New Frontiers in the Study of Roman Epicureanism

Code-switching for Epicurus in the Late Republic

By Pamela Gordon

Panelist #2

Focusing on Cicero’s Epistulae Ad Familiares, this paper examines two divergent strategies in Roman discourse about Epicureanism: the use of Latin translation versus the use of embedded Greek. My purpose is to demonstrate how manipulation of the Epicurean lexicon furthers anti-Epicurean polemic and Epicurean counterstrategy.