Epicurean Poetics before Philodemus

This chapter summarizes the evidence for discussion of poetry and poetics by Epicureans from Epicurus to the Epicureans who are contemporary with Philodemus. It turns out that, in all likelihood, the first generation of Epicureans developed an account of poetry and how it works, and that we should attribute this theory to Metrodorus and his On Poems. As is well known, Epicurus himself was concerned to deny a role in education to poetry (only his philosophy is truly educational), but he did not ban the writing or enjoyment of poetry. This allowed Metrodorus to write an On Poems, which probably served as the standard Epicurean account. Later Epicureans reflect that account, but do not add much to our own understanding, except for Demetrius Laco, who shows interest in less theoretical topics, such as defining features of genres and rhetorical/poetic tropes.