Lucretius

Lucretius (ca. 94-ca. 55 B.C.), full name Titus Lucretius Carus, was a Latin poet and philosopher. His one work, "De rerum natura", a didactic poem in hexameters, renders in verse the atomistic philosophy of Epicurus, forerunner of the modern-day atomic theory.

Almost nothing is known of the life of Lucretius. The medieval chronicler Jerome is the only source of information. After giving his subject's birth date, Jerome declares that Lucretius was made insane by a love potion and composed his poetry during intervals of lucidity, with later emendations by Cicero. Lucretius committed suicide, according to Jerome, in the forty-fourth year of his life (50 B.C.)

Despite Jerome, the date of Lucretius's death is more commonly assigned to 55 B.C., because Donatus, the 4th-century biographer of Virgil, says that the poet assumed the toga of manhood on the very day Lucretius died. Cicero also comments in a letter to his brother Quintus in 54 B.C. that "The poems of Lucretius are, as you say in your letter, touched by flashes of genius and all the same composed with great skill." It is assumed that Cicero would have had Lucretius's poem in hand only after the letter's death. If Jerome is correct as to Lucretius's age at death (44 B.C.) and Donatus as to the year, the poet was born in 99 B.C.

Lucretius is generally considered to have belonged to one of Rome's old aristocratic families, although some scholars have concluded from the name Carus that he was a slave in a Lucretian household or, at best, a freedman.

As to the story of Lucretius's insanity from a love potion, it is supported by a passage at the end of book 4 of De rerum natura (On the Nature of the Universe) in which the poet violently attacks the lovemaking of men and women - which he describes rather fully. No other direct or indirect evidence exists. The work itself is dedicated to Memmius, a patron of literature who dabbled in verse. Memmius was a Roman magistrate in 58 B.C. and afterward governor of the province of Bithynia.

His Work

De rerum natura, some 7,400 lines long, is divided into 6 books. The title translates the Peri Physeos of Epicurus, whom Lucretius acknowledges as his master and praises in the most lavish terms.

Book 1 begins by invoking Venus, appealing to Memius, praising Epicurus, and listing the wrongs committed in the name of religion, the reasons for accepting Epicurus, and the difficulty of treating Greek philosophy in Latin verse. Next, the poet sets forth the atomic theory of Epicurus (derived from Democritus). Nothing comes from nothing and nothing can be destroyed. Matter exists in imperceptible particles (atoms) separated from one another by space. The atoms are solid, indivisible, and eternal. Lucretius then refutes the rival systems of Heraclitus, Empedocles, and Anaxagoras and proves that the universe is infinite and that its two components are also infinite, atoms in number, space in extent.

Book 2 contains Lucretius's most explicit reference to the moral theory of Epicurus. It also deals with the motion of the atoms, maintaining that their "slight swerve" (exiguum clinamen, book 2: line 292) causes free will. Lucretius passes to the shape of the atoms and the effects their various forms create. The number of shapes is not infinite, but the number of any given shape is. The atoms lack secondary qualities, that is, color, heat, and sound, and are without sensation. Finally, Lucretius shows that there is an infinite number of worlds and describes their formation and destruction.

Book 3 treats of the soul, its nature, composition, and fate. In the first two books Lucretius's purpose is to dispose of human fear of the intervention of gods into the world by proving that the universe is material and all events are due to the movement and combination of atoms. In book 3 he counteracts the fear of death and of punishment after death by proving that the soul, too, is composed of matter and is dissolved at death into atoms. The book ends with a triumphant passage on the mortality of the soul and the folly of the fear of death.

In book 4 the poet deals with the nature of sensation and thought: sight is the result of emanations of atoms from an object which pass into the eye. The remaining senses and the mental processes function in an analogous way. Next, the poet refutes the teleological view of creation, treats of the will, sleep, and dreams, and ends the book with a violent attack on the passion of love (which makes men do unreasonable things).

Books 5 and 6 are an appendix in which the atomic principle is applied in detail. Book 5, after praise of Epicurus and an attack on the religious view, describes the beginning and end of this world and certain problems of astronomy. The poet then accounts for the origin of life on earth, the creation of man, and the development of civilization.

Book 6 begins with a eulogy to Epicurus. It deals with miscellaneous celestial and terrestrial phenomena and proves that they have physical causes, thus opposing popular superstition, which interpreted unusual occurrences as divine signs. A treatment of pestilences leads him to a long (150 lines) description of the plague at Athens in 430 B.C. on which the work closes.

His Philosophy

Throughout his work Lucretius attacks religion and the fear of death, for him the causes of all evils on earth. He upholds the powerful light of intellect, which has discovered the true nature of the universe. Specifically, it is Epicurus who, through the "living force of his mind" (1:72), penetrated beyond the "flaming walls of heaven," traversed the measureless universe in his imagination, and then set forth what can and cannot come into being and how each thing has its powers limited (1:62-79).

Religion, says Lucretius, has been responsible for such monstrous acts as the sacrifice at Aulis of the pitiful Iphigenia, young daughter of King Agamemnon. The fear of death and of punishment after death is the cause of avarice, ambition, cruelty, and other forms of wickedness. This fear can be dispelled only by an understanding of the "outer appearance and inner working of nature" (3:31-93). Lucretius maintains that it is necessary to use the charm of poetry to explain the nature of the universe just as doctors, when attempting to persuade children to drink bitter medicine, smear the rim of the cup with honey (1:933-950, 4:6-25).

Liberated by philosophy from superstitious fears and the fear of death, man achieves ataraxia, a state in which he is free of disturbances of all kinds. He has gained, Lucretius says, a lofty and serene sanctuary, well fortified by the teaching of the wise, from which he may view others in their futile struggle to reach the top in human affairs.

The fervor of Lucretius's arguments, especially the violence of his attack on love at the end of book 4, does not seem to stem from a completely tranquil mind. Yet his poetry is at times magnificent, his hexameters, although not as lithe and graceful as Virgil's, have a powerful and austere majesty. Above all, Lucretius's effort to free men, by science and the power of intellect, from the dark and irrational fears which enslave and torture them has earned him a place among the benefactors of humankind.

Further Reading

Works on Lucretius include George Santayana, Three Philosophical Poets: Lucretius, Dante and Goethe (1910); George D. Hadzsits, Lucretius and His Influence (1935); E. E. Sikes, Lucretius, Poet and Philosopher (1936); Henri Bergson, The Philosophy of Poetry: The Genius of Lucretius, edited and translated by Wade Baskin (1959); Alban D. Winspear, Lucretius and Scientific Thought (1963); Donald R. Dudley, Lucretius (1965); and David West, The Imagery and Poetry of Lucretius (1969).

For more information on Lucretius, visit Britannica.com.

1. Titus Lucretius Cārus (c.99–c.55 BC), Roman poet and philosopher, author of De rerum natura (‘on nature’), his only known work. Of his life virtually nothing has come down to us. Jerome, in his translation of the Chronica of Eusebius, states that he was born in 94 BC, was poisoned by a lovephiltre, wrote in the intervals of madness some books which Cicero later ‘emended’, and took his own life at the age of 44. Donatus (1) states in an aside that he died in 55. The poem, though in a finished state, was clearly not finally completed, and it must be concluded that it was published as it stood after the author's death. It is dedicated to the aristocrat C. Memmius, the patron of Catullus and Cinna (whom Catullus accompanied to Bithynia during Memmius' propraetorship of 57). The description Lucretius gives of Memmius in the proem to Book 1, as excelling in all graces and helping his country in her hour of need, is likely to antedate his disgrace and banishment in 53 for corrupt practices in the elections of 54.

De rerum natura is a didactic poem in six books of hexameters, and is the fullest exposition we possess of the physical system of Epicurus, in which Lucretius was a convinced and ardent believer. The purpose of the poem is to free men from a sense of guilt and the fear of death by demonstrating that fear of the intervention of gods in this world and of punishment of the soul after death are groundless: the world and everything in it are material and governed by the mechanical laws of nature, and the soul is mortal and perishes with the body. Thus most of the poem is devoted to an exposition of the atomic theory which Epicurus had adopted from the philosophers Democritus and Leucippus: that an infinite number of atoms moving about in infinite space collide and combine with each other to bring into existence the world in all its variety, and there is nothing in the world that is not material. However, Lucretius allows that men possess free will, and accounts for it by stating that atoms occasionally swerve from their path out of their own volition. He also touches upon Epicurus' moral theory that pleasure is the aim of life.

Book 1 opens with a superb invocation of Venus, goddess of creative life, to grant to the poet inspiration and to Rome peace. It proceeds to the demonstration that the universe consists of void and small particles of matter, atoms, which are solid, indivisible, and indestructible. In passing Lucretius refutes the physical systems of Heracleitus, Empedocles, and Anaxagoras, and demonstrates that the universe is infinite in extent.

Book 2 starts with a passage on the blessings of philosophy. It then deals with the motion of atoms which, endlessly falling through space by their own nature, may swerve a little from their path (the swerve being Epicurus' rejection of a determinist universe) and, colliding with other atoms, form into masses; from these masses the universe is built up by chance arrangement. The book concludes with a demonstration that the universe contains many other worlds similar to ours.

Book 3 starts with praise of Epicurus and then proceeds to a demonstration that the soul too is made of atoms, of an extremely rarefied nature, and, with a long series of proofs, that it is mortal. The book ends triumphantly with an eloquent exposition of the foolishness of fearing death.

Book 4 deals mainly with the Epicurean theory of vision, sensation, and thought, and with various biological processes, digestion, sleep, and the meaning of dreams, and ends with a vigorous denunciation of the physical passion of love which destroys the Epicurean ideal state, peace of mind.

Book 5 begins with an extravagant eulogy of Epicurus, holding him to be partly divine because of his god-like peace of mind. Lucretius attacks the theological view of the world. He shows how the world had a beginning and will have an end, and discusses some problems of astronomy. He then traces the origin on earth of plant and animal life, including human life, and with remarkable insight describes the development of primitive man and the birth of civilization.

Book 6, whose introduction is one more laudation of Epicurus, is the loosest in composition and shows signs of being unfinished. It deals with unusual meteorological and terrestrial phenomena, earthquakes, volcanoes, the magnet, etc., concluding with pestilence and a horrific account of the plague at Athens in 430 (see PELOPONNESIAN WAR).

There is no specific treatment of the subject of moral conduct, but it is clear from various passages that Lucretius accepted the view of Epicurus. Pleasure and pain are the only guides to conduct, but by pleasure he understands the calm that proceeds from absence of pain and desire, and freedom from care and fear. He is deeply moved at the thought of Epicurus' great contribution to the alleviation of human suffering by banishing superstitious fears, introducing peace of mind, and teaching men how to face all the disasters of life with serenity, and he speaks of the philosopher with religious awe. Although he describes Epicureanism with the fervour of a religious convert, he has at the same time a firm grasp of his intellectual arguments, and writes with intelligent understanding of the issues as well as with emotion. Much of the subject-matter does not lend itself easily to poetic treatment, and there are parts that make for tortuous reading, and others where the versification is heavy and clumsy; but the work as a whole is suffused with an intense awareness of the world about him, especially of the beauty of the countryside, with warm sympathy for all living things and a compassionate, even painful, understanding of humanity. His strong moral sense, lightened by a lively feeling for the ridiculous, often leads naturally to satire, while his close observation of the world makes it easy for him to illustrate his arguments with vivid but homely images and similes which drive them home. His hexameters have weight and dignity, though admitting metrical practices that later poets preferred to avoid. The style shows the influence of the old Latin poets, Ennius (particularly), Naevius, Pacuvius, and Accius. He freely uses alliteration, assonance, and even rhyme, as well as repetition, and archaic forms and constructions; and he does not hesitate to invent new words including such compound adjectives as terriloquus (‘uttering frightening words’) and horrisonus (‘making a terrifying noise’), complaining of the poverty of his native tongue. He is aware of his own originality and the difficulty of treating such a subject in poetry at all, let alone in Latin with no tradition of writing philosophy in verse. But poetry is important as the ‘honey on the rim’ of the cup containing the bitter draught of philosophy.

Lucretius aroused the admiration of Virgil (felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas, ‘happy the man who was able to understand the causes of things’; see GEORGICS), of Statius (who speaks of the docti furor arduus Lucreti, ‘the towering frenzy of the learned Lucretius’), even of Ovid. But in the Middle Ages he appears to have been almost completely forgotten; the text is still based upon only two primary manuscripts. It is through Lucretius that the atomic theories of Epicurus are best known today.

2. Quintus Lucretius Vespilio (consul 19 BC), who was concealed by his wife Turia during the proscriptions of 43–42 BC until his pardon was obtained. He has been thought to be the author of the remarkable Laudatio Turiae (‘eulogy of Turia’), an encomium, preserved in an inscription, describing how faithfully and bravely his wife served him.

(Titus Lucretius Carus, 99/94-55/51 BC) Roman Epicurean. Very little is known about the life of Lucretius. His only surviving work is the philosophical poem De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things), expounding the atomistic philosophy of Epicurus. The poem contains six books: (1) introduces the basic atomism of Democritus, and rejects the rival views of Empedocles, Heraclitus, and Anaxagoras; (2) introduces the distinction between primary and secondary qualities of things, and introduces the doctrine of the continuous creation and destruction of worlds; (3) explains the composite and perishable nature of the soul, and the folly of fearing death; (4) gives the Epicurean theory of perception and the passions, including a famous denunciation of love; (5) deals with the progress of events in the natural world; and (6) treats of natural oddities and prodigies such as earthquakes and plagues. The poem is deservedly famous for its moral consolation as well as its cosmology, and its rugged literary power is often compared favourably to Virgil.

Quotes:

"From the very fountain of enchantment there arises a taste of bitterness to spread anguish amongst the flowers."

"The drops of rain make a hole in the stone, not by violence, but by oft falling."

"The fall of dropping water wears away the Stone."

"Pleasant it is, when over a great sea the winds trouble the waters, to gaze from shore upon another's great tribulation; not because any man's troubles are a delectable joy, but because to perceive you are free of them yourself is pleasant."

"Pleasant it to behold great encounters of warfare arrayed over the plains, with no part of yours in peril."

"What is food to one man is bitter poison to others."

See more famous quotes by Lucretius

Lucretius

Western Philosophy Hellenistic philosophy
Lucretius (artist's impression)
Full name	Titus Lucretius Carus
Born	ca. 99 BC
Died	ca. 55 BC
School/tradition	Epicureanism
Main interests	ethics, metaphysics
Influenced by Democritus, Epicurus, Empedocles
Influenced Epicureanism, Cicero, Ovid, Virgil, George Santayana

Titus Lucretius Carus (ca. 99 BC- ca. 55 BC) was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is the epic philosophical poem on Epicureanism De rerum natura, translated into English as On the Nature of Things or "On the Nature of the Universe".

Contents 1 Life of Lucretius 2 Purpose of the poem 3 Structure of the poem 4 Style of the poem 5 Appreciation of Lucretius' work 6 Transmission of the text 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links

Life of Lucretius

Very little is known about Lucretius's life; the only certain fact is that he was either a friend or a client of Gaius Memmius, to whom he dedicated De Rerum Natura.

Another piece of information is found in a letter Cicero wrote to his brother Quintus in February 54 BC. Cicero writes: "The poems of Lucretius are as you write: they exhibit many flashes of genius, and yet show great mastership." Apparently, by February 54 BC both Cicero and his brother had read De Rerum Natura. However, internal evidence from the poem suggests that it was published without a final revision, possibly due to its author's untimely death. If this is true, Lucretius must have been dead by February 54 BC.

Virgil writes in the second book of his Georgics, clearly referencing Lucretius,^[1] "Happy is he who has discovered the causes of things and has cast beneath his feet [subiecit pedibus; cf. Lucretius 1.78, religio pedibus subiecta, "religion lies cast beneath our feet"] all fears, unavoidable fate, and the din of the devouring Underworld."

A brief biographical notice is found in Aelius Donatus's Life of Virgil, which seems to be derived from an earlier work by Suetonius.^[2] The statement runs as follows: "The first years of his life Virgil spent in Cremona, right until the assumption of his toga virilis, which he accepted on his 17th birthday, when the same two men held the consulate, as when he was born, and it so happened that on the very same day Lucretius the poet passed away." The information in this testimony is internally inconsistent. Virgil was born in 70 BC, and his 17th birthday therefore took place in 53 BC. However, the two consuls of 70 BC, Pompey and Crassus, stood together as consuls again in 55, not 53. So which year should we take as the year of Lucretius's death?

A yet more brief notice is found in the Chronicon of Donatus's pupil, Jerome. Writing 4 centuries after Lucretius's death, he enters under the 171st Olympiad, the following line: "Titus Lucretius the poet is born. Later he was driven mad by a love potion, and when, during the intervals of his insanity, he had written a number of books, which were later emended by Cicero, he killed himself by his own hand in the 44th year of his life." The claim that he was driven mad by a love potion, although defended by some,^[3] is often dismissed as the result of historical confusion,^[4] or anti-Epicurean slander.^[5] Similarly, the statement that Cicero emended (Latin: emendavit) the work prior to publication is doubtful.^[6] The exact date of his birth varies by manuscript; in most it is tallied under 94 BC, but in others under 93 or 96.

It is impossible to know how credible the accounts of Donatus and Jerome are, since they wrote long after the poet's death and we do not know the sources of their off-hand comments. However, if we have to pick one of the dates mentioned above, 55 BC would be Lucretius's most likely year of death, and if Jerome is accurate about Lucretius's age (43) when he died, we can then conclude he was born in 99 or 98 BC.^[7] These are a lot of ifs, and it may be wisest to simply say that Lucretius was born in the 90s and died in the 50s BC.^[8] This ties in well with the poem's many allusions to the tumultuous state of political affairs in Rome and its civil strife.

Purpose of the poem

According to Lucretius's frequent statements in his poem, the main purpose of the work was to free Gaius Memmius's (and presumably all of mankind's) mind of superstition and the fear of death. He attempts this by expounding the philosophical system of Epicurus, whom Lucretius apotheosizes as the hero of his epic poem.

Lucretius identifies superstition (religio in the Latin) with the notion that the gods/supernatural powers created our world or interfere with its operations in any way. He argues against fear of such gods by demonstrating through observations and logical argument that the operations of the world can be accounted for entirely in terms of natural phenomena—the regular but purposeless motions and interactions of tiny atoms in empty space—instead of in terms of the will of the gods.

He argues against the fear of death by arguing that death is the dissipation of a being's material mind. Lucretius uses the analogy of a vessel, stating that the physical body is the vessel that holds both the mind (mens) and spirit (anima) of a human being. Neither the mind nor spirit can survive independent of the body. Thus Lucretius states that once the vessel (the body) shatters (dies) its contents (mind and spirit) can, logically, no longer exist. So, as a simple ceasing-to-be, death can be neither good nor bad for this being. Being completely devoid of sensation and thought, a dead person cannot miss being alive. According to Lucretius, fear of death is a projection of terrors experienced in life, of pain that only a living (intact) mind can feel. Lucretius also puts forward the 'symmetry argument' against the fear of death. In it, he says that people who fear the prospect of eternal non-existence after death should think back to the eternity of non-existence before their birth, which they probably do not fear.

Structure of the poem

The structure of the poem over the six books falls into two main parts. The first three books provide a fundamental account of being and nothingness, matter and space, the atoms and their movement, the infinity of the universe both as regards time and space, the regularity of reproduction (no prodigies, everything in its proper habitat), the nature of mind (animus, directing thought) and spirit (anima, sentience) as material bodily entities, and their mortality, since they and their functions (consciousness, pain) end with the bodies that contain them and with which they are interwoven. The last three books give an atomic and materialist explanation of phenomena preoccupying human reflection, such as vision and the senses, sex and reproduction, natural forces and agriculture, the heavens, and disease.

Style of the poem

His poem De Rerum Natura (usually translated as"On the Nature of Things" or "On the Nature of the Universe") transmits the ideas of Epicurean physics, which includes Atomism, and psychology. Lucretius was one of the first Epicureans to write in Latin.

Lucretius compares his work in this poem to that of a doctor healing a child: just as the doctor may put honey on the rim of a cup containing bitter wormwood (most likely Absinth Wormwood) believed to have healing properties, the patient is "tricked" into accepting something beneficial but difficult to swallow, "but not deceived" by the doctor (Book IV lines 12-19). The meaning of this refrain found throughout the poem is debatable.

Stylistically, most scholars attribute the full blossoming of Latin hexameter to Virgil. De Rerum Natura however, is of indisputable importance for the part it played in naturalizing Greek philosophical ideas and discourse in the Latin language and its influence on Virgil and other later poets. Lucretius's hexameter is very distinct from the smooth urbanity of Virgil or Ovid. His use of heterodynes, assonance, and vigorously syncopated Latin forms create a harsh acoustic to some ears, although this is probably merely an impression created by contrast with later poets and general unfamiliarity with Latin poetry recited by skilled readers. John Donne has a similar reputation in English poetry because of his powerful and thought-laden discourse. The sustained energy of Lucretius's poetry (even when treating highly technical particularities, such as the movement of atoms through space or the films which give rise to vision when they strike the eye) is virtually unparalleled in Latin literature, with the possible exception of parts of Tacitus's Annals, or perhaps Books II and IV of the Aeneid. The six books contain many formulaic elements such as deliberately repeated lines, refrains, and regularized emotional peaks.

Among many poetic high points a few should be mentioned. The introduction to Book I (the invocation to Venus and Spring) is unsurpassed, both in its initial ecstatic address to the life-force and regeneration, and in the celebration of the courage and clear-sightedness of Epicurus and the vitriolic polemic against superstition (Latin: "religio") which provide the bridge to the main didactic body of the poem. The opening sections of the various books emphasize the novelty of the undertaking Lucretius has set himself and the gratitude mankind owes to Epicurus for delivering it from unfounded terrors and an empty, joyless and servile life. And the great conclusions to Book III (on death and why it holds no terrors) and Book VI (on disease, especially the plague) are as graphic as anything in literature, as are various accounts throughout the poem of storms, battles, fire and flood.

Appreciation of Lucretius' work

Cornelius Nepos, in his Life Of Atticus, mentions Lucretius as one of the greatest poets of his times.

Ovid, in his Amores, writes: Carmina sublimis tunc sunt peritura Lucreti / exitio terras cum dabit una dies (which means the verses of the sublime Lucretius will perish only when a day will bring the end of the world).

Vitruvius (in the De Architectura), Quintilian (in his Institutiones Oratoriae) and Statius (in the Silvae) also show great admiration for the De Rerum Natura.

Michel de Montaigne, in one of his Essays, On Books, lists Lucretius among Virgil, Horace, and Catullus as his four top poets.

Lucretius has also had a marked influence upon modern philosophy, as perhaps the most complete expositor of Epicurean thought. His influence is especially notable in Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana, who praised Lucretius (along with Dante and Goethe) in his book 'Three Philosophical Poets.'

Transmission of the text

The textual survival of the poem is remarkable considering the hostility of the Catholic Church (the main transmission channel for Latin writings) towards Lucretius and Epicurean ideas. The surviving manuscript tradition (accounts will be found in the references given below) is often mangled, with numerous, significant lacunae. A great debt is owed by modern readers to the ingenious work of generations of scholars to produce a faithful, coherent, and readable text.

Notes

1. ^ M.F. Smith, "Introduction", De rerum natura, Loeb Classical Library
2. ^ "This biography is formally and explicitly the work of Aelius Donatus. ... The Vita, however, in all probability is not his, ... but rather Suetonius', essentially unaltered." Nicholas Horsfall, (2000), A Companion to the Study of Virgil, page 3. BRILL.
3. ^ "The story is considered by many a pure fable, but there are not a few scholars who see at least some truth to the story, not only because of a certain disorder in the poem, but also because of a certain poetic frenzy creating in not a few passages an exalted atmosphere and also because of the anxiety pervading the whole poem." Giovanni Reale, John R. Catan, (1980), A History of Ancient Philosophy: The Systems of the Hellenistic Age, page 414. SUNY Press
4. ^ "If this story were true, it would be surprising that it was not used by Ovid half a century later in defending his Art of Love or by the fathers of the church attacking paganism and Epicureanism: it may be the result of a biographical reading of parts of Books 3 and 4, or of confusion with Lucretius' contemporary the politician C. Licinius Lucullus, of whom a similar story is told." Ronald Melville, Don Fowler, Peta Fowler, (1999), Lucretius: On the Nature of the Universe, page xii. Oxford University Press
5. ^ "Since earlier writers show no knowledge of this story, it can confidently be dismissed as a fabrication, probably designed to undermine the credibility of the materialistic philosophy that Lucretius expounds." Martin Ferguson Smith, (2001), Lucretius, On the Nature of Things, page vii. Hackett
6. ^ "Cicero's editorship has been denied on account of his hostility to Epicureanism and defended because of his interest in literature." Alexander Dalzell, (1982), Lucretius, in The Cambridge History of Classical Literature, page 39. Cambridge University Press.
7. ^ Cyril Bailey in the "Prolegomena" of his 3-volume commentary on Lucretius' De Rerum Natura (1947), pp.1-3; and Martin Smith in the introduction to the Loeb edition of the poem (1992), pp.x-xi
8. ^ E.J. Kenney in the introduction to his commentary on De Rerum Natura III (1971), p.6; and C.D.N. Costa in the introduction to his commentary on De Rerum Natura V (1984), p.ix

References

• Lucretius. De Rerum Natura. (3 vols. Latin text Books I-VI. Comprehensive commentary by Cyril Bailey), Oxford University Press 1947.
• On the Nature of Things, (1951 prose translation by R. E. Latham), introduction and notes by John Godwin, Penguin revised edition 1994, ISBN 0-14-044610-9
• Lucretius (1971). De Rerum Natura Book III. (Latin version of Book III only– 37 pp., with extensive commentary by E. J. Kenney– 171 pp.), Cambridge University Press corrected reprint 1984. ISBN 0-521-29177-1

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lucretius

• Works by Lucretius at Project Gutenberg
  • Project Gutenberg e-text of On The Nature Of Things
• Works by Lucretius at Perseus Project
• On the Difference Between the Democritean and Epicurean Philosophy of Nature -- Karl Marx's doctoral dissertation, 1841
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry
• Lucretius's works: text, concordances and frequency list
• Bibliography De rerum natura Book III

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