Titus Lucretius Carus (Lucretius)
Titus Lucretius Carus (Lucretius)
Circa 96-55 b.c.e.
Poet, philosopher
Rumors of Insanity. Lucretius was born between 98 and 94 B.C.E.; nothing certain is known about his life. He is the author of De rerum natura, “On the Nature of Things,” a hexameter poem in six books which is one of the most important sources for Epicurean philosophy. Saint Jerome states that Lucretius wrote his poetry between bouts of insanity, having been driven mad by a love potion given him by his wife, and also that he eventually committed suicide; these are probably legends. He died on 15 October 55 B.C.E.
Sources
Gian Biago Conte, “Lucretius,” in Latin Literature: A History, translated by J. B. Solodow, revised by Don P. Fowler and G. W. Most (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994), pp. 155-174.
E. J. Kenney, Lucretius, Greece and Rome: New Surveys in the Classics, no. 11 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977).
David West, The Imagery and Poetry of Lucretius (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1969).