Here we present a small tribute on Epicharmus the Pythagorean, with reference to his life and ideas, always through the sources, the ancient texts.
From Iamblichus we learn that Epicharmus, an ‘acousmatic’, not member, Pythagorean, had been a prolific theatrical writer (52 works, or 35 according to others). Pythagorean teachings were presented by him in the form of jests. He talked about Nature (as a Physiologist), he created adages (short and meaningful phrases), he talked about Medicine and the majority of his poems were written with acrostics! Epicharmus’ thoughts on life were well known by almost all the Philosophers.
Platon in ‘Theaetetus’ wrote that the top tragedian was Homer and the top comedian was Epicharmus.
Diogenes Laertius delivers some excerpts from Epicharmus’ works:
1. In ancient Greek: «Το σοφόν εστίν ου καθ’ εν μόνον, αλλ’ όσσα περ ζήι, πάντα και γνώμαν έχει»
In English: «Wisdom does not exist exclusively in one living being but in all; they all have perception»
2. In ancient Greek: «Το δε σοφόν α φύσις τοδ’ οίδεν ως έχει μόνα. Πεπαίδευται γαρ αυταύτας ύπο»
In English: «how nature can have such wisdom, only nature knows. Because it learns from itself»
NovoScriptorium: According to the Philosophers God = Wisdom. Obviously, His Wisdom –as He is everywhere, filling everything- crosses/penetrates and rules over all Creation. And, of course, the development mechanism of everything, from the smallest to the largest, is ‘written’ from the Creator, from the beginning. What we call ‘Evolution’ is the result of the initial programming by the Creator
Eustratius saves the following excerpt from Epicharmus:
In ancient Greek: «αλλά μάν εγών ανάγκαι ταύτα πάντα ποιέω. Οίομαι δ’ ουδείς εκών πονηρός ουδ’ άταν έχων»
In English: «but I do all these because of necessity. Nobody, I think, is bad/evil or unfortunate with his own will»
NovoScriptorium: If a person has not been trained properly since childhood, then he is ‘necessarily’ led to wrong choices because he’s not been taught the proper management of mind/nous and body. Only the fact that Man carries a material body makes him captive of ‘Necessity’, i.e. of a series of restrictions/limitations and moods. If proper Education (‘Παιδεία’ is the Greek word which more properly describes what is needed, as it includes Education in its meaning but at the same time suggests a deeper cultivation of mind and soul) is not added on this objective reality, the ‘management software’ of the human condition in other words, then Man is led by his flesh and becomes devoted to it, with all the consequences this has and we have referred to in some of our previous articles
Menander, through Stobaeus, informs us that:
In ancient Greek: «ο μεν Επίχαρμος τους θεούς είναι λέγει ανέμους, ύδωρ, γήν, ήλιον, πύρ, αστέρας»
In English: «Epicharmus says that the gods are the winds, water, earth, Sun, fire and the stars»
NovoScriptorium: Indirectly but clearly what he says is that the ‘gods’ are symbolisms and personifications of natural phenomena. We’ve come across this in many other ancient Greek texts. An article on Orphic Monotheism will soon follow, as a further example of what we see here
Plutarch delivers these two excerpts from Epicharmus:
1. In ancient Greek: «συνεκρίθη και διεκρίθη καπήλθεν όθεν ήλθεν πάλιν, γά μέν εις γάν, πνεύμα δ’ άνω. Τι τώνδε χαλεπόν; Ουδέ έν»
In English: «he was created and was dissolved and returned from where he came, the soil to the soil and the soul high. Which one is terrible? None»
2. In ancient Greek: «νούς ορήι και νούς ακούει. Τάλλα κωφά και τυφλά»
In English: «The mind sees and the mind hears. The rest are deaf and blind»
NovoScriptorium: So, Man for Epicharmus is ‘soil and soul’. Soil returns to soil and the soul moves upwards. It is clear that he believed, too, in the divine origin of the soul and its eternal existence.
Only the mind truly ‘sees and hears’, all the rest are substantially ‘deaf and blind’. But why does he say this? As many ancient Philosophers believed, the senses lie and Man should not rely on them in his search for Truth. Additionally, ‘Nous’ for them was another name for the Divine Being. So, what he actually preaches here is that Man can only learn the Truth if he orientates his life fully towards God, while if he remains ‘earthen’ and ‘cosmic/worldly’, a being of the senses, in reality he will remain ‘deaf and blind’.
Another excerpt of Epicharmus delivered by Polybius:
In ancient Greek: «νάφε και μέμνα’ απιστείν. Άρθρα ταύτα τάν φρενών»
In English: «you must have a cleansed mind and always remember to doubt. These are the foundations of the brains»
NovoScriptorium: Proper function of the brains is based on two things; the ‘nepsis’ –cleansing- of the mind and in ‘doubt’. But what does he mean here? Cleansing of the mind, as he wrote himself, implies cleansing of the body. Additionally, cleansing of the mind, as we saw earlier above, implies ‘access’ to the Divine Nous and the Truth, that only through the mind can be approached. So what he proposes, before anything else, is the cutting of the earthen will and way of thinking and living. As for ‘doubt’, what we can assume with validity, as it is mentioned by him and other Philosophers, is that he encourages ‘doubt’ not generally and vaguely but ‘doubt’ with reference to the senses. This is quite obvious while he himself has some very stable opinions, almost dogmatic, so it would be irrational and impossible that he would suggest some generalized, for everything, ‘doubt’.
Another excerpt of Epicharmus taken from the ‘anecdotes of Boiss’:
In ancient Greek: «εφόδιον θνατοίς μέγιστόν εστιν ευσεβής βίος»
In English: «The greatest equipment for men is the pious living»
NovoScriptorium: This declaration doesn’t surprise us at all because Epicharmus, like a genuine Philosopher, could not but have such a view. He who places God as the epicenter of his life, and lives accordingly, obtains his greatest equipment.
Platon delivers this excerpt:
In ancient Greek: «α δε χείρ τάν χείρα νίζει. Δός τι και λάβοις τι κα»
In English: « one hand washed the other. Give, so that you take»
NovoScriptorium: This message has both social and spiritual dimensions which we believe all of us, more or less, realize.
The following excerpts from Stobaeus:
1. In ancient Greek: «α δε μελέτα φύσιος αγαθάς πλέονα δωρείται, φίλοι»
In English: «studying brings more gifts than a good nature, my friends»
2. In ancient Greek: «φύσιν έχειν άριστον εστι, δεύτερον δε μανθάνειν»
In English: « to have a good nature, it is the best; the next is to learn»
3. In ancient Greek: «ου μετανοείν αλλά προνοείν χρή τον άνδρα τον σοφόν»
In English: «the wise man should not end up repenting but he should foresee»
4. In ancient Greek: «μη επί μικροίς αυτός αυτόν οξύθυμον δείκνυε»
In English: «do not show yourself short-tempered for little things»
5. In ancient Greek: «ουδέ είς ουδέν μετ’ οργής κατά τρόπον βουλεύεται»
In English: «nobody things properly while being angry»
6. In ancient Greek: «επιπολάζειν ού τι χρή τον θυμόν, αλλά τον νόον»
In English: «anger must not prevail, but the mind (nous)»
NovoScriptorium: To have good health, before anything else, in our body is the best. Then, never stop learning. It is outlined though that a good bodily nature is not enough; continuous study is that gives back more, as ‘presents/gifts’ to Man. We recognize a wise man, he says, when he foresees things rather than making mistakes/sins and then repent. As we understand, this is literally impossible for Man, as ‘Wise is –only- God’. Man will always make mistakes/sins. But it is indeed a distinctive mark of the wiser man to foresee more and repent less.
Epicharmus clearly spoke about the devastating consequences of the passion of Rage. He told us that everything starts from the cleansed mind. So, it is clear that a mind blurred under Rage is impossible to function properly, it has no clarity. So, Rage ‘cuts the connection’ with God. Being short-tempered for little things we think is condemned because it constitutes another platform for the development of Rage as a passion. We can be angry for one big thing that causes it, but we can equally be angry for many little things. The final result will be the same.
Finally, he preaches that anger should not prevail, but the mind (nous). ‘Θυμός’ in ancient Greek is not Rage (even though today the word is used like this). In the ancient Greek language –as it is very clear in Homer- ‘θυμός’ is actually the ‘temper of our whole being, body and part of the soul that connects to our bodily substance, furthermore, the whole of our living energy’. In short then, what he says is that we should not be led by our earthen nature but rather we should put in front the divine, the mind, that connects us with God.
Xenophon delivers this excerpt:
In ancient Greek: «των πόνων πωλούσιν ημίν πάντα ταγαθ’ οι θεοί»
In English: «the gods are selling us all the good things with/through pains»
NovoScriptorium: We have seen that Epicharmus, being a Philosopher, has placed God as the epicenter of his life and suggests a non-stopping effort to ‘connect-unite’ with Him. This includes the taming of passions, both of flesh and soul, the continuous cultivation of spirit, the ‘imprisonment’ of the mind only towards Good, the continuous attention against all evil and generally continuous exercise (askesis) and concentration/dedication. The acquirement of the truly divine goods is indeed the most painful procedure of all.
Epicharmus’ excerpt from ‘Shell 12319’:
In ancient Greek: «χώρος οικία τυραννίς πλούτος ισχύς καλλονά άφρονος ανθρώπου τυχόντα καταγέλαστα γίνεται. Αδοναί δ’ εισίν βροτοίσιν ανόσιοι λαστήριοι. Καταπεπόντισται γάρ ευθύς αδοναίς ανήρ αλούς»
In English: «the field, the house, monarchy, wealth, strength, beauty, when a mindless man has them is for laughs. Pleasures for the mortals are unholy pirates. Because whoever becomes a captive of pleasures immediately sinks»
NovoScriptorium: We see how clearly he rejects the Hedonistic way of living. Whoever man succumbs to the Pleasures becomes a captive and then he sinks. He notices how vain and ridiculous are all human things when they are not combined with prudence (‘proper thinking’ would be an even more accurate translation). But what is ‘prudence’? It is the proper functioning of the mind we saw earlier. In a few words, without God, everything becomes vain and ridiculous, that is the clear teaching derived from this excerpt.
An excerpt from ‘Mahaff’s Anthology’:
In ancient Greek: «ήκιστα γ’ όστις δυστυχών βίον τα’ έχων μηδέν καλόν τε καγαθόν ψυχάι διδώι, εγών μέν αυτόν ούτι φασώ μακάριον, φύλακα δε μάλλον χρημάτων άλλωι τελείν»
In English: «him who has good luck and wealth but offers nothing good and beautiful to his soul, I will not call at all happy, but rather I will say that he is a treasurer for somebody else»
NovoScriptorium: Clearly he puts in front the things of the soul, the divine things, against the things of the body, the human things. Anything acquired without Virtue and God does not bring ‘happiness’. On the contrary, Virtue and experiential relationship with God bring ‘happiness’ even if Man lacks of ‘acquisitions’. This was a steady position of the Philosophers.
Epicharmus’ excerpts delivered by Clement of Alexandria:
1. In ancient Greek: «ευσεβής νόωι πεφυκώς ου πάθοις κ’ ουδέν κακόν κατθανών. Άνω το πνεύμα διαμενεί κατ’ ουρανόν»
In English: «if you are pious in mind, no bad thing is going to happen to you when you die. Your spirit will remain up in the sky»
2. In ancient Greek: «ουδέν εκφεύγει το θείον. Τούτο γινώσκειν σε δεί. Αυτός εσθ’ αμών επόπτης, αδυνατεί δ’ ουδέν θεός»
In English: «nothing escapes from the Divine. Know this. He observes us and everything is possible for God»
3. In ancient Greek: «καθαρόν αν τον νουν έχηις, άπαν το σώμα καθαρός εί»
In English: «if you have your mind cleansed, then you will have all your body clean»
4. In ancient Greek: «ο βίος ανθρώποις λογισμού καριθμού δείται πάνυ. Ζώμεν δε αριθμώι και λογισμώι. Ταύτα γάρ σώιζει βροτούς»
In English: «human life needs calculus and number. We live with calculus and number. These save the mortals»
5. In ancient Greek: «ο λόγος ανθρώπους κυβερνάι κατά τρόπον σώιζει τα’ αεί. Έστιν ανθρώπωι λογισμός, έστι και θείος λόγος. Ο δε γε τανθρώπου πέφυκεν από γε του θείου λόγου, και φέρει πόρους εκάστωι περί βίου και τάς τροφάς. Ο δε γε ταίς τέχναις απάσαις συνέπεται θείος λόγος, εκδιδάσκων αυτός αυτούς, ό τι ποιείν δεί συμφέρον. Ου γάρ άνθρωπος τέχναν τιν’ εύρεν, ο δε θεός τοπάν»
In English: «Logos governs humans properly and always saves them. Man has the calculus, but there exists the Divine Logos, too. But human calculus originates from the Divine Logos and guarantees to everyone the means to live and feed himself. But the Divine Logos is connected with all arts/practical works, because it teaches humans their interest, what they should do. Because Man did not find the arts/practical works but always God alone did»
NovoScriptorium: We believe that the above excerpts confirm, strengthen and suggest all that we already analyzed. They are presented as ending and ‘seal’ for our conclusions.
Isidoros Aggelos
Novo Scriptorium 
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