Spectator competition winners: Epicureanism vs Stoicism

In Competition No. 3320 you were invited to submit a poem extolling Epicureanism over Stoicism or the other way round.

Stoicism is enjoying something of a revival, embraced by everyone from billionaire tech bros to self-help devotees. But Mary Beard is no fan of Marcus Aurelius and has said that she finds it ‘mystifying’ that people could be interested in ‘a philosophy that, if you looked at it really hard, was nasty, fatalistic, bordering on fascist’. The philosopher Catherine Wilson, author of How to Be an Epicurean: the Ancient Art of Living Well, doesn’t rate Stoicism either, arguing that, in the modern age, we should be looking to Epicurus and his followers for guidance on how to live a good life.

In a medium-sized entry, you were fairly evenly balanced between the two. Strong performances from Frank McDonald, D.A. Prince, Mike Morrison, Brian Allgar and Nicholas Whitehead earn them honourable mentions. The winners, printed below, are rewarded with £30 each.