punishments for those people who could not be educated. For everyone who understood that murder was not useful, laws would not be needed; punishments are only needed for those who fail to understand this. For Hermarchus, this was an example of social progress and an increase in rationality. Philodemus in his On the Way of Life of the Gods, quotes the view of Hermarchus that the gods breathe, because the gods are living beings and all living things breathe. Philodemus goes on to say that, according to Hermarchus, the gods must talk to one another, because conversation is conducive to happiness: And one must say that they use speech and converse with one another; for, he [Hermarchus] says, we would not consider them more fortunate and indestructible if they did not, but rather similar to mute human beings. For since in fact all of us who are not maimed make use of language, to say that the gods either are maimed or do not resemble us in this respect (there being no other way either they or we could give shape to utterances) is extremely foolish, especially since conversation with those like themselves is a source of indescribable pleasure to the good. Notes 3rd-century BC Greek people 3rd-century BC philosophers Ancient Mytileneans Epicurean philosophers Hellenistic-era philosophers