The Epicurean's Proto-Atheism

Epicurus exhorted his followers to identify that which caused them pain and then purge it from their everyday lives. He came out fully as a sort of proto-atheist, denying completely that the gods played an active role in the lives of mortal men. Epicureans were usually far more modest than their non-Epicurean neighbors. The biggest thing Epicureans tried to remind his students was that they need not fear death.