THE POEM 'DE RERUM NATURA' THE POEM 'DE RERUM NATURA' The title of the poem is a Latin translation of the title of a similar didactic Epic by Empedocles called repì púσews written in the fifth century B.C. Lucretius wished to expound the doctrines of Epicurus not merely from a desire to put before his readers the theory of his physical system, but chiefly from a deeply rooted wish to free mankind from the terrors of death which are caused by the belief in a future life: he therefore determined to explain the true nature of things. Books one and two describe fully the physical theories of Democritus and Epicurus, dwelling on the nature of atoms and void, which form the chief component factors of the universe. In these two books he mentions only to refute them the systems of other philosophers. Book three shows that the soul is itself a material part of man and perishes when the body dies. The next book deals with the Epicurean theory of the senses. The fifth book falls into two parts, describing first the creation of the world, second the evolution of man and the beginnings of society. In the last book Lucretius puts before us a miscellany of natural phenomena and curiosities in nature, which he certainly intended to rearrange and systematize before it was actually published, though he was in all probability prevented from doing this by his untimely death. THE SUBJECT-MATTER OF THE FIFTH BOOK This book, which contains some of the very finest work of Lucretius, forms two great epics, the creation of the world, and the creation and development of man. The book opens with a panegyric on Epicurus. The poet then promises a sketch of the creation of the world and of the heavenly bodies and their movements, in order that men may realize the mortal nature of the world and not be enslaved to the terrors of superstition by the belief that it was designed and created by the gods. The gods were in reality totally indifferent to the affairs of mankind: indeed there was no inducement for them to exchange their leisured bliss for the anxiety of world-building: surely too, if the gods had made the world, it would have been both more perfect and happier. Rather Nature is the great creative principle. The world and all that is in it is mortal: water, air, fire, stones, ether itself, all gradually decay and die away. Earth too had its beginning and must have its end. He then proceeds to describe the formation of the world out of indestructible atoms which collided and combined: the heavier particles forming the earth, the lighter ones composing the ether and the heavenly bodies, the result being that the earth sank and the ether rose. Next he endeavours to describe and account for the motions and courses of the heavenly bodies and to explain the nature of the sun, which he with the Epicureans maintained was really of the size that it appeared to them. After this follows a description of the recurrence of days and nights, of the succession of the seasons, and an explanation of the causes of eclipses. At this point our selection ends, but he continues in fulfilment of his promise with the story of the creation of herbage, animals, birds, and lastly man produced from earth, the allmother. He denies the possibility of beings of twofold nature, such as Centaurs, Satyrs, Scylla, and the like. Then follows an account of the earliest life of primitive man, the beginnings of social intercourse, the discovery of fire, and the development of civilization. And now Lucretius launches out into a bitter indictment of religion and describes its evil effects upon man. Next he tells of the discovery of the use of metals, the consequent development of war and its instruments, the cultivation of the soil, the beginnings of music, and the recognition of the recurrence of seasons. Naturally resulting from these arts come the closer life and communion of man with man, the discovery of letters, the beginnings of history, and the progress of the arts and luxuries of life gradually leading up to the elaborate civilization of the poet's own day. DE RERVM NATVRA LIBER V No one can adequately praise my master Epicurus, who is the founder of the only philosophy worthy of the name, inasmuch as he bestowed far greater benefits on mankind than did the socalled gods Bacchus and Ceres and Hercules. Their benefits were merely temporal, his are spiritual, for by guiding our minds towards right reason he freed us from superstition and evil passions. Surely then he is far more worthy than they to be reverenced as a god. Qvis potis est dignum pollenti pectore carmen pectore parta suo quaesitaque praemia liquit ? ΤΟ 5 15 20 Herculis antistare autem si facta putabis, quid Nemeaeus enim nobis nunc magnus hiatus asper, acerba tuens, immani corpore serpens quo neque noster adit quisquam nec barbarus audet? atque omnem rerum naturam pandere dictis. 25 28a 28b 30 35 40 45 50 Following in the footsteps of Epicurus, I will now explain the inexorable laws of nature and the universe. I have proved the soul to be mortal, and I will now prove that the world itself must also be mortal. I will describe the creation of the world out of chaos, the creation of man and creatures, the growth of superstition and especially the movements of the heavenly bodies which are not, as men fancy, controlled by the gods, and by doing this I will free men from their unfounded superstitions. Cuius ego ingressus vestigia dum rationes persequor ac doceo dictis, quo quaeque creata foedere sint, in eo quam sit durare necessum nec validas valeant aevi rescindere leges, quo genere in primis animi natura reperta est nativo primum consistere corpore creta nec posse incolumis magnum durare per aevum, sed simulacra solere in somnis fallere mentem, cernere cum videamur eum quem vita reliquit, quod superest, nunc huc rationis detulit ordo, ut mihi mortali consistere corpore mundum nativumque simul ratio reddunda sit esse; et quibus ille modis congressus materiai fundarit terram caelum mare sidera solem lunaique globum; tum quae tellure animantes exstiterint, et quae nullo sint tempore natae ; quove modo genus humanum variante loquela coeperit inter se vesci per nomina rerum; et quibus ille modis divum metus insinuarit pectora, terrarum qui in orbi sancta tuetur fana lacus lucos aras simulacraque divum. praeterea solis cursus lunaeque meatus expediam qua vi flectat natura gubernans ; ne forte haec inter caelum terramque reamur libera sponte sua cursus lustrare perennis morigera ad fruges augendas atque animantis, neve aliqua divum volvi ratione putemus. nam bene qui didicere deos sécurum agere aevum, si tamen interea mirantur qua ratione 55 бо 65 70 75 80 |