 If one does not fear the gods, what motive is there for living justly? Where law obtains, Epicurus indicates, it is preferable not to commit crimes, even secret ones, since there will always be anxiety over the possibility of detection, and this will disrupt the tranquillity or ataraxy that is the chief basis of happiness in life (see Principal Beliefs = KD 34–35). Justice, for Epicurus, depends on the capacity to make compacts neither to harm others nor be harmed by them, and consists precisely in these compacts; justice is nothing in itself, independent of such arrangements (KD 31–33). According to Epicurus (LM 132, KD 5), someone who is incapable of living prudently, honorably, and justly cannot live pleasurably, and vice versa. Moreover, prudence or wisdom (phronêsis) is the chief of the virtues: on it depend all the rest. This again sounds calculating, as though justice were purely a pragmatic and selfish matter of remaining unperturbed. Epicurus does not entertain the thought experiment proposed by Plato in the Republic (359C–360D), in which Plato asks whether a person who is absolutely secure from punishment would have reason to be just. Did Epicurus have an answer to such a challenge? He may simply have denied that anyone can be perfectly confident in this way. Perhaps, however, he did have a reply, but it was derived from the domain of psychology rather than of ethics. A person who understands what is desirable and what is to be feared would not be motivated to acquire inordinate wealth or power, but would lead a peaceful life to the extent possible, avoiding politics and the general fray. An Epicurean sage, accordingly, would have no motive to violate the rights of others. Whether the sage would be virtuous is perhaps moot; what Epicurus says is that he would live virtuously, that is prudently, honorably, and justly (the adverbial construction may be significant). He would do so not because of an acquired disposition or hexis, as Aristotle had it, but because he knows how to reason correctly about his needs. Hence his desires would be limited to those that are natural (not empty), and so easily satisfied, or at least not a source of disturbance if sometimes unsatisfied.