Latin Reading Group: Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)
“Ever from himself does each man flee” (DRN iii.1068). Here, Lucretius articulates a central thesis of Roman thought and poetry: that the real burden we bear is ourselves. Tranquility of the mind, euthymia in the Greek tradition, cannot be achieved without the ability to endure solitude. Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura is a didactic epic in which the poet sets out Epicurean doctrines for a Roman audience: the cosmos is wholly comprised by atoms and void; there are no providential gods; our worlds, our bodies, and our souls will all return to atoms, which alone are immortal. Lucretius argues, as well, for chance (fortuna) as a guiding principle, a “swerve” (clinamen) in which an atom falling through the void suddenly pivots and so joins with other atoms in new and unforeseen combinations of matter. For Lucretius, the unpredictability of this process is crucial for his argument against determinism and in support of free will (voluntas).
How do Lucretius’ Epicurean arguments align with Roman Stoicism and what are their implications for everyday life and the pursuit of euthymia? We will read select passages from this remarkable poem in the original Latin, delving not only into the specifics of Epicureanism, but the poetic and philosophical means by which Lucretius presents the hard—liberating—truths of atomism to his fellow Romans. What are we to make of his argument that “death is nothing to us” and thus nothing to fear, because the soul is mortal? As we read Lucretius, we will discuss his Epicurean responses to the questions of Greek philosophy and his transformation of a Greek philosophical system into a Roman one.
Course Schedule
Wednesday, 6:30-8:30pm ETMay 06 — June 10, 2026
6 weeks
$335.00
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