Κύριαι Δόξαι

Abstract Epicurus’ Κύριαι Δόξαι (Key Doctrines) as transmitted by Diogenes Laertius are only one version of the original gnomology. This chapter first reviews their history of transmission and concludes that Diogenes offers the most reliable version, although the authorship and source of some of them (extracts or original compositions) remain unanswered. Their extremely dense nature is analysed next, with particular attention paid to their materiality, transformative power, and mundane topics. In addition, the marked preference for counterfactual and negative formulations as well as the use of protasis-apodosis structures is interpreted as triggers to make the readers engage with the underlying logic and activate their understanding. Therefore, not only do they physically ‘emboss’ truth efficiently, facilitating quick reference, but they also force the reader to be active in understanding them in the first place. The cause of the transmitted order of the maxims is also discussed. The thematic semi-arrangement and partial lexical concatenation are considered to testify to their utilitarian nature and to have emerged from repeated use and transmission, rather than being a choice of authorial design. The chapter also discusses the presence of the Key Doctrines and their title in Cicero, Plutarch, and Seneca, making clear that they were thought to represent the pinnacle of effectiveness and truth from the (disparaged) Epicurean perspective. Finally, a short discussion of person deixis in the corpus confirms previous results, notably concerning the agency implied by the instances of third-person singular.