Editors Reads Verdict
A philosophical argument for atheism and materialism written in some of the most beautiful Latin ever composed — the combination is extraordinary. Stephen Greenblatt's The Swerve argues that the rediscovery of this poem in 1417 helped trigger the Renaissance; whether or not that's too strong, it is one of the great lost-and-found texts of Western literature.
What We Loved
- The argument for materialist atomism is made with genuine philosophical rigour and extraordinary poetic skill simultaneously
- The passages on death — arguing that the fear of death is irrational because after death there is no one to experience loss — remain among the most persuasive in any philosophical tradition
- The poem's opening hymn to Venus is among the most beautiful passages in Latin poetry
Minor Drawbacks
- The atomist physics has been superseded — modern readers must translate the material claims into their equivalent rather than taking them literally
- The poem is unfinished — Books V and VI are less polished than the earlier books
Key Takeaways
- → Lucretius argues that the universe consists of atoms and void — everything else is a combination of these two things, including the soul, which dissolves at death
- → The famous argument against fearing death: death is nothing to us, because when death is present we no longer are — and before birth we felt no distress at our non-existence
- → Religion is not comfort but fear — and fear produces more cruelty (the sacrifice of Iphigenia) than comfort
| Author | Lucretius |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Penguin Classics |
| Pages | 256 |
| Published | January 1, 1 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Classic, Philosophy, Poetry |
| Difficulty | Intermediate |
| Best For | Readers interested in ancient philosophy, the history of materialist and atheist thought, and anyone who wants to read philosophical argument at its most poetically ambitious. |
The Lost Poem
Lucretius’s poem was known in antiquity, cited by Cicero and Virgil, and then essentially disappeared for fourteen centuries. A single manuscript was found in a monastery in 1417 by the papal secretary and book-hunter Poggio Bracciolini. The recovery of the poem — as Stephen Greenblatt argued in The Swerve — reintroduced into European thought a coherent materialist, atheist account of the universe at the moment when such accounts could begin to be taken seriously.
Whether or not the poem triggered the Renaissance, it is one of the most remarkable texts in any tradition: a rigorous philosophical argument for Epicurean atomism written in Latin hexameters of sustained beauty, covering physics, cosmology, biology, psychology, and the theory of sensation in six books.
The Argument Against Fear
The poem’s emotional centre is the argument that religion produces fear and that fear of death is irrational. The argument: after death, there is no one to suffer the absence of life, just as before birth there was no one to suffer non-existence. We do not mourn the time before our birth; we should not fear the time after our death.
Our rating: 4.2/5 — Ancient materialism in sublime verse — the argument against fear of death, still powerful after two millennia.
Reading Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "On the Nature of Things" about?
Lucretius's philosophical poem expounding Epicurean atomism — the argument that the universe consists of atoms and void, that the soul dissolves at death, that the gods do not intervene in human affairs, and that therefore the fear of death is irrational. Written in Latin hexameters of great beauty, c. 60 BCE.
Who should read "On the Nature of Things"?
Readers interested in ancient philosophy, the history of materialist and atheist thought, and anyone who wants to read philosophical argument at its most poetically ambitious.
What are the key takeaways from "On the Nature of Things"?
Lucretius argues that the universe consists of atoms and void — everything else is a combination of these two things, including the soul, which dissolves at death The famous argument against fearing death: death is nothing to us, because when death is present we no longer are — and before birth we felt no distress at our non-existence Religion is not comfort but fear — and fear produces more cruelty (the sacrifice of Iphigenia) than comfort
Is "On the Nature of Things" worth reading?
A philosophical argument for atheism and materialism written in some of the most beautiful Latin ever composed — the combination is extraordinary. Stephen Greenblatt's The Swerve argues that the rediscovery of this poem in 1417 helped trigger the Renaissance; whether or not that's too strong, it is one of the great lost-and-found texts of Western literature.
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