According to Foucault the constitution of the subject can only be conceived of when contrasted with the negativity of the Law. He offers the Hellenistic model as an alternative. What effects does this de-centering of the symbolic and the Law yield with respect to the constitution of the subject and social bonds? This article seeks to demonstrate that it is the body that then appears as the main regulator of the subject and social bonds. This Hellenistic moment, with its stylistics of existence, will be brought into a dialogue with the contemporary clinic, its symptoms and modes of social organization. Thus, the Hellenistic alternative turned out to be less of a liberating alternative to discontent than a different way of dealing with it.