Lucretius
The world is made only of atoms and empty space, so there is no reason to fear gods or death.
Placement
Set Epicurean physics in verse; after its rediscovery in 1417 the poem was read by Renaissance humanists, early modern natural philosophers and Enlightenment authors.
Key ideas
- Atomism
- Liberation from fear of the gods
Influence
Influenced by 3
Empedocles
influenced by
Lucretius praised Empedocles’ philosophical poem as the model for his own, while rejecting his four elements as first beginnings (De rerum natura I.705–829). Lucretius, De rerum natura I.705–829 (praise at 716–733); SEP “Lucretius”
Evidence: AI draft
Empedocles › c. 494–434 BCE
Democritus
influenced by
Through Epicurus Lucretius took up Democritus’ atoms and void, naming him with respect while rejecting his view that soul and body atoms alternate (De rerum natura III.370–395). Lucretius, De rerum natura III.370–395, V.621–636; SEP “Lucretius”
Evidence: AI draft
Democritus › c. 460–370 BCE
Epicurus
influenced by
Lucretius set out Epicurus’ physics and ethics in Latin hexameters, praising him as the Greek who first dared to defy religion (De rerum natura I.62–79, III.1–30). Lucretius, De rerum natura I.62–79, III.1–30, V.1–54; SEP “Lucretius”
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
Epicurus › 341–270 BCE
Influenced 4
Niccolò Machiavelli
influenced
Machiavelli copied out Lucretius’ De rerum natura by hand in the late 1490s, and some scholars trace Epicurean themes in his view of chance and religion. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Ms. Rossi 884; A. Brown, The Return of Lucretius to Renaissance Florence (2010)
Evidence: AI draft
Niccolò Machiavelli › 1469–1527
Michel de Montaigne
influenced
Montaigne quoted Lucretius often in the Essays and annotated his own copy of Lambin’s edition (1563), rediscovered in 1989. M. de Montaigne, Essais (1580–95); M. A. Screech, Montaigne’s Annotated Copy of Lucretius (1998)
Evidence: AI draft
Michel de Montaigne › 1533–1592
Giordano Bruno
influenced ✓
Bruno modelled his Latin philosophical poems, especially De immenso (1591), on Lucretius and took up his infinite universe of countless worlds against Aristotle. G. Bruno, De immenso et innumerabilibus (1591); Lucretius, De rerum natura II.1048–1089; SEP “Giordano Bruno”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Giordano Bruno › 1548–1600
Pierre Gassendi
influenced
For his reconstruction of atomism in the Syntagma philosophicum (1658) Gassendi drew on Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things, the fullest surviving account of Epicurean physics. P. Gassendi, Syntagma philosophicum (1658); Lucretius, De rerum natura; SEP “Pierre Gassendi”
Evidence: AI draft
Pierre Gassendi › 1592–1655
Criticism
Criticizes 2
Heraclitus
criticised
Lucretius rejected Heraclitus’ view that all things are made of fire, calling him famous among the foolish for his obscure language (De rerum natura I.635–704). Lucretius, De rerum natura I.635–704
Evidence: AI draft
Heraclitus › c. 535–475 BCE
Anaxagoras
criticised
Lucretius rejected Anaxagoras’ ‘homoeomeria’ – bone made of tiny bones, blood of tiny drops – and his denial of void and of a limit to division. Lucretius, De rerum natura I.830–920
Evidence: AI draft
Anaxagoras › c. 500–428 BCE
Works
- c. 55 BCEDe rerum natura
Epicurean physics in hexameters: atoms, void and liberation from fear.
Position
Lucretius set out the philosophy of Epicurus in six books of brilliant Latin hexameters, meant to sweeten the bitter medicine of doctrine like honey on the rim of a cup. Everything consists of atoms and void; nothing comes from nothing, and an occasional “swerve” of the atoms makes room for free will. The world was not made by the gods for humans, and the soul dies with the body – so fear of death and of divine punishment is groundless. Rediscovered in 1417 by the humanist Poggio Bracciolini, the poem influenced Renaissance thought, early modern science and the Enlightenment.
Life & context
Almost nothing is known about the life of Titus Lucretius Carus, a Roman poet of the first century BCE. His only work, the didactic poem De rerum natura, was probably left unfinished at his death; Cicero mentions it in a letter of 54 BCE. A later, hostile tradition claimed that he was driven mad by a love potion and took his own life.
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