I've been told to read Greenblatt's 'The Swerve' which was inspired by this. That sounds boring. This sounds interesting.
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Found this on my newly re-opened new books display! How, ah..., enlightening!
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Skimmed enough to know that I really want to find a way to actually read this... mind blown by all the misery that we humans could have skipped if we'd all listened to his advice from the beginning....

June 2021

This book was fascinating. In terms of science, it was interesting to see how much and how little people knew about the natural world. Some of what Lucretius believed was accurate, and some was highly inaccurate; but even when his facts are wrong, his way of seeing the world makes for a terrific reading experience. He states a few scientific principles, and then he ponders them deeply, looks at the same principle in several different examples, and then, often, draws moral or philosophical conclusions based on the science. While I don't agree with his philosophy, his dynamic style made for quite an enjoyable read. Moreover, it was fascinating to study Epicurean ideas and to read about the pursuit of pleasure. The six books deal with everything from atoms to the cosmos, from the human soul to the weather. Finally, A. E. Stallings' translation, with its meter and rhyme, makes the book a pleasure to read. ( )

This is Lucretius's presentation of the philosophy of the Greek Epicurus. The Latin original was destroyed as heretical by almost every monastery in Europe. ( )

The philosophy of Epicurus is not presented any better than in the classic poem, On the Nature of Things (De Rerum Natura) by Titus Lucretius Carus. We know little about his life. He was probably born in the early first century B.C. This meant that he lived during the turbulent era of the end of the Roman Republic and beginning of the Empire that saw the rise of Sulla and Pompey and, ultimately, Julius Caesar. On the Nature of Things, posthumously edited by Cicero, was his poetic plea to the Roman elite that they change course.

The poem by Lucretius has the goal of explaining Epicurean philosophy to a Roman audience. It was written in some 7,400 dactylic hexameters, divided into six untitled books, and explores Epicurean philosophy and physics through richly poetic language and metaphors. It is a rational and materialistic view of the world that presents the principles of atomism; the nature of the mind and soul; explanations of sensation and thought; the development of the world and its phenomena; and explains a variety of celestial and terrestrial phenomena. The universe described in the poem operates according to these physical principles, guided by fortuna, "chance", and not the divine intervention of the traditional Roman deities. He extols the life of contemplation as seen in these lines from the opening of Book Two:
"But nothing is sweeter than to dwell in the calm
Temples of truth, the strongholds of the wise." (II, 7-8)

Thankfully we can still enjoy the vision of the good life as presented in this beautiful poem. The basics of Lucretius' philosophy include acknowledging pleasure (or the absence of pain) as the highest good, basing ethics on the evidence of the senses, and extolling plain living and high thinking. He also is a committed atheist, denouncing the gods in Book I of the poem, advocating free will in Book II, and reassuring his readers that they have nothing to fear from death in Book III. This lucid translation by Anthony M. Esolen reminds me why Lucretius is still worth reading. ( )

Versified philosophy isn't poetry--it's versified philosophy. ( )