The four part cure
   
         
 


back

 

 

 

 

  

According to the Greek philosopher Epicure, happiness is the goal of human existence. To become happy (in the sense he used the term) is easy. There is a cure for unhappiness: the cure is philosophy. The Epiricurian philosophy can be summed up in four short sentences.

With pleasure, I present to you, the gift of happiness.

(The only thing you have to do yourself is to find the meaning of this four short sentences.)

    
           
     

The four-part cure

Don't fear god,
Don't worry about death,
What is good is easy to get and
What is terrible is easy to endure.

(Philodemus, Herculaneum Papyrus 1005, 4.9-14)

    
           
     
One way to say this in Lingua Franca Nova is:
   
     

no teme la deos,
no es anxia de la moria,
la bon es preneda fasil e
la mal es durada cuieta.

    
           
     
An other way is:
   
     

nos no debe temer la deos,
nos no debe eser anxia de la moria,
nos pote prender fasil la bon e
nos pote durar cuieta la mal.

    
           
     
And yet an other way is:
   
     

la deos , ce nos no debe temer,
la moria, ce nos no debe eser anxia,
la bon, ce nos pote prender fasil e
la mal, ce nos pote durar cuieta

    
           
     
 
Click on Epicure
to hear him speak
in LNF
           
     
To be sure you get Epicure's great gift, the message is repeated six times (three times by an Italian tts, and three times by Rosa, an Mexican Spanish tts)
   
 
       
 
note 1:
 
"What is terrible is easy to endure" is translated in spirit, not to the letter. (Terrible -asustante- became bad -mal- to exploit the contrast between bon and mal).
Easy to endure became "to endure quietly". This prevented an ugly repetition of the word fasil. Furthermore, Cuieta had a nice set of interpretations: quiet, calm, soft, faint.
    
 
       
 
note 2:
 
The la in "de de la moria" should be dropped, but it did not sound good, so I left it in.