The adjective epicurean is the inverse of what Epicurus' philosophy means. In modern usage it means luxury and excess.
In his 'Fragments' we read, "Nature's wealth at once had its bounds and is easy to procure; but the wealth of vain fancies recedes to an infinite distance."
There is a guileless simplicity about his philosophy. The 'work' is short and is itself comprised of short almost gnomic aphorisms. There is no mystery to life once its pared down mechanisms are understood, an understanding that will create justice and well being.
In the west we are as far from Epicurus as we are from the next nearest star. In the hypermarkets, the stocked aisles recede to an infinite distance, surplus technology supercedes surplus technology, stupendous wealth generates yet more wealth. The conditions of 250BC Greece shine obscurely through his fragments. A contemporary equivalent could never be written. There would be no book big enough to contain its babbling excesses.
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