Lucretius
Lucretius
93 av. J.-C. — 54 av. J.-C.
Rome antique
Lucretius was a Latin Epicurean poet and philosopher of the 1st century BC. He is the author of De rerum natura, a sweeping poem in six books expounding the philosophy of Epicurus and the atomism of Democritus. His work seeks to free humanity from the fear of the gods and of death.
Famous Quotes
« Nil posse creari de nihilo. (Nothing can be created from nothing.) »
« Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum. (To such heights of evil are men driven by religion.) »
Key Facts
- Born around 98–93 BC, died around 55–54 BC
- Composed De rerum natura, a philosophical poem in six books written in Latin verse
- Expounds and popularizes the philosophy of Epicurus and the atomism of Democritus
- His manuscript was rediscovered in the 15th century by Poggio Bracciolini, profoundly influencing the Renaissance
- A contemporary of Cicero, who mentions his work in his personal correspondence
Works & Achievements
A philosophical poem in six books and 7,400 hexameter verses, it is the only known work of Lucretius. In it, he expounds the atomism of Epicurus and Democritus to free humanity from the fear of gods and death, laying the foundation for a materialist and rationalist vision of the world.
Anecdotes
Lucretius's De rerum natura was rediscovered in 1417 by the humanist Poggio Bracciolini in a German monastery. This manuscript, lost for centuries, would go on to transform European thought and inspire philosophers such as Giordano Bruno and Spinoza. Without this providential discovery, the entire work might have vanished forever.
Lucretius argues in his poem that the soul is mortal and composed of atoms, just like the body. This idea was scandalous to the Romans of his day, as it meant there was neither heaven nor hell: death is nothing, for 'where death is, I am not.' This phrase, borrowed from Epicurus, is still quoted today in philosophical debates.
Saint Jerome, writing in the 4th century, reports that Lucretius was driven mad by a love potion, composed his poem during intervals of sanity, and then took his own life at the age of 43. Most modern historians regard this account as apocryphal — invented to discredit an author deemed too dangerous to the Christian faith.
Cicero, a contemporary of Lucretius, mentions in a letter to his brother Quintus that he had read De rerum natura and praises its 'many flashes of genius.' This is one of the few surviving contemporary references to Lucretius, as the poet appears to have lived apart from Roman public life, far from the political circles that were shaking the Republic in the age of Caesar.
Primary Sources
Humana ante oculos foede cum vita iaceret in terris oppressa gravi sub religione… Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum. (When human life lay foul before our eyes, crushed down to earth beneath the weight of oppressive religion… So great were the evils to which religion could prompt men.)
Nil igitur mors est ad nos neque pertinet hilum, quandoquidem natura animi mortalis habetur. (Death therefore is nothing to us and concerns us not one jot, since the nature of mind is found to be mortal.)
Lucreti poemata, ut scribis, ita sunt : multis luminibus ingeni, multae tamen artis. (The poems of Lucretius are, as you write, marked by many flashes of genius, yet show great craftsmanship.)
Suave, mari magno turbantibus aequora ventis, e terra magnum alterius spectare laborem… (Pleasant it is, when winds whip up the waters of the vast sea, to watch from shore the great struggle of another…)
Key Places
Lucretius's presumed birthplace, Rome was in the grip of a severe republican crisis, and the atmosphere of violence and instability fueled the poet's philosophical quest for inner peace and freedom from fear.
Although Lucretius probably never visited it, the garden where Epicurus taught in the 4th century BCE is the direct philosophical source of De rerum natura. Lucretius celebrates it as a place where the light of reason shines.
This Roman villa, buried under the ashes of Vesuvius in 79 CE, yielded hundreds of Epicurean scrolls, attesting to the spread of the philosophy that Lucretius championed among the educated circles of his time.
It was in this Benedictine monastery that the manuscript of De rerum natura survived the Middle Ages, before being discovered in 1417 by Poggio Bracciolini, ensuring that Lucretius's work has endured to this day.
Gallery
Portrait of Juliette Drouet
Wikimedia Commons, Public domain — Charles-Émile-Callande de Champmartin
Lucrèce Forbin de Solliès, dite "La Belle du Canet"
Wikimedia Commons, Public domain — Unidentified painter
(Venice) Lucrezia by Leandro Da Ponte - gallerie Accademia
Wikimedia Commons, Public domain — Didier Descouens
(Venice) Tarquinio e Lucrezia - Felice Ficherelli
Wikimedia Commons, Public domain — Didier Descouens
Lukrecja.
Wikimedia Commons, Public domain — Wincenty de Lesseur / After Guido Reni
Traité de la peinture, et de la sculpture
Wikimedia Commons, Public domain — Richardson, Jonathan, 1665-1745
L'album autographique : peinture, sculpture, architecture : l'art à Paris en 1867
Wikimedia Commons, Public domain — Salon (Exhibition : Paris, France) (1867) Pothey, A. (Alexandre) Exposition universelle de 1867 à Paris
Explication des ouvrages de peinture et dessins, sculpture, architecture et gravure, des artistes vivans
Wikimedia Commons, Public domain — Société des artistes français. Salon Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture (France) Salon (Exhibition : Paris
Explication des ouvrages de peinture et dessins, sculpture, architecture et gravure, des artistes vivans
Wikimedia Commons, Public domain — Société des artistes français. Salon Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture (France) Salon (Exhibition : Paris
Lucretius pointing to the casus
Wikimedia Commons, Public domain — Designed by “T. C.” (possibly Thomas Creech, died 1700); drawn and engraved by M. Burghers