PhilosophyBook · -55
On the Nature of Things
Lucretius
Lucretius sets out Epicurean physics in Latin hexameters: everything is atoms and void, the gods are indifferent, and death is nothing to us because there is no one left to suffer it. Lost for centuries, rediscovered in 1417, and it changed what the Renaissance thought was possible to think.
Why you should read this
A long didactic poem that lays out Epicureanism and atomism in verse, arguing against the fear of death and divine punishment. Its rediscovery in the fifteenth century is credited with shaping humanist thought in early modern Europe, which makes it as interesting for its afterlife as for its argument.
- Field
- Philosophy
- Form
- Non-fiction
- Published
- 55 BCE
- Themes
- EpicureanismPhilosophy
