indulgence in fine food and drink might be what we associate with a modern ‘epicurean’, but original Epicureans rejected them. This was because such extravagance or intemperance was seen as tending to eventually cause more pain (hangover, illness, frustrated desire for further luxuries) than the fleeting pleasure they might provide in the moment. Epicureans lived a simple, ascetic life, believing that by limiting themselves to a few natural desires (such as friendship, bread and water), they would be far happier than those who finally bring pain upon themselves through entertaining greater
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