The Wealth Required By Nature Is

Principal Doctrine 15 draws the central Epicurean distinction between natural wealth and the wealth demanded by kenodoxia (vain opinion). Epicurus argued that nature sets a clear limit on genuine needs: enough food, shelter, and companionship to remove pain. Beyond this limit, the desire for wealth is self-defeating — it creates the anxiety of acquisition and the fear of loss. This critique of unlimited accumulation was later developed by Lucretius in De Rerum Natura and echoed in Adam Smith's remarks on the "deception of riches."