On the nature of things is a firstcentury bc didactic poem by the roman poet and philosopher lucretius c. Click anywhere in the line to jump to another position. Lucretius was a proponent of the epicurean school of thought which originated in athens a couple centuries earlier. On the nature of things by titus lucretius carus free ebook. Rerum is the genitive possessive plural form of the word res meaning thing, matter, issue, affair. Latin text and english translations with commentary on books 1 brown, 3 brown, 4 godwin, 5 gale, and. The poem, written in some 7,400 dactylic hexameters, is divided into six untitled books, and explores epicurean physics through richly poetic language and metaphors. Its earliest published translation into any language french.
Leonards passionate introduction is a signal milestone in the history of the poems reception, while the notes in smiths commentary are a helpful guide to interpretation. The internet classics archive on the nature of things by. Home collectionstexts perseus catalog research grants open source about help. Pleasant it is, when on the great sea the winds the serene sanctuaries of philosophy. Little is known of his life, although two tantalizing bits of gossip were passed on by st. This book represents the primary source of modern knowledge on epicurean thought, and it played an important role in the development of atomism. See all 3 formats and editions hide other formats and editions. For students approaching lucretius this remains the only commentary in english on the entire work in one volume. On the nature of the universe is a didactic epic poem. Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg. The poem, written in some 7,400 dactylic hexameters, is divided into six untitled books, and explores epicurean physics through poetic. A word cloud of the leonard translation of lucretius the nature of things. 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 for all of living things. Anthony esolen fills that gap with a version that reproduceswith remarkable faithfulnessthe meaning, pace, and tone of the original latin.
Book i book ii book iii book iv book v book vi card. The latin text of lucretius latin and english edition paperback. The best translation for rerum i can think of would be of these things, but its all in context. If things could come from nothing, then, wher ever, in the midst of things, there might be nothing existent, some thing might thence arise. No one can set about tnnslating lucretius into english. Titus lucretius carus was probably born in the early first century b. Titus lucretius carus was a roman poet and philosopher over 2050 years ago. Pleasant is it also to behold great encounters of warfare arrayed over the plains. Henri bergson, the philosophy of poetry, the genius of lucretius translated and edited by wade. Hide browse bar your current position in the text is marked in blue. I have translated from my own text published in the bibliotheca oxoniensi. It is a formidable task to put 7,500 latin hexameter lines into english verse, but mr. Leonard and smith lucretius university of wisconsin press 1942. The poem was lost during the middle ages, rediscovered in 1417, and first printed in 1473.
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