Sulla Declamatio contra Epicurum di Imerio

This work focuses on some aspects related to the polemic against Epicurus carried on by the pagan rhetor Himerius in one of his declamations (or. 3 Colonna). Reading the text allows us to understand the reasons of the ultimate refusal of Epicurus' philosophy in late antique pagan philosophy. Apart from similar criticisms also shared by contemporary christian writers, it is possible to recognise a link to Julian's refusal of Epicurus. Finally, I examine the last section of the oration in which Himerius tries to give a solution to the problem of the theodicean rised by Epicurus: there is a meaningful parallel with a passage of the De Providentia by Philo of Alexandria. It is shown how the arguments used by Himerius are derived from the logoi protreptikoi to the philosophy and how these arguments were already used before Himerius.