Syllabus. Links. Reports Bibliography
"Imagine there's no heaven..." Close study of the entire "De Rerum Natura", the strange and fascinating poem in which Lucretius argues that the world is made up of atoms, that the soul dies with the body, that the gods never help or punish human beings, and that mortals should live their lives in search of the peace of mind of Epicurean philosophy. Among our concerns will be: Lucretius' Latin style and his rhetorical and poetic techniques; the literary background of the poem in the traditions of both didactic and epic; the philosophy of Epicurus as seen in surviving fragments and in other Greek and Roman authors; the strengths and weaknesses of Lucretiusí argument and the results of his decision to use poetry to try to sell Epicureanism; and the late Republican cultural background. We will also discuss the reception of the poem by poets, scholars, and others, and what it might have to offer to the twenty-first century.
Book(s):
Smith, M.F., Lucretius: On the
Nature
of Things. W.H.D. Rouse, trans. Revised and edited by Martin F. Smith.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992.
Requirements/Procedures:
Close reading of all six books.
Self-timed honor-code e-mail quiz after each book of the DRN; paper and
exam at end of term. Regular secondary readings; additional optional
readings
will be mentioned. Reports during the term (one on
a passage, one on scholarship or on another Epicurean or on the
afterlife of L. vel sim.).
Reports
on term papers at end of term.
Bibliography (a little random).
Some simple help on the
hexameter:
basic
rules
(actually this is a
Vergil handout), and practical
rules for scansion.