How can we find tranquility in a material world? Lucretius' On the Nature of Things
Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things
Don’t fear god,
Don’t worry about death;
What is good is easy to get,
What is terrible is easy to endure.
- The Epicurean Fourfold Drug
The ancient Epicurean school of philosophy used the teachings of atomistic materialism and a rejection of religion to pursue tranquil pleasures. Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things, a poem in six parts, is the literary masterpiece of the Epicureans, combining arguments with powerful images and beautiful poetry.
As its title suggests, On the Nature of Things is an ambitious book. It begins with metaphysical principles and ends with questions of human illness, plague, and suffering. Along the way, Lucretius discusses cosmological theories, death, sex, human biology, animal development, lightning, earthquakes, and more. In Stephen Greenblatt’s recent best-selling book The Swerve, it is proposed that the rediscovery of Lucretius precipitates the scientific revolution and the modern world.
Yet On the Nature of Things is no stuffy scholastic tome. Its inventive poetry self-consciously brings Greek philosophy into the Latin language, inventing new words and elaborating powerful images. For instance, Lucretius uses metaphor to consider how a small number of meaningless elements – the atoms of the world, the letters of the alphabet – combine in complex and unexpected ways to create larger systems of meaning, including the very pages being read.
Throughout the entire work, Lucretius never loses sight of his main goal: a life of tranquil, moderate pleasures. Both the philosophy and the poetry are for the sake of this tranquil state, free from fear of death and the gods. Thus On the Nature of Things can speak to us today about how to live pleasantly and find tranquility, despite our inevitable mortality.
The Walter Englert translation published by Hackett is preferred, but any modern translation should be fine.
Learn more about On the Nature of Things on the Premise Goodreads page.