De Rerum Natura

De Rerum Natura, the great didactic poem by philosopher and poet Lucretius, is presented here complete in the author's original Latin.

Drawing on the atomism theory of Democritus, dating over 400 years prior to his masterwork, Lucretius main aim with his poem is to explain the various theories on why the world is as it is. Designed to be read publicly and by solitary readers, the wide ranging and lengthy poem examines the nature of the world, of sensation, of human consciousness, and of celestial bodies such as the moon and stars.

A great admirer of Epicurus as a thinker, Lucretius bases much of his explanations off of Epicurean thought. Among the first thinkers to posit comprehensive philosophy of the world that was not rooted in religious belief, Epicurus - and therefore De Rerum Natura - stood in direct opposition to the idea that the classical pantheon of Roman Gods controlled the Earth. For this the work was controversial from the moment it appeared in 56 B.C.