La polemica sulla natura del saggio tra Epicuro e Stilpone e in Colote

The aim of this paper is not to provide a comprehensive reconstruction of the general features of the Epicurean sophos. Here I would like to attempt to trace the polemic raised by Epicurus, first, and Colotes of Lampsacus (a direct pupil of Epicurus, whose philosophy we know especially from Plutarch’s Adversus Colotem), later, on the self-sufficiency (autarcheia) and impassibility (apatheia) of the sophos. From Seneca’s Letters to Lucilius (ix) we learn some of the basic features behind this polemic which Epicurus raised in one of his letters against Stilpo of Megara. From PHerc. 208 – including Colotes’ Against Plato’s ‘Lysis’ – we know that Colotes himself criticised Zeno of Citium and an unknown Menedemus (in all likelihood the Cynic philosopher) on the topic of the sophos’ nature and attitude. These two episodes may seem to be disconnected, but they follow a common thread consisting in the full delegitimization of the sophos’ self-sufficiency (before this issue becomes one of the central topics of Stoic ethics).