Product Description

`Therefore this terror and darkness of the mind Not by the sun's rays, nor the bright shafts of day, Must be dispersed, as is most necessary, But by the face of nature and her laws.' Lucretius' poem On the Nature of the Universe combines a scientific and philosophical treatise with some of the greatest poetry ever written. With intense moral fervour Lucretius demonstrates to humanity that in death there is nothing to fear since the soul is mortal, and the world and everything in it is governed not by the gods, but by the mechanical laws of nature. By believing this, men can live in peace of mind and happiness. Lucretius bases his argument on the atomic theory expounded by the Greek philosopher Epicurus. His poem explores sensation, sex, cosmology, meteorology, and geology through acute observation of the beauties of the natural world and with moving sympathy for man's place in it. Sir Ronald Melville's accessible and accurate verse translation is complemented by an introduction and notes situating Lucretius' scientific theories within the thought of 1st century BCE Rome and discussing the Epicurean philosophy that was his inspiration and why the issues Lucretius' poem raisies about the scientific and poetical views of the world continue to be important.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #102089 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Customer Reviews

A magnifient poem for our time
This magnificent Latin poem was written more than 2000 years ago for a readership that disbelieved in gods and life after death. It is a lyrical celebration of the magnificent universe revealed by Greek science, which was little different from our modern view. Lucretius saw the world as built up from atoms, humans as having evolved from animal ancestors, the stars as suns accompanied by inhabited planets... He advocated the philosophy of Epicurus as the key to peaceful enjoyment of this world. Unlike most Epicurean writings, this epic survived Christian censorship of ancient literature. Ronald Melville has created a magnificent English poem to convey this great work to our time.

compex but great
if your looking at this book the chances are you know what its going to be like, very very hard to read, not a bedtime book at all. however if you persist its a brilliant piece of literarture, i still cant belive that Lucretious was thinking all this 2000 years ago!

a must read for anyone interested in ancient thinking.

Excellent read
While reading through the 6 different books, I was amazed time and again at how close his thinking was to our modern day view of the world. How on earth it took 2000 years to breach the reasonably small gap from his view to ours takes some explaining. Religion would be my explanation as it is quite clear from history that any thoughts differing from that of the religious mind were rapidly destroyed to maintain ignorance throughout the general population. Particularly his view on the origins of the living is so close to ours and if only he knew about evolution through natural selection. Not all of his explanations are accurate, however, such as his explanations for earthquakes but he has a good go at it! Well worth the time to read.