Editing Epicurus (section)

====''Letter to Mother''====
[[File:OinoandaInscription.JPG|thumb|Epicurus' ''Letter to Mother'' was inscribed onto the portico walls of the 2nd century Epicurean philosopher [[Diogenes of Oenoanda|Diogenes]]' residence in [[Oenoanda]], [[Lycia]], in modern day [[Turkey]], along with numerous other Epicurean letters and treatises.]]
{{anchor|Letter to Mother}}
Epicurus' ''Letter to Mother'' is a letter addressed to Epicurus' mother, reassuring her that the disturbing dreams that she had about him do not reflect reality and asking her to stop sending him supplies and money rather than saving it for herself, as he is already well supported by his friends. As a means of combating her superstitions about dreams, he describes the mechanics of dreams from a scientific perspective, comparing a vision in a dream to the process of how images formed in the mind from ordinary sight.{{sfn|Gordon|2020|p=542}} Epicurus then discusses incremental progress towards happiness, and how doing so allows a philosopher to emulate the gods, not by becoming immortal, but by experiencing what it feels like to be a god during one's mortal life, by attaining the long-term stability associated with [[ataraxia]].{{sfn|Tsouna|2020|pp=162-163}}

The majority of scholars attribute this letter to Epicurus himself, on the basis of a comparison with doctrines in other fragments of his writing, other independent characterizations of his mother as a superstitious person, and a linguistic analysis of the use of accurate terminology from his own time period. However, it has also been suggested that the letter was written by [[Diogenes of Oenoanda]], who preserved the letter, or that the letter is part of a lost [[epistolary novel]] written by a later author, such as the collection of letters attributed to the Platonist philosopher [[Chion of Heraclea]].{{sfn|Gordon|2020|p=542}}