Amafinius

Who is Amafinius?

Gaius Amafinius was one of the earliest Roman writers in favour of the Epicurean philosophy. He probably lived in the late 2nd and early 1st century BC. He wrote several works, which are censured by Cicero as deficient in arrangement and style. He is mentioned by no other ancient writer but Cicero. In the Academica, Cicero reveals that Amafanius translated the Greek concept of atoms as "corpuscles" in Latin.

In his Tusculan Disputations, Cicero disapprovingly notes that Amafanius was one of the first philosophers writing in Latin at Rome:

In his Academica, Cicero criticizes Amafinius, and his fellow Epicurean Rabirius, from an elitist perspective for their unsophisticated prose style, and says that in their efforts to introduce philosophy to common people they end up saying nothing. He concludes indignantly: "they think there is no art of speechmaking or composition."

In modern times, Michel de Montaigne alludes to these passages in his Essais, book 2, chapter 17, De la presumption Montaigne writes: