On the Nature of Things

the reader has a basic choice between prose and verse translations of lucretius's poem: i recommend this prose version, or the rouse translation in the loeb classical library, as the best choices. the difficulty with verse translations is that they are forced to become paraphrases or liberal interpretations in order to satisfy the prosody. prose brings out most accurately lucretius's choice of terms, unwinds his obscure expressions and intricate syntax, and reduces the distance between author and reader.ferguson smith's edition is beautifully conceived, with outline headnotes to each "book" or chapter, an excellent introduction and footnotes, and a clean typeface. the translation tactfully smooths out some of the thorniest lucretian passages, but rises to the poetry of the original through apt and economical turns of phrase. it's a pleasure to read.lucretius was a roman aristocrat during the reigns of tiberius, caligula and claudius. one should read suetonius or tacitus, and lucian's "alexander the false prophet" from a later era, to grasp the appalling and degrading mixture of tyranny, paranoia, superstition, depravity, rumor and random brutality under which the roman elite lived. tacitus affirms that many prominent men and women from influential families committed suicide rather than cloak their fear in flattery; cults of conjurers and magicians thrived, and the most preposterous rumors or superstitions were believed as fact.the ambition of lucretius's poem was to remedy that. it is not so much a "scientific" essay as an attempt to use empirical or materialistic explanations of the world as a bulwark against "religion" -- superstition, false gods, belief in magic, fear of death, and anxiety about the future. religion is not attacked because it is false, but because it nurtures fear and ignorance:"This terror then and darkness of mind must be dispelled not by the rays of the sun and glittering shafts of day, but by the aspect and the law of nature."the gods are not denied, but described as impassive and remote, too blissful to bother with human affairs; the reader need not fear their meddling or punishment. at the same time, the goddess venus is evoked in the opening lines as a symbol of the world's abundance in beautiful and good things, the blessings that bring us closest to the divine.in place of ritual and magic, human reason and trust in the fundamentally lawful fabric of the world provide the path to "ataraxia" or robust calm. great stress is put on finding benign or naturalistic explanations for events that might arouse fear. these alternate with passages of sensual, vivid or fanciful poetry that celebrate the beautiful "aspect" of the world -- the starry sky, a calm sea, a verdant landscape, the act of love, a summer "fête champètre", a grazing flock, the peace of philosophy. even the eventual passing of all things, from individual death to the destruction of the earth itself, are cast as part of the natural process of the world, "the way things are."the claim that lucretius was indifferent to social morality is a bit misplaced: several times he mentions war as the greatest evil, and the poem abruptly ends with a passage deploring the social upheavals caused by an athenian plague, perhaps to prepare the description of a just and peaceful society that was never finished. in any case, lucretius believed that dispelling anxious beliefs was a better way to encourage individual right thinking than was preaching moral codes about right conduct. (when this happened, with epictetus, the moral precepts were presented as a careful student's notes.)there are many "scientific" howlers and wild conjectures in lucretius, amusing to read today, but there are also many passages where logic, analogy or observation are turned to some astonishingly perceptive insights about the world -- including a concise rebuttal of "intelligent design" in the universe. the remarkable ambition of this poem dispels easy ridicule, and provides a fascinating window into the earliest forms of scientific reasoning. in every line lucretius seeks to replace superstition with reason, and encourage a naturalistic outlook to overcome the depravity of a superstitious spirit.

I was shocked to learn in reading  Matter and Mind: A Philosophical Inquiry (Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science)  that philosophers disagree about what a 'thing' is. This fact has profound implications for everything else that depends on a person's understanding of things in the world. Introducing a serious error at so basic a level as what a thing really is will naturally distort all that follows. Mario Bunge's body of work taught me exactly what a thing is.Then I turned to study Lucretius, who studied 'things' scientifically over two thousand years ago. For historical context of philosophy, I find his work fascinating.In Smith's translation here, I found what the author says about the philosopher, Epicurus, whom Lucretius admired, very revealing.On page xxiii Smith writes: "Epicurus despised philosophers who do not make it their busness to improve people's moral condition. 'Vain is the word of a philosopher to whom no human suffering is cured. For just as medicine is of no use if it fails to banish the diseases of the body, so philosophy is of no use if it fails to banish the suffering of the mind' (Usener fr. 221). It is evident that [Epicurus] would have condemned the majority of modern philosophers and scientists."This passage demonstrates the problem with philosophy. Philosophy caught between two warring camps who despise each other has been going on long enough. Philosophy neglecting the moral responsibility to reduce human suffering has been going on long enough.The key to unlocking this internecine impasse is science.Modern philosophers I have found who take science seriously, as well as aim to banish suffering of the mind, include Mario Bunge (see above), Paul Thagard and Ronald de Sousa.

Torturing Lucretius' Latin into rhyming English takes away from the message that is so special and enlightening. This version doesn't bother with the poetical style that nearly every other translation seems to, and thus the message is as clear as a photo-laser. If you live for poetics, perhaps you'd like another translation more, but if you're interested in the pure ideas of Epicurus via Lucretius' pen you should look no further.

A classic, well translated, good print quality and binding.

Excellent translation and very clear explanations and references. I liked this version much better than another translation that I read previously. I read it twice! Lucretius described atomic theory in good detail (which was first proven by Einstein in the 20th century) and Darwinian evolution (which was published in the 19th century). Lucretius also described the Uncertainty Principle (he called it "The Swerve") which was derived by Heisenberg from quantum mechanics. Those are great accomplishments for an author writing in 55 BCE! One of Lucretius' most spiritual ideas is about what we will experience after death ... just think about what you experienced in 1900 before you were born; namely, nothing ....

This is much better than the public domain translation. The verse is beautiful and as clear as day. I highly recommend the translation.But the translation into an ebook format didn't go so well. For whatever reason, the margins were set to cut of the first few letters of each new line. This could be easily fixable if you know how to reformat into epub and edit css. Unfortunately, the DMCA prevents the breaking of digital encryption even in fair use cases like this. Because the law is good and we all follow the law, this is impossible. Even so, this is the best ebook version of the book. I couldn't even figure out how to look at the barnes and nobles version.

One of the best keep secrets is now available for all of mankind in this brilliant work. A must read. Amazing how actual the ancient Greeks were and how terrible they miss on many other things. Read this one and find out for yourself.

Somewhere, sometime and someone between then and now nailed down ideas mixed up of superstition, guilt and nationalistic exceptionalism. In so doing, they bulldozered logic and common sense. Maybe they felt threatened as their snake oil ideas would be shown to be bogus. Maybe it was just too tempting for humanity to grasp on to an idea that some unknowable ethereal entity would have their best interests at heart.The enormity of the miracle ignored by the masses was than not only did Lucretius do amazing philosophy, he did it in the form of poetry!

This is a translation from poetry?An example sentence, up to the first semi-colon - page 30:'Certainly the primary elements did not intentionally and with acute intelligence dispose themselves in their respective positions, nor did they covenant to produce their respective motions;Other reviewers offer other translations. This one'll dampen yer intellectual enthusiasm for sure

A non-poetic translation that is good for understanding Lucretius's intended meaning. The language used though is very readable - and the footnotes are helpful & sometimes amusing!

Want to know about the Italian philosopher as I would read in the holiday or a break time....

This book could have been written yesterday. It was written a couple of thousand years ago. It stands upon the head the idea that ancient people were ignorant or new nothing about how the world works. They did and to be honest we have only mildly improved that view.