eBook
hoopla Instant
Of the Nature of Things
Year
2015
Language
ENGLISH
Publication Information
Wilder Publications, Inc.
Summary
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things) is a 1st century BC didactic poem by the Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius, with the goal of explaining Epicurean philosophy to a Roman audience. Lucretius presents the principles of atomism; the nature of the mind and soul; explanations of sensation and thought; the development of the world and its phenomena; and explains a variety of celestial and terrestrial phenomena. The universe described in the poem operates according to these physical principles, guided by fortuna, 'chance,' and not the divine intervention of the traditional Roman deities.