On the nature of things opens with a eulogy of epicurus in which lucretius praises his philosophical master as graiae gentis decus 3. Natural proceses never create only a single thing of a kind, and the same processes which produced life here produce life on many other planets throughout the universe, and other races of animals and men, as as there has been infinite time and space for all natural combinations of things. Home collectionstexts perseus catalog research grants open source about help. By the mid1600s another translation into english by puritan lucy hutchinson was. In england, the wealthy diarist john evelyn translated the first book of lucretius poem, and isaac newton declared himself an atomist new yorker. Lucretius was the first writer known to introduce roman readers to epicurean philosophy. I wander afield, thriving in sturdy thought, through unpathed haunts of the pierides, trodden by step of none before. On the nature of things by lucretius, part of the internet classics archive. The lawyers seem to plead and cite decrees, commanders they to fight and go at frays, sailors to live in combat with the winds, and we ourselves indeed to make this book, and still to seek the. This quiz concerns the first book including the prologue of lucretius 1st c. Seven questions of attribution, aevum 80 2006 16584, at 16667. This sumptuous account of a secular cosmos argues that the soul is mortal, that pleasure is the object of life, and that humanity has free will, among other ideas. Epicureanism was a missionary philospohy, aiming to give man happiness by making him selfsufficient.
In the present reprint the translation has been adapted. Titus lucretius carus committed the philosophy of epicurus to poem form in approximately 55 bc, and by its survival through the dark ages this work transmitted to an awakening world the knowledge of the atom. Stallingss recent penguin lucretius as another choice for latinless anglophone readers of the enigmatic epicurean. Mother of aeneas and his race, darling of men and venus, aid me in my work gods, nurturing venus, a who beneath the smoothmoving heavenly signs fill with yourself the sea fullladen with ships, the earth that bears the crops, since through you every kind of living thing is conceived and rising up looks on the light of the sun. Reeve, lucretius from the 1460s to the 17th century. Thomas sawbridge in little britain, and anthony stephens in oxford, 1683. On the nature of things has been divided into the following sections. Cyril bailey 18711957 was a british classical scholar at balliol college, oxford. Hide browse bar your current position in the text is marked in blue. The slavitt lucretius emphasis mine follows on the heels of a. The way things are by lucretius goodreads share book. Then throughout seas and mountains and sweeping torrents and the leafy dwellings of birds and verdant plains, striking alluring love into the breasts of all creatures, you cause them greedily to beget their generations after their kind. Reissued to accompany stephen greenblatts the swerve. Please click here to go to our dedicated site for lucretius.
Now available in paperback, this annotated scholarly edition of the latin text ofde rerum naturahas long been hailed as one of. This translation is based primarily upon the latin text of h. On the nature of things by lucretius the internet classics archive. Click anywhere in the line to jump to another position. Lucretius, has always made me feel hopeful and some how more connected to the universe and less to the subjective problems we perceive. Many comments have been posted about on the nature of things. In six books compounded of solid reasoning, brilliant imagination, and noble poetry, he expounds the scientific theories of the greek philosopher epicurus, with the aim of dispelling fear of. It does a great job of capturing the poetry of lucretius with its format.
The poem, written in some 7,400 dactylic hexameters, is divided into six untitled books, and explores epicurean physics through richly poetic language and. For comparison purposes the less literal william leonard 1916 edition in poem form is available at perseus here. On the nature of things is a firstcentury bc didactic poem by the roman poet and philosopher lucretius c. It is also believed that the roman poet virgil referenced lucretius and his work in the second book of his georgics when he wrote. Proem mother of rome, delight of gods and men, dear venus that beneath the gliding stars makest to teem the manyvoyaged main and fruitful lands for all of living things through thee alone are evermore conceived, through thee are risen to visit the great sunbefore thee, goddess, and thy coming on, flee stormy wind and massy cloud away, for thee the daedal earth bears scented flowers, for. Book iv deals mainly with the psychology of sensation and thought. And to whateer pursuit a man most clings absorbed, or what the affairs on which we theretofore have tarried much, and mind hath strained upon the more, we seem in sleep not rarely to go at the same. Latin wikisource has original text related to this article.
Lucretius on the nature of things the classic poem of. I didnt finish reading it but this book is the best translation for lucretiuss work. Brown, the return of lucretius to renaissance florence cambridge, mass. The book has a 21 page introduction and 49 pages of notes at the end to help the. Jun 26, 2011 i dont have an answer and its been ages since i read lucretius, but i can recommend the encyclopedia of literary translation into english as a possible source for an answer. On the nature of things, 1951 prose translation by r. The book has a 21 page introduction and 49 pages of notes at the end to help the reader understand the place of this poem in the history of ideas. Latham, introduction and notes by john godwin, penguin revised edition 1994, isbn 0140446109. However, formatting rules can vary widely between applications and fields of interest or study. I have translated from my own text published in the bibliotheca oxoniensi. Happy is he who has discovered the causes of things and has cast beneath his feet all fears, unavoidable fate, and the din of the devouring underworld. Humanity and our world were not specially created by gods. Book i 94k book ii 106k book iii 95k book iv 117k book v 9k book vi 122k.
Small octavo 4 12 by 71 4 inches, contemporary full brown calf, later red morocco spine label, raised bands. Study science in order to rid yourself of unneccesary fears, especially of the gods and death. Quae quoniam rerum naturam sola gubernas, nec sine te quicquam dias in luminis oras exoritur neque fit laetum. But of course i admire lucretius and his predecessor, epicurus and his predecessor because he really buckled down and looked out at the world, and inside himself, and showed in his logic the possible fortitude of the human mind. My main goal is to understand epicurean philosophy, though of course it would be nice if it sounded good too. It should be required reading for biological scientists and physicians. Here is a comparison of just the opening lines from different translations to get you started.
A useful recent translation of lucretius on the nature of. To begin with, the entirety of lucretius text is included, which is quite rare outside of an oxford classical text in fact, i do believe this is the only complete version. Drydens motives in translating lucretius appear to be twofold. Ian johnstons new poetic translation brings out the full emotional range of this great work and captures the restless and intense urgency of the original text. In it, he set out to explicate the universe, embracing and refuting ideas of the great greek philosophers.
Proem mother of rome, delight of gods and men, dear venus that beneath the. Its earliest published translation into any language french did not occur until 1650. Lucretius regarded him as the spiritual savior of mankind. The poem, written in some 7,400 dactylic hexameters, is divided into six untitled books, and explores epicurean physics through richly poetic language and metaphors. The poem was lost during the middle ages, rediscovered in 1417, and first printed in 1473. Until today i was unaware of a 2010 edition of on the nature of things produced by ian johnston and available at the website linked here that site states. Lucretius, on the nature of things loeb classical library. Some will just sound better, and others will make more sense to you. How much do you know about this ancient philosophical text. Its entries compare different translations, and there appears to be an entry for lucretius. Lucretius project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks read. The poem explores lucretius belief about the gods, humanity, the senses, the world, and the universe, all through the philosophical framework of epicurus. Another list of various english translations is here transcription of book 1 of the daniel browne edition is now. Baileys edition of lucretius is the most uptodate edition available in the public domain.
See wright 1995, 163 4, for further bibliography and. This wiki will contain the public domain translations of the daniel browne 1734 edition, the hugh munro 1886 edition, and the cyril bailey 1936 edition. The internet classics archive on the nature of things by. And we ourselves indeed to make this book, and still to seek the nature of the world. For an introduction to lucretius, on the nature of things, use the following link. Notable translations of individual passages include the invocation to venus by edmund spenser in the faerie queene iv. The poem, written in some 7,400 dactylic hexameters, is divided into six untitled books, and explores epicurean physics. Google this is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on. Comprehensive commentary by cyril bailey, oxford university press 1947. I care about clarity and ease of reading more than accuracy or aesthetics.
152 812 1073 1499 854 1133 1357 293 395 127 978 1443 1506 27 66 904 1534 1274 680 352 1508 769 1502 1228 1219 1267 1047 1458 1274 465 391 1 189 1063 130 993 592 1451