Tetrapharmakos
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The Tetrapharmakos (τετραφάρμακος), or, "The four-part cure," is the Greek philosopher Epicurus' (341 BC, Samos – 270 BC, Athens) recipe for leading the happiest possible life. The "tetrapharmakos" was originally a compound of four drugs (wax, tallow, pitch and resin); the word has been used metaphorically by Epicurus and his disciples to refer to the four remedies for healing the soul.
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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).
In the original Greek:
Ἄφοβον ὁ θεός,
ἀνύποπτον ὁ θάνατος
καὶ τἀγαθὸν μὲν εὔκτητον,
τὸ δὲ δεινὸν εὐεκκαρτέρητον
(Philodemus, Herculaneum Papyrus, 1005, 4.9–14)
"The fundamental obstacle to happiness, says Epicurus, is anxiety," writes D. S. Hutchinson.
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