The poem was lost during the middle ages, rediscovered in 1417, and first printed in 1473. Take good care of yourself and see you soon for better days. Humphries admirable and exciting translation makes it easy to grasp the shape and the magnitude of lucretius conception. Oct 28, 2009 open library is an initiative of the internet archive, a 501c3 nonprofit, building a digital library of internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Former felow and tutor in classics don fowler, don fowler, p.
On the nature of things work by lucretius britannica. It is a formidable task to put 7,500 latin hexameter lines into english verse, but mr. Atque animi quoniam docui natura quid esset et quibus e rebus cum corpore compta uigeret, quoue modo distracta rediret in ordia prima, nunc agere incipiam tibi quod uehementer ad has res attinet, esse ea quae rerum simulacra uocamus. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. The poem explores lucretius belief about the gods, humanity, the senses, the world, and the universe, all through the philosophical framework of epicurus.
On the nature of things is a firstcentury bc didactic poem by the roman poet and philosopher lucretius c. This elegant new translation at last restores the poetry to one of the greatest and most influential poems in the western tradition. Titus lucretius carus was probably born in the early first century b. Humphries easy, varied lines are thoroughly readable. 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. Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg. And for the rest, summon to judgments true, unbusied ears and singleness of mind withdrawn from cares. Despite the jumping around, this commentary provides and excellent amount of grammatical and vocabulary notes accompanied by an excellent supply of references to similar works of philosophy, mythology, and rhetoric provided in order that the reader may compare and contrast the prevalent ancient views on life and death, atomic and. Little is known of his life, although two tantalizing bits of gossip were passed on by st. A word cloud of the leonard translation of lucretius.
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