SOURCE: Benjamin Farrington, "Friendship versus Justice," in The Faith of Epicurus, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1967, pp. 20-32.

In his Faith of Epicurus Farrington stresses the centrality of friendship in Epicurean doctrine. The excerpt that follows fills out his thesis, explaining the significance of context, and, especially, of Plato "just city."

In what remains of the writings of Epicurus we have nothing intellectually comparable to the splendid edifices raised by Plato in the Republic and the Laws. What we have of Epicurus is three letters and a handful of sayings. It is true that the more closely these are studied the clearer it becomes that they are expressions of a firmly articulated system. [G.] Arrighetti [Epicurus Opere, 1960] is right to maintain that the scientific language of the school is so technical and strict that translation is difficult because every term recalls a doctrine and requires a note. Still we must...