Pli: The Warwick Journal of Philosophy Pli is edited and produced by members of the Graduate School of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Warwick. Special Volume. Self-Cultivation: Ancient and Modern ISBN 1 897646 25 9 ISSN 1367-3769 © 2016 Pli, individual contributions © their authors, unless otherwise stated. Editors: Bethany Parsons and Andre Okawara Editorial Chair: Thomas Ryan Editorial board: Adam Arnold Michael Lazarus Peter Brown Amanda McLeod Alexandra Cain Constantin Mehmel Neil Durrant Conor Molloy Jess Farrell Liam Moore Jordan Fisher Maksymilian Sipowicz Chris Ivins Alex Underwood This special volume was produced in collaboration with members of the Graduate School of the Department of Philosophy at Monash University and partially funded by the Monash-Warwick Alliance. Contributions, Orders, Subscriptions, Enquiries: Pli, The Warwick Journal of Philosophy Department of Philosophy University of Warwick Coventry CV4 7AL UK Email:
[email protected] Website: www.plijournal.com Pli (2016), 3-24 Epicurus Avenged? DANIEL CONWAY [T]he 'after-death' no longer concerns us!—an unspeakable benefit, which would be felt as such far and wide if it were not so recent.—And Epicurus triumphs anew! —Daybreak, Section 721 The will to immortalize also requires a dual interpretation. It can be prompted, first, by gratitude and love; art with this origin will always be an art of apotheoses, perhaps dithyrambic, …spreading a Homeric light and glory over all things. But it can also be the tyrannical will of one who suffers deeply, who struggles, is tormented, and…revenges himself on all things by forcing his own image, the image of his torture, on them, branding them with it.