LUCRETIUS (Tiles LUCRETIUS CARL'S ) (e.99-c.55 B.c.). A Roman poet of the first rank. Of the details of his life practically nothing is known. An entry in the chronicle of Saint Jerome, tinder the year u.c. 94. records "the birth of the poet Lucretius, who lost his reason through a love-philtre. After composing in the intervals of his madness several books which Cicero subse quently edited, he died by his own hand in his forty-fourth year." But Donatus, in his life of Vergil, says that Lucretius died in 55; and this date is rendered probable by the fact that the first mention of his poem occurs in a letter of Cicero to his brother, written February, 54. The dates 99-55 may thus be accepted as approximate ly correct. De Qnincey, in his essay on Keats, expresses his admiration for Lucretius as "the first of demoniacs," and holds that "the charac teristic manner of his poem, even if all anecdotes had perished, would have led an observing reader to suspect some unsoundness in his brain." And it is, indeed, generally agreed that the De Rerun? Nat nra shows such unrelieved intensity of thought and feeling, coupled at times with such som breness, as to make quite credible the tale of madness and suicide, though not necessarily for the cause assigned. On the other hand, the masses of varied and disparate facts are logically arranged, the reasoning, whether inductive or deductive, is clear and consecutive, and the en tire poem (of about 7500 lines) shows marked symmetry of design and execution. The composi tion of so extensive a work per interralla insanirr seems most unlikely. It is certain, however, that, as Laehmann first proved, the poet did not live to put the final touches to his work. Of many paragraphs there are double drafts, many arguments are not adjusted to their context, and the workmanship is in many details rough and inartistic. The lack of finish is especially notice able in the later books. It is evidently impossi ble to determine exactly to what extent the perethumous editor is responsible for the existing text.
The De Reran? A'atura, the single poem into which Lucretius poured the passion of his life, is an attempt to vindicate for man his independ ence of thought and action by proving the soundness and adequacy of the Epicurean phi losophy. Once make clear the true nature of the gods. that their 'happy, careless lives' are in no way concerned with the government of the universe, for the reason that everything happens in accordance with fixed laws of nature and not by divine intervention; once make clear, also. the true nature of the soul, that it, like everything else, is composed of atoms, and is therefore sub ject to the universal law of birth and death— man, set free from the fear of the gods both here and hereafter, absolute master of his fate in this, the only world that he is to know, has it in his power to live a life of noble simplicity. The proof that man is thus 'lord of himself' depends ultimately upon the atomic theory as formulated originally by Leucippus and Democ ritus, and later modified by Epicurus. The demonstration of scientific facts and principles is, therefore, of vital importance, and the greater part of the poem is inevitably devoted to discus sions for which prose would have been a more natural medium. But the poet's towering en thusiasm and remarkable power over language have forced into the hexameter verse elements seemingly unmanageable.
The poem is divided into six books. In Book I. he states as the basis of his system the two propositions that out of nothing nothing can be created by divine power, and that no existing thing can be reduced to nothing, but only to its ultimate elements. The ultimate elements of the universe are two, void and atoms. The latter are infinitesimally small, indivisible, and indestruc tible. They are, further, infinite in number, as void or space is infinite in extent. Thus the universe has no centre, as the Stoics thought. Book II. deals with the motions of the atoms, the diversity of their shapes, and their modes of combination. In the discussion of their motions, the famous theory of the elinamcn, or 'swerve' from the straight parallel lines naturally fol lowed by bodies falling in space, is introduced to account for their initial contact; and upon this power. inherent in the atom, is based the freedom of the human will. The atoms differ in size, weight, and shape only. and have no secondary qualities. Sensation in living beings is a function of certain special atomic combinations. As space and matter are infinite, the whole universe is filled with systems like our own. In Book Lucretius presents a long series of arguments to prove that the soul is composed of very minute and mobile atoms, and is so intimately associated with the body that each is vitally affected by the other and neither can survive separation. The 260 lines of this hook, in which the right attitude toward death is passionately urged, is perhaps the noblest passage in Latin literature. The fourth book is a continuation of the third, and explains the widespread belief in the con tinued existence of the souls of the dead in con nection with the theory of sense-perception in general. The adaptation of the senses to their functions, however, does not justify the inference of design. The action of the mind during sleep is explained, and the book concludes with a vivid picture of the disastrous results of indulging the passion of love. Book V., to the modern mind in ninny ways the most remarkable in t-he poem, ascribes the formation of our system (which, composed of perishable parts, will some day cease to exist), not to creative intelligence, but to countless chance combinations of atoms. After the emergence of the earth, sea, sky, sun, and moon from the confused mass, animal as well as vegetable life was produced directly from the earth; but many of these forms of animal life were unable to defend themselves, and so became extinct. The condition of primitive man is de scribed, and then his gradual advance in civiliza tion. the origin of language, discovery of fire, be ginnings of civil society, of religion, and of the arts, use of the metals, weaving, agriculture. and music. Everything in the constitution of the world and in the life of man is thus shown to be due to natural causes, not to divine activity. With the same purpose in view, Book VT. is devoted to those natural phenomena that are usually ascribed to the agency of the gods, es pecially thunder and lightning, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, the rising of the Nile. and the power of the magnet. The discussion of the spread of disease leads to an impressive a•eount of the plague at Athens, based upon that of Thucydides, and with this the hook and the poem abruptly end.