Slavery

From Epicurus Wiki

While there is no extant Epicurean text devoted to the subject of slavery, a number of slaves did attend Epicurus' Garden. The masculine name Mus/Mys (in various, and dubious spellings) comes up in some references; it is plausible that perhaps a diminutive slave would have been called thus "Mouse". (Compare, for example, the erotic, "objectified" names of Athenian prostitutes.)

The participation of slaves in the Garden would have been in line with the Sage's overall inclusiveness, as he counted among his students members of several otherwise disenfranchised groups (e.g. women in general, prostitutes in particular, non-Athenians, and men of very modest means).

The actual philosophical message of Epicurus is, strikingly unlike that of e.g. Aristotle, all-inclusive: there is no reason why the high and mighty should benefit exclusively from it; in fact, it would be rather easy to argue that Epicurean ataraxia should come with more, not less difficulty to men of means (and probably higher ambition, greater business concerns, and standing to lose so much more in a mishap).

There is evidence that Epicurus' followers continued this tradition of tolerance and inclusiveness. Cicero (i.e. Marcus), in a letter to his brother Quintus, who was at that time governor of the province of Asia, reports the incident of a slave named Licinus, who had escaped from his Roman master Aesop, fled to Athens, where "he stayed with Patro the Epicurean for several months, as if he were a free man", and then crossed over to Ephesus (in Asia Minor), where he was finally apprehended.