SOURCE: Diogenes Laertius, "Excerpts From the Life of Epicurus," in The Philosophy of Epicurus, North-western University Press, 1963, pp. 101-12.

More than anyone, Diogenes Laertius was responsible for preserving details of Epicurus's life; most later scholarship has depended on his biography of the philosopher. The following excerpt begins with summaries of accounts meant to discredit Epicurus—accounts that portray the Epicurean life as debauched. After refuting these attacks, Diogenes Laertius walks his reader through the basics of Epicurean philosophy.

¹The Stoic Diotimus, who bore Epicurus ill will, slandered him most cruelly by publishing fifty lascivious letters under his name, and so did the person who compiled the love letters that are supposedly Epicurus' but are traceable to Chrysippus, not to mention Posidonius the Stoic and his followers. … They claimed that he went around to houses with his mother, reading off chants of purification, and that he taught grammar school...