De rerum natura

A six-book Latin didactic poem by Lucretius that presents Epicurean philosophy through an account of atoms, the soul, nature, and the human condition.

Epicureanism: A Hellenistic philosophy that locates happiness in freedom from fear and bodily disturbance. Lucretius presents this school’s account of nature as a path to tranquility.
Atom: An indivisible material particle that, in ancient atomism, combines with others to form bodies. Lucretius treats atoms as the enduring constituents beneath visible change.
Epicurus: An ancient Greek philosopher who founded the school known as Epicureanism. Lucretius presents Epicurus as the thinker who freed humanity from religious fear.
Lucretius and the Renaissance: The renewed circulation and study of Lucretius’s poem among Renaissance scholars and writers. The poem’s recovery helped return ancient atomism to European intellectual debate.
Proem to Book I of De rerum natura: The opening passage of Lucretius’s poem, invoking Venus and praising Epicurus. Its invocation frames the poem’s tensions between poetic tradition and philosophical purpose.
Atomism: The theory that matter consists of indivisible particles moving through empty space. The poem uses atoms and void to explain the world without divine creation.
Swerve (Epicureanism): The unpredictable deviation of an atom from its straight downward path in Epicurean physics. This account of atomic motion supplies a source of encounters and agency.
Ennius: A Roman poet whose works helped establish Latin epic and other literary genres. Lucretius writes within a Latin poetic tradition shaped by Ennius.
On the Nature of Things: A widely used English title for Lucretius’s Latin poem, De rerum natura. The English title makes the poem’s subject explicit while preserving its distinct Latin name.
Plague of Athens: The devastating epidemic in Athens described by Thucydides and later by Lucretius. The poem closes with a stark account of suffering that resists easy consolation.

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