De Rerum Natura (The Nature of Things)

doi:10.1136/bmj.b4562

Published 4 November 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b4562
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4562

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De Rerum Natura (The Nature of Things)

Birte Twisselmann, web editor, bmj.com

btwisselmann@bmj.com

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

De Rerum Natura is science, including medical science, in verse.The Roman aristocrat Lucretius (99-55 bc) was a follower ofthe Greek philosopher Epicurus of Samos (341-27 bc). His narrativepoem in six books was an attempt to publicise the Epicureanview of the universe in Rome. The underlying concept is thateverything in the world, including human beings, consists ofclusters of an infinite number of atoms ( $aacgr$ ${tau}$ oµo ${nu}$ , or thatwhich cannot be divided) that move around in an infinite voidand in an unpredictable manner. Determinism is not a conceptin this philosophy, and neither is immortality. These atomsvary in size, density, shape, speed, and concentration. Ambitiousin scope, the comprehensive world view that Lucretius providedseems in some ways modern, in others rather quaint. The aimof the poem, which is likely to have been published posthumously,was to teach its readers not to . . . [Full text of this article]