On the Nature of Things - Classics Club Author:Lucretius Particularly important today is this, the most original and one of the greatest of all works of classic literature. For the age of Lucretius was an era plagued by wars and political strife, strangely like our own time. Lucretious, daring to ask why this should be so, wrote On the Nature of Things -- and gave to the world a milestone in the histo... more »ry of man's thinking.
Most of us think of today as the dawn of the atomic era. But two thousand years ago Lucretious, one of the greatest Romans of them all, anticipated this when he told how the bodies of men and beasts and birds, the world and everything on the face of it, the sun and the moon and the stars in the heavens -- are all made up of tiny, swift-speeding atoms. Even the soul, he wrote, is composed of atoms, and the laws of nature control all.
Such was the fascinating mind of Lucretious, immortal Roman poet. This remarkable man had the daring to cast aside the fears and superstitions which for centuries had darkened men's minds -- and to turn the clear light of intelligence on nature and human life. Lucretious' message is one of hope, of courage. He calls for man to face life with fortitude, believing in his own independence from circumstances, fro fate, even from the mighty Roman gods.« less