Collection of Aphorisms: Vatican Sayings

Overview
The Vatican Sayings is a compact anthology of Epicurean maxims preserved in a later manuscript tradition, distilling the school’s guidance for living pleasantly and securely. Rather than a formal treatise, it gathers brief, pointed aphorisms attributed to Epicurus and close associates, emphasizing practice over system. Read alongside the Principal Doctrines and the Letter to Menoeceus, these sayings spotlight the same core aims: freedom from mental disturbance (ataraxia), relief from bodily distress (aponia), and the wise regulation of desire under the guidance of prudence.

Pleasure and the Good Life
Epicurus defines the good as pleasure understood soberly: the stable enjoyment that comes when unnecessary cravings and anxieties are dissolved. The sayings stress that not every pleasure is worth choosing, nor every pain worth avoiding. Prudence weighs consequences, preferring lasting tranquility to momentary thrills. Simple, natural satisfactions are easiest to secure and least likely to rebound in remorse, while the chase for luxury and fame multiplies needs and breeds restlessness. Gratitude for what one already has turns scarcity into abundance.

Prudence, Self-Sufficiency, and Tranquility
Prudence is praised as the virtue that makes all other goods usable. It teaches self-sufficiency, not as isolation but as freedom from dependence on fortune’s whims. The wise person trains desires to fit nature, accepts what cannot be changed, and arranges life around what can be calmly sustained. Memory and anticipation are instruments of happiness: one can offset present pains by recalling past pleasures and by cultivating confident expectations of modest future goods. Anger, envy, and rivalry are flagged as sure sources of turmoil; the therapy is measured choice and the renunciation of vain comparisons.

Friendship and Community
Though self-sufficient, the wise need friends; indeed, the sayings elevate friendship as among life’s greatest securities. Friends supply mutual aid, frank counsel, and the sweet assurance that one is not alone. While friendship can begin from utility, it ripens into affection valued for its own sake. Beneficence should be timely and gratitude unhesitating. The wise prefer trustworthiness to cleverness, and the steady presence of companions to public applause. Shared philosophical conversation is treated as a daily remedy, renewing courage and cheer.

Justice, Law, and Social Living
Justice is portrayed as a mutual agreement not to harm or be harmed, grounded in reciprocal advantage rather than divine command. Laws are just insofar as they protect from injury and promote mutual benefit; where they fail in this work, their authority wanes. Injustice is self-defeating because the fear of detection and punishment corrodes peace of mind. The sayings nudge readers to live unobtrusively, avoid needless entanglements, and cultivate a character that gives others no cause for hostility.

Fate, Fear, and the Gods
The collection combats fears that unseat tranquility: fear of the gods and of inscrutable fate. The gods, if they exist, are blissful and unconcerned with human quarrels, so piety means aspiring to their calm rather than placating their wrath. Fortune plays a role, yet prudent preparation shrinks its reach. Anxiety is reduced by distinguishing what lies within our control from what belongs to external chance, and by aligning expectations with the narrow limits of nature.

Death and Time
Death, being the privation of sensation, is nothing to us; fear of it poisons life without delivering any protection. The sayings urge using time well, not extending it at any cost. A life measured by clarity and pleasure can be complete even if brief. Contentment rests on sufficiency, not duration. By learning to start and end desires wisely, one learns to start and end days, and a whole life, without agitation.

Style and Legacy
Compact, humane, and often tender, the Vatican Sayings serve as pocket counsel for everyday choices. They invite readers to practice philosophy as medicine for the soul, translating doctrine into habits that make serenity an attainable, shared good.