On the Moral Philosophy of Epicurus, Animadversions

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On page 79.

Much could be said in this place regarding that blessed tranquility which one may enjoy in philosophical withdrawal, or within the very bosom of philosophy; and about the wretched agitation with which one must be distressed in the very sea of civil affairs. However, I pass over these things willingly, noting only that Epicurus seems to feel more excellently than Zeno Zeno of Citium, the founder of the Stoic school, who generally advocated for political participation unless it was impossible. in this regard. Epicurus chooses leisure through his own nature and of his own accord, whereas Zeno does not tend toward it unless by accident, such as when he is barred from business. I might also mention that it seems to be a mark of a modest mind to abstain from the Republic when necessity does not call, whereas it is a mark of a presumptuous mind to thrust oneself into it even when nothing stands in the way. See also what Seneca says on this matter.
Chapter 31.

On Tranquility of Mind, Discourse 29.

Our people say, he remarks, original: "Negant, inquit, nostri" that the Wise Man will not approach just any Republic. But what does it matter how the Wise Man comes to leisure? Whether it is because the Republic is lacking to him, or he to the Republic? If the Republic is going to be lacking to all (and it will always be lacking to those who seek it fastidiously), I ask, which Republic will the Wise Man approach? The Athenian one, in which Socrates is condemned and Aristotle fled lest he be condemned? In which envy crushes virtues? You will tell me the Wise Man will not approach this Republic. Will the Wise Man then approach the Carthaginian Republic, where there is constant sedition, where liberty is hostile to all the best men, where there is the greatest contempt for equity and goodness, and where there is inhuman cruelty toward enemies and even hostility toward their own? He will flee this one as well. If I wish to examine them one by one, I shall find none which the Wise Man can endure, or which can endure the Wise Man. But if that Republic which we imagine for ourselves is not found, leisure begins to be a necessity for everyone; because the one thing that could be preferred to leisure is nowhere to be found.

While he holds this against Zeno, look at what he says in favor of Epicurus among other things:
Chapter 30.

Therefore, even he whose affairs are still entirely intact can stand in a safe place before he experiences any storms, and can immediately entrust himself to the good arts and spend that blessed leisure as a cultivator of virtues, which can be exercised even by the most quiet people, and so on.

I pass over how he then excellently expands upon what Anaxagoras A pre-Socratic philosopher known for his focus on cosmology over politics. suggested. When he had neglected public affairs to engage in the contemplation of natural things, someone objected: Do you have no care for your country? He replied: Soft words, please; for I have the greatest care for my country, while pointing toward heaven. This story is found in Laertius. I add only what he says later to show that the Wise Man plays his part in the Republic even in retirement.
Diligence:

For with what intent, he asks, does the Wise Man withdraw? So that he may know that even then he will be doing things that benefit posterity. We are certainly the ones who say that both Zeno and Chrysippus Chrysippus was the third head of the Stoic school and its most prolific writer. achieved greater things than if they had led armies, held honors, or passed laws; for they passed laws not for one city, but for the entire human race.

Why, then, should such leisure not be suitable for a good man, through which he may order future ages and speak not just to a few, but to all men of all nations, both those who are and those who will be? In this sense, Lucretius also teaches that Epicurus did things far more useful for the human race than Ceres, Bacchus, or

Hercules, since
Various sayings about the Wise Man. Book 5.

He will not live in the Cynic manner, nor seek a living by begging.

v. 30. Nor living like a Cynic. original: "Οὐδὲ κυνιῶν" Here I also connect two sayings as if they pertain to the same thing. I interpret it as he will not live in the Cynic manner, led by that passage of Cicero:
On Ends, Book 3.

Regarding the system and life of the Cynics, some say it may fall to the Wise Man if some such circumstance by chance occurs that it must be done; others say in no way. For if it was a dogma of the Stoics that the Wise Man will act like a Cynic original: "Κυνιεῖν τὸν σοφὸν" and likewise the Cynic way is a path to virtue original: "Τὸν Κυνισμὸν εἶναι ἐπ᾽ ἀρετὴν ὁδὸν" (as is found in Laertius), and yet some of the Stoics (for Cicero speaks of them) did not agree at all, it certainly seems that what is called Cynic shamelessness original: "ἀναιχυντία Κυνικὴ" — This refers to the Cynic practice of performing all natural acts, including sexual ones, in public. should have pleased Epicurus even less. Truly, since Cynicism is nothing other than a way of living like other animals that are bound by no laws, it is not in itself and absolutely to be condemned, insofar as it is according to nature and can exempt men from the countless cares with which they are tortured in civil society. However, given the way things are, and for men born and living in that society of men which it is in the interest of each to keep unharmed, it is necessary (and can even be considered according to nature) for each to live in it in such a way that he does not offend its laws, and by choosing what is good, he does not invite evil. In almost every society, besides other laws, there are also some pertaining to honesty or decorum; if anyone were allowed to violate these impudently and with impunity, a disturbance of affairs would soon follow. Foremost among these are those regarding sexual conduct; for there would be a wonderful collapse if those things were permitted everywhere which Crates and Diogenes Diogenes of Sinope and his student Crates of Thebes, famous Cynic philosophers who lived in extreme poverty and rejected social conventions. performed in public and shamelessly, acts equal to, if not worse than, those of beasts. It is no wonder, then, if Epicurus judged such behavior foreign to the Wise Man.

As for the latter part concerning begging, Epicurus did not indeed disapprove of the Cynics patiently eating vegetables for lunch and therefore refusing to serve Kings. For, both from his other sayings and from those to be discussed more fully below, he approved of nothing so much as a simple, thin, easily prepared diet. But since the cost of such a diet is small, he did not want the wise man to be so lowered as to seek it by begging, and thus have it thrown in his face:

Horace, Epistle 1, 14.

But if fortune should be so unjust that...