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Titus Lucretius Carus (c. 99 - 55 BC) was a Roman poet and philosopher, whose contribution was to free men's minds of superstition and fear of death. He focused more on the law than did earlier Epicureans, but persuasively transmitted their physics and psychology. He was the first Epicurean to write in Latin.We know very little about Lucretius' life; one source of information (generally considered unreliable) is St. Jerome, who mentions Lucretius in the Chronica Eusebia . According to Jerome, Lucretius was born in 94 BC, and died at the age of 44. He claims that much of Lucretius's work was written under the influence of drugs, and he died after drinking a love-potion. These claims about Lucretius' life have been discredited for two main reasons: firstly, the Epicurean philosophy expounded by Lucretius sets great store on reason and discourages romantic attachments; and secondly, it seems likely that Jerome, as one of the early church fatherThe Church Fathers or Fathers of the Church are the early and influential theologians and writers in the Christian church, particularly those of the first five centuries of Christian history. The term means specifically writers and teachers of the Church,s, would have wanted to discredit Lucretius's philosophy, which includes disbelief in any kind of life after death and in any divinityThis article focuses on the concept of singular, monotheistic God . See deity, gods, or goddesses for details on divine entities in specific religions and mythologies. God is a term referring to the supreme being generally believed to be ruler or creator concerned with man's welfare.
CiceroFor other uses see Cicero (disambiguation Marcus Tullius Cicero ( January 3, 106 BC December 7, 43 BC) was an orator and statesman of Ancient Rome, and is generally considered the greatest Latin prose stylist. Biography Cicero was born in Arpinum and caug implies in one of his letters to his brother that they had once read Lucretius' poem. This is the last mention of Lucretius until Donatus , in his "Life" of VirgilFor other uses see Virgil (disambiguation). Publius Vergilius Maro ( October 15, 70 19 BC) known in English as Virgil or Vergil Latin poet, is the author of the Eclogues the Georgics and the Aeneid this last being a narrative poem in twelve books that is, while stating that Virgil assumed the toga virilis on October 15October 15 is the 288th day of the year (289th in Leap years). There are 77 days remaining. Events 533 Byzantine general Belisarius makes his formal entry into Carthage, having conquered it from the Vandals. 1552 Khanate of Kazan is conquered by troops of, 55 BC, adds "it happened on that very day Lucretius the poet died." If Jerome is accurate about Lucretius' age (44) when he died, then based on other evidence that confirms 55 BC as Lucretius' year of death we can then conclude he was born in 99 BC.
However, the only certain fact of Lucretius' life is that he was either a friend or a client of Gaius Memmius, to whom he dedicated his poem On the Nature of Things (De Rerum Natura). This poem is also unfinished, although Jerome says that Cicero "amended" it -- which may mean he edited it for its eventual publication.
Lucretius attempts in his poem On the Nature of Things to present a total Epicurean worldview. Ranging from the nature of matter to sex, politics, and death, the poem is encyclopedic, and is considered one of the masterpieces of Latin verse.
His use of the hexameter is very individual and ruggedly distinct from the smooth urbanity of Virgil or Ovid. He hammers home his message in verses that strike hard and stick. The poetic intensity of the whole poem is at its most concentrated in its volcanic opening, an invocation to Venus, Spring and the power of love and human reason. The sustained energy of Lucretius' writing is unparallelled in Latin literature, with the possible exception of parts of Tacitus's Annals, or perhaps books II and IV of the Aeneid.
