Lucretius On The Nature Of Things Analysis
The Online Library of Liberty published a translation of Lucretius’s On the Nature of Things, as well as a brief analysis of its meaning. According to the Online Library of Liberty, On the Nature of Things consists of his ideas (derived from Greek philosophy) that the world is dictated by material forces and natural laws, rather than religion, and therefore gods and death have no reason to intimidate one. The article’s author writes, "Lucretius expounds the Epicurian view that the world can be explained by the operation of material forces and natural laws and thus one should not fear the gods or death.... Proof: all things require fixed seeds…. The impiety of Religion…. Death is nothing to us” ("On the Nature of Things [1910]"). The author
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clearly presents his argument about the meaning of the piece, and then justifies his reasoning by identifying small excerpts from the piece. Thus, the author believes that On the Nature of Things is about Lucretius’s beliefs that the world is understandable through nature because all things consist of fixed seeds and one should not fear death or the divine because nature is irreligious and death is meaningless. These views, which are based almost exclusively on the information presented and are conservative with assumptions or outside influence, are similar to my own.
My interpretation of the piece is similar to that of the Online Library of Liberty, albeit not quite as specific.
It is my belief that On the Nature of Things is a piece in which Lucretius challenges religious views with the Greek ideas of a world governed by natural laws. Early in the piece, Lucretius states, “A Greek it was…. Whence he to us, a conqueror, reports / What things can rise to being, what cannot, / and by what law to each its scope prescribed, / it's boundary stone that clings so deep in Time. / Wherefore religion now is under foot” (Lucretius 134). Through these words, Lucretius conveys the ideas that a Greek was the first to challenge religious teachings, and he was met with enough success to return with his own opposing teachings about what can or can’t exist, as well as the ancient laws responsible, and effectively surpassed religious ideas. I believe that this is where Lucretius establishes his thesis, and the following details about fixed seeds, religion’s faults, and death are simply supporting details to back this thesis. Therefore, I believe that On the Nature of Things is about Lucretius’s belief in Greek ideas about natural phenomenon that challenge and surpass traditional religious teachings. Although the piece may be unified by this central idea, it does suffer some unresolved
doubts. There are multiple doubts presented by the piece that are never truly resolved, but the most significant lies in the section titled, “Folly of the Fear of Death”. In this late stage of On the Nature of Things, Lucretius attempts to back his reasoning for the meaningless of death by comparing it with the peace before birth, but never explains the assumption that the time before birth was peaceful. Early in the section, Lucretius states that, “Nothing for us there is to dread in death, / No wretchedness for him who is no more, / The same estate as if ne’er born before, / When death immortal hath ta’en the mortal life” (Lucretius 203). Lucretius presents the idea that death should not be frightening because it is the same state as one was in before he was born and one faced no malice before birth, but provides no further detail on the subject. Thus, the problem lies in that Lucretius fails to explain how he knows that one was in peace before birth, as opposed to in some sort of a now forgotten holy land that they may not return to pleasantly. Although Lucretius’s argument is valid if true, he fails to rule out other possibilities as he did earlier in the piece when explaining primal germs, and thus fails to fully convince the reader.
clearly presents his argument about the meaning of the piece, and then justifies his reasoning by identifying small excerpts from the piece. Thus, the author believes that On the Nature of Things is about Lucretius’s beliefs that the world is understandable through nature because all things consist of fixed seeds and one should not fear death or the divine because nature is irreligious and death is meaningless. These views, which are based almost exclusively on the information presented and are conservative with assumptions or outside influence, are similar to my own.
My interpretation of the piece is similar to that of the Online Library of Liberty, albeit not quite as specific.
It is my belief that On the Nature of Things is a piece in which Lucretius challenges religious views with the Greek ideas of a world governed by natural laws. Early in the piece, Lucretius states, “A Greek it was…. Whence he to us, a conqueror, reports / What things can rise to being, what cannot, / and by what law to each its scope prescribed, / it's boundary stone that clings so deep in Time. / Wherefore religion now is under foot” (Lucretius 134). Through these words, Lucretius conveys the ideas that a Greek was the first to challenge religious teachings, and he was met with enough success to return with his own opposing teachings about what can or can’t exist, as well as the ancient laws responsible, and effectively surpassed religious ideas. I believe that this is where Lucretius establishes his thesis, and the following details about fixed seeds, religion’s faults, and death are simply supporting details to back this thesis. Therefore, I believe that On the Nature of Things is about Lucretius’s belief in Greek ideas about natural phenomenon that challenge and surpass traditional religious teachings. Although the piece may be unified by this central idea, it does suffer some unresolved
doubts. There are multiple doubts presented by the piece that are never truly resolved, but the most significant lies in the section titled, “Folly of the Fear of Death”. In this late stage of On the Nature of Things, Lucretius attempts to back his reasoning for the meaningless of death by comparing it with the peace before birth, but never explains the assumption that the time before birth was peaceful. Early in the section, Lucretius states that, “Nothing for us there is to dread in death, / No wretchedness for him who is no more, / The same estate as if ne’er born before, / When death immortal hath ta’en the mortal life” (Lucretius 203). Lucretius presents the idea that death should not be frightening because it is the same state as one was in before he was born and one faced no malice before birth, but provides no further detail on the subject. Thus, the problem lies in that Lucretius fails to explain how he knows that one was in peace before birth, as opposed to in some sort of a now forgotten holy land that they may not return to pleasantly. Although Lucretius’s argument is valid if true, he fails to rule out other possibilities as he did earlier in the piece when explaining primal germs, and thus fails to fully convince the reader.