Library · On the Nature of Things

Lucretius

On the Nature of Things

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Lucretius' On the Nature of Things (De Rerum Natura, c. 55 BCE, here in William Ellery Leonard's verse translation) is a philosophical epic expounding the atomism of Epicurus. In six books of soaring hexameters, Lucretius argues that the universe is atoms and void, that the soul is mortal and dissolves at death, and that the gods take no interest in human affairs—so that we should live free of the fear of death and the gods. A masterpiece of science and poetry, it profoundly influenced the Renaissance and the scientific revolution.

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