Based on three authors, La Mothe le Vayer, Cyrano de Bergerac and the author of the Theophrastus redivivus, we hypothesise that there is a coherent libertine philosophy which is not a mere ‘wisdom’ based on an absent god, the autonomy of the wise and natural morality, but which finds its clearest expression in the Theophrastus. I. Atheism gives meaning to the apparent scepticism of a La Mothe le Vayer; II. self-love is at the foundation of their anthropology; III. their physics, whether Aristotelian or Cartesian, is based on the same materialist

naturalism. Conclusion: All three express the same structure: a dynamic, individualistic naturalism. The result is a fragmented writing form that is not only

concealment, but interpretation of diverse sources.