Epicurus willed his Garden to his school for ever, and two centuries later a Roman exile owned the ruins of his house and planned to pull it down

Epicurus died at Athens in 271 or 270 BC, aged 72, after a fortnight's illness from kidney stones. Hermippus says he sat in a warm bronze bath, drank unmixed wine and told his friends to remember his teachings. His will, preserved by Diogenes Laertius, left his property to two citizens, Amynomachus and Timocrates, on condition that they give the Garden to Hermarchus and the members of the school and to Hermarchus's successors, to live and study in. Hermarchus was to live in the house in Melite. The will funded offerings for his parents and brothers, a yearly celebration of his birthday on the 10th of Gamelion, and a school gathering on the 20th of each month for himself and his friend Metrodorus. It provided for Metrodorus's son and ordered that his daughter be married to a member of the school chosen by Hermarchus, with a dowry. It freed four slaves and left his books to Hermarchus. By 51 BC the site belonged to Gaius Memmius, a former praetor living in exile at Athens after a bribery conviction. A decree of the Areopagus allowed him to build, and he planned to tear down the ruins of Epicurus's house for a dwelling of his own. Patro, head of the Epicureans, appealed to him and was refused. Cicero, passing through Athens, wrote asking Memmius to let the decree be cancelled. Patro's case cited the rights of wills and Epicurus's authority. What Memmius decided is not recorded.