In this reflection, we turn to **Caius Velleius’ Epicurean theology** as preserved in **Cicero’s *De Natura Deorum* (On the Nature of the Gods), Book I**. Velleius is Cicero’s spokesman for the Epicurean school, and his bold articulation of the nature of the gods offers a profound rejection of fear-based religion and divine intervention, grounding the divine in a corporeal, serene existence.
### **The Gods Exist by Natural Notion**
Velleius begins by asserting the reality of the gods, not based on tradition, mythology, or argument from design, but through **natural conception**, a **universal prolepsis** or preconception that all human beings possess:
> “No people is so savage as not to be imbued with some idea of the gods. Even those who in other respects are brutal and uncivilized have nevertheless learned the necessity of believing in gods.” (*De Nat. Deor.* I.44)
For Epicureans, this universal idea is not a learned myth but a natural imprint, a cognitive perception formed through repeated images (simulacra) received by the mind.
### **Gods Are Corporeal Beings**
A fundamental tenet of Epicurean theology — often overlooked — is that **the gods are corporeal**, composed of **atoms**, just like all other existing things. Epicurus and Velleius explicitly reject the notion of **immaterial** divinity, which the Stoics and Platonists held.
> “Nothing can be happy which is not also immortal, and nothing can be immortal unless it is a body. For there is nothing but body and void.” (*De Nat. Deor.* I.46)
This quote is vital. It illustrates that, in Epicurean cosmology, reality consists solely of **atoms and void**. For the gods to exist, they must be **bodies**, though their **bodies are refined**, made of the **most subtle and tenuous atoms**, incapable of decay or disturbance.
Velleius dismisses metaphysical divinity as nonsense. If you posit an incorporeal god, you posit something nonexistent.
### **The Gods Are Blessed and Tranquil**
To Velleius, the gods are defined by **blessedness** (*beatitudo*) and **incorruptibility** (*incorruptio*). Their nature is not just to exist eternally, but to exist in **eternal peace**, completely **detached from care, pain, or struggle**:
> “The gods are beings of immortal and most blessed nature; and their perfection consists in a life of supreme happiness and tranquility. They are free from all toil and care; they enjoy a life of eternal rest.” (*De Nat. Deor.* I.43)
Velleius scorns the idea of a god who labors to manage the cosmos, as Stoic providence suggests. What sort of perfection is that, he asks, which requires effort, concern, and the maintenance of a flawed world?
### **No Providence or Divine Intervention**
One of the most radical aspects of Epicurean theology is its **rejection of divine providence**. According to Velleius, the gods **do not create**, **do not punish**, and **do not interfere**. To imagine gods that concern themselves with wars, storms, or even human morality is to impose human anxiety upon the divine.
> “What is blessed and eternal neither has trouble itself nor causes trouble to others.” (*De Nat. Deor.* I.44)
This is a rejection of both **popular myth** and **Stoic providence**. The gods are **observers**, not participants. They dwell in the intermundia (spaces between worlds) and are **models of serene detachment**.
### **Idealized Human Form, Not Superstition**
Velleius acknowledges that we imagine the gods in **human form**, and he does not reject this. Rather, he affirms that the gods appear in the **ideal form of humanity**, because the human mind naturally associates **divinity with beauty, symmetry, and consciousness**.
> “Why should the gods not have human form, since no form more beautiful or more suitable for the expression of reason and thought can be found?” (*De Nat. Deor.* I.49)
Yet their **bodies are not like ours** — they are free from decay, sickness, and aging. They are **eternal and incorruptible**, a **paragon** of ideal being.
### **The World Was Not Created by the Gods**
Velleius ridicules the idea of a created cosmos. The **universe arose through the spontaneous motion of atoms**, not divine design. The presence of **imperfections, evils, and inconsistencies** in the world is for him evidence *against* intelligent creation.
> “Do you think this world could be made by a god? Is it not more probable that countless worlds, some like this one and some unlike it, came into being by the infinite motion of atoms through the void?” (*De Nat. Deor.* I.54)
The gods are not artisans. They do not fashion the world. They **exist outside** of cosmic processes, unaffected by natural disorder or moral evils.
### **The Gods Are Moral Models, Not Rulers**
Although the gods do not intervene in human life, they still serve a **philosophical purpose**. They are **examples of ataraxia** — perfect peace — and the wise person imitates them by seeking a **life of serenity, freedom from fear, and pleasure** understood as the **absence of pain**.
> “The wise man will revere the gods, not from fear, but from admiration of their nature and perfection.” (*De Nat. Deor.* I.52)
Traditional religion, in contrast, fills the mind with **fear**, **guilt**, and **superstition**. Epicureanism offers liberation from these by redefining the divine as a **natural, knowable, corporeal ideal**, not a source of wrath or control.
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### **Conclusion**
Caius Velleius, speaking for Epicurus, presents a **radical alternative to religious orthodoxy**: the gods exist, but they are **corporeal, blessed, uninvolved**, and eternally at peace. This theology eliminates divine wrath, design, and judgment. Instead, it offers a **naturalistic and serene vision** of the divine — one that invites the wise to pursue a life of **tranquility**, inspired not by fear, but by the **blessed detachment of the gods themselves**.
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