Lucius Seneca - Yale Required Reading - Collected Works (Vol. 2)

The purpose of the poem is to free men from superstition and the fear of death by teaching the doctrines of Epicurus. This is a most serious purpose, and Lucretius is thoroughly in earnest. If he adopts the poetic form, it is in order to make his presentation of the doctrines more attractive, in the hope that it will thus have greater influence. This point of view, and at the same time the poet’s sense of the difficulty of his theme and his power to cope with it, is clearly expressed in the following passage:

Come now, and what remaineth learn and hear

More clearly. Well in my own mind I know

The doctrine is obscure; but mighty hope

Of praise has struck my heart with maddening wand,

And with the blow implanted in my breast

The sweet love of the Muses, filled with which

I wander with fresh mind through pathless tracts

Of the Pierides, untrod before

By any mortal’s foot. ’Tis sweet to go

To fountains new and drink; and sweet it is

To pluck new flow’rs and seek a garland thence

For my own head, whence ne’er before a crown

The Muses twined for any mortal’s brow.

’Tis first because I teach of weighty things

And guide my course to set the spirit free

From superstition’s closely knotted bonds;

And next because concerning matters dark

I write such lucid verses, touching all

With th’ Muses’ grace. Then, too, because it seems

Not without reason; but as when men try

In curing boys to give them bitter herbs,

They touch the edges round about the cups

With yellow liquid of the honey sweet,

That children’s careless age may be deceived

As far as to the lips, and meanwhile drink

The juice of bitter herb, and though deceived

May not be harmed, but rather in such wise

Gain health and strength, so I now, since my theme

Seems gloomy for the most part unto those

To whom ’tis not familiar, and the crowd

Shrinks back from it, have wished to treat for thee

My theme with sweetly speaking poetry’s verse

And touch it with the Muses’ honey sweet. 21

The arrangement of the poem is as follows: Book i sets forth the atomic theory, invented by Democritus and held by Epicurus, that the world consists of atoms—infinitely small particles of matter—and void, i. e., empty space. The theories of other Greek philosophers, such as Heraclitus, Empedocles, and Anaxagoras, are refuted. In Book ii it is explained how the atoms combine to form the various things in the world, because as they fall through space they depart from a straight line and come in contact with each other. It is also shown that the atoms, although infinite in number, are limited in variety. In Book iii the mind and the soul, or principle of life, are shown to be material and to die when the body dies. Religion and the fear of death, which Lucretius regards as a result of religion, are attacked. Since the soul dies with the body, there is no reason to fear death, because after death we shall feel no lack of anything, shall have no troubles, but shall be as if we had not been born, or as if we lay wrapped in dreamless sleep:

So death to us is naught, concerns us not,

When the soul’s nature is as mortal known. 22

Book iv shows how the impressions made upon our senses are caused by minute images detached from the objects about us. We see, for instance, because minute images of the object seen strike our eyes. Dreams and love are also treated in this book. In Book v the origin of the earth, sun, moon, and stars is described, the beginning of life is explained, and the progress of civilization, from the time when men were savages, is depicted. Some passages in this book anticipate in a measure the modern doctrine of the survival of the fittest. Since our world was not created, but came into being naturally by the combinations of atoms, it will also come to an end at some time by the separation of the atoms. In Book vi various striking phenomena are treated, such as thunder, lightning, earthquakes, tempests, and volcanoes. The book ends with a description of the plague at Athens, derived from the account of Thucydides.

Since the main purpose of the poem is to free men from religion and the fear of death by showing that all things, including the soul, came into being and are to pass away without any action of the gods, ethical doctrines are not systematically treated. Lucretius accepts, however, the Epicurean dogma that pleasure is the chief good, “the guide of life,” 23but the pleasure he has in mind is not the common physical pleasure, but the calm repose of the philosopher:

Oh wretched minds of men, oh blinded hearts!

Within what shades of life and dangers great

Is passed whate’er of age we have! Dost thou

Not see that nature makes demand for naught

Save this, that pain be absent from our frame,

That she, removed from care at once and fear,

May have her pleasure in the joys of mind? 24

Again, in the splendid praise of Epicurus, which opens the fifth book, he says that we may live without grain or wine,

But well one can not live without pure heart. 25

The only Greek philosophers, besides Epicurus, of whom Lucretius speaks in terms of praise are Democritus, from whom Epicurus borrowed the atomic theory, and Empedocles. Perhaps Lucretius imitates in his work the poem of Empedocles, which bore the same title. At any rate, Empedocles was a man of exalted modes of thought and dignified, poetic expression, qualities which would naturally awaken admiration in the mind of Lucretius. That Lucretius was well acquainted with the great works of Greek literature and with the writings of Nævius, Ennius, Pacuvius, Lucilius, and Accius, is evident from direct references to them, or imitations of them. But he was not merely a student of books. His power of observation and his love of nature are shown in many passages, as where he describes the raging winds and rivers, 26the life and motion of an army, 27the striking features of the island of Sicily, 28the echo in the mountains, 29or pleasant repose under a shady tree on the grass by the river side. 30

The poem opens with an invocation to Venus, which is justly famous. The first lines are:

Goddess from whom descends the race of Rome,

Venus, of earth and heaven supreme delight,

Hail, thou that all beneath the starry dome—

Lands rich with grain and seas with navies white—

Blessest and cherishest! Where thou dost come

Enamelled earth decks her with posies bright

To meet thy advent; clouds and tempests flee,

And joyous light smiles over land and sea. 31

Another famous passage is the beginning of Book ii, which has been translated into English hexameters as follows:

Sweet, when the great sea’s water is stirred to its depth by the storm winds,

Standing ashore to descry one afar off mightily struggling;

Not that a neighbor’s sorrow to you yields dulcet enjoyment;

But that the sight hath a sweetness, of ills ourselves are exempt from.

Sweet ’tis too to behold, on a broad plain mustering war-hosts

Arm them for some great battle, one’s self unscathed by the danger;

Yet still happier this: To possess, impregnably guarded,

Those calm heights of the sages which have for an origin Wisdom;

Thence to survey our fellows, observe them this way and that way

Wander amid Life’s paths, poor stragglers seeking a highway;

Watch mind battle with mind, and escutcheon rival escutcheon;

Gaze on that untold strife, which is waged ’neath the sun and the starlight,

Up as they toil on the surface whereon rest Riches and Empire. 32

Lucretius was perfectly aware that his subject was not an easy one to treat in verse, but was confident of his own power. His work shows that his confidence was justified. Yet even he could not, in explaining the details of the philosophy of Epicurus, move always in the upper realms of poetry. The result is that the poem is uneven. In parts it rises to heights hardly attained by any other Latin author, but in other parts long passages are dull and monotonous. Yet even in these parts the verses have a serious, dignified music, the language is carefully chosen, and the subject is treated with consistency, clearness, and vigor. In the more animated portions of his work, Lucretius speaks almost like an inspired prophet. His thought hurries his lines along with increasing impetus, until their flow seems almost irresistible. Strength, rapidity, and power are the most striking features of his style. Minor elements are frequent assonances of various kinds, such as alliteration, repetition, the use of two or more words from one root, and the like, elaborate similes, and occasionally the form of direct address. With all these, the style is characterized by an austere dignity.