Batis of Lampsacus

Batis (or Bates) (Ancient Greek: Βατίς) of Lampsacus, was a student of Epicurus at Lampsacus in the early 3rd century BC. According to Diogenes Laertius, she was the sister of Metrodorus and wife of Idomeneus.[1]

Seneca the Younger recounts that when Batis' son died, Metrodorus wrote a letter to his sister offering comfort,[2] telling her that "all the Good of mortals is mortal,"[2] and "that there is a certain pleasure akin to sadness, and that one should give chase thereto at such times as these."[3] Fragments of a letter from Epicurus to Batis on the death of Metrodorus in 277 BC have also been discovered among the papyri at Herculaneum.[4] Some of the other fragments may have been written by Batis.[5]

Notes

  1. ^ Diogenes Laertius, x. 23.
  2. ^ a b Seneca, Epistles, xcviii. 9.
  3. ^ Seneca, Epistles, xcix. 25. cf. Plato, Phaedo, 59a
  4. ^ Pap. Herc. 176
  5. ^ Klauck, H., Bailey, D., (2006), Ancient Letters And the New Testament: A Guide to Context And Exegesis, page 154. Baylor University Press.
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