is consoling Batis and saying that it is natural to cry. The quote on how there is a variety of pleasure tied to pain reminds me of research on the natural wisdom that our bodies display when we engage in crying behavior. According to the Harvard Health essay “Is Crying Good for You?”, “researchers have established that crying releases oxytocin and endogenous opioids, also known as endorphins. These feel-good chemicals help ease both physical and emotional pain”.

Over the next several months, I will be writing more on the virtues and pastimes of Metrodorus of Lampsacus, his clarity of speech, his autarchy, his economics, his spirituality, and his friendship with Mithras the Syrian. Please subscribe, like, share, and comment if you enjoy this content.