LUCREZIO, TITO CARO. — Roman poet and philosopher, born between 99 and 95, died between 55 and 51 B.C. The information concerning his life is sparse and uncertain: some say that he lived in Campania (Della Valle), others in Rome (Traglia). Living in an age of harsh political and social struggles and of profound cultural and spiritual revolution, he devoted himself to poetry (Homer, Empedocles, Ennius, Greek tragedians, Aratus), history (Thucydides), and philosophy (the pre-Socratics, Epicurus, Siro, Philodemus). His only surviving work is De rerum natura, a philosophical poem in six books, left unpublished and unfinished, published and perhaps revised by Cicero; it is the most systematic and complete source on ancient Epicureanism, a faithful exposition of the theories of Epicurus.
Life is shrouded in darkness: « Omnis cum in tenebris praesertim vita laboret » (II, 54; cf. V, 1-54). Above all, fear of the gods and of death troubles and saddens man (I, 102-48; III, 978-1023; VI, 1181-95). Knowledge of the profound essence of nature is necessary and sufficient to free man from these two oppressive fears (I, 146-48; III, 91-93; V, 82-90). Following in the footsteps of Epicurus, L. asserts that atoms and void constitute the deep substratum of reality (I, 54-61, 127-35): the incessant aggregation and disintegration of atoms, in infinite time and space, generate all things (I-II), while the atoms remain eternal: « Haud igitur redit ad nihilum res nulla, sed omnes/discidio redeunt in corpora materia » (I, 248-49). The present world is one instance of eternal and universal becoming (V). All phenomena have a natural explanation, without any need for supernatural interventions (VI). The soul is composed of extremely smooth and swift atoms and is mortal: « Multe sunt animae elementa minor/aquam quibus et corpus nobis et viscera constant » (III, 374-75); « animam verbi causa cum dicere pergam/mortalem esse docens, animum quoque dicere credas » (III, 422-23; cf. 417-829). The fears of death and the hereafter are illusion and fable (III). The gods, composed of ethereal matter, dwell in the intermundia, indifferent to natural and human events (V). Religion is a historical product and derives from the idols scattered throughout the intermundia and from ignorance of the natural causes of singular and impressive phenomena: « ignorantia causarum conferre deorum/cogit ad imperium res et concedere regnum » (VI, 154-55). A most fervid imagination, a passionate engagement with the subject, and profound inspiration animate De rerum natura with vibrant poetry.
The darkness that obscures life was not dispelled: the denial of the soul and of divinity left man alone, lost in the cold indifference of a mute and glacial universe (III, 825-30, 957-1007), forever unsatisfied: « Nec tamen explemur vitai fructibus unquam » (III, 1007; cf. V, 1274-79; 1407-29), crushed beneath the nightmare of inevitable death (VI, 1238-46). The sad and desolate bitterness that pervades the entire poem is a further confirmation of the radical insufficiency of materialism for the liberation and happiness of man.
Lucretian influence extends from Cicero, Virgil, Horace, Propertius, Ovid, and Manilius, through ancient and medieval Christian literature, down to our own time, even producing a poem of refutation: Anti-Lucrétius, II. 9 by Cardinal De Polignac (Paris 1749).