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The Nature of Things
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The Nature of Things Paperback - 2008

by Lucretius; A. E. Stallings (Translator); Introduction by Richard Jenkyns

The seminal Epicurean text, in a brilliant new translation

The Epicureans of ancient Rome discarded the ideas of life after death and of an interventionist God in favor of the tactile pleasures of nature. In The Nature of Things, Lucretius celebrates with wit and sharp perception the extraordinary breadth of the Epicurean belief system, ranging from the indestructibility of atoms and the discovery of fire to the folly of romantic love and the phenomena of clouds and rainstorms.


Summary

The seminal Epicurean text, in a brilliant new translation

The Epicureans of ancient Rome discarded the ideas of life after death and of an interventionist God in favor of the tactile pleasures of nature. In The Nature of Things, Lucretius celebrates with wit and sharp perception the extraordinary breadth of the Epicurean belief system, ranging from the indestructibility of atoms and the discovery of fire to the folly of romantic love and the phenomena of clouds and rainstorms.

From the publisher

Includes bibliographical references. Translated from the Latin.

Details

  • Title The Nature of Things
  • Author Lucretius; A. E. Stallings (Translator); Introduction by Richard Jenkyns
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition [ Edition: Repri
  • Pages 304
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Penguin Group, London
  • Date 2008-01-01
  • Features Bibliography, Glossary, Price on Product - Canadian, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780140447965 / 0140447962
  • Weight 0.55 lbs (0.25 kg)
  • Dimensions 7.7 x 5 x 0.9 in (19.56 x 12.70 x 2.29 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: Ancient (To 499 A.D.)
    • Cultural Region: Italy
  • Library of Congress subjects Philosophy, Ancient, Didactic poetry, Latin
  • Dewey Decimal Code 871.01

Media reviews

Citations

  • Books & Culture, 03/01/2009, Page 5

About the author

Titus Lucretius Carus (who died c. 50 BC) was an Epicurean poet writing in the middle years of the first century BC. His six-book Latin hexameter poem De rerum natura survives virtually intact, although it is disputed whether he lived to put the finishing touches to it. As well as being a pioneering figure in the history of philosophical poetry, Lucretius has come to be our primary source of information on Epicurean physics, the official topic of his poem.

A. E. Stallings (translator) was born in 1968. She grew up in Decatur, GA, and was educated at the University of Georgia and Oxford University in classics. Her poetry has appeared in The Best American Poetry (1994 and 2000) and has received numerous awards, including a Pushcart Prize (Pushcart Prize Anthology XXII), the 1997 Eunice Tietjens Prize from Poetry, and the third annual James Dickey Prize from Five Points.

Richard Jenkyns (introducer) is a professor of classics at the University of Oxford, a Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, and the author of a number of books, including Dignity and Decadence: Some Classical Aspects of Victorian Art and Architecture and The Victorians and Ancient Greece.

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