Abstract
This piece originated as an article inIn Medias Reson 29 May 2020 and has been updated for theJournal of Classics Teaching. The author would like to acknowledge the helpful feedback from the editors atIn Medias ResandThe Journal of Classics Teachingon earlier drafts of this essay. Their suggestions helped produce a superior piece.
Highlights
This piece originated as an article in In Medias Res on 29 May 2020 and has been updated for the Journal of Classics Teaching
We have been distance-learning since 26 March 2020, broadcasting our classes into student homes and laptops and onto tiny cellphone screens, making valiant efforts to keep our students connected, engaged and hopeful
I did this to introduce my students to Epicureanism and Stoicism, two Hellenistic philosophical schools which promised in one way or another to provide therapy from the vicissitudes and maladies of human life
Summary
This piece originated as an article in In Medias Res on 29 May 2020 and has been updated for the Journal of Classics Teaching. I draw from the opening to Book 6, where Lucretius says that Epicurus showed that everything we need in life is already provided for us (despite the ills we might see in our surroundings and the things we might desire through a life of ambition and fame-seeking): omnia iam ferme mortalibus esse parata et, pro quam possent, vitam consistere tutam, divitiis homines et honore et laude potentis affluere atque bona gnatorum excellere fama, nec minus esse domi cuiquam tamen anxia cordi, atque animi ingratis vitam vexare sine ulla pausa atque infestis cogi saevire querellis, intellegit ibi vitium vas efficere ipsum omniaque illius vitio corrumpier intus, quae conlata foris et commoda cumque venirent He saw that almost everything that necessity demands for subsistence had been already provided for morals, and that their life was, so far as possible, established in security; he saw too that they possessed power, with wealth, honour, and glory, and took pride in the good reputation of their children; and yet he found that, notwithstanding this prosperity, all of them privately had hearts racked with anxiety which, contrary to their wish, tormented their lives without a pause, causing them to chafe and fret. The ideas live for our students when presented in a way they can understand and can read with ease
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