Lucretius On the Nature of Things

Latin Poet and Philosopher, Famous for His Thoughts in Verse

Aug 20, 2009

The philosophy and work of Lucretius, Latin poet and great thinker, best-known for his one poem, De Rerum Natura or "On the Nature of Things."

Lucretius (c. 94 BC - c. 55 BC), was a Roman poet and philosopher. He is remembered for his one surviving work, a long poem in six books called De Rerum Natura or On the Nature of Things (1st century BC), influenced by the teachings of Epicurus, Greek philosopher and founder of Epicurean school.

Life of Lucretius in a Nutshell

Little is known of Lucretius or Titus Lucretius Carus, the ancient Latin poet and philosopher, believed to be born in the early half of the 1st century BC. The fact that he was highly educated suggests that he came from a wealthy family, and historians believe he may have been born in or near Rome.

Other classical writers who lived after him tell a story about his life, that that he became mad after drinking a love-potion, but when he was lucid, he wrote his poetry in these brief periods of sanity. Others think it seems unlikely that he was mad basing it from the book he is famous for, De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things.) This work is too carefully thought out to have been written by a man who was mad.

Lucretius Poetry and On the Nature of Things

He wrote in Latin verse and in hexameter, which was the stardard Latin and Greek meter in his day. It was the time before Virgil had perfected hexameter. Lucretius also coined new words in his works.

His poem is a verse compression of the arguments about matter taking place in antiquity. On the Nature of Things is a philosophical poem that describes the universe and everything in it according to the atomic theories of his hero, the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus, who lived almost 200 years before Lucretius.

True to Epicurean philosophy, the main argument of his poem is that the universe is made up of many tiny particles of matter called atoms moving around, enough to provide humankind's free will.

Lucretius also argued that people do not really have souls and that there is no afterlife. It is remarkable how similar his beliefs are to some modern ideas, particularly considering that he lived more than 2000 years ago.

An Insight to Lucretius

He was the first Roman author to write a philosophical work in verse. To make his ideas understood, he had to invent new words and give new meanings to old words. For this, he contributed a lot to develop Latin, the historically Italic language of ancient Rome.

A Quote from Lucretius

"Sweet, when the sea swells to the turbulent winds, / To stand on earth and watch another's toil; / Not through delight in someone else's struggle – / It's sweet to see the problems you don't have." ~Lucretius, On the Nature of Things, Book II

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