Letter to Menoeceus
E298891
Letter to Menoeceus is a short ethical treatise by Epicurus that outlines his philosophy of pleasure, virtue, and the rational pursuit of a tranquil life.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Letter to Menoeceus canonical | 7 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2789521 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Letter to Menoeceus Context triple: [Epicurus, wrote, Letter to Menoeceus]
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A.
Letter to Demetrias
Letter to Demetrias is a theological treatise by the British monk Pelagius, written as spiritual guidance to a young Roman noblewoman and known for articulating key Pelagian views on free will and moral responsibility.
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B.
Xenophon's Apology of Socrates
Xenophon's Apology of Socrates is a Socratic dialogue in which the historian Xenophon presents an alternative account of Socrates' defense speech and character at his trial, distinct from Plato's more famous version.
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C.
Letter to the Magnesians
Letter to the Magnesians is an early Christian epistle traditionally attributed to Ignatius of Antioch, addressing the church in Magnesia with exhortations on unity, obedience to church leaders, and steadfastness in faith.
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D.
On the Embassy to Gaius (Legatio ad Gaium)
On the Embassy to Gaius (Legatio ad Gaium) is a historical and apologetic work by Philo of Alexandria recounting his mission to the Roman emperor Caligula and the persecution of the Jews under his rule.
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E.
Plato's Alcibiades I
Plato's Alcibiades I is a Socratic dialogue in which Socrates engages the ambitious young Athenian Alcibiades in a discussion about self-knowledge, virtue, and the nature of political leadership.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Letter to Menoeceus Target entity description: Letter to Menoeceus is a short ethical treatise by Epicurus that outlines his philosophy of pleasure, virtue, and the rational pursuit of a tranquil life.
-
A.
Letter to Demetrias
Letter to Demetrias is a theological treatise by the British monk Pelagius, written as spiritual guidance to a young Roman noblewoman and known for articulating key Pelagian views on free will and moral responsibility.
-
B.
Xenophon's Apology of Socrates
Xenophon's Apology of Socrates is a Socratic dialogue in which the historian Xenophon presents an alternative account of Socrates' defense speech and character at his trial, distinct from Plato's more famous version.
-
C.
Letter to the Magnesians
Letter to the Magnesians is an early Christian epistle traditionally attributed to Ignatius of Antioch, addressing the church in Magnesia with exhortations on unity, obedience to church leaders, and steadfastness in faith.
-
D.
On the Embassy to Gaius (Legatio ad Gaium)
On the Embassy to Gaius (Legatio ad Gaium) is a historical and apologetic work by Philo of Alexandria recounting his mission to the Roman emperor Caligula and the persecution of the Jews under his rule.
-
E.
Plato's Alcibiades I
Plato's Alcibiades I is a Socratic dialogue in which Socrates engages the ambitious young Athenian Alcibiades in a discussion about self-knowledge, virtue, and the nature of political leadership.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
ethical treatise
ⓘ
letter ⓘ philosophical work ⓘ |
| aim | to provide a concise summary of Epicurean ethics ⓘ |
| approximateDate | 3rd century BCE ⓘ |
| author | Epicurus ⓘ |
| containedIn | Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers ⓘ |
| ethicalView |
fear of gods and death is a main source of human anxiety
ⓘ
future and past should not disturb present tranquility ⓘ living pleasantly requires living prudently, honorably, and justly ⓘ philosophy should be practiced at every age ⓘ pleasure is the beginning and end of the blessed life ⓘ prudence is the greatest virtue ⓘ simple living contributes to tranquility ⓘ virtue is inseparable from pleasure ⓘ |
| genre | didactic letter ⓘ |
| historicalPeriod | Hellenistic philosophy ⓘ |
| influenceOn |
Roman Epicureans
ⓘ
later Hellenistic ethics ⓘ modern discussions of hedonism ⓘ |
| language | Ancient Greek ⓘ |
| length | short ⓘ |
| mainTheme |
ataraxia
ⓘ
ethics ⓘ fear of death ⓘ gods ⓘ happiness ⓘ pleasure ⓘ prudence ⓘ rational choice ⓘ tranquility ⓘ virtue ⓘ |
| partOf |
Epicurus' letters
ⓘ
linked to:
Book 10 on Epicurus
|
| philosophicalConcept |
absence of pain
ⓘ
friendship ⓘ hedonism ⓘ justice as a social contract ⓘ limit of pleasure ⓘ natural and necessary desires ⓘ natural but unnecessary desires ⓘ self-sufficiency ⓘ vain desires ⓘ |
| philosophicalSchool | Epicureanism ⓘ |
| positionOnDeath | death is nothing to us ⓘ |
| positionOnGods | gods exist but are not to be feared ⓘ |
| preservedBy | Diogenes Laertius ⓘ |
| targetAudience |
Menoeceus
ⓘ
students of Epicureanism ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Letter to Menoeceus Description of subject: Letter to Menoeceus is a short ethical treatise by Epicurus that outlines his philosophy of pleasure, virtue, and the rational pursuit of a tranquil life.
Referenced by (7)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.