Reissued to accompany stephen greenblatts the swerve. And we ourselves indeed to make this book, and still to seek the nature of the world and set it down, when once discovered, here. At six books and some 7,400 lines of latin, laden with allusion, philosophical reflection, and long forays into ancient physics, the work is demanding even for a highly trained classicist, which greenblatt, an english professor, readily admits he is not. Only if this fact is accepted can men rid themselves of irrational fears and achieve the state of ataraxia, freedom from mental disturbance, on which the epicurean definition of pleasure was based. On the nature of things work by lucretius britannica. Hide browse bar your current position in the text is marked in blue. Drawing on the atomism theory of democritus, dating over 400 years prior to his masterwork, lucretius main aim with his. The poem takes the form of a detailed exposition of epicurean physical theory an extreme materialism designed to remove and discredit popular fears of the gods, death and an afterlife. Drawing upon this materialist philosophy, lucretius cites the fear of death as the cause of mans ills, and shows the way to freedom from that fear. Athens first gave the sweet and laws, consolations of life, when she brought forth a man b but epicurus the discoverer of truth. Of the three great latin poets lucretius seems to make the most peculiar appeal to our own age. To present this case lucretius deploys the full range of poetic and. In it, he set out to explicate the universe, embracing and refuting ideas of the great greek philosophers. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.
Twofold the visages of fellow men, and twain their bodies. The poem, written in dactylic hexameter, is divided into six books, and concentrates heavily on epicurean physics. Click anywhere in the line to jump to another position. J download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets.
Many comments have been posted about on the nature of things. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading lucretius. The poem, written in some 7,400 dactylic hexameters, is divided into six untitled books, and explores epicurean physics through poetic. It was athens of illustrious name that first in former athens produced not only corn, days spread abroad the corn bearing crops amongst suffering mankind a. The title of lucretiuss work translates that of the chief work of epicurus, peri physeos on nature. Home collectionstexts perseus catalog research grants open source about help. Proem mother of rome, delight of gods and men, dear venus that beneath the gliding stars makest to teem the manyvoyaged main and fruitful lands. Many comments have been posted about on the nature. Athens bestowed on them a new life and established laws. Because we can be confident that natural answers exist even if we are not sure of all the details, we need not be concerned that the gods, fate, or fortune deprive us of control.