Titus Lucretius Carus (c.
99 -
55 BC) was a
Roman poet and
philosopher. His major work is
De Rerum Natura,
On the Nature of Things, which is considered by some to be greatest masterpiece of Latin verse - deeper than any other poet; more moving, imaginative than any other philosopher. Stylistically however, most scholars attribute the full blossoming of Latin hexameter to Vergil. The "De Rerum Natura" however, is of indisputable importance for its influence on Vergil and other later poetry. The main purpose of the work to free men's minds of
superstition and
fear of
death. It achieves this through the principles of the philosophical system of Epicurus, whom Lucretius immortalizes. The work has several allusions to the tumultuous state of political affairs in Rome and its civil strife. Lucretius treads the steps of his teaching carefully so as not to offend traditional Romans, slowly unfolding the more controversial and revolutionary aspects of his inculcation. "De Rerum Natura" emphasizes ethical goals than did earlier
Epicureans, but faithfully transmitts their
physics and
psychology. Lucretius was the first
Epicurean to write in
Latin.
We know very little about Lucretius' life; one source of information (generally considered unreliable) is St. Jerome, who mentions Lucretius in the Chronica Eusebia . According to Jerome, Lucretius was born in 94 BC, and died at the age of 44. He claims that much of Lucretius's work was written under the influence of drugs, and he died after drinking a love-potion. These claims about Lucretius' life have been discredited for two main reasons: firstly, the Epicurean philosophy expounded by Lucretius sets great store on reason and discourages romantic attachments; and secondly, it seems likely that Jerome, as one of the early church fathers, would have wanted to discredit Lucretius's philosophy, which includes disbelief in any kind of life after death and in any divinity concerned with man's welfare.
Cicero implies in one of his letters to his brother that they had once read Lucretius' poem. This is the last mention of Lucretius until Donatus , in his "Life" of Virgil, while stating that Virgil assumed the toga virilis on October 15, 55 BC, adds "it happened on that very day Lucretius the poet died." If Jerome is accurate about Lucretius' age (44) when he died, then based on other evidence that confirms 55 BC as Lucretius' year of death we can then conclude he was born in 99 BC.
However, the only certain fact of Lucretius' life is that he was either a friend or a client of Gaius Memmius, to whom he dedicated his poem On the Nature of Things (De Rerum Natura). This poem is also unfinished, although Jerome says that Cicero "amended" it -- which may mean he edited it for its eventual publication.
Lucretius attempts in his poem On the Nature of Things to present a total Epicurean worldview. Ranging from the nature of matter to sex, politics, and death, the poem is encyclopedic, and is considered one of the masterpieces of Latin verse.
His use of the hexameter is very individual and ruggedly distinct from the smooth urbanity of Virgil or Ovid. His use of heterodynes, assonance and oddly syncopated Latin forms create a harsh acoustic. The sustained energy of Lucretius' writing is unparallelled in Latin literature, with the possible exception of parts of Tacitus's Annals, or perhaps books II and IV of the Aeneid.
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Last updated: 06-01-2005 22:41:24
