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The Nature of Things

by Titus Lucretius Carus, A.E. Stallings (Translator), Richard Jenkyns (Introduction)

3.91 of 5 stars 3.91 · rating details · 3,385 ratings · 174 reviews

The seminal Epicurean text, in a brilliant new translation

The Epicureans of ancient Rome discarded the ideas of life after death and of an interventionist God in favor of the tactile pleasures of nature. In The Nature of Things, Lucretius celebrates with wit and sharp perception the extraordinary breadth of the Epicurean belief system, ranging from the indestructibility o...more

Paperback, Penguin Classics, 336 pages

Published December 18th 2007 by Penguin Books Ltd (first published -55)

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May 17, 2013 Steve aka Sckenda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Steve aka Sckenda by: Great Books Society

Shelves: ancient, great-books, rome, roman, poetry, philosophy, religion

Atoms or Order? Lucretius says that nothing exists but “atoms and the void”—matter and empty space. Into the God-intoxicated world came an ancient voice that stated with calm authority that there are no gods and there are no souls. “Leave all foolishness behind and devote your study to the way things are.” In “The Way Things Are” (55 B.C.E.), Lucretius argues, in Epicurean verse, his case for rationalism and his case against faith, but he does so without excessive resort to bullying, ridicule, o...more

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Steve aka Sckenda Genevieve Sharon wrote: "Communism and absolute Free-Enterprise Libertarian looks good on paper all tied up in a bow. But so long a the earth is peopl...more
May 19, 2013 08:01pm

Genevieve Sharon Steve, Your review, and the ordered way you explain what was then found to be original and maybe earth-shaking and new, help me to understand the sign...more Steve, Your review, and the ordered way you explain what was then found to be original and maybe earth-shaking and new, help me to understand the significance beyond what , to me, seemed already resolved issues. To me Lucretius was poetry. He spoke passionately of life's wonders, beauties, matings of living creatures. He describes with intensity emotions that come from being humans. It all was poetry to me --very exciting, sensual, touching. New beasts, old myths, storms and calms are looked upon with " stars in our eyes" and incredulousness of perhaps a clever, verbal child. Everything is a delight, even the blood and guts of beasts tearing bodies apart. It's all just the way things are , so marvel at it, taste it, revel in all the juices sweet or sour.
Next we are told to observe: deterioration, illness, ugliness, filth, the stink of waste in a chamber pot from the body of a bathed and fragrant woman's body. Death and disease are real ; they're meant to be. No fussing. No weeping. It's only atoms. The soul is only atoms. Beauty and ugly are all one and the same--atoms.

I like Steves closing as he remarks, we're back to square one.

Chaos vs order. Darkness vs. Light. Intelligence vs ignorance. Nothing is sacred. Everything is just seeds of atoms. Seeds plant and something like unto it grows. Then they wither and die. Don't weep. Don't cry. "Dust thou art and dust thou shalt return."

Explain what I'm not understanding. Describing a thing is not the same as ex aiming or identifying " The Great Cause"
, . . . . why one thing is more beautiful placed in a particular spot than when placed in another.

To see the matter of this earth which is subject to space and time is not to comprehend that which is NOT subject to space and time , ( it may be numinous and transcendent). The soul may be some power like LOVE or Charity . Perhaps the soul dwells for a time in the matter of this planet, but can move on in another form of Love in another dimension.

I'm sorry. I don't understand. This is admittedly NOT the somewhat sophomoric speculations of Joseph Campbell synthesis. There is something brave, and honest, and intelligent here, but " observing is not explaining ." Nor is it explaining away.
Someone tell me how I'm wrong. I'm not writing a Doctoral theses here, so try to make out what I'm saying and tell me why this proves we have no souls and there can be no Creator .(less)
20 hours, 56 min ago

Feb 08, 2013 Manny rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: life-is-dante, linguistics-and-philosophy, history-and-biography, science, too-sexy-for-maiden-aunts, translation-is-impossible, why-not-call-it-poetry

First, an apology for only giving it three stars. I am well aware that this is a brilliant piece of poetry, but my Latin is very poor, and I rapidly abandoned my initial plan of reading it in the original with the English translation alongside. In a way, though, I'm following Lucretius's advice: he explicitly says at one point that it's wrong to allow yourself to be swayed by beautiful words, and you should judge an idea on its merits. Reading him in my barbarian's tongue is certainly one way to...more First, an apology for only giving it three stars. I am well aware that this is a brilliant piece of poetry, but my Latin is very poor, and I rapidly abandoned my initial plan of reading it in the original with the English translation alongside. In a way, though, I'm following Lucretius's advice: he explicitly says at one point that it's wrong to allow yourself to be swayed by beautiful words, and you should judge an idea on its merits. Reading him in my barbarian's tongue is certainly one way to do that.

I have often debated the question of whether it is right to call atheism a religion, and with Lucretius it seems natural to argue that it is. The poem reminded me rather strongly of Dante - when I got to the bibliography, I was interested to see that Santayana had written a book comparing Lucretius, Dante and Goethe - but while Dante loves the One, Lucretius goes a step further and praises the Zero. His noble goal is to convince you that divine intervention is never required in order to explain what happens in the world, and that, if we just stop and and think carefully enough, we can liberate ourselves from irrational terror of the supernatural. Given that he's writing in the first century BC and science barely exists yet, this is ambitious indeed. But Lucretius has faith in his project; it's hard to avoid using the word.

I would love to know what his contemporaries thought of his arguments. From our perspective, there are a few cases where he definitely gets it right. I was impressed with his arguments about lightning, where I thought he pretty much nailed it. If lightning is the wrath of Zeus, why does it only come when there are clouds in the sky? Why is it particularly likely to strike high objects? Why does it strike godfearing and upright men as often as reprobates and sinners? A natural explanation does indeed seem more plausible. At the other end of the scale, his astronomy is completely bogus, and anyone who knew the first thing about the subject would have groaned in pain; Lucretius ignores all the careful empirical work that had been done over the preceding five hundred years and makes it up from first principles. And his explanation of magnetism is if anything even worse. He claims that a magnet sucks out the air between it and the object it's attracting; five minutes of experimentation with an actual magnet should have been enough to determine that no such thing happens. Perhaps he never saw one.

But it's his beloved atomic theory that provides the most interesting passages. Was he extremely far-sighted or just lucky? In one place, he makes a very sensible analysis of what happens when wood burns. He argues that it's a case of the atoms being rearranged, and uses a nice analogy: the atoms are letters, and they are recombined to make different words. You feel he's just about to invent the concept of the molecule. But then, a bit later, he discusses the different behaviors of oil and wine when you try to pour them through a fine sieve. The oil goes though with difficulty, and he says this shows that the atoms of oil must be much larger than the atoms of wine. But if he'd stopped and thought about it a moment longer, he'd surely have realized that this was not quite right. You can burn oil, and then it becomes something different. So oil can't be atomic; the atoms must initially be combined into the large units characteristic of oil which have trouble passing through the sieve, but these large units are broken up by burning. So near to an extraordinary insight, and he walks right past it!

Poor Lucretius. The bitter passages about sex give the impression that things didn't work out for him with women, and he died young, "driven mad by a love potion". But people are still reading his poem, long after he was dissolved back into his component atoms. It's the immortality he wanted.
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John John This is one of my favorite books. If we meditate on the reality of atoms in the void we will find are peace and we will not fear death when it co...more
Feb 02, 2013 09:06am

matt That's a reeally great, informative review...my edition says that nobody can confirm how or why Lucretius died, and that Tennyson spread the rumor abo...more
Apr 09, 2013 07:36pm

Manny Thank you! Though I'm shocked to hear that Tennyson may have invented this story. How extremely irresponsible of him.
Apr 09, 2013 11:42pm

May 20, 2013 Genevieve Sharon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Steve, Your review, and the ordered way you explain what was then found to be original and maybe earth-shaking and new, help me to understand the significance beyond what , to me, seemed already resolved issues. To me Lucretius was poetry. He spoke passionately of life's wonders, beauties, matings of living creatures. He describes with intensity emotions that come from being humans. It all was poetry to me --very exciting, sensual, touching. New beasts, old myths, storms and calms are looked upo...more

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Sep 25, 2010 Nemo rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: great-books, greco-roman

Philosophy is Supposed to be Fun!

Cicero, because of his personal aversion to the Epicurean philosophy, didn't quite do it justice in his book The Nature of the Gods, which introduced the Greek philosophical schools to the Romans (He all but made the Epicurean the laughing-stock of all the other philosophers). However, he also prepared and edited the transcript of this book by Lucretius, arguably the best exposition of Epicureanism, as a counterpoint.

Lucretius made a strong case for Epicureanism...more

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Aug 06, 2010 Jesse Lopes rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"True piety lies in the power to contemplate the universe with a quiet mind." This is a truth even C.S. Lewis, a sincere Christian, assented to, remarking that only the atheist can believe. So it is with Lucretius, whose poetry here anticipates many scientific discoveries, including several of Galileo's and Newton's, along with the general structure of atomic theory, although widely missing the mark in the theory of "films" (supposedly an explanation of what Locke would later call secondary sub...more

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Genevieve Sharon Jesse, Do you think Existentialist Kierkegaard is utterly about fear when he advocates "leap of Faith?" I'm not afraid to die, but I do mourn the loss...more
May 19, 2013 04:32pm

Jesse Lopes Yes, I do think Kierkegaard's point of view is about fear, and, in the last analysis, fear of the poor. The elite of every society that I know of are...more
May 20, 2013 08:54am

Aug 22, 2012 William Herbst rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This spring I read Greenblatt's book "The Swerve" which argues (unconvincingly) that the discovery of a manuscript of Lucretius'' De Rerum Natura led to the Renaissance. It made me recall a course I took on Lucretius many years ago at the CUNY graduate center. This summer, for a sight reading session with some other local Latin teachers I chose Lucretius' lines on the swerve to read and discuss. Wow - tough job working through the Latin and then trying to piece together the threads of what seeme...more

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Apr 01, 2013 John rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

. . . . The breadth of poetic tones Humphries confronts in his translations and the apparent effortlessness of his execution is nothing short of breath-taking. From the high dignity of Virgil, through the hilarious vulgarity of Martial and back to the Wordsworthian philosophizing (without the Wordsworthian pomposity) of Lucretius. From Ovid’s serious and finally tragic playfulness to all the well-placed grumpiness of that curmudgeon Juvenal. Humphries achieved a feat of poetic translation I woul...more

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Jun 18, 2012 D rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: poetry

…The kind of things we look at in our dreams
When altars seem to lift a swirl of incense
(We are all, of course, the hosts of images.)

The big deal here isn’t quite so much the content as the quality of the delivery. You can get all the nice ideas about atoms and guesses as to this and that, storms, volcanoes, fertility, contraception, etc. elsewhere and bits of it might be curious and interesting but most of it would be quite forgettable. The reason this book is still around is that it is fantasti...more …The kind of things we look at in our dreams
When altars seem to lift a swirl of incense
(We are all, of course, the hosts of images.)

The big deal here isn’t quite so much the content as the quality of the delivery. You can get all the nice ideas about atoms and guesses as to this and that, storms, volcanoes, fertility, contraception, etc. elsewhere and bits of it might be curious and interesting but most of it would be quite forgettable. The reason this book is still around is that it is fantastically well written. The quality of the verse was praised by Cicero, Virgil, and Ovid (elaborated in The Swerve: How the World Became Modern). The content can be quite dull at times (particularly Books V and VI) and I found myself somehow quite pleased anyway. There is something simply engaging about the style and manner of Lucretius (I had a similar response to Robert Burton).

Poetry readers will find, at the very least, the dedication to Venus that opens Book I worth their time; beyond that I recommend all of Books I and IV. Books II and III are similar in interest, style aside. I have the non-rhyming verse translation of Rolfe Humphries and would not recommend prose over it. Dryden opted for rhyming verse in translating a few excerpts; of the little I sampled, some I found inspired, some, not.

After first encountering ancient atomism in Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy, I wondered whether Democritus, Epicurus and so on were really that clever or merely lucky. Surely, with the ancients offering any number of ideas as to the nature of the things, by chance someone would be correct about something (though nobody at the time would have had any way of knowing it). Lucretius is wrong quite a lot; he gets a few things very nicely right. Atoms cannot be created or destroyed; they are innumerable; the different elements have unique properties and it is in how they combine that matters. Reasoning out from atoms, he argues that just as our planet was formed from atoms swerving together, the same process occurred throughout the universe for countless other worlds (and so stating that the earth was not the center of the universe). He even makes assertions surprisingly close to Darwin’s natural selection and though he is quite wrong on genetics, makes a key point on evolution.

Even when he was wrong, in some cases he may have had the concept right. Regarding the sense of taste, of course sweet flavors are not due to round, smooth atoms whereas bitter or savory flavors are due to rough and sharp atoms. But the shape of molecules is a factor and a strong argument can be made that he was right in concept (without the modern discoveries of atomic charge, molecular polarity, and so forth, he lacked the wherewithal to be correct in the details). The atomists may have started from a lucky place and their motivations, rather than pure reason, may have led them, at times, to reach “correct” conclusions. Nevertheless, they were quite clever and deserve some credit beyond luck.

Another thing we do is fool ourselves,
Become the dupes of logic which derives
Giant conclusions out of pygmy clues.(less)

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May 07, 2012 Alan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As a college freshman, I had Rolfe Humphries as my Humanities teacher. One book the whole freshman class read was his Aeneid. He would read a passage, and add, "The translator has taken a liberty here..." Since I read Latin, he loaned me Seneca's Thyestes in the Loeb
edition from his office, and he recommended me to a one night a week advanced Humanities session through which I heard the Classics head
lead discussions, for ex., of Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy. I have since read most of Humphries n...more

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Apr 12, 2012 Bruce rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Lucretius wrote this explication and celebration of Epicureanism in the first century BCE. The text was lost for many years but apparently rediscovered during the Renaissance, and it has been influential ever since. There is probably no translation from the Latin that perfectly combines the poetic beauty and the philosophical insights of the original, although there have been many attempts to do so. I was particularly interested during this reading in having as clear a delineation of Lucretius’...more Lucretius wrote this explication and celebration of Epicureanism in the first century BCE. The text was lost for many years but apparently rediscovered during the Renaissance, and it has been influential ever since. There is probably no translation from the Latin that perfectly combines the poetic beauty and the philosophical insights of the original, although there have been many attempts to do so. I was particularly interested during this reading in having as clear a delineation of Lucretius’ arguments as possible, and so I chose the translation (with notes) by Martin Ferguson Smith. I discovered, in fact, that Smith was able to write surprisingly poetically, with alliteration and creative metaphors as well as pleasing meter, despite the prose format.

The work is divided into six books, each addressing different topics. Lucretius appeals to the Muses for help and refers on occasion to the gods, but it is clear that he views them as being removed from the realm or concerns of the world and humanity, uninterested in and inattentive to them. In Book I, Lucretius outlines his theory of atomism, basing all of material existence on the presence of indivisible particles in a surrounding and interpenetrating void. His ideas are prescient, and if the theory cannot truly be described as a scientific one, it at least can be classified as a natural philosophy that he uses in subsequent books to develop a cosmology and anthropology. In Book II he further describes the motions and characteristics of atoms, their shapes and functioning, and he posits the evanescence of all material objects, including the earth and celestial bodies themselves. Book III describes the soul, comprised of both mind and spirit, that is limited to the existence of the body, having no existence apart from or subsequent to the latter, and in this book, the most interesting to me, he discusses death and why there is no reason to fear it. Any kind of personal afterlife is rejected. In Book IV Lucretius explains thought and sensation as well as various vital functions such as locomotion, sleep, nourishment, sex, and the like. He moves on in Book V to discuss the formation of the earth and astronomical phenomena, the beginnings of life on earth, and the development of civilization. Finally, in Book VI, he talks about meteorological phenomena and plagues, ending rather abruptly – was the work truly finished, or did Lucretius die before completing it?

The work is interesting on several levels. It allows a view into an important philosophical tradition of the Greco-Latin period, Epicurianism, and it allows the reader to gain insights into how this particular philosophical school contrasted with other intellectual strains of the times. It is also interesting as a description of natural philosophical thinking that formed the background for subsequent more rigorous scientific reasoning. I found myself most interested in the portions of the work addressing philosophical issues of relevance to humankind in whatever era, including death and meaning in life. There are admittedly parts of the treatise that are less interesting, and many parts of Lucretius’ cosmology can now be seen as fanciful and scientifically not only implausible but obviously incorrect. Nonetheless, the work is well worth reading and is not so lengthy as to be tedious. It is an important work, the rediscovery of which several hundred years ago was fortunate.
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Apr 03, 2012 Tom rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophy

Titus Lucretius Carus was an important 1st Century BC poet & Epicurian Philosopher. He was the first to write philosophical poetry in Latin.
His six volume poem, "De rerum natura", (often referred to as the "Lucretius Poem") translates into English as "On the Nature of Things" or "On the Nature of the Universe". It is divided into three matching pairs of books.
1.The permanent constituents of the universe: atoms and void
2.How atoms explain phenomena
3.The nature and mortality of the soul
4.Phen...more

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Dec 06, 2011 Bob rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Lucretius wrote to convince his contemporaries that the world stood completely revealed to our senses, that gods or spirits or immortal souls were harmful fables, and that the purpose of life was the moderate enjoyment of vitality and sense and curiosity. To a modern, his explanations seem alternately inspired and delusional. Latham's prose translation focuses on the philosophical elements, and the book includes a useful index.
His examples reveal a markedly alien worldview, reminding me how v...more

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Aug 11, 2010 Mark Adderley rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classical, philosophy

This poem is a statement of the Epicurean, or materialist philosophy, the main competitor of the Stoic philosophy in ancient Rome, summarized to some extent by Marcus Aurelius in his Meditations.

The Way Things Are (De rerum natura) is a didactic poem, i.e., a poem intended to teach. It summarizes Epicureanism for a Roman audience. Two main aims, though, emerge from a reading of the poem: that the gods have no effect on mankind, and that death is inconsequential to men. The body and soul are both...more

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Feb 11, 2010 Nicholas Whyte rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1391691.html

This is one of the best-argued cases for atheism I have read (speaking as a non-atheist). Millennia before Dawkins, Hitchens, or even Bertrand Russell, Lucretius argued the nature of the universe from first principles, concluding vigorously that there is no God and no afterlife, just matter made of atoms. There is no tedious sniping at current beliefs (apart from a rather funny bit towards the end about why Jupiter does not hurl thunderbolts; and he has...more

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Aug 29, 2012 Kelly rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I wish I had read this book when I was younger. Heretical and scandalous, it should be required reading across the educational spectrum. It’s brilliant and beautiful and wise.

From Wikipedia: “De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things) is a 1st century BC didactic poem by the Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius with the goal of explaining Epicurean philosophy to a Roman audience. The poem, written in some 7,400 dactylic hexameters, is divided into six untitled books, and explores Epicurean physic...more

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Aug 28, 2010 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As myrrh cannot be readily stripped of scent
without destruction of its substance, too,
so mind and soul cannot be readily drawn
out of the body but that all three must die. pg. 64, Bk. III, lines 327-330

Titus Lucretius Carus, a Roman of whom little is known, presumably wrote the poem The Nature of Things to convert his friend and/or associate Gaius Memmius to Epicureanism. In the pursuit of pleasure- not unbridled hedonism, but the tranquil pleasure of learning (ataraxis)- Lucretius rejects religion and seeks to understand the world around him. Lucretius praises the 4th century B.C Greek philosopher Epicurus throughout the six books. The atomist view of Epicurus is the foundation for Lucretius’ passages on his observations- many of which are startling and seem beyond his time. Just some examples:

Approximately 1600 years before Galileo Galilei, Lucretius noted

And so, through the blank of void, all things must fall
at equal speed, though not of equal weight. pg. 34, Bk. II, lines 239-240

On color being the product of reflected light:

And peacocks’ tails, when sunlight shines full on them,
will likewise, as they catch the light, change color;
now since these colors come when light has struck,
without it, we must conclude, they could not be. pg. 47; Bk. II, lines 806-809

On the infinity of space and possibility of life elsewhere in the universe:

In no way, now, will logic let us think,
since empty space runs endless everywhere
{…}
And so again and again you must admit
that other meetings of matter exist elsewhere
like this of ours which ether holds close-gripped.
{…}
that other circled earths exist elsewhere pg. 53; lines 1052-1053, 1064-1066, and 1075

He also rejects the teleological views of Aristotle and, 1800 years before Darwin, suggests the idea of natural selection:

no part of us grew there that we might use it,
but what grew there created its own use. pg. 102;Bk IV lines 834-835

Then, too, earth tried creating hosts of strange
creatures, fantastic things in face and form,
{…}
Many kinds of creatures, too, must then have died
and been unable to reproduce their kind.
for all you see now breathing the breath of life
had either cunning or courage or nimbleness
to guard and preserve their kind since time began. pg. 132; Bk. V, lines 837-838 and 855-859
{…}
But those whom nature had given no powers, either
to live on their own or to supply to us
advantages that would make us let their kind
find food in our protection and keep safe,
these, of course, fell profit and prey to others,
all caught in their own death-dealing limitations,
till nature at last rendered their kind extinct. pg. 133; Bk. V, lines 871-877

And 1800 years before Mendel, he touches on the basic mechanics behind genetics:

The female, too, comes from the father’s seed
And males find origin in the mother’s flesh,
for every child us born of twofold seed,
and every child resembles more that parent
of whom it has more than half; this we observe
whether the child’s of male or female sex. pg. 111; Bk. IV, lines 1227-1231

There’s plenty he gets wrong as well, which is not surprising that this was probably written in the 1st century B.C. Following the Epicurean model, Lucretius refuses to find truth in anything but the senses. The sense cannot contradict each other. Smell cannot contradict sight. Touch cannot contradict sound. Without reliance on the senses, “all sanity would collapse, and life itself world drop in its tracks if we can’t trust the senses…” pg. 94, Bk. IV, lines 507-508.

This an amazingly prophetic little book and it is filled with a sensibility lacking in Plato and Aristotle. Unfortunately, I’m sure the anti-religious tone will turn many away, but even for those who may not subscribe to Lucretius’ atheistic view, it is a lucid refutation of the gods. Not based on angry defiance, but on his well-argued view on nature. This is one of those rare classics that is truly enjoyable to read. As much for the ideas as the presentation.

If you have grasped this well, you see that nature,
free in a world no lords, and masters rule,
does everything by herself, without the gods. pg. 54; Bk. II, lines 1090-1092

Nothing goes down to darkness and the Pit;
there must be matter that worlds to come may grow;
they too will run their course and follow you.
before you day, men died, and men will die;
there’s never an end; one thing grows from another.
life is no grant in freehold; life’s a loan. pg. 79; Bk. III, lines 966-971

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Sep 07, 2010 Adamo Lanna rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: letteratura-latina, filosofia

Troppo una figata quando comincia a prendere per il culo Giove e i suoi fulmini. La parte della peste pure è bella, così come quando spiega i fenomeni naturali, invece l'anima lì quasi dormivo, che a me le polpette filosofiche sono indigeste. Però devo dire la verità è un libro che dovevo leggere, anche perché spunta fuori in tutte le storie delle scienze e ahhh finalmente so di cosa stanno parlando.

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May 11, 2013 James rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review is specifically of the W.E. Leonard translation. I found this an immensely difficult book for a number of reasons; one is that I rarely find philosophy (in this case an expounding of Epicurean physics) an easy subject, another is that the form in which it's delivered (i.e. verse) was not uncommon in Lucretius' time but it's hardly widespread now. The main stumbling block for me, though, was the translation itself, published early in the 20th century (the Dover edition gives the date...more

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Dec 03, 2012 Patrick rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ideas

I recommend you read "The Swerve" by Stephen Grenblatt before reading "On the Naure of Things". It will make all the difference. This is very good stuff.

amazon review:
This famous work by Lucretius is a masterpiece of didactic poetry, and it still stands today as the finest exposition of Epicurean philosophy ever written. The poem was produced in the middle of first century B.C., a period that was to witness a flowering of Latin literature unequaled for beauty and intellectual power in subsequent...more I recommend you read "The Swerve" by Stephen Grenblatt before reading "On the Naure of Things". It will make all the difference. This is very good stuff.

amazon review:
This famous work by Lucretius is a masterpiece of didactic poetry, and it still stands today as the finest exposition of Epicurean philosophy ever written. The poem was produced in the middle of first century B.C., a period that was to witness a flowering of Latin literature unequaled for beauty and intellectual power in subsequent ages. The Latin title, De Rerum Natura, translates literally to On the Nature of Things and is meant to impress the reader with the breadth and depth of Epicurean philosophy.
The poem's scope, even by modern standards, is staggering. Lucretius peers into the secrets of nature with a kind of innocent curiosity and offers a "scientific" explanation for all sorts of phenomena: stars and planets, oceans and rivers, plant life, reproductive activities, the soul and immortality, and the nature of the gods, among others. According to Lucretius, mankind can be freed from the stifling structures of religion and superstition by studying the works of the Greek philosopher Epicurus. All it takes is the strength of character to look at the natural world in an uncompromisingly level and unemotional way, to observe and live in the world according to precepts laid down by the great Epicurus in the fourth century B.C. That being so, according to Lucretius, it will be possible for man to lay aside superstition and fear and to become as godlike as he can.
Even though humanity was driven by hungers and passions it little understood at the time, Lucretius' bold poem sought to embolden men with the self-confidence to get along in the world without recourse to myths and gods. In order to free themselves, men would have to adopt a personal code of self-responsibility that consisted of living and speaking personal truths founded on the work of Epicurus. On the Nature of Things is about the universe and how men should live in it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucretius
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Apr 25, 2011 Paul Laub rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is a classic statement of scientific humanism, one paradoxically written by a poet long before the scientific age. As Lucretius acknowledges, the ideas here come from Epicurus, Democritus, and Leucippus living several hundred years before Lucretius wrote this poem (about 55 BCE). Lucretius's great gift is synthesizing them all into a single, well-organized, well-reasoned work.

Latham's prose translation is readable and elegant, although at the cost of losing most of poetic character of...more

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Mar 09, 2013 Cameron rated it 5 of 5 stars

This volume of didactic verse from a nearly-anonymous Roman philosopher has graced the shelves of all great thinkers since the ancient world and for good reason. While the premise of this poem is an exploration of the Epicurean belief system, The Nature of Things was Lucretis's lifetime work and a beautiful expression of his greatest truths.

"And there is nothing that exists so great and marvelous
That over time mankind does not admire it less and less.
Behold the pure blue of the heavens, and all...more

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Mar 31, 2012 Rob rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, favorites

There are a handful of books that seem to float above the rabble. They are certainly not scripture, but belong on a shelf above philosophy. Reading Lucretius is like reading the dreams of Darwin or Newton interpreted by the hand of Shakespeare. On the Nature of Things belongs on the shelf next to Bacon, Dante, Montaigne, Marcus Aurelius and the rest of my demi-Gods.

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Oct 17, 2010 Bob Nichols rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In this very long poem, Lucretius expresses an Epicurean philosophy. The philosophy is good, but the mode of presentation was a struggle. Good lines were tucked in here and there among a forest of obscure and tedious words and references. To do the poem justice not only requires a preference for this style of writing, but patience. Still the Epicurean approach appeals: Mind and body are one; there's nothing eternal and no immortal soul; natural phenomena can be explained by natural law, the prob...more

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Sep 01, 2012 Jose Luis rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

He leído la edición de Cátedra, preparada hace años por Agustín García Calvo, pero que no es una traducción suya (aunque los de Cátedra parezcan insinuarlo en la cubierta): se trata de una traducción dieciochesca que intenta respetar la forma poética del original, pero que resulta una lectura bastante árida y monótona que al parecer no hace justicia al original. Esto no es leer a Lucrecio. Aprovecho para dar las gracias a los eminentes pedagogos que ilegalizaron el griego y condenaron a la cland...more

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Jan 20, 2010 Jeremy added it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-writing, philosophy

Wow, this was a real surprise. Lucretius was just so shockingly ahead of his time. It's probably more important than Newton in terms of the sheer range of thought he originates. His conception of atomic theory is surprisingly accurate, down to recognizing that atoms are composed of about three different parts. He also figured out the law of conservation of matter, realized that the majority of matter is made up of empty space, recognized the basic principles of gravitation, heat, light, relativi...more

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Mar 01, 2013 David rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophy, roman, greek

If you are in a classical philosophy mood, and you want an idea of Epicureanism (early 4th century B.C.E Greek), as perceived by a 1st century A.C.E Roman, Titus Lucretius Carus, then look no further. Admittedly, not an especially likely thing that you might be on the look-out for, but there you are. The prose translation of R.E Latham is excellent in maintaining the feel of the original poem, he makes for a lucid, accessible, and really quite readable book - and not as long as you might think,...more If you are in a classical philosophy mood, and you want an idea of Epicureanism (early 4th century B.C.E Greek), as perceived by a 1st century A.C.E Roman, Titus Lucretius Carus, then look no further. Admittedly, not an especially likely thing that you might be on the look-out for, but there you are. The prose translation of R.E Latham is excellent in maintaining the feel of the original poem, he makes for a lucid, accessible, and really quite readable book - and not as long as you might think, only 260 odd pages.

Epicurus believed that what he called "pleasure" is the greatest good, but the way to attain such pleasure is to live modestly and to gain knowledge of the workings of the world and the limits of one's desires. This led one to attain a state of tranquility (ataraxia) and freedom from fear, as well as absence of bodily pain (aponia). The combination of these two states is supposed to constitute happiness in its highest form. Although Epicureanism is a form of hedonism, insofar as it declares pleasure to be the sole intrinsic good, its conception of absence of pain as the greatest pleasure and its advocacy of a simple life make it different from "hedonism" as it is commonly understood.

Epicureanism emphasizes the neutrality of the gods, that they do not interfere with human lives. It states that gods, matter, and souls are all made up of atoms. Souls are made from atoms, and gods possess souls, but their souls adhere to their bodies without escaping. Humans have the same kind of souls, but the forces binding human atoms together do not hold the soul forever. The Epicureans also used the atomist theories of Democritus and Leucippus to assert that man has free will. They held that all thoughts are merely atoms swerving randomly. This explanation served to satisfy people who wondered anxiously about their role in the universe.

[I have shamelessly lifted that from the Wikipedia entry on Epicurus, it was much more cogent than I could ever have been]

Lucretius makes an excellent place to start for people who are interested in ancient philosophical perspectives, he is not always right about the "facts" he expresses, but you might be surprised how much of what he details of Epicurean thought is still understood to be valid. There is considerable perspicacity in his belief that "nothing can be made from nothing", and the atomist theories he expounds presage modern theories of the 'big bang' model of the universe. His notion that time does not exist before there are events to measure against it equally conforms to modern ideas. Incidentally, he is an early exponent of the idea that "we are what we eat". Go For It, Boy!(less)

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Sep 22, 2011 Jon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sometimes boring, sometimes astonishing in its perception, sometimes silly because it is a very early attempt at seeing the entire universe (including our minds and spirits) as made up entirely of tiny seeds. Nothing exists except the seeds and the void. Various combinations of these atoms (Lucretius doesn't use that word) make the world we perceive seem to be made up of different things. Everything eventually perishes; there is no immortality. The only proper attitude towards this truth is the...more

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Jan 10, 2012 Alex rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: reading-through-history, 2012

Review forthcoming...I'll probably wuss out on all the quote-heavy analysis I plan to do and end up half-assing it anyway.

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May 16, 2011 Kenny rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics_philosophy, classics_theology

If you're interested in:
-the debate between science and religion
-atheism
-theism
-the problem of evil
-death
or
-life
I heartily recommend this book. It doesn't have all the answers of course, but it probably has quite a few that you will find shockingly persuasive. Many of the debates surrounding the above topics have not fundamentally changed in the 20 or so centuries since this poem was written, and many of them have sort of wheeled round and are closer now to where they were in Lucretius' day than...more

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Feb 13, 2013 Ryan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, philosophy-morality, science-math

This has not been my favorite philosophical classic I have ever read, primarily because I have a very poor translation of Lucretius' original work. His various theories on atoms, lightning, and the water cycle make you think a little differently about the ancients, who are typically portrayed as dull, stupid, and unimaginative. Lucretius, being none of these, is a further cause of interest because his theories are surmised solely from philosophical reasoning, not from any observation or study of...more

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About Titus Lucretius Carus

(ca. 99 BCE – ca. 55 BCE) Also know as simply, Lucretius, was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is an epic philosophical poem laying out the beliefs of Epicureanism, De rerum natura, translated into English as On the Nature of Things or "On the Nature of the Universe".

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On the Nature of Things (The De Rerum Natura)

De Rerum Natura: Vol 1 of 3 (Academic Monograph Reprint)

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“All religions are equally sublime to the ignorant, useful to the politician, and ridiculous to the philosopher.” — 37 people liked it

“For fools admire and love those things they see hidden in verses turned all upside down, and take for truth what sweetly strokes the ears and comes with sound of phrases fine imbued.” — 8 people liked it

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