Tetrapharmakos

the four-fold cure of Epicurus

(by Informal)

ἡ τετραφαρμακος

ἀφοβον ὁ θεος, ἀναισθητον ὁ θανατος, και τἀγαθον μεν εὐκτητον, το δε δεινον εὐεκκαρτερητον.
[Not to be feared is god, not to be felt is death, and what is good is easily done; whilst what is dire is easily borne.]
(from Philodemus, Herculaneum Papyrus, 1005, 4.9-14).


  You may play an mp3 file [5.8 MB] of a demo version of this song by Deadman Turner below, or download it here.


A fully finished version will be available on CD (should all go well) by July, 2007.
  The words to the song are below.

    Tetrapharmakos

  Whether or not there be any god, enjoy what life is here:
  god’s attention is man’s invention, that is perfectly clear.
  Epicurus provides the chorus: “gods are nothing to fear,”
  do what you will—for good or for ill—, but no god will appear.

    You can be free from the fears that bring you misery,
    and you can be sure in the four-fold cure.

        (Gods are nothing to you;
        death can’t harm, it is true;
        evils pass away too;
        good is easy to do.)

  Take if you want a baptismal font as some protective seal,
  or misconstrue the Indian view that life’s an endless wheel.
  Epicurus provides our chorus, “death is nothing to feel;”
  none can deny that all men must die, accept brief life as real.

    True peace of mind is something that is easy to find
    for you can be sure in the four-fold cure.

        (Ills are easy to bear;
        good is easy to deal;
        gods are nothing to fear;
        death is nothing to feel.)

  Epicurus said to all of us, good is easy to do,
  and, furthermore, you can learn to endure earthly evils too.
  Epicurus provides the chorus, gods are nothing to you,
  and when life has passed pain cannot last: the four-fold cure is true.

    We can be free from the fears that bring us misery,
    and we can be sure in the four-fold cure.

        (Gods are nothing to you;
        death can’t harm, it is true;
        evils pass away too;
        good is easy to do.)


If your browser or computer hinder your seeing some of the Greek characters above, click here for a jpeg file of the Greek text.

© 1997, 2007.

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