Lucretius
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Titus Lucretius Carus (ca. 99 BC – 55 BC) was a Roman poet and philosopher. His major work is De Rerum Natura, On the Nature of Things, which is considered by some to be the greatest masterpiece of Latin verse.
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Sourced [edit]
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things) [edit]
- Ergo vivida vis pervicet et extra
processit longe flamentia moenia mundi
atque omne immensum peragravit mente animoque.- The vivid force of his mind prevailed, and he fared forth far beyond the flaming ramparts of the heavens and traversed the boundless universe in thought and mind.
- Book I, line 72.
- The vivid force of his mind prevailed, and he fared forth far beyond the flaming ramparts of the heavens and traversed the boundless universe in thought and mind.
- Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.
- Only religion can lead to such evil.
- Book I, line 101
- Variant translation: So much wrong could religion induce.
- Only religion can lead to such evil.
- Nil posse creari
de nilo.- Nothing can be created from nothing.
- Book I, line 155-6
- Variant translation: Nothing can be created out of nothing.
- Nothing can be created from nothing.
- Nequeunt oculis rerum primordia cerni.
- The first beginnings of things cannot be distinguished by the eye.
- Book I, line 268.
- The first beginnings of things cannot be distinguished by the eye.
- Stilicidi casus lapidem cavat, uncus aratri.
- Continual dropping wears away a stone.
- Book I, line 313; comparable to: "The soft droppes of rain perce the hard marble; many strokes overthrow the tallest oaks", John Lyly, Euphues, 1579 (Arber's reprint), p. 81.
- Etsi difficiile esse videtur credere quicquam
in rebus solido reperiri corpore posse.
transit enim fulmen caeli per saepta domorum,
clamor ut ad voces; flamen candescit in igni
dissiliuntque ferre ferventi saxa vapore.
tum labefactatus rigor auri solvitur aestu;
tum glacies aeris flamma devicta liquescit;
permanat calor argentum penetraleque frigus
quando utrumque manu retinentes pocula rite
sensimus infuso lympharum rore superne.- And yet it is hard to believe that anything
in nature could stand revealed as solid matter.
The lightning of heaven goes through the walls of houses,
like shouts and speech; iron glows white in fire;
red-hot rocks are shattered by savage steam;
hard gold is softened and melted down by heat;
chilly brass, defeated by heat, turns liquid;
heat seeps through silver, so does piercing cold;
by custom raising the cup, we feel them both
as water is poured in, drop by drop, above.- Book I, lines 487-496.
- And yet it is hard to believe that anything
- Ita res accedent lumina rebus.
- Truths kindle light for truths.
- Book I, line 1117.
- Truths kindle light for truths.
- Suave magni maro turbantibus aequora ventis
e terra magnum alterius spectare laborem;
non quia vexari quemquamst jucunda voluptas,
sed quibus ipse malis careas quia cernere suave est.- Pleasant it is, when over a great sea the winds trouble the waters, to gaze from shore upon another's tribulation: not because any man's troubles are a delectable joy, but because to perceive from what ills you are free yourself is pleasant.
- Book II, line 1.
- Pleasant it is, when over a great sea the winds trouble the waters, to gaze from shore upon another's tribulation: not because any man's troubles are a delectable joy, but because to perceive from what ills you are free yourself is pleasant.
- Omnis cum in tenebris praesertim vita laboret.
- Life is one long struggle in the dark.
- Book II, line 54.
- Life is one long struggle in the dark.
- Sic rerum summa novatur
semper, et inter se mortales mutua vivunt.
augescunt aliae gentes, aliae
inuuntur,
inque brevi spatio mutantur saecla animantum
et quasi cursores vitai lampada tradiunt.- Thus the sum of things is ever being renewed, and mortals live dependent one upon another. Some nations increase, others diminish, and in a short space the generations of living creatures are changed and like runners pass on the torch of life.
- Book II, line 75.
- Thus the sum of things is ever being renewed, and mortals live dependent one upon another. Some nations increase, others diminish, and in a short space the generations of living creatures are changed and like runners pass on the torch of life.
- Dum taxat, rerum magnarum parva potest res
exemplare dare et vestigia notitiai.- So far as it goes, a small thing may give analogy of great things, and show the tracks of knowledge.
- Book II, line 123.
- So far as it goes, a small thing may give analogy of great things, and show the tracks of knowledge.
- Omnia qua propter debent per inane quietum
aeque ponderibus non aequis concita ferri.- All things must needs be borne on through the calm void, moving at equal rate with unequal rates.
- Book II, line 238.
- All things must needs be borne on through the calm void, moving at equal rate with unequal rates.
- Infidi maris insidis virisque dolumque
ut vitare velint, neve ullo tempore credant
subdola cum ridet placidi pellacia ponti.- Never trust her at any time, when the calm sea shows her false alluring smile.
- Book II, line 558.
- Never trust her at any time, when the calm sea shows her false alluring smile.
- Cedit item retro, de terra quod fuit ante,
in terras.- What once sprung from the earth sinks back into the earth.
- Book II, line 999.
- What once sprung from the earth sinks back into the earth.
- Quo magis in dubiis hominem spectare periclis
convenit adversisque in rebus noscere qui sit;
nam verae voces tum demum pectore ab imo
eliciuntur et eripitur persona, manet res.- So it is more useful to watch a man in times of peril, and in adversity to discern what kind of man he is; for then at last words of truth are drawn from the depths of his heart, and the mask is torn off, reality remains.
- Book III, line 55-8.
- So it is more useful to watch a man in times of peril, and in adversity to discern what kind of man he is; for then at last words of truth are drawn from the depths of his heart, and the mask is torn off, reality remains.
- Nam veluti pueri trepidant atque omnia caecis
in tenebris metuunt, sic nos in luce timemus
interdum, nilo quae sunt metuenda magis quam
quae pueri in tenebris pavitant finguntque futura.
hunc igitur terrorem animi tenebrasque necessest
non radii solis neque lucida tela diei
discutiant sed naturae species ratioque.- For as children tremble and fear everything in the blind darkness, so we in the light sometimes fear what is no more to be feared than the things children in the dark hold in terror and imagine will come true.
- Book III, line 87.
- For as children tremble and fear everything in the blind darkness, so we in the light sometimes fear what is no more to be feared than the things children in the dark hold in terror and imagine will come true.
- Nil igitur mors est ad nos neque pertinet hilum,
quandoquidem natura animi mortalis habetur.- Therefore death is nothing to us, it matters not one jot, since the nature of the mind is understood to be mortal.
- Variant translation: Death therefore is nothing to us nor does it concern us a scrap, seeing that the nature of the spirit we possess is something mortal.
- Book III, line 830-31.
- Cur non ut plenus vitae conviva recedis
aequo animoque capis securam, stulte, quietem?- Why dost thou not retire like a guest sated with the banquet of life, and with calm mind embrace, thou fool, a rest that knows no care?
- Book III, line 938-9.
- Why dost thou not retire like a guest sated with the banquet of life, and with calm mind embrace, thou fool, a rest that knows no care?
- Vitaque mancipio, nulli datur, omnibus usu.
- To none is life given in freehold; to all on lease.
- Book III, line 971 (translated by R. E. Latham).
- To none is life given in freehold; to all on lease.
- Nam petere imperium quod inanus nec datur umquam,
atque in eo semper durum sufferre laborem,
hoc est adverso nixantem trudere monte
saxa quod tamen e summo iam vertice rursum
volvitur et plani raptim petit aequora campi.- Yes, to seek power that's vain and never granted
and for it to suffer hardship and endless pain:
this is to heave and strain to push uphill
a boulder, that still from the very top rolls back
and bounds and bounces down to the bare, broad field.- Book III, lines 998-1002.
- Yes, to seek power that's vain and never granted
- Nec prorsum vitam ducendo demimus hilum
tempore de mortis nec delibare valemus.- By protracting life, we do not deduct one jot from the duration of death.
- Book III, line 1087.
- By protracting life, we do not deduct one jot from the duration of death.
- Ut quod ali cibus est aliis fuat acre venenum.
- What is food to one, is to others bitter poison.
- Book IV, line 637; comparable to: "What's one man's poison, signor, / Is another's meat or drink", Beaumont and Fletcher, Love's Cure (c. 1612–13; revised c. 1625; printed 1647), Act iii, Scene 2.
- What is food to one, is to others bitter poison.
- Nequiquam, quoniam medio de fonte leporum
surgit amari aliquid quod in ipsis floribus angat.- In the midst of the fountain of wit there arises something bitter, which stings in the very flowers.
- Book IV, line 1133; comparable to: "Still from the fount of joy’s delicious springs / Some bitter o’er the flowers its bubbling venom flings", Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto i, Stanza 82.
- Variant translation: From the midst of the fountain of delights rises something bitter that chokes them all amongst the flowers.
- In the midst of the fountain of wit there arises something bitter, which stings in the very flowers.
- Quod siquis vera vitam ratione gubernet,
divitiae grandes homini sunt vivere parvo
aequo animo; neque enim est umquam penuria parvi.- But if one should guide his life by true principles, man's greatest wealth is to live on a little with contented mind; for a little is never lacking.
- Book V, line 1117.
- But if one should guide his life by true principles, man's greatest wealth is to live on a little with contented mind; for a little is never lacking.
- Nam cupide conculcatur nimis ante metutum.
- Men are eager to tread underfoot what they have once too much feared.
- Book V, line 1140.
- Men are eager to tread underfoot what they have once too much feared.
- Circumretit enim vis atque iniuria quemque,
atque, unde exortast, at eum plerumque revertit.- Violence and injury enclose in their net all that do such things, and generally return upon him who began.
- Book V, line 1152.
- Violence and injury enclose in their net all that do such things, and generally return upon him who began.
Disputed [edit]
- All religions are equally sublime to the ignorant, useful to the politician, and ridiculous to the philosopher.
- As quoted in What Great Men Think of Religion (1972 [c1945]) by Ira D Cardiff, p. 245, also in 2000 Years of Disbelief by James A Haught (see: Talk:Seneca_the_Younger).
Quotes about Lucretius [edit]
- The poem of Lucretius in six books, entitled "De Rerum Natura," was the first accurate statement of the Epicurean philosophy in the Latin language... no writer has in stronger terms controverted all the popular notions of heathenism, and even those fundamental points in all religions, the existence of a creative power, a providence, and the immortality of the soul. His language and versification partake of the rudeness of an early period of literature; and, in the argumentative parts of his works the poet is frequently scarce discernible. But where the subject admits of elevated sentiment or descriptive beauty, no poet, at least nо Roman poet, has taken a loftier flight, or exhibited more spirit and sublimity. Nor is it only in detached passages that he has displayed the genius of a true poet: the same animated strain is supported almost throughout entire books, when he gets free from the trammels of his system.
- John Aikin, William Enfield, General biography; or, Lives, critical and historical, of the most eminent persons of all ages, countries, conditions, and professions, Vol. 6 (1807), p. 378
- Lucretius, who follows [Epicurus] in denouncing love, sees no harm in sexual intercourse provided it is divorced from passion.
- Bertrand Russell, in A History of Western Philosophy (1945), Book I, Part III, Chapter XXVII, The Epicureans, p. 245
- Lucretius was passionate, and much more in need of exhortations to prudence than Epicurus was. He committed suicide, and appears to have suffered from periodic insanity – brought on, so some averred, by the pains of love or the unintended effects of a love philtre.
- Bertrand Russell, in A History of Western Philosophy (1945), Book I, Part III, Chapter XXVII, The Epicureans, p. 248
- [The Roman philosopher Lucretius] thought it a mistake to find the prospect of my death upsetting. Yes, as the deprivation account points out, after death we can't enjoy life's pleasures. But wait a minute, says Lucretius. The time after I die isn't the only period during which I won't exist. What about the period before my birth? If nonexistence is so bad, shouldn't I be upset by the eternity of nonexistence before I was born? But that's silly, right? Nobody is upset about that. So, he concludes, it doesn't make any sense to be upset about the eternity of nonexistence after you die, either.
- Shelly Kagan, "Is Death Bad for You?" The Chronicle Review, May 13, 2012.
