On the Nature of Things (la)
- Language:
- Latin
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~60,800 words · 289 passages
Cite this work
- APALucretius. (n.d.). De Rerum Natura LA [On the Nature of Things (la)]. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/lucretius/de-rerum-natura-la
- MLALucretius. De Rerum Natura LA [On the Nature of Things (la)]. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/lucretius/de-rerum-natura-la.
- ChicagoLucretius. De Rerum Natura LA [On the Nature of Things (la)]. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/lucretius/de-rerum-natura-la.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
De rerum natura in LATIN: the original.
Context and history
Six books in hexameters setting out Epicurus's atomism in order to free readers from the fear of gods and of death. It is at once one of the great Latin poems and the text that carried atomic physics to the Renaissance, when Poggio Bracciolini found a copy in a monastery in 1417. Text in LATIN: the original, and what should be cited.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
Principio venti vis verberat incita corpus ingentisque ruit navis et nubila differt, inter dum rapido percurrens turbine campos arboribus magnis sternit montisque supremos silvifragis vexat flabris: ita perfurit acri cum fremitu saevitque minaci murmure pontus. sunt igitur venti ni mirum corpora caeca, quae mare, quae terras, quae denique nubila caeli verrunt ac subito vexantia turbine raptant, nec ratione fluunt alia stragemque propagant et cum mollis aquae fertur natura repente flumine abundanti, quam largis imbribus auget montibus ex altis magnus decursus aquai fragmina coniciens silvarum arbustaque tota, nec validi possunt pontes venientis aquai vim subitam tolerare: ita magno turbidus imbri molibus incurrit validis cum viribus amnis, dat sonitu magno stragem volvitque sub undis grandia saxa, ruit qua quidquid fluctibus obstat. sic igitur debent venti quoque flamina ferri, quae vel uti validum cum flumen procubuere quam libet in partem, trudunt res ante ruuntque impetibus crebris, inter dum vertice torto corripiunt rapidique rotanti turbine portant. quare etiam atque etiam sunt venti corpora caeca, quandoquidem factis et moribus aemula magnis amnibus inveniuntur, aperto corpore qui sunt. Tum porro varios rerum sentimus odores nec tamen ad naris venientis cernimus umquam nec calidos aestus tuimur nec frigora quimus usurpare oculis nec voces cernere suemus; quae tamen omnia corporea constare necessest natura, quoniam sensus inpellere possunt; tangere enim et tangi, nisi corpus, nulla potest res. Denique fluctifrago suspensae in litore vestis uvescunt, eaedem dispansae in sole serescunt. at neque quo pacto persederit umor aquai visumst nec rursum quo pacto fugerit aestu. in parvas igitur partis dispergitur umor, quas oculi nulla possunt ratione videre.…
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